Ghost Towns

Ghost Towns, written by Kira Fried. Focus question, what is a ghost town? How does a town become a ghost town?

《鬼城》，基拉·弗里德 著。 探究问题：什么是鬼城？ 一座城镇是怎么变成鬼城的？

deserted town. In the summer of 1862, John White found gold by Grasshopper Creek in what is now southern Montana. News of his discovery spread quickly. Within a few months, hundreds of prospectors had arrived at Grasshopper Creek in hopes of striking it rich. By the following year, About 3 ,000 people lived in the town known as Bannock. Millions of dollars worth of gold was found in the area over the next few years. However, once gold became hard to find, Bannock turned into a ghost town.

就是被人遗弃的空城镇。 1862年夏天，约翰·怀特在如今蒙大拿州南部的蚱蜢溪发现了黄金。 他发现黄金的消息很快就传开了。 短短几个月，数百名淘金者就赶到了蚱蜢溪，都盼着能一夜暴富。 到第二年，这座名叫班诺克的小镇已经住了大约三千人。 接下来几年里，这片区域挖出了价值数百万美元的黄金。 可等到黄金越来越难找，班诺克就变成了一座鬼城。

Ghost towns are human settlements where people no longer live. As shown on the map above, these empty towns are found around the world and each one has a story to tell. Residents often leave a town because of some kind of threat or because their work disappeared. Visitors walk among the empty buildings and imagine what life was like for the people who once called these places home.

鬼城就是再也没有人居住的人类定居点。 正如上方地图所示，这些空城镇遍布世界各地，每一座都有属于自己的故事。 居民离开城镇，往往是因为遭遇了某种威胁，或是赖以生存的工作消失了。 游客穿行在空荡荡的建筑间，想象着曾经把这里当家的人们过去过着怎样的生活。

Many ghost towns like Banak are abandoned after a resource runs out. In 1908, a railroad worker found a sparkly gem in southern Africa's Namib Desert. When word got out that his find was a diamond, people flocked to the region. Soon after, the town of Coleman's Cop grew. Eventually, after diamonds became harder to find there, a better supply was discovered several hours to the south, and people moved away.

很多像班诺克这样的鬼城，都是资源枯竭后被废弃的。 1908年，一名铁路工人在非洲南部的纳米布沙漠发现了一块亮晶晶的宝石。 消息传开，人们知道那是钻石后，纷纷涌向这片区域。 很快，科尔曼科普镇就发展起来了。 最终，这里的钻石越来越难开采，人们又在南方几小时路程外发现了储量更丰富的矿脉，于是全都搬走了。

A former settlement at the end of the world is now a haunting ghost town. Gritveken was once a busy whaling port on South Georgia, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean. For close to sixty years, beginning in 1904, dozens of companies on South Georgia hunted whales for meat and blubber. More than 175 ,000 whales were killed there. Over time, there were fewer whales around the island. Whaling companies were gone by 1965, and everyone left. Buildings, boats, and equipment remain in gritvegan.

这座坐落于世界尽头的古定居点，如今是一座阴魂不散的鬼城。 格里特维肯曾经是南乔治亚岛繁忙的捕鲸港口，南乔治亚岛是南大西洋中一座偏远的岛屿。 从1904年开始，近六十年间，南乔治亚岛的几十家公司猎杀鲸鱼获取鲸肉和鲸脂。 这里一共猎杀了超过十七万五千头鲸鱼。 久而久之，小岛周边的鲸鱼越来越少。 到1965年，捕鲸公司全部撤走，所有人也都离开了。 建筑、船只和设备都留在了格里特维肯。

Forces of nature, events in nature can cause settlements to become ghost towns. Before 1995, the Caribbean island of Montserrat was home to more than 10 ,000 people. A volcano on the island had not been active for more than 300 years. In July 1995, the volcano erupted, and it's been erupting ever since. Lava, gases, and dangerous clouds of hot ash spill out of the volcano. The south half of Montserrat is now deserted, and the capital, Plymouth, was destroyed by an eruption. More than half of the island's residents have moved away for good.

自然的力量：自然事件也会让定居点变成鬼城。 1995年之前，加勒比海的蒙特塞拉特岛生活着一万多名居民。 岛上的一座火山已经三百多年没有活动过了。 1995年7月，这座火山喷发了，并且从那之后一直不断喷发。 熔岩、毒气和危险的热火山灰云不断从火山涌出。 蒙特塞拉特岛的南半部分如今荒无人烟，首府普利茅斯也被喷发摧毁了。 岛上超过一半的居民已经永远搬走了。