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Wild Europe - Genesis 肇始之初- 12
...Africa. The African plate has been drifting north over millions of years. And when it pushes against the European plate, huge folds of rock have been forced up and over one another into great mountain ranges.
Europe's southern mountains, the Pyrenees, Carpathians, and the Alps, all rose from this collision. Pieces of primeval ocean floor have been lifted thousands of meters up into the sky. The Alps are still rising, as Africa continues to push north.
The volcanoes of southern Europe are vivid reminders1 of the great tectonic forces, lurking2 beneath our feet. The Vesuvius in Southern Italy is a sleeping giant. Nearly 2000 years ago, a huge eruption3 buried Pompeii. Today the city of Naples lies sprawled4 across its lower slopes. Who knows when another nudge from Africa would set it off again? It isn't just Europe's southern mountains that owe their existence to the advancing African plate. So too, does the Mediterranean5 Sea.
This sea is one of the defining boundaries of the continent. With its spectacular coastline and clear blue waters, it's one of Europe's great natural treasures. Much of the Mediterranean's extraordinary history hinges on the narrow seaway at its western end. At the Rock of Gibraltar, only 14 kilometers now separate Europe from Africa. About 6 millions years ago, the northward6 push of Africa, combined with a drop in sea level, created a vast dam, cutting off the Mediterranean from the Atlantic.
words and expressions
fold: (n.) To form bends in (a stratum7 of rock). 【地质学】地层褶曲(在地层的岩石上)形成弯曲
Pyrenees: (n.) A mountain range of southwest Europe extending along the French-Spanish border from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea. It rises to 3,406.2 m (11,168 ft) at Pico de Aneto. 比利牛斯山脉
Carpathians: (n.) (=Carpathian Mountains)(中欧)喀尔巴阡山脉
tectonic: (n.) Relating to, causing, or resulting from structural8 deformation9 of the earth's crust. 【地质学】地壳构造的关
Vesuvius: (v.) An active volcano, 1,281 m (4,200 ft) high, of southern Italy on the eastern shore of the Bay of Naples. A violent eruption in a.d. 79 destroyed the nearby city of Pompeii. 维苏威山
nudge: (n.) A gentle push. 轻推
hinge: (v.) To attach by or equip with or as if with hinges or a hinge.给…装铰链,用铰链接合
Gibraltar: (n.) A British colony at the northwest end of the Rock of Gibraltar, a peninsula on the south-central coast of Spain in the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean between Spain and northern Africa. 直布罗陀
1 reminders | |
n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 );提醒…的东西;(告知该做某事的)通知单;提示信 | |
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2 lurking | |
潜在 | |
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3 eruption | |
n.火山爆发;(战争等)爆发;(疾病等)发作 | |
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4 sprawled | |
v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词);蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
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5 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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6 northward | |
adv.向北;n.北方的地区 | |
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7 stratum | |
n.地层,社会阶层 | |
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8 structural | |
adj.构造的,组织的,建筑(用)的 | |
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9 deformation | |
n.形状损坏;变形;畸形 | |
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