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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
The Arabian camel--not even a native , was domesticated1 in the deserts of Asia and brought to Northern Africa as a means of transport. In the past , Tuareg nomads2 used camels to move slaves, gold and ivory between West Africa and the Mediterranean3. Today their caravans4 still trade in salts, dates and millet5.
The Sahara has long been a frontier between Asia and Africa. But there are European pioneers here too--red foxes, which scrape a living
on the Northern fringes of this vast desert.
Though much of the Sahara is uninhabitable, there are a few special places where life can thrive. The Ennedi Mountains in Chad harness a little more moisture from clouds than lower-lying areas enough to support tiny pockets of Savanna6. Here rock hyraxes survive on the leaves of acacia trees, a scene more typical of the African plains. These green islands are relics7 of an older world, one which is slowly vanishing with the march of the desert sands.
The Sahara , as we know it today, is only 2, 000 years old, the product of a rapidly drying climate in North Africa. But our ancestors also had a hand in this change. By over-cultivating marginal lands, and intensively grazing livestock8. Before, things were very different. Try to imagine this land flooded by the ocean, swathed in forest and savannah, swept by mighty9 rivers.
Ennedi Gorge10 once fed a vast tributary11 of the Nile. Today all that remains12 are a few precious pools, crucial watering holes for passing caravans of camels. In just 10 minutes of drinking , these remarkable13 animals can put on a third of their body weight in water. It's enough to carry them for well over 100 kilometers to the next oasis14.
Tuareg:西撒哈拉和中撒哈拉的柏柏尔人
trade in :a method of buying something new by giving an item you own as part of the payment for it 抵价购物
scrape a living :to only just earn enough money to provide yourself with food, clothing and a place to live 勉强够维持生活
hyraxes: a kind of animal 蹄兔
have a hand in: 干予, 参与, 插手
1 domesticated | |
adj.喜欢家庭生活的;(指动物)被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 nomads | |
n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 );流浪者;游牧生活;流浪生活 | |
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3 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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4 caravans | |
(可供居住的)拖车(通常由机动车拖行)( caravan的名词复数 ); 篷车; (穿过沙漠地带的)旅行队(如商队) | |
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5 millet | |
n.小米,谷子 | |
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6 savanna | |
n.大草原 | |
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7 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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8 livestock | |
n.家畜,牲畜 | |
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9 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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10 gorge | |
n.咽喉,胃,暴食,山峡;v.塞饱,狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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11 tributary | |
n.支流;纳贡国;adj.附庸的;辅助的;支流的 | |
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12 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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13 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
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14 oasis | |
n.(沙漠中的)绿洲,宜人的地方 | |
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