Level/难度等级 : Level 4 CEFR ,C1,C2;国内:大学 词汇：245个
Reading time/阅读时间：58秒
Speaking time/朗读时间:1分53秒
A misty morning in Brazil
巴西晨雾
The Amazon rainforest is big. Almost unimaginably big.
亚马逊雨林很大。几乎难以想象的大。
To begin to grasp its immensity, consider these numbers: The Amazon rainforest covers about 2% of the world’s surface area, nearly 2.1 million square miles across South America, mostly (nearly 60%) in the country you see here, Brazil.
为了开始理解它的巨大，考虑一下这些数字:亚马逊雨林覆盖了约2%的世界表面，近210万平方英里的南美洲，大部分(近60%)在你现在看到的国家，巴西。
It’s an area that accounts for over half the Earth’s remaining rainforests. The breadth of biodiversity is incomparable–nearly 16,000 different tree species, 40,000 species of other plants, 2.5 million insect species, and over 2,000 different types of birds and mammals.
这片区域占据了地球上现存雨林的一半以上。生物多样性的广度是无与伦比的——近1.6万种不同的树木，4万种其他植物，250万种昆虫，2000多种不同的鸟类和哺乳动物。
Incredibly, perhaps a tenth of the planet’s known species call the Amazon home, many of which have not even been identified.
令人难以置信的是，可能有十分之一的地球已知物种居住在亚马逊，其中许多甚至还没有被确认。
Yet, despite its vastness and ecological riches, the Amazon and the world’s rainforests in general are in jeopardy, with large swaths of these precious environments being stripped and spoiled every day.
然而，尽管它幅员辽阔，生态丰富，亚马逊和世界上的热带雨林总体上处于危险之中，这些宝贵的环境每天都在被剥夺和破坏。
Recent analysis has revealed some ominous warning signs that the Amazon rainforest, long known as the ‘Lungs of the World,’ is now spewing out as much greenhouse gas as it can store because of rampant deforestation here.
最近的分析显示了一些不祥的警告信号，即长期以来被称为“世界之肺”的亚马逊雨林，由于猖獗的森林砍伐，正在尽可能多地向外排放它所能储存的温室气体。
If true, this is a bad sign in our battle against climate change. Hopefully, these warnings will raise awareness about the importance of rainforests, and the vital ‘carbon sink’ role they play in creating and maintaining the air that we breath. The more we learn about rainforests, the more we appreciate how our own future, and the future of our planet, hinges upon their health.
如果这是真的，这是我们对抗气候变化的一个坏信号。希望这些警告能提高人们对雨林重要性的认识，以及雨林在创造和维持我们呼吸的空气中所扮演的重要的“碳汇”角色。我们对热带雨林了解得越多，就越能体会到我们自己的未来以及我们星球的未来与热带雨林的健康息息相关。
The Amazon spreads across how many South American countries?
A 5
B 7
C 9
Most (around 60%) of the Amazon is in Brazil, with another sizeable chunk in Peru. But this massive rainforest spreads into seven other countries as well, including small areas in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The Amazon River runs for about 4,000 miles. What’s the only river in the world that’s usually considered longer?
A Mississippi
B Nile
C Yangtze
Most sources consider the Nile in Africa the world’s longest river, at over 4,100 miles, slightly longer than the Amazon. But measuring the length of a river is complicated, and some scientists make the case that the Amazon is even longer than the Nile. We won’t weigh in on that, but one thing is indisputable: The Amazon is easily the world’s largest river by volume.
The Amazon River is named for what?
A Women warriors
B An ancient city
C A local fish
In 1541, Francisco de Orellana, a Spanish explorer and conquistador, became the first European known to make his way down the entire length of the Amazon River. He reported that his expedition was attacked by members of the Pira-tapuya, an Indigenous people whose women fought alongside the men. The women warriors reminded Orellana of the Amazons of Greek mythology.