45 Habitats and the Environment-Mid

Habitats and the Environment Written by Kira Freed

《栖息地与环境》作者:基拉·弗里德

Introduction Can you imagine a wild polar bear living in Hawaii? How about a palm tree growing in Antarctica? You probably know that these things would never happen But do you know why not? A habitat provides a living thing with the food, water, air, and shelter it needs. Habitats have many parts that work together. In this book, you will learn about what makes up a habitat and how habitats are different for different living things. By the time you finish reading, you will know why the pictures on this page could not be real.

你能想象一只野生北极熊生活在夏威夷吗? 生长在南极洲的棕榈树怎么样? 你可能知道这些事情永远不会发生但你知道为什么吗? 栖息地为生物提供所需的食物、水、空气和住所。 栖息地由许多部分共同作用。 在这本书中，你将了解栖息地的组成，以及不同生物的栖息地有何不同。 当你读完这本书的时候，你就会知道为什么这一页上的图片不可能是真的。

The Building Blocks of Habitats Earth has many kinds of habitats. Why are there different habitats? To answer this question, let's learn about the building blocks of habitats. The first building block is latitude. Latitude measures how far a place is from Earth's equator, or middle. As Earth spins, the Sun's energy warms parts of the planet in different ways. The latitudes close to the equator are warmed more. The latitudes close to the North Pole and South Pole are warmed less.

地球上有很多种栖息地。 为什么有不同的栖息地? 为了回答这个问题，让我们来了解一下栖息地的组成部分。 第一个基石是纬度。 纬度测量的是一个地方距离地球赤道或中心的距离。 随着地球自转，太阳的能量以不同的方式使地球部分地区变暖。 靠近赤道的纬度地区温度更高。 靠近北极和南极的纬度温度较低。

In each band of latitude, some land is higher than other land. Elevation— how high or low a place is— is the second building block of habitats. The Sun warms places with low elevation more than places with high elevation. Why is that? The air around Earth is the atmosphere. The atmosphere is like a blanket of air. Even air has weight and thickness. The blanket is thick close to the ground, so it holds in more heat. The blanket is thin in the mountains, so it doesn't hold in as much heat.

在每个纬度带中，有些陆地比另一些陆地高。 海拔——一个地方有多高或多低——是栖息地的第二个组成部分。 太阳使低海拔地区比高海拔地区更温暖。 为什么呢?地球周围的空气是大气。 大气层就像一张空气毯。 甚至空气也有重量和厚度。 毯子很厚，靠近地面，所以它能吸收更多的热量。 山上的毯子很薄，所以不能留住那么多热量。

Warm air and cool air make wind when they meet. The wind carries moisture (water) between parts of the system. Differences in temperature, wind, and moisture produce different climates around our planet. Climate is weather patterns over very long periods of time. Climate is half of the third building block of habitats.

暖空气和冷空气相遇时形成风。 风在系统的各个部分之间携带水分(水)。 温度、风和湿度的差异导致了我们星球上不同的气候。 气候是很长一段时间内的天气模式。 气候是栖息地第三个组成部分的一半。

Land and water are as important as climate in building blocks of habitats. Almost three-fourths of Earth's surface is water, and most of that is in oceans. Earth's land is different from place to place. It may be flat or sharp with mountains. There may be lakes, streams, or little water. Land and water are the other half of the third building block of habitats.

在构建栖息地的过程中，土地和水与气候一样重要。 地球表面近四分之三是水，其中大部分在海洋中。 地球上的土地因地而异。 它可能是平坦的，也可能是陡峭的。 那里可能有湖泊、溪流或很少的水。 土地和水是构成栖息地的第三块基石的另一半。