美国国家公共电台 NPR--Grab a net and a pail. Springtime in Duluth means the smelt are running

Grab a net and a pail. Springtime in Duluth means the smelt¹ are running

Transcript²

Hordes³ of die-hard anglers in Minnesota flock to streams for the smelt run, where thousands of the tiny, silver fish congregate⁴ to spawn⁵. The runs have declined since the heyday⁶ of the 1960s and 70s.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Duluth, Minn., has a tradition to mark the end of long, hard winters - a tradition that centers around smelt, a small, silvery fish. For a couple of weeks every spring, tens of thousands of those fish swim into shore to spawn, and hordes of anglers flock to the beaches and streams to scoop⁷ them up. The annual smelt run is part fishing and part carnival⁸. Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio takes us there.

DAN KRAKER, BYLINE⁹: Smelt are a skinny little fish, only six to nine inches long, but they have a big, devoted¹⁰ following.

JOHNNY THAO: Number one fish in my book - yeah, the big lake here, the taste - like, so you can't compare anywhere else.

KRAKER: Johnny Thao drove up to Duluth from St. Paul with his wife, uncle and cousin. He's made this pilgrimage north every spring for the past 15 years, for half his life, because he's just crazy about smelt. He says they taste great - kind of like french fries.

THAO: I snip¹¹ off the head, and then you just yank all the guts¹² out with it and then do a quick rinse¹³, batter¹⁴ and deep fry. You're golden.

KRAKER: But you've got to catch a lot of them to make a meal. Thankfully, that's easy this time of year, when after dark, big schools swim into the warmer water close to shore to spawn. Instead of catching¹⁵ them with a rod and reel, Thao and his uncle each hold one end of a 25-foot-long net.

THAO: You go out there, one guy or person on each side. Pull the net, and just slowly walk back. Slowly walk back.

KRAKER: When they get to shore, they lay the net down on the beach. It's full of dozens of teeming¹⁶ smelt.

THAO: All right, first smelt for 2022.

KRAKER: Groups of people line the shoreline with lanterns, portable heaters and empty coolers they hope to fill with fish. They wear waders to stay warm in the 40-degree Lake Superior water.

Julie Yang drove up here from the Twin Cities with her husband. She also loves eating smelt. But for her, it's a bigger experience.

JULIE YANG: It's beautiful out here at night, so - listening to the waves crash, just catching fish in the middle of the night. I don't know. It's something weird¹⁷ about that, but it's fun.

KRAKER: There's a festive¹⁸ atmosphere in Duluth every spring when the smelt run, even an annual parade to mark their arrival. But it's nothing like it was in the 1960s and '70s.

DON SCHREINER: People would come from all over the Midwest to fill up pickup¹⁹ trucks full of smelt at the time.

KRAKER: That's Don Schreiner, a fisheries specialist at the University of Minnesota. He says back then, the smelt ran so thick, you didn't even have to get wet. You could just dip a net in the water and scoop them out. The population plunged²⁰ in the 1980s, when larger predator²¹ fish recovered in Lake Superior.

Today enough smelt remain to sustain this long-standing tradition. But Schreiner says there's a new threat. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have all issued consumption advisories²² for Lake Superior smelt after some fish were found to have high levels of a family of chemicals called PFOS, or forever chemicals.

SCHREINER: And it seems like smelt, for some reason, accumulate more of this chemical than the other fish species that we've looked at so far.

KRAKER: Health officials advise smelters not to eat more than a meal a month. That means no more pickup trucks full of smelt to gorge²³ on.

For NPR News, I'm Dan Kraker, in Duluth.

(SOUNDBITE OF EPIC45'S "THE LANES DON'T CHANGE")

1 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 hordes   

n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落

参考例句：

• There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer. 夏天这里总有成群结队的游客。
• Hordes of journalists jostled for position outside the conference hall. 大群记者在会堂外争抢位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 congregate   

v.(使)集合，聚集

参考例句：

• Now they can offer a digital place for their readers to congregate and talk.现在他们可以为读者提供一个数字化空间，让读者可以聚集和交谈。
• This is a place where swans congregate.这是个天鹅聚集地。

5 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

6 heyday   

n.全盛时期，青春期

参考例句：

• The 19th century was the heyday of steam railways.19世纪是蒸汽机车鼎盛的时代。
• She was a great singer in her heyday.她在自己的黄金时代是个了不起的歌唱家。

7 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

8 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

9 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

10 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

11 snip   

n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断

参考例句：

• He has now begun to snip away at the piece of paper.现在他已经开始剪这张纸。
• The beautifully made briefcase is a snip at £74.25.这个做工精美的公文包售价才74.25英镑，可谓物美价廉。

12 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 rinse   

v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗

参考例句：

• Give the cup a rinse.冲洗一下杯子。
• Don't just rinse the bottles. Wash them out carefully.别只涮涮瓶子，要仔细地洗洗里面。

14 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

15 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

16 teeming   

adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注

参考例句：

• The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
• the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道

17 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

18 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

19 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

20 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

21 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

22 advisories   

n.（有关进展、动向、建议等的）报告( advisory的名词复数 )；公告；通告；通报

参考例句：

• Compliance with Practice Advisories is optional. 是否遵守实务公告由审计师自行选择决定。 来自互联网
• Hardened-PHP: not as such a PHP security information website, but it does have security advisories. 增强PHP:不仅仅是一个PHP安全新的网站，它还提供安全建议。 来自互联网

23 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。