时间:2019-02-05 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(十一月)


英语课

By Greg Flakus
Prescott, Arizona
03 November 2006
 
watch Forest Fire Prevention


In the western United States this year nearly four million hectares of land have been scorched 1 by fire, in the worst wildfire season on record.  Twenty-one firefighters have been killed and the flames have consumed millions of dollars worth of property.  The U.S. Forest Service has resources available to fight fires as they break out, but the government agency also takes action to prevent fires and to lessen 2 the impact of fires that do start.  As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Prescott, Arizona, that sometimes requires firefighters to set fires.


Clouds of smoke rising out of the forests around the city of Prescott may look ominous 3, but this is not a wildfire.  This fire was set deliberately 4 by the men whose job it is to prevent and fight fires.


 
Firefighter Bob Travis
The man in charge of this so-called "prescribed burn" is Prescott National Forest Firefighter Bob Travis. "The main objective here is to get fire back into its natural role in the ecosystem 5 and reducing the fire hazard."


Travis says drought and an invasion of bark-eating beetles 6 have combined to create tons of combustible 7 material on the forest floor.  This material could fuel destructive fires if it is not burned off under controlled conditions.


Travis says crews on a prescribed burn both set fires and confine them within specified 8 lines of control. "We have people out here today that are igniting, doing lighting 9 and then we have a large amount of people out here doing holding, making sure that is stays within those lines."


Bob Travis says such burns are only conducted when weather conditions are right, with little or no wind. 


 
A fire crew works on a prescribed burn near Prescott
This is hard, dirty work carried out by the same men who face danger in fighting fires that get out of control.  Local bicycle rider Nathan Wasserman sees them as heroes. "(They are) Just brave men, doing what other people would rather not be doing."


By maintaining the forests around the city, the firefighters protect the city of Prescott from danger.  Like many other old western mining towns, Prescott suffered disastrous 10 fires in its early days, when firefighting methods and technology were relatively 11 primitive 12


But the main danger today is for people who have built homes on hilltops outside the city or in areas close to the forest.


Homeowners in these areas clear brush from around their property to reduce potential fuel for wildfires and they rely on the Forest Service to do the rest.


The prospect 13 of a prescribed fire getting out of control might worry some, but not John Pendergraft, whose house is tucked into the mountainside next to the forest.


"As far as I am concerned, the Forest department, it is a miracle we even have them, the way they do everything.  They know what they are doing. I know there are cases of accidents, but they know what they are doing," says Pendergraft.


The Forest Service firefighters will carry out dozens of these operations in the weeks ahead to protect the trees and the people who live near them.



烧焦,烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 ); 使(植物)枯萎,把…晒枯; 高速行驶; 枯焦
  • I scorched my dress when I was ironing it. 我把自己的连衣裙熨焦了。
  • The hot iron scorched the tablecloth. 热熨斗把桌布烫焦了。
vt.减少,减轻;缩小
  • Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
  • They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的
  • Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
  • There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
n.生态系统
  • This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
  • We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。
n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )
  • Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来,然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
a. 易燃的,可燃的; n. 易燃物,可燃物
  • Don't smoke near combustible materials. 别在易燃的材料附近吸烟。
  • We mustn't take combustible goods aboard. 我们不可带易燃品上车。
adj.特定的
  • The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
  • It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的
  • The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
  • Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨,血本无归。
adv.比较...地,相对地
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
adj.原始的;简单的;n.原(始)人,原始事物
  • It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
  • His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。
n.前景,前途;景色,视野
  • This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
  • The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。
学英语单词
Adenstedt
amtition
ankle-lengths
be on the
birth wort vine
black padding liquor
black-footed albatrosses
board-like consis
budnick
bultmanns
careless application of irrigation water
crank-nicholson method
damosels
dead-time delay
decoy discrimination radar
defacings
definite shape
Dog Breath
douchebagness
driven rod
extra-amniotic
face centered cubic structure
fairly steady tempo
fatigue cracking
fever African tick
first derivatives
fissidens bryoides lateralis
Flaurling
gage position
geotectonically
glucanohydrolase
green jerseys
holoblastic ovum
introspective diplopia
inverted file index
jerusalem thorns
labias
Maloye Kozino
marked etching technique
mascara cream
mathematical structure
meliola andropogonis
mitral stenoses
mommessins
Moro, Pta.del
multiplex code transmission
multiwash
neurohormonal gland
nuclear heating
nuclease
O. Cr.
order Rhoeadales
ostreo-
Parucito R.
penne rigate
perturbographic system
Philippsthal
postreaction
PPMP
preemptioners
pressure roll
quick-references
radiance exposure
reauditioning
reciprocal cross es
recursive structure
refueling mission
rule of arithmetic
safety injection system
saighs
saturation sampling
short-stalked variety
simulated tank
slow bellies
sluice-way
socratisms
soda saltpeter
spaghetti-strap
speleologist
step-by-step approximation
stroke of cutter
sulphuric acid treatment
surface resistance
suspension of licence
tananao group
tangled web
tea-dust
term pc
TRGB
trizygold development
ultra-white region
underground rail road station
unit peak flow
vari-sized
variable speed drive device
vibrobench
voidable preference
walk sb through sth
web hay loader
well-distributed
wet crepe