书城外语英语PARTY——绿色花园之国·新西兰
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第10章 宜人风景Natural Scenery(2)

Its power grows every metre as it draws strength from countless drains, streams and springs. On its journey, the Waikato River churns through the turbines of eight dams, lighting much of the North Island. It feeds on sewage from eight towns and one city, Hamilton, and is mixed with treated waste from 10 or more major industries. It,s warmed by Huntly Power Station, thickened by fertilisers and leachates from rubbish dumps, pumped into orchardsorchard n.果园, 果园里的全部果树, <美俚>棒球场 and farms for irrigation, and drunk by 140,000 people.

The Waikato became a working river when Tainui migrated to the region and began to farm its banks. Eventually, they saw the river as being inextricably linked with their own history. They still view the river,s banks, water, fish and plants in a holistic way, and have lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal.

The Huka Falls

The Huka Falls is New Zealand,s most visited natural attraction. The thundering Huka Falls provides a fantasticfantastic adj.幻想的, 奇异的, 稀奇古怪的, 荒谬的, 空想的 photo opportunity - more than 220,000 litres of water tumbles over the cliff face per second! Located in Wairakei Tourist Park, just a short drive north of Taupo, there is an Information Centre located by the falls and several viewing platforms provide excellent vantagevantage n.优势, 有利情况 points.

The Huka Falls are really something of a misnomer. They don,t so much “fall” as, well, shoot sideways. That is, if you tip your head on an angle and squint a little, it,s an impressive fall. Not that it,s not impressive - it,s just not much of a fall.

What are impressive are the thick, tumbling rapids above the falls. The hundredmetrewide river is cut abruptly to just 15m as it crosses a hard volcanic ledge. Almost 250 cusecs (that,s 250,000 litres per second!) passes through this narrow chute and under a pedestrian bridgepedestrian bridge n.人行天桥, before before bursting out of its rapids, over the 11m falls, and back, but still shaken and milky, into the leisurely sprawlsprawl n.四肢伸开的躺卧姿势, 蔓生 v.四肢伸开地坐(或卧), 爬行, 蔓生, 蔓延 of the Waikato River.

This popular track follows the river above the falls, and combines well with other activities in the area.

The Waikato River system is the most highly developed for electricity generation in New Zealand. It supplies eight hydroelectric stations and provides cooling water for two geothermal and one thermal station.

The eleven stations on the Waikato produce 65% of the North Island,s power generation and approximately 25% of New Zealand,s hydro power. This is 15% of New Zealand,s total power.

The level of the Waikato River above Huka Falls is controlled by the Lake Taupo control gates bridge on State Highway 1. Installed in the 1940s they allow the use of large volumes of water stored in Lake Taupo for power generation.

Between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. the river flows are normally increased to meet the high electricity demand during the day and early evening. Overnight the flow drops as the normal demand for electricity reduces.

The average daily flow over Huka Falls is 160 cubiccubic adj.立方体的, 立方的 metres per second. Upstream you can see where the river, 100 metres wide and 4 metres deep is forced into a channel 15 metres wide and 10 metres deep.

Auckland Domain

奥克兰中央公园

奥克兰中央公园坐落在奥克兰市中心,是奥克兰市民们假日休闲的最佳休憩场所。游客可以在这里享受难得的宁静与日光,伴随着清脆的鸟鸣声,可说是忙碌的都市人最渴求的生活。如果开着车子绕着康乃尔公园向上行,还可见到成群牛羊怡然自得地慢慢吃草,难怪有人说,到新西兰会让人的心情整个松懈下来。

Created in 1845, Auckland Domain is the city,s oldest, largest and most attractive park, with gardens, a sculpturesculpture n.雕刻, 雕刻品, 雕塑, 雕塑品, [地理] 刻蚀 v.雕刻, 雕塑, 刻蚀 walk (currently featuring work by some of New Zealand,s leading artists, and to be completed in 2006), pathways and ponds, a winter garden with cool and tropicaltropical adj.热带的, 热情的 houses, and the Fernz Fernery, with over 100 types of fern. The 81hectare (202acre) domain is situated on an extinct volcano, known as pukekawa or “hill of bitter memories”. Within the domain is the Auckland Museum, the city,s most visited attraction, combining its GrecoRoman style architecture with a contemporarycontemporary n.同时代的人 adj.当代的, 同时代的 take on the presentation of the displays. The ground floor is devoted to “The People”, the middle to “The Place” and the top to “New Zealand at War”, while a small area on the middle floor is given over to the Children,s Discovery Centre. The displays include various interactive and audiovisual components. The museum also houses one of New Zealand,s most important collection of Maori and South Pacific artefacts and the Manaia cultural performances of song, heralded by a conch blast that reverberates through the museum at 1100 and 1330.

The Auckland Domain is a park built on one of Aucklands, extinct volcanic cones. At the highest point is the Auckland Museum. There is a war memorial in front of the museum where the dawn parade is held every year on ANZAC Day. This is the day when we remember those who died in the various wars New Zealand was involved in as an ally.

Inside, on the ground floor are the main attractions for most foreign visitors: the Maori and Polynesian exhibits. There are Maori shows three times daily (extra charge) but it would be better to see a show in Rotorua. On the other floors there are many different exhibits some of which change from time to time.

The domain is home to the Wintergarden greenhouse which houses tropical and temperate plants. There is a duck pond nearby that is popular with families. There are many outdoor concerts and events (such as Christmas in the Park, a carol singing event) that are held in the wide crater in the domain. The crater is also used for cricket, soccer and rugby games year round.

Auckland Museum is located on a hill in the South East part of the Domain. The museum is one place particularly worth visiting in Auckland. It has the world,s largest collection of Polynesian artifacts, as well as a great display of objects relating to New Zealand,s natural history. It also houses a Children,s Discover Centre. There is also a 30 metre long Maori war canoe which was originally carved from a single totara tree some 150 years ago. Tours of the Maori exhibit are provided, and at 11∶15a.m. and 1∶30p.m. daily the Pounamu Maori dance group performs in the museum.