美国国家公共电台 NPR--A 200-year-old Saguaro cactus has fallen due to a powerful monsoon

A 200-year-old Saguaro cactus¹ has fallen due to a powerful monsoon²

Transcript³

Catalina State Park officials in Arizona believe powerful monsoon rains brought it down last month. Its trunk has splintered and its large arms are now sprawled⁴ on the ground.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For around 200 years, a special saguaro cactus stood tall in the Arizona desert. Its longest arms stretched almost 30 feet into the air. And now that desert giant has fallen. Its trunks have splintered. And its large arms lay sprawled on the ground.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Steve Haas, the park manager at Catalina State Park, says monsoon rains likely led to its demise⁵.

STEVE HAAS: Mid-June through now, we've had about 12 1/2 inches of rain. And so it was very wet. It was very windy.

MART?NEZ: These slow-growing succulents can take seven years to reach a height of six feet. And though the death of this giant is sad news for some, it still has a role to play.

HAAS: The coolest part about it is, you know, as it rots over the next decades, you know, it's going to provide habitat. It's going to provide food. It's going to provide shelter for all sorts of creatures.

MARTIN: The remains⁶ of the cactus will stay where they are, full of holes from gila woodpeckers and cactus wrens⁷. This saguaro fell just a few weeks after a bacterial⁸ infection killed another iconic saguaro known as Strong Arm, which lived to 150 years.

MART?NEZ: In spite of the recent loss of these two beloved desert icons⁹, Haas notes that many others are still standing¹⁰ strong.

HAAS: There's a lot of younger ones here. And, you know, they grow so slowly. But it's neat to see a mix of - you want some old ones. But then you want a lot of regeneration, a lot of young saguaros.

MART?NEZ: Haas says saguaro are special in every season and in every season of their lives.

HAAS: When it's really hot, you know, that's when they send out their flower. And so then you have bats that pollinate it and birds that pollinate it. And then - you know, and then when they drop their fruit come monsoon season, all those red, little seeds, you know, everybody uses those seeds in terms of eating them. And, yes, it's sad that it fell. But now it's even providing more habitat for critters and stuff.

MART?NEZ: So the saguaro will slowly return to the soil right where it stood all that time along the Romero Ruins.

(SOUNDBITE OF NAIM AMOR'S "STUCK")

1 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

2 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

3 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。

4 sprawled   

v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawled full-length across the bed. 他手脚摊开横躺在床上。
• He was lying sprawled in an armchair, watching TV. 他四肢伸开正懒散地靠在扶手椅上看电视。

5 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 wrens   

n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Other songbirds, such as wrens, have hundreds of songs. 有的鸣鸟，例如鹪鹩，会唱几百只歌。 来自辞典例句

8 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

9 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。