Monster Monsoon

welcome to Mawsynram, India! This village sits high in the hills below the Himalaya Mountains. Mawsynram is famous for something: it’s the wettest place on earth! Every year Mawsynram gets over 11, 870 millimeters of rain. That’s enough to fill a rain gauge as tall as a four-story building! Ninety percent of this rain falls from April to September.

欢迎来到印度的Mawsynram！这个村庄坐落在喜马拉雅山下的高山上。 Mawsynram因某些事情而闻名：它是地球上最潮湿的地方！ 每年Mawsynram的降雨量超过11870毫米。 这足以填满四层楼那么高的雨量计！ 百分之九十的降雨发生在四月到九月。

What makes Mawsynram get so much rain? An annual wind system called a monsoon. There is a wet monsoon and a dry monsoon. During the wet monsoon, the wind comes from the southwest. It brings water from the ocean. Clouds form and travel with the wind.

是什么让Mawsynram下这么多雨？一种称为季风的年度风系统。 有湿润季风和干燥季风。 在潮湿的季风期间，风来自西南。 它从海洋中取水。云随着风形成并移动。

But the Himalaya Mountains block the clouds over Mawsynram. So rain falls . . . and falls and falls! So much rain makes Mawsynram green and beautiful. But living in this monster monsoon is not easy! There is frequent flooding and a lot of mud. There is too much water to raise crops. So people must grow and store food during the dry season.

但是喜马拉雅山脉挡住了Mawsynram上空的云层。所以雨下了……又下又下！ 如此多的雨水使Mawsynram变得绿色而美丽。 但生活在这个怪物般的季风中并不容易！经常发生洪水和大量泥浆。 水太多了，不能种庄稼。因此，人们必须在旱季种植和储存食物。

Or they buy food at the market. They must also store wood for fuel. Oh, and the pounding rain makes a lot of noise! People use grass to soundproof their tin roofs. Clouds often drift through houses and everything gets wet! Women weave grass umbrellas so that people can work in the rain.

或者他们在市场上买食物。他们还必须储存木材作为燃料。 噢，大雨声很大！人们用草来隔音铁皮屋顶。 云经常飘过房屋，一切都变得潮湿！ 妇女编织草伞，这样人们就可以在雨中工作。

These umbrellas cover the body―just like a turtle’s shell! Even with those umbrellas, getting around Mawsynram can be tough. Roads wash away. And wooden bridges rot within a few years. So people build “ living” bridges. First they lay bamboo across streams. Then they tie tree roots onto the bamboo.

这些雨伞覆盖着身体——就像乌龟的壳一样！ 即使有这些伞，在Mawsynram周围走动也很困难。 道路被冲走。几年内木桥就会腐烂。所以人们建造“活”桥。 首先，他们把竹子放在小溪上。然后他们把树根绑在竹子上。

The roots grow across the stream and into the soil on the other side. The bamboo rots away. But the roots form a living bridge. The oldest living bridge is over five hundred years old! Whew! After so many months of rain, people are ready to dry off. The dry monsoon starts in the autumn. Dry desert air blows in from the northeast.

这些根穿过小溪生长到另一边的土壤中。 竹子腐烂了。但树根构成了一座活桥。 现存最古老的桥有五百多年的历史了！ 呼！经过这么多月的降雨，人们已经准备好了。 干燥的季风从秋天开始。干燥的沙漠空气从东北部吹来。