高级英语第三课

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Ships in the desert
Al Gore
• Al Gore was born in 1948 in Washington D.C, He has been a Senator representing the State of Tennessee, and U.S. Vice-President under President Bill Clinton. He ran for the Presidency against George W. Bush but the latter won the closely tied election and has become the 43rd American President. After retirement, he devoted his time to environmental protection. The text is taken from Al Gore’s book Earth in the Balance.
Βιβλιοθήκη Baidu America’s Great Lakes
• America’s Great Lakes refer to the group of five freshwater lakes, central North America, between the United States and Canada, largest body of fresh water in the world. From west to east, they are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. HOMES can help remember the names of the five lakes. H stands for Huron, O for Ontario, M for Michigan, E for Erie and S for Superior.
Some geographic knowledge
The Aral Sea
• • The Aral Sea is an inland sea of the former Soviet Union, lying in the central Asia. It was once the world's fourth-largest inland sea with an area of over 60,000 km²and the flourishing fishing industry which produced about one-sixth of the USSR's entire fish catch. Yet, the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s, when the two rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya Darya that fed it were diverted by Soviet Union irrigation projects. By 2004, the sea had shrunk to 25% of its original surface area. By 2007 it had declined further to 10% of its former size. The once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed, and the former fishing towns and villages along the original shores have become desolate ship graveyards.
The Pacific Ocean
• The Pacific Ocean (the Pacific in short) lies among four of the seven continents: Asia, Oceania, Antarctic and South and North Americas. The Pacific is the largest and the deepest with the most islands of the four oceans (the Pacific, the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and the Arctic). It covers 49.8% of the total sea area of the earth. The deepest part reaches 11034 meters. The Pacific can be geographically divided into North Pacific, Middle Pacific and South Pacific. North Pacific includes the sea area north of the tropic, locating in north subtropics (北亚热带) and north temperate zone (北温带).Middle Pacific lies between the tropics(南北回归 线)and South Pacific suggests the sea area south of the tropic. It belongs to south tropic and south temperate zone. There are over 40 countries and places in the Pacific area such as China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Canada, the United States, Mexico, etc. Besides, the Pacific is an area with approximately 85% of the living volcanoes and 80% of the earthquakes on the earth. The Pacific is rich in sea plants, animals and mineral resources. To develop the world-wide communication and the exploitation of the Pacific resources, quite a few electric cables have been set up at the sea bottom by the Great Britain, the United States, Canada, etc. Now, the man-made satellite has been used for the communication and exploitation, too.

Amazon rain forest
• Amazon rain forest is the largest rain forest on the earth, as large as the whole United States. Its major part is in Brazil, from which it stretches to most of the South American countries such as Guyana, Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, etc. Of these countries, Brazil has the most population who make their living on Amazon rain forest. Their food, shelter, medicine care, even spirits and culture completely depend on this ancient forest. Amazon rain forest bears the richest biological species such as over 60,000 kinds of plants, 1,000 kinds of birds, 3,000 kinds of land mammals, 2,000 kinds of fishes and water mammals. Yet, to create pasture for fast-food beef and enlarge bean field for fast export profit, the Brazilian business men and farmers have been burning more and more rain forest, thus accelerates the destruction of the Amazon.
The Arctic Ocean
• The Arctic Ocean lies in the Arctic Circle, the area within the circle of north latitude 66.5. The Arctic Ocean, as the smallest of the four oceans, is about 3.6% of the total body of oceans in the world and mainly made up of 10 seas, such as Barents Sea, East Siberian Sea, Greenland Sea, etc. It has many islands with its total size of four million square kilometers, only next to the Pacific Ocean. 2/3 of its total body is the never-melting layer and its center part remains about three million years. As the ocean water flows into the Atlantic Ocean, the melting glacier with it threatens the navigation. Titanic accident in 1912 was one of the disasters caused by the floating glaciers. For its frigid coldness, there are only a few kinds of plants and animals, such as bryophyte(苔藓植物), polar bears, walruses(海象), seals, deer, whales, etc.

Trans-Antarctic Mountains
• Trans-Antarctic Mountains are a mountain chain stretching across Antarctic from Victoria Land to Coast Land, separating the East Antarctic and West Antarctic subcontinents (次大陆). Trans-Antarctic Mountains are almost covered with snow and a great deal of coal is exploited, besides the valuable fossils of the original amphibians (两栖动物) discovered along the mountains , where many countries such as the United States, the Great Britain and New Zealand have set up the research institutions to stud these fossils.
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