美国国家公共电台 NPR--Flooding was the downside to California's heavy rain. The upside: gold

Flooding was the downside to California's heavy rain. The upside: gold

Transcript¹

Floodwater in California has stirred up new deposits of gold in rivers and streams across the state. It's sparking what some are calling Gold Rush 2.0.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

OK, now, consider this - a lone² figure, knee-deep in a creek³, bent⁴ over a metal pan, sifting⁵ through dirt and gravel⁶ in search of gold. No, not a scene from the 1800s. It's California today during what some are calling gold rush 2.0.

ALBERT FAUSEL: Since our big rains this summer, the rivers and the creeks⁷ have really flooded and brought a lot of new material off the banks into the river, which has made kind of like a little gold rush going on here.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

That's Albert Fausel. He owns a hardware store in Placerville and sells equipment for searching for precious metals.

FAUSEL: I've got people from New York coming over. I've got people from San Francisco just taking a day trip up here. People from even Idaho coming down here.

FADEL: These conditions for prospecting⁸ gold are like nothing Nick Prebalick has seen before.

NICK PREBALICK: What it used to be like - we'd have to dig for a lot longer just to get down to the gold. Right now, we're able to get down to where the gold is real easy without even digging hardly at all.

MART?NEZ: Prebalick's family has been gold mining for generations. He spoke⁹ to us while he was out at Wood's Creek, near Jamestown, Calif.

PREBALICK: You're looking at the creek right now. It's real peaceful, you know, just to hear the running water. You know, it's kind of meditative¹⁰. At the same time, it is a lot like fishing. It's a mixture between fishing and playing a slot machine - you know? - 'cause you could hit some money just all of a sudden, too.

FADEL: Prebalick is known to his friends as Nugget Nick. He says he hits the jackpot a lot, as recently as last weekend.

PREBALICK: I found about $250 worth of gold. I was out here all day, but I might have done a couple hours' worth of digging the whole time. That's $125 an hour. That's a pretty good wage.

FADEL: Nugget Nick also teaches people to pan for gold, though he says it's not the way to get rich quick.

PREBALICK: The thing about doing it for a living is that if you don't find gold that day or enough that month, how are you going to pay all your bills? It's a much better hobby. If you're counting just on the gold to pay your bills, I wouldn't count on that.

MART?NEZ: Hardware store owner Albert Fausel agrees, but says some people do get lucky.

FAUSEL: I'd say you're joining a lot of people, and it's tough out there. It's not as easy as it looks. But some people do get lucky on their first try. And I think you could, you know, find that pocket of gold or you could hit that vein¹¹ or you could even maybe hit some, you know, lost artifact, like a $20 gold piece that a miner dropped out of his pocket.

MART?NEZ: Hey, as long as I can turn that gold piece into a chain, it'd be worth it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 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。

2 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

3 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

4 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

5 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

6 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

7 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

8 prospecting   

n.探矿

参考例句：

• The prospecting team ploughed their way through the snow. 探险队排雪前进。
• The prospecting team has traversed the length and breadth of the land. 勘探队踏遍了祖国的山山水水。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 meditative   

adj.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌，智者思虑。
• Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。

11 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。