43 L5-Exploring our world

Oxford Read and Discover level 5 Exploring Our World by Jacqueline Martin

牛津阅读和发现第5级探索我们的世界由杰奎琳·马丁

Introduction Explorers are people who leave their home to discover new places, or to learn new things about people, plants, or animals. To learn more about our world, they go on exciting journeys through forests, across hot or icy deserts, up mountains, or down rivers. Do you know about any famous explorers? Do you know what places they explored, and why? Where are these places? Discover! Now read and discover more about explorers and exploring our world!

探险家是那些离开家去发现新地方，或去了解关于人、植物或动物的新事物的人。 为了更多地了解我们的世界，他们进行了令人兴奋的旅行，穿过森林，穿过炎热或冰冷的沙漠，上山或下游。 你知道什么著名的探险家吗? 你知道他们探索了哪些地方吗?为什么? 这些地方在哪里?发现!现在阅读和发现更多关于探险家和探索我们的世界!

Chapter 1 Exploring Thousands of years ago, early people knew about only a very small part of the world. Today we know a lot more, and some of our information comes from explorers. Explorers have changed the world! Why Do People Explore? Early people traveled around to find food and water. Most explorers travel because they are curious and want to discover new places and to learn new things. Some early explorers hoped to get rich by discovering new plants, animals, or treasures, and by selling them when they got home. Today, explorers travel to have an adventure, to learn more about remote places, to find something new to help science, or maybe to be famous. Where Do People Explore? Early explorers wanted to find new places or people. They crossed land and explored deserts, forests, rivers, and mountains. Then they started to explore the oceans. Today, many explorers want to be the first to go somewhere a new way. Some try to find a different route, or look for new ways to travel. Others want to be the youngest, the fastest, or the first to do something, for example, climb a mountain. Discover! An Italian explorer called Reinhold Messner was the first person to climb all 14 mountains that are more than 8,000 meters high.

几千年前，早期的人们只知道世界上很小的一部分。 今天我们知道的更多了，我们的一些信息来自探险家。 探险家改变了世界!人们为什么要探索? 早期的人们四处旅行寻找食物和水。 大多数探险家旅行是因为他们好奇，想要发现新的地方和学习新的东西。 一些早期的探险家希望通过发现新的植物、动物或宝藏，并在回家后卖掉它们来致富。 今天，探险家们旅行是为了冒险，为了更多地了解偏远的地方，为了发现新的东西来帮助科学，或者为了出名。 人们在哪里探索?早期的探险家想要发现新的地方或新的人。 他们穿越陆地，探索沙漠、森林、河流和山脉。 然后他们开始探索海洋。 今天，许多探险家都想成为第一个以新方式到达某个地方的人。 有些人试图找到一条不同的路线，或者寻找新的旅行方式。 其他人想成为最年轻的，最快的，或者第一个做某事，例如，爬山。 发现!意大利探险家莱因霍尔德·梅斯纳(Reinhold Messner)是第一个攀登所有14座海拔超过8000米的山峰的人。

How Do People Explore? Early explorers used only the stars to find their way. Explorers wanted to share what they found, so they wrote about their journeys and made maps. On the maps they drew mountains, rivers, and other things that they had seen, to make it easier for other travelers to follow the same route. About 2,200 years ago, Chinese people invented the compass. A compass always points north, so it tells you which direction you are traveling in. GPS instruments that use satellites help modern explorers to find out where they are. Why Is Exploring Important? Information from some early explorers has helped people to make maps to show what the world is like. The things that they wrote tell us what life was like a long time ago in the places that they visited. Explorers have learned about new plants and animals, discovered new materials, and learned new languages. They have also discovered inventions, and different ways of doing things, for example, new ways of farming. Discover! Modern explorers are still finding new things. Scientists hope that in the future, they will find cures for many diseases in the rainforests and the oceans.

人们是如何探索的?早期的探险家只用星星来寻路。 探险家们想要分享他们的发现，所以他们写下了他们的旅程并制作了地图。 他们在地图上画上山脉、河流和其他他们见过的东西，以便其他旅行者更容易走同样的路线。 大约2200年前，中国人发明了指南针。 指南针总是指向北方，所以它能告诉你前进的方向。 使用卫星的全球定位系统仪器帮助现代探险家找到他们所在的位置。 为什么探索很重要? 一些早期探险家提供的信息帮助人们绘制地图，向人们展示世界的面貌。 他们所写的东西告诉我们很久以前他们去过的地方的生活是什么样的。 探险家们了解了新的植物和动物，发现了新的材料，学习了新的语言。 他们还发现了发明和不同的做事方式，例如，新的耕作方式。 发现!现代探险家仍在发现新事物。 科学家们希望在未来，他们能在热带雨林和海洋中找到治疗许多疾病的方法。

Chapter 2 Early Explorers Early people traveled around to look for food, but they weren't explorers. Explorers go from their home land to discover something about another place, and then they come back and tell people what they found. Early People People have lived in most parts of the world for thousands of years. Scientists think that early people started in Africa and traveled to Asia. By about 40,000 years ago, there were people in almost every part of Africa, Asia, and Europe. By about 15,000 years ago they moved into America. Famous Early Explorers Zhang Qian was an early explorer from China. He explored many other parts of Asia more than 2,100 years ago. Other people followed his route to trade silk from Asia with things from Europe. The route that he took is now called the Silk Road. Marco Polo was an explorer from Venice, now in Italy. In 1271, he traveled from Europe to China. When he returned to Italy 24 years later, he told people about inventions like paper, money, pasta, and ice cream. From about 1325 a Moroccan explorer, Ibn Battuta, explored North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He traveled 120,000 kilometers.

早期的人四处旅行寻找食物，但他们不是探险家。 探险家离开家乡去发现另一个地方的东西，然后他们回来告诉人们他们的发现。 人类已经在世界上大部分地区生活了数千年。 科学家们认为早期人类从非洲开始，然后前往亚洲。 到大约4万年前，非洲、亚洲和欧洲几乎每个地方都有人类。 大约一万五千年前，他们移居美洲。 张骞是中国早期的探险家。 他在2100多年前探索了亚洲的许多其他地区。 其他人则沿着他的路线从亚洲与欧洲进行丝绸贸易。 他走过的路线现在被称为丝绸之路。 马可波罗是一位来自威尼斯(现在在意大利)的探险家。 1271年，他从欧洲来到中国。 24年后，当他回到意大利时，他向人们讲述了纸、钱、意大利面和冰淇淋等发明。 大约从1325年起，一位摩洛哥探险家伊本·白图泰(Ibn Battuta)开始探索北非、中东和亚洲。 他旅行了12万公里。