德克薩斯春天的花海景色醉人
Spring has just sprung in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means an annual natural spectacular is just a couple of weeks away, deep in the heart of Texas.
春天已經來到了北半球，這也意味着在德克薩斯州的中心地區，一年一度的自然界盛事即將到來。
There are no other natural wonders in the rugged Texas Hill Country. No awe-inspiring canyons, no snow-covered peaks or rain forests or raging mountain streams. Most of the time, the appeal of this tapestry of cedar and oak trees, lazy streams, and low limestone cliffs is more modest.
德克薩斯州崎嶇的希爾山地沒有什麼奇特的自然景觀。那裏既沒有讓人產生敬畏之心的大峽谷，也沒有白雪皚皚的山峯，更沒有熱帶雨林或者奔騰的山間溪流。一年中的大部分時間，人們在這裏看到的就是杉樹和橡樹枝繁葉茂，小溪緩緩流淌，以及低矮的石灰崖延伸至遠方，一切都顯得那麼平淡。
But there’s nothing modest about a Hill Country spring. In 1991, George Oxford Miller published a book of photographs of the region. In the text, the environmental photojournalist wrote that "excitement comes in small packages." He found what he described as "air unadulterated with human additives, stars undimmed by city lights, the uninterrupted sounds of nature, and fields of flowers unblemished by footprints."
但是，希爾山地的春天絕不平淡。1991年，環境攝影師喬治·米勒出版了一本該地區的攝影集。米勒在書中寫道，“這裏純淨的空氣沒有被人類活動污染，滿天的繁星沒有被城市的燈光遮掩，大自然的聲音沒有受到驚擾，無際的野花沒有被踩在腳下。”
Four hundred species of flowers, including Indian paintbrushes, prickly poppies, flowering herbs, and the most compelling blossom of all - the bluebonnet, the Texas state flower.
德克薩斯州有400多種野花，包括印第安火焰草、薊罌粟、草藥花、以及盛開怒放的德克薩斯州花矢車菊。
"Everybody that I know of, and probably 90 percent of all Texans, have got a picture of either their dog or their child or somebody in the bluebonnet fields," John Thomas told us. He founded Wildseed Farms, the largest flower-seed-producing operation in the nation in the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg.
野花種子農場的創辦人約翰·托馬斯告訴記者，他認識的每個人，以及大約90%的德克薩斯人，都至少有一張家裏的寵物狗、孩子或者其它家人在矢車菊花海中照的照片。托馬斯經營的農場位於希爾山地的弗雷德裏克斯堡市，是全國最大的花籽生產基地。
The area is also known as Tex-Deutsch country. Fredericksburg was founded by German settlers when the area was still open prairie.
這個地區通常被人們稱爲“德克薩斯德國郡”。弗雷德裏克斯堡當年是德國定居者創建的，當時那裏還是一片荒蠻的大草原。
You’ll still find German architecture, oom-pah bands, German dresses and lederhosen - even Mexican-style tacos stuffed with sausage and sauerkraut.
如今，人們還可以在那裏找到德國建築物，演奏巴伐利亞傳統音樂歐帕帕的樂隊，德國服裝，以及德式皮短褲，甚至在典型的墨西哥食物Taco玉米卷中，當地人都塞滿了德國人喜歡的香腸和泡菜。
But the big spectacle is reserved for spring, when thousands of tourists, 80 per cent of them Texans, come to see the hillsides ablaze in wildflowers - especially the bluebonnet.
不過，當地最大的盛事仍然是每年春天，成千上萬的遊客，其中80%來自德克薩斯州各地，紛紛涌入希爾山地，去觀賞漫山遍野如潮的野花和盛開的矢車菊。
