BBC环球慢速英语 第107期:撒哈拉沙漠马拉松(1)

voice 1: Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight. I'm Rebekah Schipper.
声音1：谢谢大家收听今天的重点报道节目。我是瑞贝卡·席佩尔。

voice 2: And I'm Liz Waid.
声音2：我是利兹·韦德。

voice 1: The Sahara desert. It is the world's largest desert. It covers a third of the African continent--an area about the size of the United States. The Sahara desert is one of the hottest, driest places on Earth. Temperatures may rise over fifty-seven degrees Celsius. And it receives less than eight centimetres of rain a year.
声音1：撒哈拉沙漠。这是世界上最大的沙漠。这个沙漠占非洲大陆面积的三分之一，其面积相当于美国的大小。撒哈拉沙漠是地球上最热、最干燥的地方之一。那里的温度可能超过57摄氏度。一年的雨水量少于8厘米。

voice 2: Over thousands of years, rising and falling winds created the desert. The winds evaporate water from the sand. But these winds rarely bring rain. Natives to the Sahara have given some of the winds special names. "Haboob" is the Arabic name for a wild sand carrying wind. "Khamsin" means fifty days. This wind blows across the Sahara from March through May. The Khamsin wind fills the air with sand.
声音2：数千年以来，气流的上升和下降创造了这个沙漠。气流使沙子里的水分蒸发。但是这些气流却很少带来雨水。撒哈拉当地人给一些气流起了特殊的名字。“哈布尘暴”是携带气流的一股狂沙。“喀新风”的意思是50天。这股气流3月至5月在撒哈拉沙漠吹拂。“喀新风”则使空气中充满沙子。