风滚草不属于这里：英语精读讲义

Bouncing across a scene,

弹跳着穿过画面，

tumbleweed established the Wild West as Western. 表達脈絡

风滚草奠定了狂野西部的西部风格。

But more than just props, 語法

但不仅仅是道具，

tumbleweed are real and tumbleweed are alive.

风滚草是真实的，而且是活的。

Well, they were alive.

准确地说，它们曾经是活的。

Each tumbleweed starts as a tiny seed on the craggy landscape,

每一棵风滚草都始于崎岖地表上的一粒微小种子，

putting down roots,

扎根，

up branches,

长出枝叶，

opening flowers,

开花，

and through the miracle of life

通过生命的奇迹

birthing seeds,

孕育出种子，

itty-bitty baby tumbles-to-be.

也就是极小的未来风滚草宝宝。

Now,

那么，

dropping these seeds straight down

如果直接把种子掉在脚下

won't give the tumble tots their best head start. 短語搭配

并不能给这些风滚草宝宝最好的起跑线。

So, what's a parent plant to do 語法

所以，母株该怎么做

but sacrifice their life for their children?

才能为了孩子牺牲自己呢？

To intentionally starve themselves,

故意将自己饿死，

to die,

死亡，

and to dry,

变干，

to catch the wind,

乘风而起，

to shuffle off this mortal coil, 習語

摆脱这尘世的束缚，

to bounce across the land,

在大地上弹跳，

to chance their children to find fertile ground,

碰运气让孩子们找到肥沃的土地，

to root,

扎根，

to sprout,

发芽，

to grow,

生长，

to flower,

开花，

to continue the circle of life.

延续生命的循环。

It's beautiful, really.

真的很美。

These humble tumble rolling across the West

这些不起眼的风滚草在西部翻滚着

in search of empty land to colonize 短語搭配

寻找空地进行殖民

are as iconically West as Westerners Westerning, 語法

和拓荒西部的西部人一样具有标志性的西部特色，

because neither are natives.

因为它们都不是本地物种。

Before the 1800s,

在19世纪初之前，

there were no homesteaders and no tumbleweed in the West.

西部既没有拓荒者也没有风滚草。

Tumbleweed are an invasive species 用詞

风滚草是一种入侵物种

and a deeply unwelcome one.

而且极其不受欢迎。

It's time to get real about the trouble with tumbles. 習語

是时候认真谈谈风滚草带来的麻烦了。

Now,

现在，

you might be thinking, 表達脈絡

你可能在想，

"If the West is mostly empty and tumbleweed arrived and survived,

"如果西部大部分地区都是空地，而风滚草到达并存活了下来，

what's the big deal?

有什么大不了的呢？

They're kind of nice."

它们挺可爱的。"

And you know what?

但你知道吗？

You're right, 語氣意圖

你说的对，

kind of.

某种程度上是。

Tumbles are like snow.

风滚草就像雪一样。

A little is charming, 表達脈絡

少一点很有魅力，

but a lot is a problem.

但多了就是个麻烦。

And a lot, a lot, dangerous.

非常非常多的时候，就是危险了。

Tumbleweed stick to things and each other.

风滚草会粘在物体上，也会互相粘连。

One stuck tumble becomes two,

一个卡住的风滚草变成两个，

10,

十个，

a tumulus.

一个大草堆。

The American interior has vast swaths of land, 短語搭配

美国内陆有着大片广袤的土地，

and after a tumble terrain takeover,

在风滚草占领地形之后，

one big windstorm can drown a village under thousands of the things.

一场大风暴就可以用成千上万个风滚草淹没一个村庄。

With people quickly finding their roads 語法

人们会很快发现他们的道路

and vehicles

和车辆

and even homes inaccessible.

甚至家门都被堵死了。

If you've never seen tumbles on the move 短語搭配

如果你从未见过风滚草移动

or the aftermath of that,

或者移动后的景象，

it's unreal.

那简直难以置信。

And though a tumble drift looks like a brown snowdrift,

虽然风滚草堆看起来像棕色的雪堆，

this snow is full of thorns.

但这“雪”却充满了刺。

If you're thinking of a rose,

如果你联想到了玫瑰，

think again. 習語

重新想想吧。

On tumbles,

在风滚草上，

it's all thorns.

全都是刺。

Brittle to break off in your skin

很容易折断扎进你的皮肤

or horse-skin

或是马的皮肤里

where it can fester.

在那里化脓发炎。

Clearing tumbleweed isn't just painful, 語法

清理风滚草不仅令人痛苦，

but also infuriating.

而且让人恼火。

A tumbleweed drift is both bouncy and sticky.

