EXPLORATIONS - Volcanoes National Park

EXPLORATIONS - Volcanoes² National Park
By Paul Thompson

Broadcast: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

 
Lava³, liquid rock, shooting into the air.
And this is Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Today, we visit two of the most unusual national parks in the United States. They are Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park, both in Hawaii.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Let me ask you a question: What is the tallest mountain on Earth? Most school children will say the answer is Mount⁴ Everest near the border between Nepal and Tibet.

There is something that is three-hundred-four meters taller than Mount Everest. However, it is mainly underwater. It begins at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and rises more than seventeen kilometers from the ocean floor.

 
Mauna Loa, the long mountain, is the world's biggest volcano¹.
Its name is Mauna Loa. In the Hawaiian language, Mauna Loa means "Long Mountain." Mauna Loa is more than half of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands.

It is also the largest and most active volcano on Earth. It has produced liquid rock called lava more than thirty times since records were first kept in Eighteen-Forty-Three. Today, Mauna Loa is quiet. It is not producing lava. However volcano experts say it is only a matter of time before this happens once again.

VOICE TWO:

Mauna Loa is not the only volcano on the island of Hawaii. There are four others. Three of them are no longer active. One of them still is active. It is named Kilauea. It has produced lava more than fifty times in the last one-hundred years. At this moment, red hot lava is pouring out of Kilauea. It has been doing this since Nineteen-Eighty-Three.

 
Kilauea crater⁵ is still very active.
Sometimes the lava moves slowly. At other times it pours out very fast as huge amounts of pressure force it from the volcano. During these times, it moves almost as quickly as water moving down the side of a mountain. Sometimes Kilauea produces large amounts of lava that seem like rivers of fire.

VOICE ONE:

When the lava from Kilauea reaches the ocean, its fierce heat produces great amounts of steam that rise into the air. The lava is so hot it continues to burn underwater for some time. The lava from Kilauea continues to add land to the island as the volcanoes of Hawaii have always done. It is these volcanoes that formed the islands of Hawaii.

Most of the time the lava of Kilauea seems to move peacefully toward⁶ the ocean. Yet it is not as peaceful as it seems from a distance. In recent years the lava destroyed one small town on the island. The liquid rock slowly covered the town. It blocked roads and destroyed them. Nothing can stop the lava of Kilauea. Experts say the volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea are a serious threat to property on many parts of the island.

Experts say the volcanoes of the island of Hawaii are proof⁷ that the changing environment of Earth is, and will always remain, beyond human control.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Mauna Loa and Kilauea together form Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii. But another national park has a huge volcano. It is on the island of Maui. It is the Haleakala National Park. Haleakala in the Hawaiian language means "House of the Sun."

Haleakala is another huge volcano. Together with a smaller, much older volcano it helped form the island of Maui. It is no longer considered to be active. In about Seventeen-Ninety, two areas in the side of the huge volcano opened and lava came out. The lava moved down the mountain and into the sea. That was the last recorded activity at Haleakala.

The volcano that contains Haleakala National Park rises three-thousand-fifty meters above the sea. We would like to take you for a visit to Haleakala. For a few minutes, sit back while we drive the road up to the top of the volcano.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our trip begins near the ocean today. We drive through the city of Kahului. We see businesses and homes, the buildings you find in any American city. There are more flowers than in many American cities. The Hawaiian Islands are famous for their flowers.

Soon the road begins to go up. The road moves back and forth⁸ and around corners as it moves up the face of the mountain. At times our driver must slow the vehicle and turn very sharply⁹. Soon, there are no more homes or stores.

From the city of Kahului to the top of Haleakala is about fifty-five kilometers. We will be three-thousand-fifty meters higher at the top of the mountain.

Very soon, we no longer see trees. We have traveled too high for them to survive. Soon there are only a few plants. Then there is nothing but black lava rock. At one place, we begin to enter the clouds that hang close to the mountain. Our driver turns on the head lights of the vehicle. Ten minutes later, we are above the clouds in the bright sunshine.

The road is good, so the trip takes only about an hour.

VOICE TWO:

The National Park Headquarters¹⁰ is about two kilometers from the top. Park officials at the information center tell you about the history of the volcano. They say that it is very safe…today. They also tell you that it could very well become active again. The experts just do not know.

