亚利桑那州石化林国家公园:古代和壮观

Petrified¹ Forest National Park: Ancient and Spectacular 亚利桑那州石化林国家公园:古代和壮观

This week on our national parks journey, we travel to the southwestern state of Arizona. There, we find a strange and colorful landscape. Yellow, red, and even purple rocks and sand cover the hilly earth. Huge pieces of ancient trees twist in unusual ways.

The area is the only national park that includes a part of the historic U.S. Route 66.

Welcome to the Petrified Forest National Park!

The word “forest” may mislead visitors. The park is in a desert. And the word “petrified” -- which can mean “afraid”-- may scare visitors away!

But fear not. “Petrified Forest” gets its name from the trees that have, over millions of years, turned to stone. That natural process is called fossilization.

Much of the Petrified Forest formed from tall trees called conifers. They grew over 200 million years ago near waterways. During floods, water forced the trees to be pulled up from the ground. Over time, the wood from the trees became petrified.

The Petrified Forest National Park is one of the wonders of Arizona. It sits within the Painted Desert.

A Spanish explorer in the 1500s gave the place its name. It is easy to see why.

The desert looks like an artist’s canvas. Brilliantly colored mudstones and clays cover the land as far as the eye can see. They contain bentonite, a clay that is the product of changed volcanic² ash.

The oldest geological formations in the park are about 227 million years old. Differently colored formations show different time periods.

The Blue Mesa formations, for example, have thick bands of grey, purple, blue and green mudstones. They are about 220 million years old.

Ancient history

Evidence of humans in the Petrified Forest dates back 13,000 years.

People first came here after the last Ice Age. Early Paleoindian groups used the petrified wood to create different kinds of stone tools. They used them to hunt large animals.

The climate warmed over several thousand years. Humans began building villages here and growing food, such as corn, squash and beans.

In the 900s, people in the area began building above-ground houses, called pueblos⁴. They also made pottery⁵ for cooking and other uses. Scientists today find evidence of early pottery and pueblo³ homes all over Petrified Forest National Park.

A long and severe drought in the early 1400s forced most of the people living here to move. But new groups soon arrived.

European explorers came in the 1500s. By the 1800s, American pioneers began settling in the area. And, by the 1920s, American motorists were traveling on U.S. Route 66. The road winds through the heart of the Painted Desert.

Long before humans entered the area, though, dinosaurs⁷ dominated. Petrified Forest National Park is a world-class area for fossil research. The fossil record at the park preserves some of the earliest dinosaurs.

The dinosaur⁶ fossils are from the Late Triassic period, called the “dawn of the dinosaurs.” They help scientists reconstruct ancient environments.

Creating a National Park

The land here was set aside as a national monument in 1906. Congress moved to protect it because of its unique ecosystem⁸, record of human history and dramatic southwestern scenery. It became a national park in 1962.

More than 800,000 people visit the Petrified Forest National Park each year. The best way to explore the park is by foot. The National Park Service maintains many kilometers of walking trails.

The Crystal Forest trail is a one-kilometer path. It is named for the crystals that can be seen on the pieces of petrified wood.

The trail is one of the best chances to see this fossilized wood up close.

The Petrified Forest includes many shapes and sizes of wood, from large logs to stumps⁹ to the smallest remains¹⁰ of plants. Most of the petrified wood found in the park is made up of quartz¹¹. Quartz is a hard, colorless mineral. The wood sometimes shines in the sunlight as if covered by glitter.

The Painted Desert Rim¹² trail offers visitors a good chance to see the park's wildlife.

Lizards¹³ and rabbits are common. So are snakes and foxes.

Early morning or evening are the best times to see animals. These are also the times when the sun makes the Painted Desert the most colorful and spectacular.

But whenever you choose to visit, the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert will awaken¹⁴ your senses and your curiosity about this ancient place.

Words in This Story

fossil - n. something (such as a leaf, skeleton, or footprint) that is from a plant or animal which lived in ancient times and that you can see in some rocks

fossilization - n. the process of becoming a fossil

petrified - adj. used to describe something (such as wood) that has slowly changed into stone or a substance like stone over a very long period of time?

geological - adj. related to the rocks, land, processes of land formation, etc., of a particular area?

dominate - v. to be most common?

dramatic - adj. attracting attention : causing people to carefully listen, look, etc.

scenery - n. a view of natural features (such as mountains, hills, valleys, etc.) that is pleasing to look at?

glitter - n. light that shines in small, bright points?

1 petrified   

adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• I'm petrified of snakes. 我特别怕蛇。
• The poor child was petrified with fear. 这可怜的孩子被吓呆了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

3 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

4 pueblos   

n.印第安人村庄( pueblo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

5 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

6 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

7 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

9 stumps   

（被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分

参考例句：

• Rocks and stumps supplied the place of chairs at the picnic. 野餐时石头和树桩都充当了椅子。
• If you don't stir your stumps, Tom, you'll be late for school again. 汤姆，如果你不快走，上学又要迟到了。

10 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。

11 quartz   

n.石英

参考例句：

• There is a great deal quartz in those mountains.那些山里蕴藏着大量石英。
• The quartz watch keeps good time.石英表走时准。

12 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

13 lizards   

n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nothing lives in Pompeii except crickets and beetles and lizards. 在庞培城里除了蟋蟀、甲壳虫和蜥蜴外，没有别的生物。 来自辞典例句
• Can lizards reproduce their tails? 蜥蜴的尾巴断了以后能再生吗？ 来自辞典例句

14 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。