国家地理-2008-06-21 China's Amazing Flowers 繁花似锦的中国

China has more plants than anywhere else in the temperate¹ regions of the world. In fact, it has almost twice as many kinds of plants as there are in the United States which is about the same size and about three times as many as there are in Europe. It’s a very wonderful wealth of plant species, many of which have contributed to our gardens, like rhododendrons, and azaleas, and forsythias,  to our cultivated plants like soybeans.

 The reason that there’re so many plants in China is that they've survived there better. If you go back fifteen million years into the past, you find much the same kinds of plants and the animals in the United States, Europe and China. They've survived in the warm temperate to subtropical forests that stretch right across the middle of China.

 In those forests of China we have surviving species like gingko, the maidenhair tree which has been in cultivation² in Europe and North America since the 17th century. A wonderful relic³ in those forests is the dove tree, Davidia. It’s called the dove tree because the fluttering bracts that hang down from the clusters of  flowers look like doves flying.

 Another example is the dawn red wood, metasequoia, which was described as a fossil in 1941. Forty million years ago, it was the commonest forest tree in Western North America, now it’s completely wiped out there, but it survives as about 6,000 individuals in China.

 The western half of China in the interior of Asia consists of very tough deserts. In the harsh landscape of Tibet there exist a whole series of herbs, sedges, grasses, saussurea, primroses⁵ that are found only there. Some groups of plants, like sorseria for example, have their buds protected against the low temperatures, they keep on growing.

 Another reason that there’re so many kinds of plants in China is that unlike the United States or Europe, there’s real tropical forest in the south tropical rain forests in southern Yunnan, and in that tropical forest, there are many species that come up from the south. They give the province of Yunnan about as many  species, one state of China, and in fact about as many species as there are in the United States and Canada combined, about 15,000 kinds of plants. And it’s the melding of all of those regions, the survival of species from the past and the creation of many new species by the forces in evolution and the diverse topography of China that’s produced so much variety, so wonderfully pleasing and exciting to see.

China is doing the best that it can to save its biological diversity including its floral heritage. Chinese officials are very concerned with this, but it’s very difficult to meet the needs of 1.3 billion people to allow them to consume more, to give them things that they want like automobiles⁶ and other imports from the west and still to preserve the natural landscape or even the quality of the air, the water. They’re fighting that battle, a battle with which we are all familiar well, but they're going to have to do a great deal more in the future as we all are.

 Notes:

rhododendron: Any of numerous usually evergreen⁷ ornamental⁸ shrubs⁹ of the genusRhododendron  of the North Temperate Zone, having clusters of variously colored, often bell-shaped flowers.

azaleas rhododendron: Any of various shrubs of the genusRhododendron  having showy, variously colored flowers.

forsythias: Any of several shrubs of the genusForsythia,  native to Asia and widely cultivated for their early-blooming yellow flowers.

maidenhair tree : =gingko.
dove tree: The Dove tree (Davidia involucrata) is a medium-sized deciduous¹⁰ tree, usually placed in the tupelo family (Nyssaceae), but is sometimes included (with the tupelos) in the dogwood family (Cornaceae), and by yet others given family status of its own, as Davidiaceae. It is also known as the Handkerchief tree. The tree is native to central China, from Hubei to southern Gansu, south to Guizhou, Sichuan and Yunnan.
sedge: grass-like plant growing in marshes¹¹ or near water.
saussurea: Saussurea is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to cool temperate and arctic regions of Asia, Europe, and North America, with the highest diversity in alpine¹² habitats in the Himalaya and central Asia.
primrose⁴: Any of numerous plants of the genusPrimula,  having well-developed basal leaves and tubular, variously colored flowers grouped in umbels or heads with a funnel-shaped or salverlike corolla and a tube much longer than the calyx.
bract: A leaflike or scalelike plant part, usually small, sometimes showy or brightly colored, and located just below a flower, a flower stalk, or an inflorescence.

1 temperate   

adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的

参考例句：

• Asia extends across the frigid,temperate and tropical zones.亚洲地跨寒、温、热三带。
• Great Britain has a temperate climate.英国气候温和。

2 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

3 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

4 primrose   

n.樱草，最佳部分，

参考例句：

• She is in the primrose of her life.她正处在她一生的最盛期。
• The primrose is set off by its nest of green.一窝绿叶衬托着一朵樱草花。

5 primroses   

n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果）

参考例句：

• Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The primroses were bollming; spring was in evidence. 迎春花开了，春天显然已经到了。 来自互联网

6 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

8 ornamental   

adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物

参考例句：

• The stream was dammed up to form ornamental lakes.溪流用水坝拦挡起来,形成了装饰性的湖泊。
• The ornamental ironwork lends a touch of elegance to the house.铁艺饰件为房子略添雅致。

9 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

10 deciduous   

adj.非永久的；短暂的；脱落的；落叶的

参考例句：

• Overgrown deciduous shrubs can be cut back at this time of year.过于繁茂的落叶灌木可以在每年的这个时候修剪。
• Deciduous trees shed their leaves in autumn.落叶树木在秋天落叶。

11 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。