报刊材料11范文

报刊材料报刊材料1111范文范文 White Sands National MonumentBroadcast Feb19 xxBy ShelleyGollust VOICE ONE This isSteve Ember VOICE TWO And thisis MaryTillotson withthe VOASpecial Englishprogram EXPLORATIONS Today wetell aboutone of the world s greatnatural wonders White Sands National Monument It isin thesouthwestern Americanstate ofNew Mexico Nature hascreated hugemoving hills of purewhite sand VOICE ONE At White Sands National Monument winds haveformed greathillsof sand calleddunes1 The sand dunes covermore thanseventy thousand hectares2of desert It isone of the largestsanddune fields in the UnitedStates The bright white sand dunes arealways changing always moving like waveson theocean Driven bystrong winds the sandmoves andcovers everythingin itspath It islike ahuge seaof sand VOICE TWO The sanddunes havecreated anextreme environment Plants and animals struggleto survive A fewkinds ofplants growquickly tosurvive burialby themoving sanddunes Several kinds of smallanimals have bee whitein colorin orderto hidein the sand White SandsNational Monumentprotects alarge partof thisdunefield It alsoprotects the plants andanimals that live there More thanfive hundred thousand peoplevisit White SandsNational Monument each year They climbon the dunes andobserve themoving seaof sand VOICE ONE You maywonder howall thissand arrivedin the area To understandthat you wouldhave totravel backin timetwo hundred fifty million years An inlandocean oncecovered thearea The minerals3calcium4and sulfur5were at the bottomof theocean Over time the waterslowly disappeared The calciumand sulfurremained The mineralsformed gypsum6rock Then seventy million yearsago the Earth s surface or crust pushed upward The rocksformed twogroups ofmountains Later the crustpulled apart The areabetween the mountains brokeand felldown It formeda half circle shapeof abowl This bowlof rockis knownas the Tularosa Basin VOICE TWO About twenty four thousand yearsago it raineda greatdeal in thearea The rainfilled theTularosa Basinand formedLake Otero The rainand snowthat washeddown themountains intoLake Oterocarried gypsumwith it Later Lake Oteroalmost pletelydried up Gypsum remained A strongwind movedinto thearea It blewacross theland forthousands ofyears Pieces of gypsum brokeoff The windwore themaway toa sizesmall enoughto pickup andcarry forshort distances Wherever thewind droppedsand dunes formed MUSIC VOICE ONE The sanddunes atWhite SandsNational Monumentare unusualbecause they are madeofgypsum Gypsum sandis differentfrom monsand Most sandis madeof quartz a hardsilicon7crystal8 Gypsum sandis madeof softercalcium sulfate It dissolveseasily inwater So it is rarelyfound in the formof sanddunes Most gypsumwould becarried awayby riversto thesea But theTularosa Basinis enclosed No riversflow outof it So waterwith dissolvedgypsum hasnowhere togo Gypsum sandis beingmade allthe time The dunescontinue toform andmove underthe influenceof waterand wind Water continuesto washdown from themountainscarrying dissolvedgypsum into theTularosaBasin Wind continuesto blowacross theBasin carryingthe gypsum The gypsumsand grainscrash intoeach other The crashcreates tinylines orscratches onthe surfaceof the sand These scratcheschange theway lightshines offthe surface This makesthe sandappear white The sanddunes looklike greatmasses ofbrightwhitesnow But theyare notcold andwet It onlyrains abouteighteen centimeterseachyear MUSIC VOICE TWO There arefour kindsofsanddunes atWhite SandsNational Monument Some of the dunes are smalland fast moving They are called domedunes becausetheyareshaped like a half circle Few ifany plantsgrow onthem These dunesmove thefastest up totwelve metersa year Other dunesarecalledtransverse dunes They formin longlines across thedunefield They cangrow to be one hundred twenty metersthick andeighteen metershigh Another kindof dunesare barchandunes They formin areaswith strongwinds buta limitedsupply ofsand These duneshave sand in threeparts likeabody in the centerand two arms onthe sides The sandin thetwoarmsmoves fasterthan the sandinthe center Parabolic9dunesarethe oppositeof barchan10dunes They formwhen plantshold sandintheouter partsofthedune butthe center ofthedune continuesto move MUSIC VOICE ONE You maywonder howanything canlive inthis extremeenvironment ofa whitesand desert There isnot muchrain The heatin summeris intense The sandlacks nutrients Yet almostfour hundred kindsof animalslive inWhite SandsNational Monument Many ofthem arebirds orinsects There arealso twenty six kindsof reptiles including rattlesnakes11and lizards12 And thereare more than fortykindsofmammals They includerabbits foxes andcoyotes Scientists knowthat plantsandanimalsoften changeto be able tolive inextreme environments For example they changecolor toprotect themselvesfrom enemies Many ofthe animalsthatliveinthesandduneshavebeewhite So itis difficultto seethe animalsinthesand There isanother reasonwhy youmay notbe ableto seethe animals Many ofthem remainunderground duringthe daywhen itis veryhot They eout atnight whenitiscooler You may beableto seetheir footprints VOICE TWO Plants dogrow inthe White Sands dunefield But evenplants thatgrow inmost desertshave troublesurviving A majorreason isthat the dunes buryany plantsin theirway asthey moveacrossthedesert Yet a fewplants havedeveloped techniquesto avoidbeing buriedby moving sand For example some plantsgrow tallerand theirroots growdeeper intothesand The soaptreeyua plantcan makeits stemgrow longerto keepits leavesabove thesand The plantgrows upto thirtycentimeters ayear MUSIC VOICE ONE White SandsNational Monumentis abouttwenty four kilometerssoutheast ofthe cityof Alamogordo New Mexico In thevisitor centerattheentrance ofthe park you canfind outabout specialactivities andguided walks From thevisitor center you candrive aboutthirteen kilometersintothecenterofthe dunes It islike drivingon alonely whitepla Along theway thereis informationthat tellsabout thenatural historyofthewhite sands You canalso exploretheduneson foot There arefour markedtrails Signs alongthe trailtell abouttheplantsgrowing inthesand You cansee someunusual andbeautiful plantsand flowersgrowing inthesanddunes But youmay notremove ordestroy anyplants oranimals atWhite Sands You caneven campthere overnight But youmust becareful It iseasy toget lostinthewaves ofmovingsandespecially duringsandstorms There isno waterto drink The temperaturecan riseto thirty eight degreesCelsius insummer There isno shelterfromthesun s rays VOICE TWO There isanother reasonto becareful atWhiteSandsNational Monument The WhiteSands MissileRange pletelysurrounds thepark It coversone million hectares The missilerange wasfirst usedas amilitary weaponstesting areaafter WorldWar Two It wasused totest rocketsthat werecaptured fromthe Germana