Get to Know Mountains

2017-05-12CC

疯狂英语·新读写 2017年3期

关键词：乞力马扎罗山比较级山脉

认识崇山峻岭

本篇适合：朗读，挑战

同学们，你们都爬过山吗？你们见过的山是怎样的？你们知道山是怎样形成的吗？你们了解哪些著名的山脉呢？下面就让我们一起爬上高山，一睹崇山峻岭的风貌吧。

by CC

Mountains are like the rooftops of the world, their peaks soaring up into the clouds.

Slopes are steep and valleys are deep in the mountains. The higher you go, the colder it is, and the scarcer the vegetation becomes.

Movement beneath the surface forced the earth’s crust upwards to form mountains. This all happened millions of years ago.

Mountains like these are extinct volcanoes. They erupted a very long time ago. They may even erupt again one day.

Wind, frost and rain eat into the rocks, and produce the strange shapes of mountains.

Mountains can look very different in summer and winter.

rooftop ['ruːftɒp] n. 屋顶（复数：rooftops）

peak [piːk] n. 山顶，山峰（复数：peaks）

soar [sɔː] v. 屹立，高耸（-ing形式：soaring）

slope [sləʊp] n. 斜坡（复数：slopes）

steep [stiːp] adj. 陡峭的，险峻的

scarce [skeəs] adj. 缺乏的，稀有的（比较级：scarcer）

vegetation [,vedʒɪ'teɪʃ（ə）n] n. 植物，植被

crust [krʌst] n. 地壳

extinct [ɪk'stɪŋkt] adj. 已熄灭的，不再活跃的

volcano [vɒl'keɪnəʊ] n. 火山（复数：volcanoes）

erupt [ɪ'rʌpt] v. 喷发，爆发（过去式：erupted）

frost [frɒst] n. 霜

eat into [iːt 'ɪntʊ] 腐蚀，侵蚀

In spring, melting snow swells the streams and the waterfalls. They go down into the valleys.

Mountains are home to a great number of animals. They survive well in the cold, the wind and the thin atmosphere.

To cross mountain ranges you need bridges, roads or tunnels and a good head for heights!

中文大意请见第47页。

swell [swel] v. 使上涨，增加（第三人称单数：swells）

atmosphere ['ætməsfɪə] n. 空气，大气

range [reɪndʒ] n. 山脉（复数：ranges）

tunnel ['tʌnl] n. 隧道（复数：tunnels）

a head for sth. 的常见搭配是have a head for sth.。这里的head指的是“头脑”，have a head for sth. 表示“在某方面有头脑”，也就是“有某种才能，擅长某事”的意思。但如果一个人说：“I don’t have a head for heights”，就是说他“惧高，有恐高症”。例如：

Ben had a good head for business, but he is not very creative.

本很有生意头脑，但没什么创造力。

He doesn’t have a head for heights.

他惧高。