原文标题：
Parks and consternation
The National Park Service is in disarray
The Trump administration is cutting thousands of staff at America’s favourite agency
公园与恐慌
国家公园管理局陷入混乱
特朗普政府正在解雇国家公园管理局的数千名员工
[Paragraph 1]
ON A HOT day in July, several visitors to Yosemite National Park, along the mountainous spine of California, go on a bear walk.
七月的某天酷热难耐，几名游客前往加利福尼亚山脉地带的优胜美地国家公园，参加了一场观熊徒步活动。
No bears are spotted, but the group learns about what they eat (wild raspberries), where they frolic (lush meadows) and what to do if you encounter one on the trail (don’t run!).
虽然没看到熊，但这群人了解到了熊的食物（野生树莓）、嬉戏的地方（葱郁的草地），以及与熊狭路相逢时该怎么做（别跑！）。
In the busiest part of the park, tourists trek to waterfalls and queue for snacks and T-shirts at the visitor centre.
在公园最热闹的区域，游客们辛苦跋涉去看瀑布，还在游客中心排队买零食和T恤。
The bathrooms are dirty, but no worse than when your correspondent visited last summer. All may seem well, yet there is trouble lurking.
洗手间很脏，但和本报记者去年夏天去的时候相比，也没差到哪里去。表面上似乎一切正常，然而危机已在暗中潜伏。
[Paragraph 2]
The National Park Service (NPS), the federal steward of natural wonders, has been shrinking since 2011.
国家公园管理局（NPS）是联邦政府负责管理自然奇观的机构，自2011年以来规模在不断缩减。
Now Donald Trump’s administration is gutting its staff and budget in the name of rooting out “waste, fraud and abuse”.
当前，唐纳德·特朗普政府打着清除“浪费、欺诈和滥用行为”的旗号，大幅削减国家公园管理局的员工数量与预算。
His Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has initiated a mass exodus.
他的政府效率部已经引发了大规模离职潮。
Full-time workers were laid off, or retired and resigned rather than put up with the uncertainty.
全职员工要么被解雇，要么选择退休或辞职，不愿再忍受这种不确定性。
[Paragraph 3]
An internal document leaked to the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, suggests the NPS has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent employees since Mr Trump took office.
倡导组织“国家公园保护协会”收到了一份外泄的内部文件，文件显示，特朗普上台后，国家公园管理局的固定员工减少了近1/4。
As of July 8th Glacier National Park in Montana had nearly 200 full-time staff and 47 vacancies, including six firefighting roles, according to its database.
根据蒙大拿州冰川国家公园的数据库，截至7月8日，该公园有近200名全职员工，同时存在47个职位空缺，其中包括6个消防岗位。
The park is missing IT specialists; spotty internet may affect how well search-and-rescue teams operate.
公园还缺少IT专家；网络信号时好时坏可能会影响搜救团队的运作效率。
[Paragraph 4]
The administration risks alienating its supporters. Last year nearly 332m people visited the parks, a record high.
政府此举可能会失去支持者的拥护。去年，公园的参观人数接近3.32亿，创下历史纪录。
When NPS workers began to protest that some visitor services would have to be cut because of limited staff, Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, ordered parks to remain open.
当国家公园管理局的工作人员因人手短缺，不得不削减部分游客服务而开始抗议时，内政部长道格·伯古姆下令公园继续开放。
Closures of trails or campgrounds have to be reviewed by the top brass.
步道或营地若要关闭，必须经过高层人员的审核。
But he seems to be betting that Americans care more about whether they can enter a park than how healthy that park is when they arrive.
但他似乎笃定，美国人更关心自己能否进入公园，而不太关心入园时公园的状况是否良好。
[Paragraph 5]
Staffing cuts are not the only problem. Earlier this year DOGE deactivated hundreds of thousands of federal credit cards in a bid to curtail spending.
人员削减不是唯一的麻烦。今年年初，为了削减开支，政府效率部注销了数十万张联邦信用卡。
Smaller parks had to rely on larger ones to pay their heating bills.
规模较小的公园不得不依赖较大的公园来支付取暖费用。
Expenses are still tightly controlled. Buying plastic bags for scientific samples in at least one park requires filling out a form and explaining why the purchase is “mission critical”.
各项支出仍受到严格管控。至少有一家公园，购买装科学样本的塑料袋时，必须填写表格，并且解释为何这项购买“对任务而言至关重要”。
“It’s this toxic mix of confidence and ignorance in leadership in government right now,” complains one NPS worker in Alaska.
