4 A2 madagascar

CHAPTER 1 The Red Island RED SOIL, AMAZING ANIMALS, AND UNIQUE PLANTS AND FLOWERS. MADAGASCAR, OR "THE RED ISLAND," IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND INTERESTING COUNTRIES ON EARTH. Would you like to go hiking in a rainforest in the morning and then swim with fish and turtles in the afternoon? Is your dream vacation watching whales jump out of the ocean while you swim? How about seeing 33 different kinds of lemurs? If you answered "yes," then Madagascar is the place for you! Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. It's a little bigger than Spain, but a little smaller than France. It is in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa. It has many different kinds of land, and because of that, it has amazing biodiversity. There are many kinds of plants and animals that live only on Madagascar.

红岛红土，神奇的动物，独特的植物和花朵。 马达加斯加，又称“红岛”，是地球上最美丽、最有趣的国家之一。 你想早上去雨林徒步旅行，然后下午和鱼和乌龟一起游泳吗？ 你梦想的假期是一边游泳一边看鲸鱼跳出海洋吗？ 看33种不同的狐猴怎么样？ 如果你的回答是“是”，那么马达加斯加就是适合你的地方！马达加斯加是世界第四大岛。 它比西班牙大一点，但比法国小一点。 它位于印度洋，离非洲东海岸不远。 它有许多不同种类的土地，正因为如此，它拥有惊人的生物多样性。 有许多种类的动植物只生活在马达加斯加。

Why is Madagascar unique? About 160 million years ago, India broke off from Africa. Then 80 million years ago a large piece of India broke off and became an island. Madagascar was born! The first people came to Madagascar much later— only 2,000 years ago. They probably came from Indonesia or Africa. The people of Madagascar are called the Malagasy. There are more than 20 different ethnic groups, but they all speak the Malagasy language. Many Malagasy also speak French because Madagascar was a French colony from 1896 to 1960.

为什么马达加斯加是独一无二的？大约一亿六千万年前，印度从非洲分离出来。 8000万年前，印度的一大块分裂成了一个岛屿。 马达加斯加诞生了！第一批人来到马达加斯加的时间要晚得多——只有2000年前。 他们可能来自印度尼西亚或非洲。 马达加斯加人被称为马达加斯加人。 马达加斯加有20多个不同的民族，但他们都说马达加斯加语。 许多马达加斯加人也说法语，因为马达加斯加从1896年到1960年是法国的殖民地。

CHAPTER 2 A Perfect Place for Animal Lovers MANY PEOPLE VISIT MADAGASCAR TO SEE ITS STRANGE AND WONDERFUL ANIMALS. If you like unusual animals, you'll love Madagascar. Because Madagascar is an island, far from other countries, many of its animals evolved in unique ways. Would you like to see a fossa? It's an animal that looks like both a cat and a dog. Or how about 30 different species of tenrec? It's like a mouse, but it has feathers like a bird! Chameleons are beautiful, interesting, and colorful animals. They can be red, blue, yellow, green, black, white, or brown. They change color with changes in the temperature or the light, and also when their mood changes. A happy chameleon might be green, but an angry chameleon might turn yellow.

动物爱好者的理想之地许多人到马达加斯加去看那里奇怪而奇妙的动物。 如果你喜欢不寻常的动物，你会爱上马达加斯加。 因为马达加斯加是一个远离其他国家的岛屿，它的许多动物都以独特的方式进化。 你想看牙窝吗？ 它是一种既像猫又像狗的动物。 或者是30种不同种类的触须？ 它像一只老鼠，但它有像鸟一样的羽毛！变色龙是一种美丽、有趣、色彩斑斓的动物。 它们可以是红色、蓝色、黄色、绿色、黑色、白色或棕色。 它们会随着温度或光线的变化以及情绪的变化而改变颜色。 快乐的变色龙可能是绿色的，但愤怒的变色龙可能会变成黄色。

A chameleon's tongue is two times longer than its body. That makes catching insects easy! And a chameleon's eyes are unique, too. A chameleon can move its eyes in different directions at the same time. This gives them an almost 360-degree view of the world. That helps them to catch insects, too! Almost half of the world's chameleon species live on Madagascar. It is the world's largest group of chameleons, and also the world's most unique. Fifty-nine species of Madagascar's chameleons are only found on Madagascar. But Madagascar's most popular animal is probably the lemur. A lemur is a primate, like a monkey. There are about 33 species of lemurs on Madagascar and most of them are not found anywhere else on Earth.

变色龙的舌头比它的身体长两倍。 这使得捕捉昆虫变得容易！变色龙的眼睛也很独特。 变色龙的眼睛可以同时朝不同的方向移动。 这让它们几乎可以360度观察世界。 这也有助于它们捕捉昆虫！世界上几乎一半的变色龙都生活在马达加斯加。 它是世界上最大的变色龙群，也是世界上最独特的。 59种马达加斯加变色龙只在马达加斯加被发现。 但马达加斯加最受欢迎的动物可能是狐猴。 狐猴是一种灵长类动物，和猴子一样。 马达加斯加大约有33种狐猴，其中大多数在地球上其他任何地方都找不到。

Lemurs are friendly some like to live with other lemurs, sometimes in groups of ten or more. When a group of lemurs travel through their environment, they keep their long tails in the air, like a flag. They do this so that it is easy to see each other and stay together as a group. Lemur species have many different sizes and shapes. The smallest is the pygmy mouse lemur. It's only 25 grams. The largest is the indri, which is six to nine kilograms.

狐猴很友好，有些喜欢和其他狐猴生活在一起，有时是十只或更多的狐猴。 当一群狐猴在它们的环境中穿行时，它们的长尾巴在空中飘扬，就像一面旗帜。 他们这样做是为了很容易看到彼此，并作为一个群体待在一起。 狐猴种类有许多不同的大小和形状。 最小的是侏儒鼠狐猴。 只有25克。最大的是大狐猴，重6到9公斤。

Lemurs are very important for the ecology of Madagascar. They eat many different kinds of fruit. After they digest the fruit, they leave the seeds all around their environment. The seeds grow into new plants, fruit grows on the plants, lemurs eat the fruit, and the An aye-aye circle starts again. One of the most unusual species of lemur is the aye-aye. It has very big ears, big teeth, and a long middle finger. The aye-aye eats insect larvae. It climbs a tree and hits the tree with its long middle finger. Then it listens. If it hears insects moving inside the tree, it gnaws the tree with its big teeth until it gets to the larvae. The aye-aye has amazing ears. It can hear insect larvae move four meters inside the tree!

狐猴对马达加斯加的生态非常重要。 他们吃许多不同种类的水果。 在它们消化了果实后，它们把种子留在周围的环境中。 种子长成新的植物，果实长在植物上，狐猴吃了果实，安耶耶的循环又开始了。 狐猴中最不寻常的物种之一是狐猴。 它有非常大的耳朵，大牙齿和长长的中指。 夜蛾吃昆虫幼虫。 它爬上一棵树，用长长的中指敲树。 然后它会倾听。如果它听到有昆虫在树里面移动，它就用它的大牙齿啃树，直到它咬到幼虫。 阿耶有一双神奇的耳朵。 它可以听到昆虫幼虫在树内四米的地方移动！