We soon leave the Park Headquarters and travel up again, this time to the top. There is an area here to leave our vehicle. We walk the last few meters to the top.

As we reach the top, almost everyone says similar things. How strange! Did the violence of a volcano form this? This is so beautiful!

VOICE ONE:

We are on the top looking down inside what was the most active part of the volcano. The shape is almost like a circle except the sides have been stretched…almost the shape of an egg but longer.

There are only a few plants here and no trees. However the volcano has left thousands of different shapes of lava stone. Hundreds of years of rain and bright sun have cut long paths in the stone.

Time has turned the oldest lava to a soft sand. There are huge mountains. There are also smaller hills that seem to be made of ash or sand. The place is a riot¹¹ of color.

One big mountain seems to be a deep dark red. Another area seems almost yellow. Another is green, and still another is a beautiful brown color. One area is colored gray that seems to move into a deep black. It looks as if someone has spilled many colors of paint over the huge area. The volcano produced these colors because the lava is very rich in many kinds of minerals.

VOICE TWO:

The area we are seeing stretches for a long distance. This morning, high on the mountain in the bright sun, we can see almost forty kilometers of the park. And this is only part of it. There are eleven-thousand-five-hundred-ninety-six hectares of land in the park.

Some of the park is closed to visitors. Scientists do research in those areas. Experts are trying to learn how to grow and protect some of the very unusual plants that live in Haleakala.

One of these plants is called the Silver Sword. It grows only in Hawaii. It has long thin silver leaves. It is very beautiful and unusual.

The Hawaiian Nay-Nay goose also lives here. It is a large bird. Visitors are asked not to come too near the Nay-Nay. Experts are helping¹² both the Silver Sword plants and the Nay-Nay geese to reproduce¹³ so they will not disappear from the Earth.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Thousands of visitors each year enjoy Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui, and Mauna Loa and Kilauea on the island of Hawaii. Ships stop at the two islands and buses take the groups of visitors to see these huge volcanoes.

VOICE ONE(cont):

Many people also fly over the volcanoes in airplanes or helicopters. This is a safe and popular method of watching Kilauea's lava moving slowly toward the ocean. Other people see it from ships.Visitors also may walk into the rain forest created by the volcano thousands of years ago. Here they can see Waimoku Falls where water drops one-hundred-twenty meters down the face of a mountain.

Both parks offer visitors a sight of nature that most people never have the chance to enjoy. Visitors can see how an active volcano adds mass to the island. And they can see inside a volcano that has been silent for hundreds of years.

The United States Park Service is responsible for both Haleakala and the Hawaii National Volcanoes Park. It works¹⁴ hard to keep both these areas as nature created them.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. Our recording¹⁵ engineer today was Bob Phillips. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

1 volcano   

n.火山

参考例句：

• The volcano unexpectedly blew up early in the morning.火山一早突然爆发了。
• It is most risky to go and examine an active volcano.去探察活火山是非常危险的。

2 volcanoes   

n.火山( volcano的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Volcanoes and geysers erupt. 火山和间歇喷泉均能喷发。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has been able to tell us more about active volcanoes than any man alive. 他现在比任何人都能更多地向我们讲述有关活火山的情况。 来自《用法词典》

3 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。

4 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

5 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

6 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

7 proof   

adj.防...的，耐...的，能防护；n.校样，证据，证明；vt.检验，给...做防护措施

参考例句：

• He is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.他是当代医学奇迹的活证明。
• The proof was fished up from some old papers.校样在旧文件中被找到了。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 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。

10 headquarters   

n.司令部，指挥部；总部，总店

参考例句：

• Several great guns from the headquarters are coming to see us today.总部的几个大人物今天要来看我们。
• The bank has its headquarters in Pairs.这家银行的总行在巴黎。

11 riot   

n.暴（骚）乱，（色彩等）极度丰富；vi.聚众闹事

参考例句：

• They had to call the police in order to put down the riot.他们只得叫来警察以平定骚乱。
• Flowers of all sorts are blooming in a riot of colour.百花盛开，万紫千红。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。

14 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

15 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。