2 Death Valley ：A Beautiful but Dangerous Place 死亡谷 ：一个美丽又危险的地方

仔细听

Death Valley is a land of beautiful yet dangerous extremes.There are mountains that reach more than three thousand meters into the sky.There is a place called Badwater that is the lowest area of land in the Western Hemisphere.If there were water there，it would be eighty-six meters below the level of the ocean.

Death Valley can be dangerously cold during the winter months.Storms in the mountains can produce sudden flooding on the floor of the Valley.

死亡谷是一个极美而又极危险的地方。那里的山高达3000多米，直入云霄。其中有个地区被称为“恶水”，是西半球地势最低的地方。如果那里真有水的话，水平面将会在海平面86米以下。

死亡谷在冬季会出现危险的严寒天气。山里的暴风雨会导致谷底突发洪水。

听力破解：isa连读为[izə]；that is连读为[′ðætiz]；注意months的发音[mʌnθs]，[s]很容易被漏听。

词汇宝典：extreme做形容词，表示“极端的，偏激的，尽头的”，在这里做名词，表示“极端”，如：Both these extremes are not good.这两种极端都不好。

仔细听

The air temperature during the summer has been as high as fifty-seven degrees Celsius.

The extreme heat of Death Valley has killed people in the past.It will continue to kill those who do not honor this extreme climate.Death Valley does not forgive those who are not careful.

这里的夏季气温曾一度高达57摄氏度。

死亡谷的极端高温曾致人死亡。未来，它还会继续用酷热惩戒那些对这种极端气候心怀不敬的人们。死亡谷是不会原谅那些不够小心谨慎的人的。

听力破解：killed的尾音[d]和people的首音[p]为双爆破，前者要失去爆破，后者要完全爆破。

词汇宝典：Celsius是“摄氏度”的意思，温度还有一种度量单位Fahrenheit（华氏度），我们日常生活中表示温度一般习惯用摄氏度，华氏度一般常见于热力学方程中，但国外有些地区也喜欢用华氏度表示温度。

仔细听

Death Valley is a good example of the violence of nature.It contains evidence of several ancient volcanoes that caused huge explosions.

Evidence of one of these explosions is called Ubehebe Crater.The explosion left a huge hole in the ground almost a kilometer and a half wide.

死亡谷是自然暴力的一个很好的例子。这里有曾引发大爆炸的几座古老火山的证据。

在这些爆炸的证据之中，有一处叫作“优比喜比火山口”。这次爆炸在地面留下了一个近1.5公里宽的大洞。

听力破解：that的尾音[t]和caused的首音[k]是双爆破，前者失去爆破，后者要完全爆破；and a连读为[ændə]。

仔细听

In many areas of Death Valley it is easy to see where the ground has been pushed up violently by movement deep in the Earth.This movement has created unusual and beautiful rock formations.Some are red.Others are dark brown，gray，yellow or black.

Other areas of rock look as if some huge creature violently broke and twisted the Earth to create unusual，sometimes frightening shapes.

在死亡谷的很多地方，很容易就可以看出地面曾被地球深处的剧烈运动推升起来的地方。这种运动造就了罕见而美丽的岩层。有些是红的，还有深棕色、灰色、黄色或黑色的。

其他区域的岩石看起来就好像某种巨型生物猛力折断、扭曲了地表，形成非同寻常的、有时显得很骇人的形状。

听力破解：pushed up连读为[puʃ′tʌp]；look as if连读为[′lukæzif]。

学着说一说

1.as...as...与……一样

▶as...as...在英语口语里是个非常常用的结构，其中第一个as做副词，其后通常接形容词或副词，第二个as做介词，后可接名词、代词、从句，如：

This book is as good as that one.这本书和那本书一样好。

▶需要注意的是，两个as中间的形容词或副词必须是原级而非比较级或最高级，在否定句中，第一个as也可换成so，如：

He doesn't study so hard as his sister.他学习不如他姐姐努力。

2.continue to...继续……

▶continue 表示“继续，连续，延伸”，后常跟介词to，如：

The rain continued to fall all afternoon.雨一直下了整个下午。

▶我们在报刊上和电视剧结尾经常看见 To be continued.这样的字眼，

这是个习惯用语，表示“未完，待续”。

3.look as if看起来似乎；像

▶as if 表示“仿佛，好像”，前面加上 look 就是“看起来好像……”，

如：

It doesn't look as if it's going to rain tomorrow.

看起来明天不会下雨。

▶look like 也表示“看起来像……”，但其后通常只接短语，如：

It looks like a monkey.它看起来像猴子。