Listening5 The most unusual national parks in the United

Q1：How is Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park？

Q2：Which do you like better？ Why？

MARIO RITTER: Welcome to the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. I'm Mario Ritter. Today,  Steve Ember and Sarah Long tell us about two of the most unusual national parks in the United States. They are Volcanoes National Park and Haleakala National Park, both in Hawaii.

STEVE EMBER: Let me ask you a question: What is the tallest mountain on Earth? Most school children will say the answer is Mount Everest near the border between Nepal and Tibet.

There is something that is three hundred four meters taller than Mount Everest. However, it is mainly underwater. It begins at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and rises more than seventeen kilometers from the ocean floor.

Its name is Mauna Loa. In the Hawaiian language, Mauna Loa means "Long Mountain." Mauna Loa is more than half of the island of Hawaii, the largest of the Hawaiian Islands.

It is also the largest and most active volcano on Earth. It has produced liquid rock called lava more than thirty times since records were first kept in eighteen forty-three. Today, Mauna Loa is quiet. It is not producing lava. However volcano experts say it is only a matter of time before this happens once again.

SARAH LONG: Mauna Loa is not the only volcano on the island of Hawaii. There are four others. Three of them are no longer active. One of them still is active. It is named Kilauea.

It has produced lava more than fifty times in the last one hundred years. At this moment, red hot lava is pouring out of Kilauea. It has been doing this since nineteen eighty-three.

Sometimes the lava moves slowly. At other times it pours out very fast as huge amounts of pressure force it from the volcano. During these times, it moves almost as quickly as water moving down the side of a mountain. Sometimes Kilauea produces large amounts of lava that seem like rivers of fire.

STEVE EMBER: When the lava from Kilauea reaches the ocean, its fierce heat produces great amounts of steam that rise into the air. The lava is so hot it continues to burn underwater for some time. The lava from Kilauea continues to add land to the island as the volcanoes of Hawaii have always done. It is these volcanoes that formed the islands of Hawaii.

Most of the time the lava of Kilauea seems to move peacefully toward the ocean. Yet it is not as peaceful as it seems from a distance. In recent years the lava destroyed one small town on the island. The liquid rock slowly covered the town. It blocked roads and destroyed them. Nothing can stop the lava of Kilauea. Experts say the volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea are a serious threat to property on many parts of the island.

Experts say the volcanoes of the island of Hawaii are proof that the changing environment of Earth is, and will always remain, beyond human control.