VOA标准英语2011--US National Park Attendance Declines

US National Park Attendance Declines

Would you like to visit one of America’s awe-inspiring national parks? Yosemite in California, perhaps, with its soaring cliffs and cascading¹ waterfalls?
Or something warmer as fall turns into winter here in the northern hemisphere, such as Florida’s Everglades swamp or a southern battlefield site from the U.S. Civil War?
You’ll certainly be welcome, because so far this year, visitation to the nation’s 395 national parks and historic sites is down about five percent from last year, when park attendance declined 7.5 percent from the year before.
National Park Service officials are a bit perplexed² by this, since park visitation usually rises in tough economic times. It's cheaper than many other vacation options.
But the prolonged length of the economic downturn and continued high gasoline prices have taken their toll⁴. Don’t forget, a lot of visitors who stay in park campgrounds arrive in large campers and recreational vehicles, which are notorious gas guzzlers.
It has also been two years since Ken³ Burns piqued⁵ interest in the national parks with an acclaimed⁶ documentary film about their history and beauty.
And although there’s no way to get an actual count, anecdotally park rangers⁷ are reporting a considerable drop-off in what is usually one of the strongest segments of park tourism: visitors from Europe, where the strength of the euro against the dollar had made trips to the United States a bargain.
But the euro’s value has fallen vis-à-vis the dollar, and combined with the instability of several economies on the continent, it’s thought that lots of European families that might have checked out the misty⁸ hollows of the Great Smoky Mountains or the flaming sunsets over the Grand Canyon⁹ stayed closer to home this year.

1 cascading   

流注( cascade的现在分词 )； 大量落下； 大量垂悬； 梯流

参考例句：

• First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先，无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。

2 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

3 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 piqued   

v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心）

参考例句：

• Their curiosity piqued, they stopped writing. 他们的好奇心被挑起，停下了手中的笔。 来自辞典例句
• This phenomenon piqued Dr Morris' interest. 这一现象激起了莫里斯医生的兴趣。 来自辞典例句

6 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

7 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

8 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。

9 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。