美语情景对话 第259期:The Land of Australia 澳大利亚的土地

Todd: Now, Aaron, Australia's a big place. Can you describe the Australian landscape?

托德：亚伦，澳大利亚非常大。你能描述一下澳大利亚的风景吗？

Aaron: No worries. In Australia, there are cities and then there is country. Not many people live in the country, and the desert. About 70% of the population live on the East Coast on a very small area, and 80% maybe 70% of Australia is just desert. Nobody lives there, or it's just farms and nobody lives there as well. The cities aren't like Japan. They're very small cities, and there's a one high-rise area and then the rest of it is just flat.

亚伦：没问题。澳大利亚有城市也有乡村。住在乡村和沙漠的人并不是很多。澳大利亚70%的人口都居住在东海岸，那是一片非常小的区域，其实澳大利亚有80%，也许是70%的地方都是沙漠。没有人住在那里，当然也没有人住在农田里。澳大利亚的城市与日本的不同。澳大利亚都是小城市，其中一个城市位于高海拔地区，其余的城市都位于平原地区。

Todd: How about the natural landscapes like deserts and rainforests, and things like that?

托德：那像沙漠和雨林这样的自然景色怎么样？

Aaron: No worries. The rainforests are in the south, mainly in Tasmania, and in the tropics to the north, but the desert is the center of Australia and the north of Australia as well and on the west coast. There's not much rainforest. There's a lot of desert. Not many rainforests and the rest is just built-up area. Suburban areas.

亚伦：嗯。雨林位于南部，主要在塔斯马尼亚岛和北部的热带地区，而沙漠则位于澳大利亚中部、北部以及西海岸。雨林并不多。但是沙漠面积广大。雨林地区并不多，其他地方就是建筑物密集区。郊区等等。

Todd: Um, Australia is know for it's beaches. What area has the nicest beaches?

托德：嗯，澳大利亚的海滩非常著名。哪个地方的海滩最棒？

Aaron: The nicest beaches are probably in Queensland, or the Gold Coast. The West Coast has some great beaches as well, but there are now cities over there, so it's not so popular, but I think the best beaches are in Queensland, cause the pollution is so low. In the cities, in the south, the beaches are a bit dirty, so you can't always swim there.

亚伦：最好的海滩可能要属昆士兰的黄金海岸了。西海岸也有许多很棒的海滩，不过那里有许多城市，所以海滩没有那么受欢迎，不过我认为最棒的海滩在昆士兰，因为那里污染小。南部城市中的海滩有些脏，你不能经常在那里游泳。

重点讲解：
1. the center of
中心；中央；中部；
eg. A large wooden table dominates the centre of the room.
一张大木桌摆在房间正中央。
eg. Buses go to and from between the center of the city and the city limits.
公共汽车往返行驶于市中心和城市边缘之间。
2. built-up
建筑物密集的；
eg. A speed limit of 30 mph was introduced in built-up areas.
在建筑密集区域，车速限制为每小时30英里。
eg. The little field was surrounded by the university of maryland and a heavily built-up area.
这个小小的机场处在马里兰大学和一片稠密建筑物的包围之中。
eg. The land to the west is nearly all built-up.
西面的土地几乎全都已建筑饱和。