VOA标准英语2010年-Talk About a Wide River!

The Everglades on a rainy afternoon present a lush picture of tranquility. Of course, you can't see the mosquitoes here.

Recently, in a story about the Okefenokee swamp that straddles the Florida-Georgia state line. We noted² that it's a true swamp, unlike the more famous Everglades that cover a whole lot of South Florida.

In fact, Everglades National Park could be called the world's widest river. It's a vast, extremely slow-moving sheet of water — 180 kilometers (112 miles) wide and no more than a meter deep in most places — stretching all the way from the edge of Miami on the Atlantic Coast across to Naples on the Gulf³ of Mexico.

This lovely photo of the Everglades at dusk was made into a postcard in the early 1900s.

You could call the glades¹ a River of Grass, too: bristly yellow sawgrass that can slice you open

The Everglades were once a formidable frontier. When the United States was pushing Spain out of Florida in the 19th Century, its fiercest foe⁴ was a band of Seminole Indians who harbored escaped U.S. criminals and southern slaves in the Everglades on dry patches of ground called hammocks. 

In the early 20th Century, when Miami, now a great international city, had only 1,600 residents, nobody could figure out how to drain the Everglades or overcome the hordes⁵ of mosquitoes that brought yellow fever and attacked work crews who tried to lay railroad ties or build towns.

Over the years, though, engineers solved the drainage problem, and the edges of the great River of Grass were steadily⁶ drained for housing developments, canals, and roads. Sometimes the results were disastrous⁷, as vegetation dried and caught fire, and ditches siphoned away fresh water.

If you look carefully between the two white rocks, you'll spot a couple of sunning gators, waiting for their next splash - and meal.

Wildlife has also been threatened as the glades shrink. The National Park Service estimates that the number of wading⁸ birds has declined from a quarter of a million in the 1930s to fewer than 20,000 today.

But you'll still see plenty of alligators⁹. They sun themselves along the old, two-lane state road through the Everglades, and may be diminished but are still an awesome¹⁰ sight. There's nothing like them, anywhere in the world.
 

1 glades   

n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Maggie and Philip had been meeting secretly in the glades near the mill. 玛吉和菲利曾经常在磨坊附近的林中空地幽会。 来自辞典例句
• Still the outlaw band throve in Sherwood, and hunted the deer in its glades. 当他在沉思中变老了，世界还是照样走它的路，亡命之徒仍然在修武德日渐壮大，在空地里猎鹿。 来自互联网

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

5 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》

6 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

7 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

8 wading   

（从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The man tucked up his trousers for wading. 那人卷起裤子，准备涉水。
• The children were wading in the sea. 孩子们在海水中走着。

9 alligators   

n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Two alligators rest their snouts on the water's surface. 两只鳄鱼的大嘴栖息在水面上。 来自辞典例句
• In the movement of logs by water the lumber industry was greatly helped by alligators. 木材工业过去在水上运输木料时所十分倚重的就是鳄鱼。 来自辞典例句

10 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.