Wild Africa - Deserts 浩瀚沙漠 - 1
Africa is dominated by deserts, from the Kalahari in the south to the mighty 1 Sahara in the north. These are fascinating worlds, each one unique, all a challenge. Yet life can conquer them and in the most surprising ways. This is an epic 2 journey across Africa's magnificent deserts, a story of survival against the odds 3.
Africa. Seen from space, great swathes of sand and rock cover more than half the continent. In the far south, bordering the Atlantic is the world's most ancient desert, the Namib. For eighty million years, cold, dry winds have swept in from the ocean, denying the land moisture and piling enormous sand dunes 4 against the shore.
Beautiful but impossibly dry, in a good year, the Namib gets just five centimeters of rain; in a bad year, it rains only sand. But buried within the dunes, there is treasure. Fragments of dead animals and plants swallowed long ago by the sand are swept to the surface, offering a crucial lifeline.
Beetles 5, many different species have found ways to harvest this bounty 6. Along with termites 7 and lizards 8, they're the foundations for a delicate chain of life in the Namib.
against the odds:very unexpectedly 非常出人意料的
dune:a hill made of sand near the sea or in the desert 沙丘
swathe:a long thin area of something, especially land 大区域 地带
bounty:literary food or wealth that is provided in large amounts 丰富食物
Kalahari:喀拉哈里沙漠,覆盖赞比亚 博茨瓦尔 南非
Namib:纳米布沙漠 以月牙形的沙丘为特征
- A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
- The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
- I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
- They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。
- The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
- Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？
- The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
- Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。
- Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
- We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。