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第十六篇 The Sahara

　　The name Sahara derives from the Arabic word for “desert” or “steppe”. At 3. 5 million square miles, an area roughly the size of the United States, the Sahara Desert in northern Africa is the largest desert in the world. It spans the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Daytime temperatures can reach as high as 130°F. The humidity sometimes gets into the teens. But it can also be as low as 2.5 percent, the lowest in the world. Most of the Sahara receives less than five inches of rain per year, while large areas sometimes have no rainfall at all for years.

　　At the heart of the Sahara is the landlocked north African country of Niger. Here the sand dunes can be 100 feet tall and several miles long. Here sand plains stretch over an area larger than Germany where there is neither water nor towns. Yet sitting in the midst of the surrounding desert is the town of Bilma. Suddenly there are pools of clear water. Surprisingly, there are groves of date palms. Underground water resources, or oases, sufficient to support irrigated agriculture are found in dry stream beds and depressions. Irrigation ditches run off a creek to water fields. Corn, cassava, tea, peanuts, hot peppers, and orange, lime, and grapefruit trees grow in these fields. Donkeys and goats graze on green grass.

　　The Sahara of Niger is still a region where you can see a camel caravan of 500 camels tied together in loose lines as long as a mile, traveling toward such oasis towns. There a caravan will collect life-sustaining salt, which is mined from watery basins, and transport it up to 400 miles back to settlements on the edges of the desert. The round trip across the vast sands takes one month.

　　练习：

　　1. This passage is mostly about________.

　　A) life in the Sahara

　　B) the deserts of Africa

　　C) Bilma

　　D) how camels travel in the desert

　　2. Rainfall in most of the Sahara is________.

　　A) less than five inches per year

　　B) less than ten inches per year

　　C) less than twenty inches per year

　　D) zero

　　3. The Sahara can be described as________.

　　A) a place of contrasts

　　B) a place where no one lives

　　C) an area where the winters are cold

　　D) an area that appeals to many tourists

　　4. The phrase “an area roughly the size of the United States” gives an indication of the size

　　of________.

　　A) northern Africa

　　B) Niger

　　C) the Sahara

　　D) all of Africa

　　5. In this passage caravan means________.

　　A) traveling circus

　　B) group traveling together through difficult country

　　C) railroad train

　　D) a small, fast sailing ship

　　【答案】

　　1. A 2. A 3. A 4. C 5. B

　　【译文】

　　第十六篇撒哈拉沙漠

　　撒哈拉这个名字起源于阿拉伯语单词“沙漠”或“干草原”。位于北非的撒哈拉沙漠是世界上最大的沙漠，占地350 万平方英里，大概相当于美国的大小。它横跨大西洋与红海间的大陆。日间气温可高达华氏130 度。湿度有时会在13％～19％，但也可低达2．5％，为世界最低湿度。撒哈拉沙漠的绝大多数地区每年的降雨量低于5 英寸，但多年来大面积地区根本没下过雨。

　　位于撒哈拉沙漠中心的是北非的内陆国尼日尔。这里的沙丘可高达100 英尺，长至几英里。在这里，被沙漠覆盖的地区没有水和城镇，其面积大于德国。然而有一个叫做比尔马的镇子坐落于环绕的沙漠中间。忽然间可看见好多个清澈的水潭。令人惊奇的是，那里还有椰枣林。在干河床和洼地处可找到充足的地下水资源或者绿洲来支持灌溉农业。灌溉沟渠通过一条小溪到达水田中。在这些田地里种植着玉米、木薯、茶叶、花生、辣椒、橘子树、酸橙树和柚子树。青草上放养着驴和山羊。

　　在尼日尔的撒哈拉地区，你仍然可以看到 500 只被系起来的骆驼排成一条宽松的队伍，组成一个长达l 英里的驼队，朝这样的绿洲城镇走去。在那里，驼队会收集从潮湿的盆地中开采出来用于维持生命的盐，然后运回到位于400 英里开外的、沙漠边缘的居住地。这种穿过广阔沙漠的往返行程需要一个月的时间。

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