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EXPLORATIONS - The Columbia River

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EXPLORATIONS - The Columbia River
By Oliver Chanler

Broadcast: Wednesday, March 09, 2005

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about the Columbia River that flows through the American Northwest.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

 
The Columbia River. (Picture - USGS)
It is said by many that the Columbia River is the most beautiful river in North America. It flows from the Canadian province of British Columbia into the United States through the northwestern state of Washington. It is the fourth largest river in North America, and the largest that empties into the Pacific Ocean.

The Columbia begins its two-thousand kilometer trip to the Pacific Ocean in Canada at Columbia Lake. That is just west of the main part of the Rocky Mountains in southeastern British Columbia. It flows mainly south into the northwestern United States until it makes a big turn to begin flowing west. It is at this point that the Snake River enters the Columbia. As it flows west, the Columbia forms much of the border between the states of Oregon and Washington before it reaches the Pacific Ocean.

VOICE TWO:

The great river flows through deep valleys and narrow places called canyons1. It passes through two large series of mountains – the Cascades2 and the Coast mountains -- and it crosses desert areas and flows through lands of great forests.

The Columbia and the rivers that flow into it gather water from a huge area of more than six-hundred-seventy-thousand square kilometers. That is about the size of France.

VOICE ONE:

Large ocean going ships can sail up the lower Columbia River, as far as Vancouver, Washington. Smaller ships can continue up the river about three-hundred kilometers from the Pacific Ocean. However, these ships must pass through devices3 known as locks. Locks can change the level of the water. In a lock, a ship can be raised or lowered to another level where it can sail on. Small boats can travel another two-hundred-twenty kilometers up the river. There are locks for river traffic along this part of the river too. These locks and the many dams on the river were built in the last century as part of development projects.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The first white explorer to see the Columbia River was an American named Robert Gray. Seeking increased trade for the new United States, he sailed from the eastern city of Boston in Seventeen-Eighty-Seven to the Pacific Northwest. He found the river in Seventeen-Ninety-Two.

Robert Gray named the river after his ship, the Columbia Rediviva. On a second trip to the area, he explored the lower parts of the river. Gray's exploration of the river helped the United States claim what became known later as the Oregon Territory.

VOICE ONE:

 
Meriwether Lewis. (Picture - NPS)
In Eighteen-Oh-Five, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark reached the Columbia River area by traveling across land from the east. They were the first explorers to do this. The two men had been sent to explore what was called the Louisiana Territory. The United States had purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in Eighteen-Oh-Three.

 
William Clark. (Picture - NPS)
President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the territory. He hoped that the explorers would find a river that could provide a direct waterway across the North American continent that could be used for trade and business. The two-year trip probably is the most famous story of American exploration.

VOICE TWO:

When Lewis and Clark arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean in Eighteen-Oh-Five, Americans were already living there. Fur traders such as David Thompson had settled there earlier. Thompson was with a company dealing4 especially in animal skins used in making clothes in the eastern United States and in Europe.

In Eighteen-Eleven, members of the Pacific Fur Company arrived in the area to establish their business. The company was owned by John Jacob Astor. They established Fort5 Astoria on the edge of the Columbia River in what later became the state of Oregon. The fort became the modern town of Astoria. It is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.

VOICE ONE:

The Columbia River was at the center of the new American settlement in Pacific Northwestern territory, then known as the Oregon Territory. For many early settlers it was known as the Oregon River or the River of the West. However, the name given to the river in Seventeen-Ninety-Two became its final name – the Columbia.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Native Americans had lived in the Columbia River area for an estimated6 ten-thousand years. To them, the river represented the center of life for the surrounding land. The river provided7 these first Americans with their most important food, fish known as the Pacific Salmon8.

Salmon can grow to weigh as much as twenty-five kilograms. They spend most of their lives in the salt waters of the northern oceans. But they are born in the fresh waters of rivers. When the huge fish are ready to reproduce9, they swim hundreds of kilometers from the ocean up the rivers to the places where they first knew life.

After laying their eggs at the end of this long trip, the salmon die, their circle of life completed. No one knows how many thousands and thousands of years the salmon have been doing this.

VOICE ONE:

In Eighteen-Sixty-Six, the first salmon processing factory was built on the edge of the Columbia River. In less than twenty years about thirty similar factories were supplying world markets with salmon caught on the river in nets, traps, and wheels. In Eighteen-Eighty-Three, almost twenty-million kilograms of salmon were caught on the river. By the Nineteen-Sixties, only two-million kilograms of Columbia River salmon was sent to markets.

