大学英语自学教程 上册 un03

[00:00.00]Unit 3 Text A
[00:02.39]第三单元      课文A
[00:04.78]The Atlantic Ocean
[00:07.01]大西洋
[00:09.25]The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans
[00:11.91]大西洋是分隔新大陆
[00:14.58]that separate the old World from the New.
[00:17.40]与旧大陆的大洋之一。
[00:20.22]For centuries it kept the Americas
[00:22.65]几个世纪里，
[00:25.08]from being discovered by the people of Europe.
[00:27.56]它使南北美洲未被欧洲人发现。
[00:30.04]Many wrong ideas about the Atlantic
[00:32.82]许多有关大西洋的错误
[00:35.60]made early sailors unwilling to sail far out into it.
[00:39.14]导致早期的海员不愿意远航驶入大西洋。
[00:42.68]One idea was that it reached out to "the edge of the world."
[00:46.37]一个想法是，大西洋洋已远达“世界的边缘”，
[00:50.05]Sailors were afraid that they might sail right off the earth.
[00:53.54]海员们担心他可能会航行到地球队边上彻底掉下去；
[00:57.03]Another idea was that at the equator the ocean would be boiling hot.
[01:00.85]另一个想法是，在赤道处，大西洋的海水是滚烫的。
[01:04.68]The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the Pacific,
[01:08.40]尽管大西洋的面积只有太平洋的二分之一，
[01:12.12]but it is still very large.
[01:14.10]但它仍然非常大。
[01:16.07]It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 kin) wide where Columbus crossed it.
[01:21.36]哥伦布穿越的那部分有4000多英里（6000公里）宽。
[01:26.65]Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 kin) wide.
[01:31.87]即使在最窄处，也有大约2000英里（3200公里）宽。
[01:37.10]This narrowest place is between the bulge
[01:40.23]最窄处在美非大陆
[01:43.37]of south America and the bulge of Africa.
[01:46.15]凸出部分之间。
[01:48.93]Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual.
[01:52.10]使大西洋不同寻常原因有二：
[01:55.28]For so large an ocean it has very few islands.
[01:58.66]首先，如此大的海洋只有很少几个岛屿；
[02:02.04]Also, it is the world's saltiest OCean.
[02:04.97]其次，它是世界上含盐分最多的海洋。
[02:07.90]There is so much water in the Atlantic
[02:10.32]大西洋里的水
[02:12.75]that it is hard to imagine how much there is.
[02:16.03]多得不可想象。
[02:19.31]But suppose no more rain fell into it
[02:22.34]假设不再有雨水落进大西洋，
[02:25.37]and no more water was brought to it by rivers.
[02:28.65]河水也不再流入
[02:31.93]It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up.
[02:35.56]大西洋也需要大约四千年的时间才能干涸。
[02:39.19]On the average the water is a little more than two miles (3.2 km) deep,
[02:43.97]平均水深两英里（3。2公里）多一点，
[02:48.75] but in places it is much deeper.
[02:51.23]但有些地方更深。
[02:53.71]The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico.
[02:56.05]最深处在波多黎各岛附近，
[02:58.39]This "deep" measures 30,246 feet--almost six miles (9.6 km).
[03:04.37]深达30246英尺，几乎有六英里（9。6公里）。
[03:10.35]One of the longest mountain ranges of the world
[03:13.23]世界上一条最长的山脉
[03:16.10] rises from the floor of the Atlantic.
[03:18.78]从大西洋海底升起，
[03:21.46]This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean.
[03:25.43]它由北向南延伸，直达大西洋中部，
[03:29.40]The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands.
[03:34.09]几座山峰露出海面便形成岛屿。
[03:38.78]The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.
[03:42.85]亚速尔群岛是大西洋中部山脉的峰尖。
[03:46.93]Several hundred miles eastward from Florida
[03:49.71]从佛罗里达往东几百英里处的
[03:52.49]there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea.
[03:55.66]一部分洋面称为马尾藻海。
[03:58.84]Here the water is quiet,for there is little wind.
[04:02.72]这里水面平静，几乎没有一丝风。
[04:06.60]In the days of sailing vessels the crew were afraid they would be becalmed here.
[04:10.57]在使用帆船的时代，般员们担心他们会因无风而在此处无法航行，
[04:14.54]Sometimes they were.
[04:16.57]有时的确如此。
[04:18.61]Ocean currents are sometimes called "rivers in the sea."
[04:22.03]洋流有时被称为“海上河流”。
[04:25.46]One of these "rivers" in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream.
[04:28.94]大西洋其中有一条“河流”被命名为墨西哥湾流，