英语听力：自然百科 大堡礁 珊瑚礁至雨林(22)

They won't stay here forever.

它们也不会一直在这里逗留。

When they are bigger, they won't be able to hide amongst the slender stems, and they'll look for a better hiding place, maybe one even closer to land.

等它们长大一些，无法在海草丛中躲藏了，就会去寻找更合适的藏身之地，也许更靠近陆地。

Where the sea meets the coast, salt water meets fresh water from rivers and streams.

在海陆交接的地方，河流淡水汇入咸水。

But one doesn't suddenly become the other.

但淡咸水不会马上溶合。

The water mixes slowly, greeting a world unlike either but connecting to both.

淡水和咸水极缓慢地溶合着，形成了一个两者独立而又互通着的世界。

It's here that you will find a special group of plants.

在这里，你将发现一类特殊的植物。

Fringing the coast of the mainland is a habitat that has profound impact on the ecosystem¹ of the reef.

它们生长在大陆架边缘的海岸边上，这片栖息地对珊瑚礁生态系统有着深远影响。

They're plants that have cracked a neat evolutionary² trick.

这是一类有着特殊进化策略的植物。

They can live in brackish³ environments,which is the combinations of salts and fresh water.

它们可以生活在淡咸水交汇的半咸水环境中。

They are the mangroves.

它们就是红树林。

They grow where no other trees are able to.

它们生长在其他树木无法生长的地方。

Twice a day, the tide floods their roots with salt water.

每天两次，潮汐带来的海水淹没它们的树根。

At the same time, water from the rivers flows through the mangroves and their lattice of root acts like a giant tea strainer,slowing it down, so that any sediments⁴ washed off the land can settle out.

同时江河淡水也缓慢地穿过红树林流向海洋。红树林的根系就像一个巨大的滤茶器，减缓了河水流速，使从陆地冲刷来的沉积物有机会沉积下来。

1 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

2 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

3 brackish   

adj.混有盐的；咸的

参考例句：

• Brackish waters generally support only a small range of faunas.咸水水域通常只能存活为数不多的几种动物。
• The factory has several shallow pools of brackish water.工厂有几个浅的咸水池。

4 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。