VOA常速英语:Badlands Carved by Water and Wind

National parks traveler Mikah Meyer was impressed with the four presidential faces, Gutzon Borglum and his son carved into Mount Rushmore in 1941. But he was awed by what nature had carved into the soft rock of Badlands National Park.
国家公园旅行者米卡·迈耶对格增和他儿子于1941年雕刻在拉什莫尔山上的四位总统的雕像印象深刻。但他对于大自然在荒地国家公园软石上留下的鬼斧神工则充满敬畏。
“We got up in the helicopter just before the storm and flew over this incredible landscape. It goes for miles and miles, and it’s all of these jagged looking peaks that are created by the erosion of really soft rock.”
我们在风暴来临之前起飞，飞过这片不可思议的土地上空。它绵延数英里,那些锯齿状的山峰都是由岩石的侵蚀而形成的。
The Lakota called this area ‘mako sica’ which means badlands, because the terrain was hard to travel through or live in. But the Badlands landscape also includes mixed grass prairie and rugged spires.Nearly a million visitors come to the park each year to marvel at that landscape and wander through it.“Hiking along the door trail you not only get an up-close look at the terrain you’re walking on, but also in a close look at these eroded landscapes.”The erosion that created this landscape is continuing at the rapid rate of about two and a half centimeters a year, and that can make for a challenging hike.
拉科塔人把这个地区叫做“mako sica”，意思是“荒地”，因为这里的地形很难穿越或居住。但是荒地景观也包括混合的草地和崎岖的尖塔。每年有近一百万游客来到这个公园，惊叹于这一景观，并漫步其中。沿着门径徒步旅行，你不仅能够近距离观察你所处的地形，而且能近距离观察这些被侵蚀的景观。造成这一景观的侵蚀正在以每年大约2.5厘米的速度持续进行，这将是一次极具挑战性的徒步旅行。
“You know this is a bit of rough trail, but that hard work leads to amazing view.”The sedimentary rocks of the Badlands contain one of the world’s largest and most complete collection of mammal fossils.But there are dozens of mammal species still wandering the park today.
你知道，这是一条崎岖的道路，但辛苦的过程能带来令人惊叹的美景。荒地的沉积岩中含有世界上最大、最完整的哺乳动物化石。但是今天仍然有许多哺乳动物在公园里游荡。
“Check out this dude walking down the middle of the road.”A storm came through while Mikah was in the park and left behind the promise of a brighter day.“You know I can’t even capture this rainbow on one camera shot, but do you see how it goes all the way up there into the clouds and then it comes back down, beautiful.”
看看这家伙走在路中间。麦卡在公园时，暴风雨来袭并且留下了关于美好明天的承诺。我甚至不能在一个镜头里捕捉到完整的彩虹，但是你可以看到它是怎么冲上云层又落下来的，太漂亮了。
But the most incredible part of Badlands National Park came at sunset.“This is my second sunset in Badlands National Park and I am hooked.I feel like it’s impossible to take a bad picture at this time of day. The light coming from the West and hitting these rocks with their red stripes.And yet during the daytime it just Sun beating down, and the Sun starts to set, and it cools down, and the magic just comes out.”Ancient magic in the Badlands of South Dakota.
但是在荒地国家公园最不可思议的美景是日落时分。这是我在荒地国家公园经历的第二个日落，我被深深地吸引住了。我觉得一天中的这个时刻拍不出难看的照片。光线从西边倾泻而下，在岩石上洒下斑驳的红色。白天的时候太阳炙烤着岩石，等太阳落山了温度降下来，魔法就显现出来了。古老的魔法在南达科他州的荒地国家公园上演。
I’m Faith Lapidus VOA News.
我是VOA记者费思。