Abstract: Environmental interpretation, as a kind of nature tourism guideline, originally came into being in the national park system of US With constant impro vement of service quality in tourist destinations, increasingly severe competiti on of tourist products, and notable functions of management and economy in inter pretation, the concepts and functions of environmental interpretation are furthe r developed More over, the research of this topic is also being modifiedFrom 1960’s, environmental interpretation experienced 4 periods,ie(1) the format ive years,(2) research for the best medium,(3) quest for legitimacy and (4) ea rly maturation The relative research contents were mainly consisted of: (1) th e research of characteristics and functions of interpretation, including concept ual framework and goals, media selection,and function of management and economy; (2) the research of tourists in interpretation, including categories of tourist s and wa ys of interpretation; (3) the research of the communication between interpreters and tourists In western countries, the study of environmental interpretation is more and more mature with the help from other academic fields.

Key words: environmental interpretation, interpretation, me dia, national park, tourist