纪录片《我们的地球》 第94期 奇幻沙漠(11)

The Sonoran Desert in Arizona is not quite so dry as the Atacama.

亚利桑那州的索诺兰沙漠并不像阿塔卡马沙漠那样干旱

Some rain does fall.

这里有时会下一些雨

But it is infrequent,

可是降雨次数很少

and when it does arrive, animals and plants have to be ready to make the most of it.

一旦雨水到来，所有动植物都必须做好准备尽量地利用它们。

And it's coming. When the summer monsoon¹ blows in,

要下雨了。当夏季季风吹来时，

the giant saguaros, one of the biggest of all cacti², are ready to take full advantage of it.

巨大的弁庆柱--一种世界上最大的仙人掌，准备充分利用雨水。

After a rainstorm, the saguaro's long, shallow root system sucks up the water

暴风雨过后，弁庆柱用又长又浅的根系吸收水分

and the pleats on its trunk enable it to expand rapidly.

茎上的皱褶使之能迅速膨胀

When full, a saguaro stem can store up to five tonnes of water,

吸饱水后，弁庆柱的茎干中已储存了5吨左右的水

and that's enough to see it through many months of drought.

这足以帮助它们度过几个月的旱季

The trunks of these huge plants provide homes for the Gila woodpecker.

这些立柱般的巨型植物为橙腰啄木鸟提供了住所

But birds are not the only animals to benefit from the presence of the cacti.

不过鸟类并非唯一从仙人掌那里获得好处的动物。

1 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

2 cacti   

n.（复）仙人掌

参考例句：

• There we could see nothing but cacti.那里除了仙人掌我们什么也看不到。
• Cacti can survive the lack of rainfall in the desert.仙人掌在降水稀少的沙漠中也能生存下去。