41 L5-All About Islands

Oxford Read and Discover level 5 All About Islands by James Styring

《牛津阅读与发现》第5关James Styring著

Introduction An island can be very small, or it can be big, with mountains, lakes, roads, and cities. Some islands are hot, but others are covered with ice. Some islands have animals and plants that don't live anywhere else. Only about 10% of people live on islands. Do you live on an island? What islands do you know? What is the biggest island? Do you know any of these islands? Discover! Now read and discover more about islands around the world!

岛屿可以很小，也可以很大，有山脉、湖泊、道路和城市。 一些岛屿很热，但另一些则被冰覆盖。 有些岛屿上有其他地方没有的动植物。 只有大约10%的人住在岛上。 你住在岛上吗?你知道哪些岛屿? 最大的岛屿是哪个? 你知道这些岛屿吗? 发现!现在阅读和发现更多关于世界各地的岛屿!

Chapter 1 What Is an Island? An island is a piece of land with water all around it. There are many different types of island. Where Are Islands? Less than 30% of Earth's surface is land— there are seven continents and thousands of islands. Some islands are in the middle of an ocean, and others are near the mainland. Many islands are so small that you can't see them on this map. How Do Islands Form? Islands can form in a lot of different ways. Some islands formed a long time ago. About 20,000 years ago, Earth was very, very cold. Lots of water from the oceans froze into ice, and the sea level went down everywhere. Later, Earth became warmer and a lot of the ice melted, and the sea level went up. Places that were valleys and mountains 20,000 years ago became seas and islands. Sometimes, land can move away from the mainland to form an island. It takes thousands of years for islands to form in this way.

第一章什么是岛屿? 岛屿是一片四面都是水的陆地。 有许多不同类型的岛屿。 岛屿在哪里?地球表面不到30%是陆地——有七大洲和成千上万的岛屿。 有些岛屿位于海洋中央，有些岛屿靠近大陆。 许多岛屿很小，你在这张地图上看不到它们。 岛屿是如何形成的?岛屿可以以多种不同的方式形成。 有些岛屿是很久以前形成的。 大约2万年前，地球非常非常冷。 海洋中的大量水结成冰，海平面到处下降。 后来，地球变暖，许多冰融化，海平面上升。 2万年前的山谷和山脉变成了海洋和岛屿。 有时，陆地会离开大陆形成岛屿。 以这种方式形成岛屿需要数千年的时间。

Volcanoes under the ocean erupt and the lava can form volcanic islands. In 2009, a new volcanic island formed in the Pacific Ocean, near Tonga. Sometimes, waves move the sand at the bottom of the ocean to form islands. In warm oceans, coral grows to form coral islands. Another way is when rivers carry rainwater with small pieces of soil, rocks, and plants. When the water in a river goes slowly, these things in the water fall to the bottom and they can build up and form islands in the river. The Mekong River in Asia has a lot of islands that are made in this way. Amazing Species The animals and plants on some islands grow in different ways from the species on the mainland. Some species live on only one island and nowhere else on Earth. Hispaniolan solenodons live on one island called Hispaniola, in the Caribbean Sea. Solenodons are about 50 centimeters long. They have a long nose and they are the only mammal with poison in their teeth. They use their nose and teeth to hunt insects and other small animals. Hispaniolan solenodons lived at the time of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago! The solenodons are now in danger because people are cutting down the forests where they live, and dogs are hunting them, too. If we don't protect them, the last solenodons will die and the species will become extinct.

海底火山爆发，熔岩可以形成火山岛。 2009年，汤加附近的太平洋上形成了一个新的火山岛。 有时，海浪将海底的沙子移动形成岛屿。 在温暖的海洋中，珊瑚生长形成珊瑚岛。 另一种方式是河流携带雨水，同时携带小块土壤、岩石和植物。 当河水流速缓慢时，水中的这些东西会沉到水底，它们会在河中积聚并形成岛屿。 亚洲的湄公河上有很多岛屿都是用这种方式建造的。 一些岛屿上的动植物生长方式与大陆上的物种不同。 有些物种只生活在一个岛上，在地球上没有其他地方。 伊斯帕尼奥拉岛的螺线齿生活在加勒比海的伊斯帕尼奥拉岛上。 螺线管大约有50厘米长。 它们有一个长长的鼻子，它们是唯一一种牙齿里有毒液的哺乳动物。 它们用鼻子和牙齿捕食昆虫和其他小动物。 伊斯帕尼奥拉岛的螺齿龙生活在恐龙时代，距今6500万年前!螺线管现在处于危险之中，因为人们正在砍伐它们生活的森林，狗也在追捕它们。 如果我们不保护它们，最后的螺线齿鲨就会死亡，这个物种就会灭绝。

Chapter 2 Volcanic Islands When volcanoes erupt, hot gases, ash, and lava fly into the air. When a volcano under the ocean erupts, the water cools the lava and it becomes rock. After lots of eruptions, the lava can form a volcanic island. Active Volcanic Islands There are thousands of volcanic islands, and some have active volcanoes. Mount Fuji on Honshu Island in Japan is an active volcano, but it hasn't erupted for more than 300 years. The volcano on Stromboli Island, in the Mediterranean Sea, erupts about every two hours! Some of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, have black beaches. This is because the lava from volcanoes forms a black rock when it cools. The wind and waves have changed the rock into sand. Discover! Hawaii is an active volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. It's getting bigger every year because of the lava from its volcanoes. Hot Rock The underground rock on volcanic islands is often very hot. When underground water meets hot volcanic rock, the water boils. Some of the hot water evaporates into steam, and the steam pushes the hot water up into the air. When this happens, the hot water is called a geyser. Iceland is a volcanic island with a lot of geysers. Iceland is cold, but even in winter, there are hot water pools where people can swim. Plants grow well in the warm ground near the geysers. Discover! Birds have to keep their eggs warm. Most birds sit on their eggs, but incubator birds on some volcanic islands leave their eggs in warm volcanic ash.

火山岛火山爆发时，热气、灰烬和熔岩飞到空中。 当海底火山喷发时，海水冷却了熔岩，熔岩就变成了岩石。 经过多次喷发，熔岩可以形成火山岛。 世界上有成千上万的火山岛，其中一些有活火山。 日本本州岛上的富士山是一座活火山，但它已经有300多年没有喷发了。 位于地中海斯特龙博利岛上的火山大约每两小时喷发一次!大西洋上的一些加那利群岛有黑色的海滩。 这是因为火山熔岩冷却后会形成黑色的岩石。 风浪把岩石变成了沙子。 发现!夏威夷是太平洋上的一个活火山岛。 由于火山喷发的熔岩，它每年都在变大。 火山岛上的地下岩石通常很热。 当地下水遇到炽热的火山岩时，水就沸腾了。 一些热水蒸发成蒸汽，蒸汽把热水推到空中。 当这种情况发生时，热水就被称为间歇泉。 冰岛是一个火山岛，有很多间歇泉。 冰岛很冷，但即使在冬天，也有可供人们游泳的热水池。 植物在间歇泉附近温暖的土地上长得很好。 发现!鸟类必须让蛋保持温暖。 大多数鸟类都坐在它们的蛋上，但是一些火山岛上的孵化鸟把它们的蛋留在温暖的火山灰中。