阿拉斯加的一名国家公园管理局员工吐槽说：“如今政府领导层中，自信与无知的糟糕结合真是要命。”
[Paragraph 6]
Rather than spending time educating people about wildlife or answering questions at visitor centres, some workers are tasked with making sure signs do not “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living”.
一些工作人员不再花时间向人们普及野生动物知识，也不在游客中心解答问题，而是要保证标识不会有“诋毁过去或现在美国人”的不当内容。
Guidance from Mr Burgum’s office suggests that parks should play up “the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people” or the “beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape”.
伯古姆办公室的指导方针提出，公园应着重宣扬“美国人民成就与进步的伟大”，或是“美国自然景观的美丽、丰饶与壮丽”。
Signs or programmes that mention slavery, racism, climate change or the indigenous peoples who once lived on the lands that are now parks may fall under scrutiny.
那些提及奴隶制、种族主义、气候变化，或曾经生活在如今公园土地上的原住民的标识牌或活动，都可能面临审查。
[Paragraph 7]
More cuts are imminent. Earlier this year the administration requested a 37% reduction to NPS’s $3.3bn budget, although a draft of the House appropriations bill suggests funding could stay flat.
更多削减措施即将实施。今年年初，政府提出要将国家公园管理局33亿美元的预算砍掉37%，但众议院拨款法案草案显示，资金或许会保持原有水平。
NPS workers expect most of its cuts to come from headquarters in Washington and the agency’s regional offices.
国家公园管理局的工作人员认为，裁员主要会波及华盛顿总部和管理局的区域办事处。
Mr Burgum argues that these positions are mostly “overhead” and deal with IT, finance and human resources.
伯古姆称，这些职位大多是“运营管理类岗位”，例如负责信息技术、财务和人力资源工作的岗位。
But the regional offices also employ researchers in the “inventory and monitoring” programme, created by Congress in 1998, who collect weather, climate and species data that provide a picture of the parks’ ecological health.
但区域办事处还聘用了参与“清查与监测”项目的研究人员--这个项目由国会于1998年设立--研究人员收集天气、气候和物种数据，以反映公园的生态健康状况。
[Paragraph 8]
The effects on conservation are distinct from those that may affect campers.
对生态保护的影响和可能波及露营者的影响并不是一回事。
“I’m not sure if you’re a visitor, you are noticing it yet,” says Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation, a non-profit.
“我不确定作为游客的你，是否已经察觉到了变化，”非营利组织国家野生动物联合会的贝丝·普拉特说。
But NPS workers stress that there is more to the parks than hospitality and recreation.
但国家公园管理局的工作人员强调，公园的意义远不止于接待服务和休闲娱乐。
In the long run, firing experts on extreme weather, wolves or invasive species could erode the progress America has made in protecting these places since 1872, when the world’s first national park, Yellowstone, was established by President Ulysses S. Grant.
长远来看，解雇研究极端天气、狼群或入侵物种的专家，可能会让美国自1872年以来在保护这些区域上的成果付诸东流。1872年，尤利西斯·S·格兰特总统设立了世界首个国家公园黄石公园。
Such cuts would fit into the administration’s broader attacks on science and dismissal of climate change.
这类削减措施，符合本届政府对科学的全面打压以及对气候变化的无视态度。
[Paragraph 9]
Mr Burgum seems to realise that he may be in a pickle over the parks’ staffing levels. Summer is NPS’s busy season.
伯古姆似乎意识到，他可能在公园的人员配置问题上遇到了麻烦。夏季是国家公园管理局的繁忙季节。
“If anybody is looking to join the National Park Service for a summer temporary job,” he mentioned during a congressional hearing in June, “positions are still open.”
他在6月的国会听证会上提到，“如果有人想加入国家公园管理局做暑期临时工作，相关职位仍然在招募中。”
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇808左右）
原文出自：2025年8月9日《TE》United States版块
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路VIP群本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene 仅供个人英语学习交流使用。
【重点句子】（3个）
Full-time workers were laid off, or retired and resigned rather than put up with the uncertainty.
全职员工要么被解雇，要么选择退休或辞职，不愿再忍受这种不确定性。
The park is missing IT specialists; spotty internet may affect how well search-and-rescue teams operate.
公园还缺少IT专家；网络信号时好时坏可能会影响搜救团队的运作效率。
The effects on conservation are distinct from those that may affect campers.
对生态保护的影响和可能波及露营者的影响并不是一回事。