一堆风滚草既有弹性又黏糊糊的。

You're going to have to fork them one at a time. 短語搭配

你只能用叉子一个个把它们叉走。

Tedious at best, 語法

往好了说是乏味，

Sisyphean at worst. 文化背景

往坏了说就像推石头的西西弗斯一样徒劳。

You might want to use industrial equipment,

你可能会想使用工业设备，

but be careful.

但要小心。

Tumbleweed are shockingly flammable.

风滚草极其易燃。

Dry and airy,

干燥通风，

but still branch dense,

却又枝叶茂密，

they are min-maxed kindling. 文化背景

它们是完美的生火引子。

A tumbleweed will go up in flames 習語

一个风滚草燃烧起来

way fast

极快

and burns way hot.

且温度极高。

More on that later. 表達脈絡

稍后再详细说这个。

But even if you manage to clear the town and all the open land around the town, 語法

但即使你设法清理了镇子和镇子周围所有空地上的风滚草，

a single missed seed contains the next tumble torrent.

只要漏掉一粒种子，就会孕育出下一波风滚草狂潮。

For, while many plants use flowers to attract bees to cross-pollinate and reproduce, 表達脈絡

因为，虽然许多植物用花吸引蜜蜂异花授粉和繁殖，

not tumbles.

风滚草不这么做。

Their flowers have nothing for bees.

它们的花对蜜蜂没有吸引力。

Instead,

取而代之的是，

exploding pollen directly into the wind.

直接向风中喷射花粉。

Hope you don't have allergies to cross-pollinate.

希望你对风媒花粉不过敏。

And tumbles don't need two to tango. 習語

并且风滚草不需要成对配合。

A lone tumbleweed can fu-pollinate itself.

一棵孤独的风滚草就能完成该死的自花授粉。

So, that single missed seed will grow up to be a tumblin' weed

所以，那粒被漏掉的种子长大后会成为一棵风滚草

containing tens of thousands of seeds,

包含数以万计的种子，

hundreds of thousands if it gets large enough.

如果长得足够大甚至会有数十万粒。

A single tumble tumbling to town one year 表達脈絡

一年里只有一棵风滚草滚进镇子

leaves a tumble trail the next

下一年就会留下一整条风滚草轨迹

and an exponential explosion thereafter.

随后便是指数级的爆发。

And then,

而且，

there's the danger to agriculture,

还有对农业的威胁，

which brings us to the start of this. 表達脈絡

这把我们带回了故事的起点。

A time before tumbleweed in America

在美国出现风滚草之前的时代

and a time before homesteading.

以及宅地法颁布之前的时代。

It's the 1800s and the start of Westerners Westerning,

这是19世纪初，西部人开始开拓西部的时代，

building their first farms and tiny towns.

建立他们最早的农场和小城镇。

Growing enough food to feed the adolescent nation was vital. 習語

种植足够的食物来养活这个年轻的国家至关重要。

Nearly everyone's job had to be farming.

几乎所有人的工作都是务农。

And the newly created Department of Agriculture had the job of writing pro tips on how best to do that,

新成立的农业部的任务就是编写关于如何最好地务农的专业建议，

along with collecting seeds and samples from the new continent, 語法

并且收集来自这片新大陆的种子和样本，

which is how all was normal

一切都很正常

until one day a letter arrived for DOA.

直到有一天农业部收到了一封信。

Hey,

嘿，

there's this a tumbling weed giving us some trouble.

有这种翻滚的杂草给我们带来了一些麻烦。

Can you come take a gander? 習語

你能来看看吗？

And so she did, 表達脈絡

于是她去了，

arriving to find South Dakota in bad shape.

到了之后发现南达科他州的情况很糟糕。

A weedy infection rapidly developing,

杂草侵袭正在迅速蔓延，

damaging the food supply.

破坏着食物供应。

These new weeds stole ground nutrients for themselves

这些新的杂草为自己抢夺土壤养分

before crops could even be planted. 語法

甚至在农作物还没种下之前。

Or they would grow in between crops,

或者它们会长在农作物之间，

choking them out. 短語動詞

窒息它们。

During harvest,

在收获季节，

they hurt the draft animals

它们会伤害役用牲畜

and clogged or broke the newly mechanized farm equipment.

还会堵塞或损坏新机械化的农业设备。

Early estimates were crop losses of 20%

早期估计由于风滚草造成的农作物损失

because of the tumbles.

高达20%。

DOA tried to constrain the situation using education.

农业部试图通过教育来控制局面。

Wanted: tumbleweed. 文化背景

通缉：风滚草。

Kill on sight.

