英语听力：2012-02-15 从南极到北极 From Pole To Pole—13

 The sun beating down on tropical waters powers the weather systems of the globe. Moisture evaporates from the warming ocean and rises to create great storms. The winds generated out at sea sweep inland across the continents. As they travel across the Sahara, they create the biggest of all sand storms, blowing sand halfway¹ around the world to fertilize² the Amazon jungle. Winds blowing across the Indian ocean collect moisture and sweep northwards towards the Himalayas. As the air rises, so it cools. The water it carries condenses into clouds and then falls as the life-giving rains of the monsoon³. So air currents powered by the sun carry wet air to the middle of continents. Without water, there could be no life. But its distribution over the land is far from even. Deserts cover one-third of the land surface. And they are growing bigger every year. This is the Kalahari desert in South Africa. It’s the dry season. And thousands of elephants have started to travel in a desperate search for water.

 

1 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

2 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

3 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。