Snow Melting on Mount Kilimanjaro

 

    This is Bill White with the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT.

 

    A new study says ancient snow on top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania could be gone in about twenty years. Huge layers of ice formed on the African mountain during a wet period about eleven-thousand years ago. But scientists say the ice on top of the mountain is melting because of rising temperatures in recent years.

 

    Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio led the study. It was published in Science magazine. The scientists used maps, modern ¹⁾navigational satellites and markers placed on the mountain to measure the ice. They found the ice on Mount Kilimanjaro has ²⁾shrunk from about twelve square kilometers in nineteen-twelve to about two square kilometers today. That is about an eighty percent reduction in the ice. Scientists say the ice will be gone by the year two-thousand-twenty if it continues to melt at its current rate.

 

    Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa. It is almost five-thousand-nine-hundred meters high. The top part of the mountain is covered with snow. The mountain rises above flat land, called the ³⁾savannah. The land is home to many different kinds of animals.

 

    Many stories have been written about the famous mountain. The most famous is Ernest Hemingway’s “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”. Some ancient beliefs in Africa consider the mountain to be a holy place.

 

    About twenty-thousand people visit Mount Kilimanjaro every year to see the famous snow-topped mountain. It even has its own international airport. The government of Tanzania fears that the melting ice will affect tourism and weaken the economy. The decreasing ice already has reduced the amount of water flowing from the mountain to some Tanzanian rivers. Water from the mountain supplies many villages.

 

    The scientists are working to save pieces of the shrinking ice for more study. The frozen layers tell about Africa’s weather in ancient times. The ice also provides information about the world’s climate. Experts say other ice glaciers around the world are melting because of climate change caused by human activities. But they say natural climate change could be the cause of Mount Kilimanjaro’s problems.

 

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Cynthia Kirk.

 

371个单词  3分54秒

 

1) navigational satellite  导航卫星

2) shrink [FriNk] v.收缩

3) savannah [s[5vAnE] n.（南美）大草原

 

乞力马扎罗山的冰雪正在融化

您正在收听的是由比尔•怀特给您带来的“美国之音”特别英语节目“环境报道”。

一项新研究表明，坦桑尼亚境内的乞力马扎罗山顶部的古老积雪可能会在20年后消失。在大约一万一千年前的湿润期，这座非洲山峰的顶部形成了厚厚的冰层。但是，科学家们说，由于近年来气温不断升高，山顶的冰层正在融化。

在位于俄亥俄州哥伦布市的俄亥俄州立大学工作的罗尼•汤普森领导了这项研究。《科学》杂志刊登了他们的研究结果。科学家们使用地图、现代导航卫星和山上的标记测量了冰层的面积。他们发现，乞力马扎罗山的冰层从1920年的12平方公里收缩到了今天的2平方公里左右。那就是说，冰层的面积减少了将近80%。科学家们说，如果冰层继续以现在的速度融化，那么，在2020年以前它将彻底消失。

乞力马扎罗山是非洲最高的山脉，有大约5900米高。它的顶部被积雪覆盖，耸立在平坦的南非大草原上。而大草原则是许多动物的栖息之地。

关于这座著名山峰的故事有很多。最著名的便是欧内斯特•海明威的《乞力马扎罗的雪》。而非洲的一些古老宗教传说也都把这座山视为一块圣地。

每年，大约有2万人前来游览冰雪覆盖的乞力马扎罗山。这儿甚至有它自己的国际机场。坦桑尼亚政府担心，冰雪的融化可能会影响旅游业，使经济衰退。现在，冰雪的融化已经使坦桑尼亚境内发源于该山的一些河流的水量降低。而许多村庄的水源均来自乞力马扎罗山。

科学家们正努力保留融冰，以便做进一步研究。冰冻层揭示了非洲古代的天气情况，并且也同样提供了有关世界气候的一些信息。专家们说，由于人类活动所引起的气候变化，世界上其它地方的冰河也在融化。但是他们说，自然气候的变化可能是乞力马扎罗山问题的原因。

这期“美国之音”特别英语节目“环境报道”的撰稿人是辛西亚•克可。

 

与地理环境相关的词汇

 

Mount Kilimanjaro  乞力马扎罗山

the savannah  （南美）大草原

flat land  开阔地，平原

holy place  圣地

layer of ice 冰层

ice glacier  冰河，冰川

snow-topped  积雪覆盖的

climate change  气候变化

 

经典诵读

此段叙事结构简洁合理

背诵此段，学习其法

 

Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio led the study. It was published in Science magazine. The scientists used maps, modern navigational satellites and markers placed on the mountain to measure the ice. They found the ice on Mount Kilimanjaro has shrunk from about twelve square kilometers in nineteen-twelve to about two square kilometers today. That is about an eighty percent reduction in the ice. Scientists say the ice will be gone by the year two-thousand-twenty if it continues to melt at its current rate.

 

背景资料

乞力马扎罗山是非洲最高的山峰，被誉为“非洲大陆之王”。它位于坦桑尼亚的东北部，在赤道与南纬3度之间，也是世界最高的连续山坡之一。在山麓部分，全年最高温度可达59度，而山顶的最低温度却是零下34度，以至全年白雪皑皑。在山脚的热带森林，到处是蕉林丛丛、咖啡树片片，野生动物成群，呈现出一派热带风光。

海明威的小说《乞力马扎罗的雪》更是对这块神奇的山脉做了详细的勾勒：“乞力马扎罗是一座海拔19710英尺的长年积雪的高山，据说它是非洲最高的一座山。马基人称西高峰为‘鄂阿奇—鄂阿伊’，意为上帝的庙殿。在西高峰的近旁，有一具已经风干冻僵的豹子尸体。豹子到这样高寒的地方来寻找什么，没有人作过解释。”

如今，虽然“温室效应”的恶果已经导致乞力马扎罗山的整个生态环境急剧恶化，也使坦桑尼亚的旅游业面临厄运，但以乞力马扎罗为标识的非洲依然对人们有着无以抗拒的吸引力。