Yellowstone A Place of Wild Wonders

Yellowstone, a place of wild wonders. Written by Mike Stark. Focus question. What is Yellowstone, and why do people visit there?

黄石公园，一片充满狂野奇观的土地。 作者：迈克·斯塔克 核心问题 黄石公园是什么？人们为什么要去那里游览？

Introduction. Imagine a place where streams of hot water shoot out of the ground and into the air. Imagine a place with strange green pools and gurgling pots of mud that smell like rotten eggs. Imagine a place where you can see grizzly bears, bison, and wolves in a single day.

引言： 想象一下，有个地方滚烫的水流会从地下喷涌而出，直冲云霄。 想象一下，有个地方有诡异的绿色水池，还有汩汩冒泡的泥塘，闻起来像臭鸡蛋一样。 想象一下，有个地方你一天之内就能看到灰熊、北美野牛和狼。

Such a place is real, and it's called Yellowstone National Park. National parks are areas of special protected land. Yellowstone is located where Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho meet. It became the world's first national park in 1872. Every year, millions of people visit to see its wild wonders.

这样的地方真实存在，它就是黄石国家公园。 国家公园是受到特殊保护的陆地区域。 黄石公园坐落于怀俄明州、蒙大拿州和爱达荷州的交界处。 1872年，它成为了世界上第一座国家公园。 每年都有数百万人前来游览，观赏它的狂野奇观。

A HOT SPOT Most everyone who goes to Yellowstone wants to see Old Faithful Geyser. A geyser is a hole in the ground that shoots steam and hot water into the air. Old Faithful was given its name because visitors can depend on it to spray about every 90 minutes. It shoots water 100 feet 30 meters high.

地热热点 几乎每个去黄石公园的游客都想看一看老忠实间歇泉。 间歇泉是地表的孔洞，会向空中喷射蒸汽和热水。 老忠实泉得名的原因是游客可以信赖它大约每90分钟就会喷发一次。 它喷出的水能达到100英尺（30米）高。

Yellowstone is on top of something rare called a hotspot. Heat from Earth's core makes rocks under the ground super hot. Rain seeps into the ground with the rocks and heats up. The hot water and steam travel up through cracks in the ground. Finally, water and steam erupt at the surface. Old Faithful is one of about 300 geysers in Yellowstone. The hotspot has also created hot pools of gurgling mud and thousands of colorful hot springs.

黄石公园坐落在一种名叫“热点”的罕见地质结构上方。 地核散发的热量把地下的岩石加热到极高的温度。 雨水渗到地下接触到这些岩石，就会被加热。 热水和蒸汽顺着地表的裂缝向上流动。 最终，水和蒸汽会从地表喷发出来。 老忠实泉是黄石公园大约300座间歇泉中的其中一座。 这个地热热点还造就了汩汩冒泡的滚烫泥塘，以及数千个色彩斑斓的热泉。

Wildlife. When people go to Yellowstone, they also see animals of all shapes and sizes. The biggest animals in Yellowstone are bison, which can weigh up to 2 ,000 pounds, 907 kilograms. Bison are giant animals with shaggy brown fur, a big head, and a hump on their back. In the summer, you might see them rolling in the dust to fight off flies and shed their old fur.

野生生物 人们去黄石公园的时候， 还能看到各种形态、大小各异的动物。 黄石公园里体型最大的动物是北美野牛， 体重最高可达2000磅（907公斤）。 北美野牛体型庞大，长着蓬松的棕色皮毛，脑袋很大， 背上还有一块隆起的肉。 夏天的时候，你可能会看到它们在尘土里打滚，用来驱赶苍蝇，还能脱掉旧皮毛。