VOA新闻杂志2025--Yellowstone: The World’s First National Park

Yellowstone National Park in the western United States was the world's first national park.

Established in 1872, it is famous for its geothermal activity and wild animals. It includes beautiful mountains, deep canyons², lakes and rivers.

Yellowstone is still one of the largest national parks in the U.S. It takes up almost 9,000 square kilometers. Most of the park lies within the western state of Wyoming.

The park is unusual because of what lies underneath³ it. It sits on top of an ancient super volcano, known as the Yellowstone Caldera. The caldera remains⁴ an active volcano.

A lake of hot liquid rock is about six kilometers under the park. Experts say this lake is under huge amounts of pressure. The pressure and heat cause geysers to shoot hot water out of the ground and mud to boil at Yellowstone.

The park is home to more than 300 geysers. There are more geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone than any other place on Earth. “Old Faithful” is the name of the park's most famous geyser because it erupts about every 90 minutes.

Yellowstone is on a high plateau with an average height of 2,400 meters above sea level. This makes the weather very cold in winter, with January temperatures averaging between -18 degrees and -7 degrees Celsius⁵. However, some areas of the park remain open to visitors throughout the year.

Yellowstone Canyon¹ is about 365 meters deep. The Yellowstone River runs through it and drops 93 meters in the Lower Falls. Visitors can walk on a path that brings them very close to the top of the falls. There, they can see and hear the powerful falls.

In summer of 1988, forest fires burned large areas of the park. Most of those areas are now covered with plants and young trees.

Home to wildlife

Yellowstone is home to the largest group of wild animals in the lower 48 United States. These include bison, grizzly⁶ bear, elk⁷, deer, moose, fox, beaver⁸, coyote and wolves. In 2024, park officials estimated the bison population to be about 4,500 animals. That makes it the largest group of wild bison in the world.

There is still a wild west in America...and its name is Yellowstone.

I'm Andrew Smith.

Andrew Smith wrote this story.

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Words in This Story

geothermal –adj. describing geological or volcanic⁹ activity that is the result of underground heat

geyser –n. a hot spring that periodically shoots boiling water high into the air as underground steam pressure builds up and is released

plateau –n. an area of land that is flat at the top and higher than surrounding land

1 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。

2 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

3 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

4 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。

5 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

6 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

7 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

8 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

9 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。