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LESSON 15 The tropical world
第15课 热带地区
Part 1 The Western Hemisphere
第一部分 西半球
The tropical regions, more than any other part of the world, are suggestive of magnificence—of luxuriant vegetation and diversified animal life; yet they embrace but a small portion comparatively of the land of the globe. While the greater part of the North Temperate Zone is occupied by land, the floods of ocean roll over much the larger portion of the equatorial regions; for both torrid America and Africa appear as mere islands in a vast expanse of sea. This superabundance of water is one of the great provisions which Nature has made for mitigating the heat of the vertical sun. To this cause the Tropics are indebted for those copious rains and periodic winds and constant ocean currents, which endow them with such an amazing variety of climate. The Indian Archipelago, the Peninsula of Malacca, the Antilles, and Central America, are all undoubtedly indebted to the waters which bathe their coasts for a more temperate climate than they would have had if they had been grouped together in one vast continent.
热带地区比世界上任何其他地区都更能凸显它的壮丽——繁茂的植被和多样的动物生活，然而，热带地区的面积却只占地球陆地相对较小的一部分。北温带上的大部分地区都被陆地所占据，海洋洪水则覆盖了大部分的赤道地区，炎热的美洲和非洲看上去就像是浩瀚大海中的迷你岛屿。丰富的水资源是大自然为减少太阳直射带来的高温热量所做的重要准备之一，热带地区尤其要感谢丰富的降水量、周期性的大风和不间断的洋流，是它们造就了热带地区惊人的多样性气候。毫无疑问，印度群岛、马六甲半岛、安的列斯群岛和中美洲都得益于这些雨水的滋润，雨水使得它们的海岸能沐浴在更温和的气候当中，如果将这些地区全都拼凑在一块巨大的大陆上便不会造就出此种气候。
Another cause of the varieties of tropical climate is to be found in varied elevation of surface. Thus the high situation of many tropical lands moderates the effects of equatorial heat, and endows them with a climate similar to that of the temperate, or even of the cold regions of the globe.
热带气候多样性产生的另一原因是地表高度的变化，许多热带地区的高海拔因地表变化而缓和了赤道热的影响，使得它们具有与温带地区甚至全球寒冷地区相似的气候。
