英國語文第六冊(雙語):熱帶地區(qū)(二)(1)

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LESSON 18 The tropical world (II)

第18課 熱帶地區(qū)(二)

the eastern hemisphere

東半球

Owing to the absence of inlets, gulfs, and great estuaries, Africa has been the last of the continents to yield to the advances of civilization. Its interior is therefore less known than any other part of the tropical world, excepting perhaps the centre of Australia; but what is known of it shows that it is not destitute of those grand and varied features which characterize the western tropics. Tropical Africa extends from the middle of the Sahara in the north to the plains of the Bushmen in the south. Chief among the natural features of this wide area are the great lakes lying across the Equator, which most probably constitute the highest sources of the Nile. The Nile itself, which rivals the Amazon in the length of its course, is a tropical river; and it is one of the wonders of the world. Three other great rivers belong to tropical Africa—the Niger in the north; the Congo in the west; and in the south the Zambeze, on which is the highest waterfall in the world.

非洲由于水灣、海灣及河口數(shù)量過少，所以幾乎沒有受到文明進(jìn)步的染指，其內(nèi)部景態(tài)除了澳洲中心或許比任何其它的熱帶地區(qū)都要更鮮為人知，但我們所知的是，非洲的熱帶地區(qū)和其它的西部熱帶地區(qū)一樣具備宏偉而多樣的特征。非洲的熱帶地區(qū)從北邊撒哈拉沙漠的中部向南一直延伸到布什曼的平原地帶。這一廣闊地區(qū)最大的自然特征便是橫跨了赤道的五大湖，該五大湖極有可能是尼羅河的最高源頭。流長可與亞馬遜河相競的尼羅河本身便是熱帶河流，是世界奇跡之一。另外的三大河流全部分布在熱帶非洲境內(nèi)——分別位于北邊的尼日爾、西邊的剛果以及南邊的贊貝澤，那里還孕育了世上最高瀑布。

The interior of Africa—so far from being a desolate waste, as was at one time supposed—is a well watered and fertile region, and is remarkable for the extraordinary dimensions both of its vegetable and of its animal life. The chief of its vegetable wonders is the baobab-tree, which has been well called the elephant of the vegetable world. One baobab has been seen whose trunk was thirty feet in diameter and ninety-five in circumference. As these trees are generally hollow, they are frequently made use of as dwellings or stables; and Dr. Livingstone mentions one in which twenty or thirty men could lie down and sleep as in a hut! There are also gigantic sycamores, under whose branches the negroes pitch their huts; while picturesque-looking mangroves are found flinging the shores of the sea and the mouths of rivers.

非洲的內(nèi)部景態(tài)遠(yuǎn)不像前人所說的那樣是一片荒無人煙的落寞之地，相反那里水源充足、土壤肥沃，而且動植物的數(shù)量之多讓人驚嘆。非洲的一大奇蔬便是那里的猴面包樹，該樹被形象地喚為蔬菜界的大象，人們還曾發(fā)現(xiàn)過一棵樹干直徑長三十英尺、周長九十五英尺的巨型猴面包樹。這些樹的樹干內(nèi)部通常是空心的，所以被大量用作房屋或者馬廄，據(jù)說利文斯敦就有這么一棵巨型猴面包樹，樹干內(nèi)部像小木屋一樣可以躺下甚至二三十個男人！非洲還生長著巨型梧桐樹，黑人們會在樹枝下搭建小木屋。此外非洲的海邊和河口處還生長著美如佳畫的紅樹林。