纪录片 | 最早的国家公园——黄石国家公园

选择性必修一第三单元主题 Fascinating Parks，主题图是美国黄石国家公园（Yellowstone National Park）的标志性景点之一——大棱镜温泉（Grand Prismatic Spring）。黄石公园是世界上第一个国家公园，以其广袤的土地、不计其数的温泉和间歇泉以及丰富的物种闻名于世。教学资源里配了一个纪录片的片段，今天想和大家一起分享一下。

看完视频，我们来一起做一做练习吧！（不会抠字幕，文本是一句句按照视频里的字幕打出来的。）

练一练

The Earliest National Park

Native Americans had many names for it. “Land of the Burning Ground.” “Place of Hot Water.” And “Many Smoke.” Centuries later, white explorers wrote of its wonders, but were often dismissed as ___1___(lie). They called it “Yellowstone”.

In 1870, a group including Montana official Nathaniel P. Langford set off ___2___(find) it. Langford wrote “We came suddenly upon a basin of boiling sulphur springs, ___3___(throw) water and fearful volumes of vapor higher than our heads.” Water smoked. Mud bubbled. Colors spread. Congress heard about the hot, spewing geysers and figured ___4___ place was too rugged to ever be farmed or homesteaded. ___5___(economical), it appeared worthless. So with little debate, they passed a bill to protect it. They had just created the ___6___(world) first national park, and it was a whopper—over two million acres splayed across three territories ___7___ weren’t even states yet. Congress asked Nathaniel P. Langford to be Yellowstone’s ___8___(one) superintendent, for no pay. He accepted.

“The earliest visitors to Yellowstone, who came to see these natural wonders with their own eyes, ___9___(be) a very hardy bunch.” (Joy Beasley, Deputy Associate Director, Cultural Resources National Park Service)

Tourists roamed ___10___ their own, hoping they wouldn’t fall into a cauldron and boil to ___11___(die). Several did. Others came less for the scenery and ___12___(much) for the spoils. Outlaws robbed visiting coaches. Vandals carved ___13___(they) names on geyser formations. Hunters slaughtered buffalo by the score, often just for sport.

Now there are resurgent herds, ___14___(protect) boardwalks, and well-rehearsed crowd control. Nearly 3 million people come to Yellowstone every year.

The last century has been filled ___15___ trial and error of how to run a national park like Yellowstone. But one thing really hasn’t changed. You still have to see it to believe it.

参考译文：

美洲土著人为它取了许多名字。“燃灼之地”、“热泉之息”、“烟雾之乡”。几个世纪之后，白人探险家们记录了其中的奇景，但常被人们当作骗子而不予理睬。它的名字是“黄石”。

1870年，一支队伍去寻找这块地方，其中便有蒙大拿州官员纳撒尼尔·兰福德。他写到，“我们突然站在沸腾的硫磺泉盆地上方，水和蒸汽卷杂着骇人的声音，被甩得比我们头顶还高”。水在生烟。泥在冒泡。色彩四溢。国会听说了这个间歇温泉，认为其地势过于崎岖，不能耕种或开发。从经济上来看，它似乎没有价值。所以没费多少唇舌就通过了一项保护它的法案。他们刚刚创造了世界上第一个国家公园，而且幅员辽阔，横跨超过八千余平方公里和三块甚至未划分州的土地。国会希望纳撒尼尔·兰福德无偿担任黄石的首位管理人。他答应了。

“黄石最早的一批亲眼来看这自然奇景的访客是非常勇敢的一群人。”（乔伊·比斯利，文化资源管理副主任，国家公园管理局）

游客独自随意漫步，祈祷不会掉入蒸汽大锅而丧命。这确有发生。有些人来这里不为风景，而是破坏。歹徒抢劫了来访马车。破坏者将他们的名字刻在喷泉上。猎人一次数十头地猎杀水牛，常常只是为了娱乐。

现在这里有复兴的牧群，有防护围栏的道路和反复演练的人流控制。每年黄石有将近三百万游客。

上个世纪充满了人们对如何运营像黄石这样的国家公园的不断摸索。但有一件事从未改变。只有亲眼看见才会相信。

参考答案

1. liars 

2. to find

3. throwing

4. the

5. Economically

6. world's 

7. that

8. first

9. were

10. on

11. death

12. more

13. their

14. protective

15. with

很多纪录片都是很好的英语学习材料，因为它们使用的语言都很美。希望今天的分享能让大家觉得有收获~

我们下次再见~