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大学英语自考教程
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课文
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中英对照
03-04
03-A. The Atlantic Ocean
The
Atlantic
Ocean
is
one
of
the
oceans
that
separate
the
Old
World
from
the
New.
For
centuries
it
kept
the
Americas
from
being
discovered
by
the
people
of
Europe.
Many
wrong
ideas
about
the
Atlantic
made early sailors
unwilling to sail far out
into it. One
idea was that it reached out
to
afraid
that
they
might
sail
right
off
the
earth.
Another
idea
was
that
at
the
equator the ocean would be
boiling hot.
The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big
as
the
Pacific,
but
it
is
still
very
large.
It
is
more
than
4,000
miles
(6,000
km)
wide
where
Columbus
crossed
it.
Even
at
its
narrowest it is about 2, 000 miles
(3,200
km)
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 the world's
saltiest ocean.
There
is
so
much
water
in
the
Atlantic
that it is
hard to imagine how much there
is.
But
suppose
no
more
rain
fell
into
it
and no more water was brought to it by
rivers.
It
would
take
the
ocean
about
4,000 years to dry up. On the average
the
water is a little more than two
miles (3.2
km) deep, but in places it
is much deeper.
The deepest spot is
near Puerto Rico. This
km).
One
of
the
longest
mountain
ranges
of
the
world
rises
the
floor
of
the
Atlantic.
This
mountain
range
runs
north
and
south down the middle of
the ocean. The
tops of a few of the
mountains reach up
above
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,
for
there
is
little
wind.
In
the
days
of
sailing vessels
the crew were afraid they
would
be
becalmed
here.
Sometimes
they were.
Ocean
currents
are
sometime
called
the Atlantic is called the
Gulf Stream. It is
a
current
of
warm
water.
Another
is
the
Labrador
Current
-
cold
water
coming
down
from
the
Arctic.
Ocean
currents
affect
the
climates
of
the
lands
near
which they flow.
The Atlantic furnishes much
food for the
people
on
its
shores.
One
of
its
most
famous fishing
regions, the Grand Banks,
is near
Newfoundland.
Today the
Atlantic is a great highway. It is
not,
however,
always a
smooth
and
safe
one.
Storms
sweep
across
it
and pile
up
great
waves.
Icebergs
float
down
from
the Far North
across the paths of ships.
We now have such fast ways of traveling
that this big ocean seems to have grown
smaller.
Columbus
sailed
for
more
than
two
months
to
cross
it.
A
fast
modern
steamship can make the trip in less
than
four days. Airplanes fly from New
York to
London
in
only
eight
hours
and
from
South America to Africa in four!
【课文译文】
大西洋
大西洋是将欧洲和美洲分隔开的海洋之一。
它使
南北美洲
长达几个世纪之久都未被人发现。
人们对大
西洋有许多误解，
这使得早期的海员不
愿意远航驶入大西洋。一种想法是
大西洋远抵
“世界的边缘”
，海员们担心他们会一直航行到
地球边上掉落下去。
另一个想法是在赤道处，大
西洋的海水是
滚烫的。
大西洋的面积只是太平洋的一半，
但也非常辽
阔。哥伦布穿越过的地方宽达
4000
多英里
(6000
公里
)
。即使最窄的地方宽度 也有大约
2000
英里
(3200
公里< /p>
)
，
这是一片位于南美洲最
东端与非洲最西端之间的水域。
大西洋有两点非同寻常。
其一是在如此辽阔的海
洋里少有岛
屿。另外，
大西洋是世界上含盐量最
高的海洋。
大西洋海水量很大，人们无法想像到底有多少
水。但如果假设不再有降雨和河水注入，则需
4000
年大西洋 才会干涸。大西洋平均水深有
2
英里
(3.2
< p>公里)
多一点，但有些地方要深得多。
最深处在波多
黎各岛附近，深达
30246
英尺
——约
6
英里
(9.6
公里
)
。
世界上最长的山脉之一从大西洋海底隆起，
这条
山脉沿海底中部向南北延伸，几座山峰露出海
面，
形成岛屿。
亚速尔群岛就是大西洋中部山脉
露出水面的几座山峰。
佛罗里达
州向东几百英里有一处海域叫马尾藻
海，这里由于很少刮风，海面很平静。在使用帆
船的时代，
船员们担心他们会因无风而在此处无
法航
行。有时他们确实会遇到这种情况。
海流有
时被称作“海洋中的河流”
。大西洋有一
条这种“河流”
，叫做墨西哥湾流，这是一股暖
水流；
另外一条是拉布拉多海流——这是 来自北
冰洋的冷水流。
洋流对流域附近大陆的气候有影
< br>响。
大西洋为两岸的人们提供了丰富的食物。
大浅滩