见一个杀一个。

AKA prickly thistle, 用詞

又名带刺蓟草，

AKA Kali Tragus

又名俄罗斯刺沙蓬

AKA the wind witch,

又名风之女巫，

AKA the Russian thistle.

又名俄罗斯蓟。

This, by the way,

顺便说一下，

is the motherland where the species is native

那个地方正是这个物种的原产地

and from where crop seed contaminated with tumble seed probably came

很可能含有风滚草种子的受污染农作物种子就是从那里来的

to arrive in South Dakota

并抵达南达科他州

on perhaps a single farm to start the infection,

也许是从单个农场开始传播，

which grew worse by the year. 短語搭配

然后一年比一年严重。

And the Department of Agriculture's efforts to stop it were futile.

农业部试图阻止它的努力是徒劳的。

Way too much land, 語法

土地太大，

far too few people.

人太少。

Worse, this new land was Tumbletopia,

更糟糕的是，这片新土地简直是风滚草的乌托邦，

and still is.

直到现在依然如此。

See this run of rectangle states?

看到这一连串矩形排列的州了吗？

It's the Great Plains,

这是大平原，

abutting the Great American Desert,

紧邻美国大沙漠，

an enormous stretch of land,

一片广阔延伸的土地，

flat, open, windy.

平坦、开阔、多风。

South Dakota's neighbors had no chance,

南达科他州的邻居们束手无策，

nor neighbors' neighbors. 語法

邻居的邻居们也是如此。

From patient zero, 用詞

从零号病人开始，

boom.

轰！

By the turn of the century, 短語搭配

到了世纪之交，

the tumbleweed infection covered the interior,

风滚草之灾覆盖了内陆，

eventually spreading north to Canada and south down to Mexico.

最终向北蔓延到加拿大，向南蔓延到墨西哥。

America's mountains were a barrier for a while

美国的山脉曾经作为屏障维持了一段时间

until tumbleweed hitched a ride on the trains that had freshly connected the continent. 習語

直到风滚草搭上了刚刚连接整个大陆的火车的顺风车。

Jaunting over the mountains west and east

向西和向东跨越山脉短途旅行

to establish themselves in every spare pocket of empty land.

在每一块空地的边角扎根。

Oh, dear.

噢，天哪。

But it gets better. 語氣意圖

但事情变得更糟了。

Back to fires,

回到火灾的话题，

specifically prairie fires.

具体来说是草原大火。

A nice big field of dry wheat is just begging to burst into flames. 習語

一大片干燥的麦田简直是在乞求被点燃。

The only early tech to stop fires was to build firebreaks, 用詞

早期阻止火灾的唯一技术是建立防火带，

physically stopping the flames with neat, straight, vitally empty stretches of land the fire could not cross.

用整齐、笔直、完全空旷、火无法越过的土地从物理上阻挡火焰。

But more perfect tunnels for tumbles you could not make. 語法

但你不可能造出比这更完美的风滚草通道了。

Even if the firebreaks were kept clear, 表達脈絡

即使防火带保持畅通，

fire makes its own wind,

火势本身会产生风，

sucking in cold air from ground level to blow out hot, up, and over.

从地面吸入冷空气，把热空气向上向外吹。

Thus, transforming tumbles into fireballs to breach the break.

从而把风滚草变成火球越过防火带。

So started the first volley in the war on tumbleweed. 表達脈絡

于是打响了对抗风滚草战争的第一枪。

But for the Department of Agriculture to eradicate the infection from the interior farmland and towns where they did the most damage

但是，要让农业部从内陆农田和遭受破坏最严重的城镇根除这种感染，

would mean not only catching every weed and seed across a third of a continent 語法

将意味着不仅要在横跨三分之一个大陆的范围内抓住每一根杂草和每一粒种子

with the cooperation of two annoyed international neighbors,

还需要两个被激怒的国际邻国的合作，

but also finding every patch of infection across the mountains in the other two thirds,

还要在跨越山脉的另外三分之二的土地上找到每一片感染区，

an impossible task.

这是一项不可能完成的任务。

So, uh, that's why tumbleweed are still here 表達脈絡

所以，厄，这就是为什么风滚草现在依然存在

and have been around for so long and in such numbers

而且存在了这么久、数量这么多

people forget there was ever a before time.

以至于人们忘记了曾经没有它们的时代。

But not the United States Department of Agriculture. 表達脈絡

但美国农业部没有忘记。

From the 1800s to 1900s to 2000s,

从19世纪、20世纪一直到21世纪，

still trying to rid America of the weed, 短語搭配

他们仍在努力清除美国的这种杂草，

but so far without success.

但至今仍未成功。

That is the trouble with tumbles.

这就是风滚草带来的麻烦。