梅萨维德国家公园:古代北美洲土著人文化的保护地

Mesa Verde National Park: Protecting an Ancient Culture 梅萨维德国家公园:古代北美洲土著人文化的保护地

EDITOR'S NOTE: This year, the U.S. National Park Service turns 100. American’s 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, formed the National Park Service in 1916 to “protect the wild and wonderful landscapes” in the United States. Today, the National Park Service protects over 400 parks and historical sites from coast to coast. Every week, VOA Learning English will profile one of the sites within the National Park Service.

This week, our National Parks journey across the United States takes us to southwestern Colorado.

We are visiting a large U.S. national park called Mesa Verde. It was established to protect the culture of ancient Native Americans.

Mesa Verde National Park is over 100 years old. In 1906, then President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill creating the park.

Mesa Verde offer visitors a look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo¹ people, who lived in the area between 700 and 1,400 years ago. The national park protects almost 5,000 archaeological sites. They are some of the best preserved archeological areas in the country.

The term “Mesa Verde” is Spanish for “Green Table.” Early Spanish explorers gave the name to the area.

In geology², a “mesa” is a flat-topped highland³ with steep sides. Mesa Verde is not actually a mesa. It is a cuesta -- a term used to describe a hill with a sharp drop on one side and a soft, gentle slope on the other. A more correct name for the national park, then, would be “Cuesta Verde.”

The gently sloping side of Mesa Verde was important in the formation of the 600 cliff dwellings⁵ within the park. Cliff dwellings are living areas that were set up in caves -- the large, open areas in the side of the cliff.

Mesa Verde rises more than 540 meters above the ground. Visitors can drive to the top of the hill on a winding⁶ mountain road. In the distance are the flatlands and mountains of an area called the “Four Corners.” That is where the western states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona meet.

Some of the ruins in the Four Corners are from the earliest people who lived there. They were hunters and gatherers, now known as Basket Makers⁷.

The Basket Makers lived in simple caves. The first evidence that ancient people had moved to Mesa Verde is from about 1,500 years ago. Those people lived in pit houses, large holes in the ground with wood and mud covering the top.

In the eighth century, the early Pueblo people began building square structures of large connected rooms, or pueblos⁸, above ground. More than 300 years later, they climbed down the canyon⁹ walls and began building cliff dwellings.

Today, visitors to Mesa Verde National Park can see some of the remains¹⁰ of all four kinds of settlements. Visitors are able to explore several of Mesa Verde’s renowned¹¹ cliff dwellings. Many of them take several hours to reach by foot. Signs along some of the paths point to trees and plants used by the Ancestral Puebloan people. Visitors will also find the juniper and pinon pine trees that make Mesa Verde green.

Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling⁴ in Mesa Verde and North America. It has 150 rooms. It is not easy to get to Cliff Palace. Visitors must climb down into the canyon on a narrow path with many steps. They must also climb down several ladders. But the trip is well worth the effort. Visitors can examine this beautiful structure made of stone and clay.

Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde. It has 114 rooms. It also has eight underground rooms called kivas. Pueblo Indian men gathered in the kivas for ceremonies.

Spruce Tree House is usually the easiest cliff dwelling to visit. The path winds down into the valley and then up to the ruins. But visitors have not been able to explore Spruce Tree House since October of 2015, after rocks fell near the area. Park officials closed the site for safety reasons.  

Mesa Verde National Park occupies 21,000 hectares of land in Montezuma County, Colorado. About 500,000 people visit the park each year.

Archeologists working in Mesa Verde have recovered many objects that the ancient Pueblo people used, including tools and jewelry¹². Many of the objects can be seen in the visitors’ center. However, human remains or any object from a burial area may not be touched or shown. This is to respect the wishes of the modern Puebloan people who live in the area today.

Mesa Verde has been recognized as a special place. The United Nations named it as one of the first World Heritage¹³ sites in 1978. 

As part of the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, Mesa Verde is offering special “backcountry” tours. Visitors can take a long walk to Spring House, the largest unexcavated cliff dwelling in the park. The old structure is very fragile¹⁴. It has 86 rooms and seven kivas. Because some areas could break off easily, visitors cannot enter the cliff dwelling. But the area offers beautiful views.

National Park Service guides also offer early morning walks to Balcony House. Balcony House is considered a medium-size cliff dwelling. It has 40 rooms. Visitors can climb a ladder, crawl through a long and narrow passageway and climb a steep cliff with stone steps.

Then, they can watch the sun rise from inside Balcony House, and begin their day just as the Pueblo Indians did hundreds of years ago.

Today's Pueblo Indians consider Mesa Verde a sacred place. And for visitors from around the world, it remains a place of mystery and beauty.

Words in This Story

site - n. a place where something important has happened

preserved - adj. kept in its original state or in good condition

steep - adj. almost straight up and down : rising or falling very sharply¹⁵

slope - n. ground that slants¹⁶ downward or upward : ground that slopes

renowned - adj. known and admired by many people for some special quality 

ladder - n. a device used for climbing that has two long pieces of wood, metal, or rope with a series of steps or rungs between them

fragile - adj. easily broken or damaged

unexcavated - adj. not yet uncovered and explored by archaeological researchers

1 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

2 geology   

n.地质学，（某地）地质

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• In his lecture on geology,he touched on the subject of climate.他在关于地质学的报告中，也涉及气候问题。

3 highland   

n.(pl.)高地，山地

参考例句：

• The highland game is part of Scotland's cultural heritage.苏格兰高地游戏是苏格兰文化遗产的一部分。
• The highland forests where few hunters venture have long been the bear's sanctuary.这片只有少数猎人涉险的高山森林，一直都是黑熊的避难所。

4 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

5 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

7 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 pueblos   

n.印第安人村庄( pueblo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

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 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

12 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

13 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

14 fragile   

adj.易碎的，脆的，易损坏的，虚弱的，脆弱的

参考例句：

• The old lady was increasingly fragile after her operation.那位老太太手术后身体越来越虚弱。
• This glass disc looks very fragile.这个玻璃盘子看起来很容易碎。

15 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

16 slants   

（使）倾斜，歪斜( slant的第三人称单数 )； 有倾向性地编写或报道

参考例句：

• Most handwriting slants to the right. 大多数字体是向右倾斜的。
• That tree slants to one side because of the heavy winds. 因为刮大风，那棵树歪倒一边去了。