大学英语自考教程上册A课文中英对照0304

1、大学英语自考教程上册A 课文中英对照0304资料仅供参考03-A. The Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from theNew. For centuries it kept the Americas from being discovered by the people of Europe.ManywrongideasabouttheAtlanticmade early sailors unwilling to sail far out into it. On

2、e idea was that it reached out to the edge of the world. Sailors wereafraid that they might sail right off the earth. Another idea was that at the equator the ocean would be boiling hot.资料仅供参考The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big asthe Pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 mile

3、s (6,000 km) widewhere Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2, 000 miles (3,200km) wide. This narrowest place is between the bulge of south America and the bulge of Africa.Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. Also, it is

4、the worlds saltiest ocean.资料仅供参考Thereis so muchwaterintheAtlanticthat it is hard to imagine how much thereis. But suppose no more rain fell into it and no more water was brought to it byrivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than two mi

5、les (3.2km) deep, but in places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This deep 30, 246 feet - almost six miles (9.6km).OnetheThisofthelongestmountainworldrisesthefloorofmountainrangerunsrangesoftheAtlantic.northand资料仅供参考south down the middle of the ocean. Thetops of a few of the

6、mountains reach upabove the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet,forthereis littlewind.Inthedaysofsailing vessels the crew we

7、re afraid theywould be becalmed here. Sometimes they were.Oceancurrentsaresometimecalled资料仅供参考rivers in the sea. One of these river inthe Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It isa current of warm water. Another is the Labrador Current - cold water comingdown from the Arctic. Ocean currents affect the climates of the lands near which they flow.The Atlantic furnishes much food for thepeopleonitsshores.Oneofitsmostfamous fishing regions,