VOA慢速英语2012--Education Report - Using National Parks as Classrooms

Education Report - Using National Parks as Classrooms

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
The National Park Service in the United States will mark its one hundredth anniversary in twenty-sixteen. As it nears its second century, the Park Service plans to increase its educational programs for students and teachers.
The plans include transportation support for one hundred thousand students each year to visit national parks to learn about nature and history.
Yellowstone is believed to have been the world's first national park when it was established in eighteen seventy-two.
Other students will get a chance to see parks in faraway places through Skype and other online programs.
The National Park Service also works with partners to provide education. One of its partners is a nonprofit organization called NatureBridge. NatureBridge is celebrating its fortieth anniversary and says one million young people have taken part in its programs.
The organization works with students from kindergarten through twelfth grade and uses national parks as its classrooms. It provides field science programs at Yosemite National Park and four other locations in California and the northwestern state of Washington.
Now, NatureBridge is launching an East Coast center with a four-million-dollar grant from Google. The program will begin in April at the Prince William Forest Park in Virginia.
Students stay for three to five days in NatureBridge programs. The activities are aimed at developing their science skills. For example, they learn about different soils and study water quality under a microscope.
Jason Morris is executive vice¹ president of NatureBridge. He says when they are not sleeping, eating or in a laboratory, the students spend their time outdoors.
Julia Washburn is associate director of education and interpretation² for the National Park Service. She says in a time of budget cuts, the agency has to find ways to still meet its goals.
JULIA WASHBURN: "We are not likely to get a lot of money in this current economy. This is about doing different work with the money that we have and redirecting resources into it."
Ms. Washburn says one of the most important services that the Park Service provides every day is nature interpretation. Park rangers³ try to make visiting the outdoors more meaningful.
JULIA WASHBURN: "Interpretation is a form of informal education. Essentially⁴, it is a word that we use for the people in parks that explain the park or help orient you. So park rangers are interpreters. They orient you to the place you are in and help you make connections, emotional and intellectual connections, with the place."
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can find captioned⁵ videos of our programs at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube. I'm Steve Ember.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

3 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 captioned   

a.标题项下的； 标题所说的

参考例句：

• This paper reviews the production, development and nationalization of the captioned materials. 本文就铜系合金引线框架材料的生产、发展和国产化进程作一论述。
• Please advise other considerable hotels for this captioned group. 请推荐其它一些高级的旅馆给这一群打标语的人。