时间:2018-12-19 作者:英语课 分类:VOA双语新闻 2011年3月


英语课

  Spring has just sprung in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means an annual natural spectacular is just a couple of weeks away, deep in the heart of Texas.

春天已经来到了北半球,这也意味着在德克萨斯州的中心地区,一年一度的自然界盛事即将到来。

There are no other natural wonders in the rugged 1 Texas Hill Country. No awe-inspiring canyons 2, no snow-covered peaks or rain forests or raging mountain streams. Most of the time, the appeal of this tapestry 3 of cedar 4 and oak trees, lazy streams, and low limestone 5 cliffs is more modest.

德克萨斯州崎岖的希尔山地没有什么奇特的自然景观。那里既没有让人产生敬畏之心的大峡谷,也没有白雪皑皑的山峰,更没有热带雨林或者奔腾的山间溪流。一年中的大部分时间,人们在这里看到的就是杉树和橡树枝繁叶茂,小溪缓缓流淌,以及低矮的石灰崖延伸至远方,一切都显得那么平淡。

But there’s nothing modest about a Hill Country spring. In 1991, George Oxford 6 Miller 7 published a book of photographs of the region. In the text, the environmental photojournalist wrote that "excitement comes in small packages." He found what he described as "air unadulterated with human additives 8, stars undimmed by city lights, the uninterrupted sounds of nature, and fields of flowers unblemished by footprints."

但是,希尔山地的春天绝不平淡。1991年,环境摄影师乔治·米勒出版了一本该地区的摄影集。米勒在书中写道,“这里纯净的空气没有被人类活动污染,满天的繁星没有被城市的灯光遮掩,大自然的声音没有受到惊扰,无际的野花没有被踩在脚下。”

Four hundred species of flowers, including Indian paintbrushes, prickly poppies, flowering herbs, and the most compelling blossom of all - the bluebonnet, the Texas state flower.

德克萨斯州有400多种野花,包括印第安火焰草、蓟罂粟、草药花、以及盛开怒放的德克萨斯州花矢车菊。

"Everybody that I know of, and probably 90 percent of all Texans, have got a picture of either their dog or their child or somebody in the bluebonnet fields," John Thomas told us. He founded Wildseed Farms, the largest flower-seed-producing operation in the nation in the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg.

野花种子农场的创办人约翰·托马斯告诉记者,他认识的每个人,以及大约90%的德克萨斯人,都至少有一张家里的宠物狗、孩子或者其它家人在矢车菊花海中照的照片。托马斯经营的农场位于希尔山地的弗雷德里克斯堡市,是全国最大的花籽生产基地。

The area is also known as Tex-Deutsch country. Fredericksburg was founded by German settlers when the area was still open prairie.

这个地区通常被人们称为“德克萨斯德国郡”。弗雷德里克斯堡当年是德国定居者创建的,当时那里还是一片荒蛮的大草原。

You’ll still find German architecture, oom-pah bands, German dresses and lederhosen - even Mexican-style tacos stuffed with sausage and sauerkraut.

如今,人们还可以在那里找到德国建筑物,演奏巴伐利亚传统音乐欧帕帕的乐队,德国服装,以及德式皮短裤,甚至在典型的墨西哥食物Taco玉米卷中,当地人都塞满了德国人喜欢的香肠和泡菜。

But the big spectacle is reserved for spring, when thousands of tourists, 80 per cent of them Texans, come to see the hillsides ablaze 9 in wildflowers - especially the bluebonnet.

不过,当地最大的盛事仍然是每年春天,成千上万的游客,其中80%来自德克萨斯州各地,纷纷涌入希尔山地,去观赏漫山遍野如潮的野花和盛开的矢车菊。



1 rugged
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的
  • Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
  • The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。
2 canyons
n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )
  • This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
  • Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存? 来自互联网
3 tapestry
n.挂毯,丰富多采的画面
  • How about this artistic tapestry and this cloisonne vase?这件艺术挂毯和这个景泰蓝花瓶怎么样?
  • The wall of my living room was hung with a tapestry.我的起居室的墙上挂着一块壁毯。
4 cedar
n.雪松,香柏(木)
  • The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
  • She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。
5 limestone
n.石灰石
  • Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
  • Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。
6 Oxford
n.牛津(英国城市)
  • At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
  • This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
7 miller
n.磨坊主
  • Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
  • The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。
8 additives
n.添加剂( additive的名词复数 )
  • chemical additives in petrol 汽油中的化学添加剂
  • It'says on the packet that these crisps contain no additives. 包装上说这些炸薯片不含添加剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 ablaze
adj.着火的,燃烧的;闪耀的,灯火辉煌的
  • The main street was ablaze with lights in the evening.晚上,那条主要街道灯火辉煌。
  • Forests are sometimes set ablaze by lightning.森林有时因雷击而起火。
学英语单词
ablactated
adult of the first form
alainas
ankylostomiasis
antiandrogen
artifactuality
ateloencephalia
automated quotation system
balls-up
bebek
blackballers
blood formation
braking action advisory
byte stuffing
capoun
carrier track
chemoprophylactics
cleaneth
complementarymorpheme
current endogenous variable
cylindrical flue boiler
dauriporphinoline
Delphene
deterior
Deutzia setchuenensis
diluter-dispenser
dot raster character generator
drink deep
drum storage
Einstein Observatory
element cell
equipment output
falconing
fidesz
flow program
free climbing
full bandwidth
general flat key
ground plum
hedging one's bets
hexagonia hirta
hydraulic foot brake
inamoratoes
inhibitory stage
Konneh
kramer drive
l'entendement
least-squares procedure
maeaquinone
mandiocs
mascarpones
menu activate
monoresistant
Montferrier
motorsports
multilevel menu
name and shame
Neisseriaceae
Neothyl
neuroenhancer
noncharacteristic product
not later than
nullisome-tetrasome combination
nullisomic haploids
out of doing
over-cross
overcarbonated
pars alveolaris
periot
Peucedanum macilentum
polyarchists
post coordination
Postscript Printer Description file
pseudo optical band
rectangular coordinate dimensioning
reinforced stock
romancy
ruatcaelum
rubberbanding
ruda slaska
Saint-Agreve
Sakkara
sludge gas holder
spacefilling model
straight-forward circuit
switch chair
thread vein
tree planter
troop carrying coach
typhis ramosus
undelightsome
under exploitation
understaund
unit-linked
unpopularities
unsensationalists
vibrating regulator
videoscreens
warning red
whirl gate dirt trap system
wibrissae
worsted card