The salmon population has been severely10 reduced because humans have blocked the flow of the river. The salmon can no longer go back to the places of their birth on the Columbia and the other rivers that flow into it.

VOICE TWO:

In the Twentieth Century, huge dams were built on the Columbia. There are fourteen dams on the river. These dams serve at least three purposes. They provide electric power. They provide river water to grow crops. And they control flooding.

The largest of the dams on the Columbia is the Grand Coulee Dam. It is about halfway11 between the beginning and the end of the river. It was completed in Nineteen-Forty-One. Before then, about twenty-five-thousand salmon swam up the Columbia River into Canada to lay their eggs. Thousands of them would swim all the way to Columbia Lake, where the river begins. When the dam was completed, the salmon could no longer swim up the river.

VOICE ONE:

All the fourteen dams on the Columbia are not like the Grand Coulee Dam. Some of them were built with what are called fish ladders. These ladders permit salmon to swim past the dams to go up the river. Many of the two-hundred-fifty dams on the rivers that flow into the Columbia also have such devices built into them. Yet the dams have changed the Columbia from a free flowing river to a series of lakes linked by the water that is permitted to flow through.

The dams produce great amounts of electricity. The result is energy whose costs are lower for expanding development in the Pacific Northwest. The lakes that remain behind the dams provide water for agriculture along the river. This is especially true in what once were dry, desert areas in central Washington State. So, the Columbia River and the dams are extremely important to the economy of the Pacific Northwest.

VOICE TWO:

There are many people who believe that dams are not good. Biologists, environmentalists, Indian tribes12, and fishermen argue that at least some of the dams should be removed or changed to permit water to flow as it once did. They say that there is no longer a natural balance of the river. Opponents13 of the dams say humans should make an effort to live together with other life forms on Earth. Supporters of the dams believe the river should be controlled for human use even though other life forms may be harmed.

This argument is expected to last many years.

VOICE ONE:

Most of the great rivers of North America and the rest of the world have great cities on them. But not the Columbia River. The Hudson River has New York City. The Mississippi River has a number of great cities along it. The Seine has Paris. The Nile River has Cairo. Along the Columbia, however, the human population is spread more thinly. And, most of the people who live along the beautiful Columbia River would not want to live anywhere else.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This VOA Special English program was written by Oliver Chanler and produced by Caty Weaver14. This is Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

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


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 canyons 496e35752729c19de0885314bcd4a590     
n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
  • Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存? 来自互联网
2 cascades 6a84598b241e2c2051459650eb88013f     
倾泻( cascade的名词复数 ); 小瀑布(尤指一连串瀑布中的一支); 瀑布状物; 倾泻(或涌出)的东西
参考例句:
  • The river fell in a series of cascades down towards the lake. 河形成阶梯状瀑布泻入湖中。
  • Turning into the sun, he began the long, winding drive through the Cascades. 现在他朝着太阳驶去,开始了穿越喀斯喀特山脉的漫长而曲折的路程。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦
3 devices e0212e54ec3a2a120ca0d321b3a60c78     
n.设备;装置( device的名词复数 );花招;(为实现某种目的的)计划;手段
参考例句:
  • electrical labour-saving devices around the home 节省劳力的各种家用电器
  • modern labour-saving devices such as washing machines and dishwashers 诸如洗衣机和洗碗机之类的现代化省力设备
4 dealing NvjzWP     
n.经商方法,待人态度
参考例句:
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
5 fort pi3x4     
n.要塞,堡垒,碉堡
参考例句:
  • The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
  • No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证,任何人不得进入要塞。
6 estimated CtGzc2     
adj.根据估计的
参考例句:
  • She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
  • The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。
7 provided PkNzng     
conj.假如,若是;adj.预备好的,由...供给的
参考例句:
  • Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好,我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
  • I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨,我就来。
8 salmon pClzB     
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的
参考例句:
  • We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
  • Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗?
9 reproduce yVkxZ     
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。
10 severely SiCzmk     
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地
参考例句:
  • He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
  • He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。
11 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
12 tribes f3d6790faa976a2695d01a08f7b2ba64     
n.部落( tribe的名词复数 );(动、植物的)族;(一)帮;大群
参考例句:
  • tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
  • In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 opponents a1486754c511a0dd96487e99c9f05812     
n.对手,敌手( opponent的名词复数 );反对者
参考例句:
  • Somehow he always manages to outwit his opponents. 他反正总能设法智胜对手。
  • to use strong-arm tactics against your political opponents 用强制手段对付政敌
14 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

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