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The Atlantic Ocean
大西洋
The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americas from being discovered by the people of Europe.
It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) wide. This narrowest place is between the bulge of south America and the bulge of Africa.
Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. Also, it is the world's saltiest ocean.
There is so much water in the Atlantic that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But suppose no more rain fell into it and no more water was brought to it by rivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than two miles (3.2 km) deep, but in places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This "deep" measures 30,246 feet-almost six miles (9.6 km).
One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises from the floor of the Atlantic. This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean. The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.
Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. In the days of sailing vessels the crew were afraid they would be becalmed here. Sometimes they were.
Ocean currents are sometimes called "rivers in the sea." One of these "rivers" in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It is a current of warm water. Another is at he Labrador Current - cold water coming down from the Arctic. Ocean currents affect the climates of the lands near which they flow.
The Atlantic furnishes much food for the people on its shores. One of its most famous fishing regions, the Grand Banks, is near New-foundland.
Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the Far North across the paths of ships.
We now have such fast ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller. Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four!
大西洋是把亚、欧、非这个旧世界与南北美洲这个新发现的世界相隔开的一片大沣。若干世纪以来由于有大西洋相隔，使欧洲人一直没能发现南北美洲。
在哥伦布横渡大西洋的地方，洋面宽达4000多英里（6000公里）。即使在洋面最窄的地方宽度也约有2000英里（3200公里）。这洋面最窄的地方就是介于南美洲的突出点和非洲的突出点之间。
有两点使大西洋非同一般。一是，这么大的一片汪洋，里面几乎没有岛屿。二是，这里是世界上海水最咸的大洋。
大西洋里有很多很多的海水，以致很难让人想像出来到底有多少海水。倡假如现在就不再有雨水落进大西洋，假如一切河流的水现在也都不往大西洋里面流，那么大西洋大约再过4000年就会干涸。大西洋平均水深稍微超过两英里（合3.2公里），不过有些地方却更深得多，最深的地方是在波多黎各附近。这里水深达30246英尺--，几乎是6英里（9。6公里）。
世界上最长的山脉之一就是从大西洋的洋底升起来的。这条山脉在大洋中间，是南北走向的。山脉的几处顶峰向上突出了海平面就形成了岛屿。亚速尔群岛就是中部大西洋山脉的几座山峰的尖端。
从佛罗里达半岛往东几百英里，大洋的那一小部分水域被称为马尾藻海。这里海面平静，因为几乎没有风。在使用帆船的那些年代里，船员们都害怕船走到那里就会原地不能动了。有时也真的是这样。
大洋里的海水流动有时被称为"海洋中的洋流"。大西洋中这些潮流之一称为墨西哥湾流。这是一股暖水流。另一股是拉布拉多湾流--从北冰洋下来的一股寒水流。这些海洋潮流影响着所流经过的附近的陆地的气候。
大西洋为岸边的居民提供了丰富的食物。可是，它并不总是平稳安全的航道。暴风雨会横扫过大西洋向上掀起层层巨浪。像冰山一样巨型浮冰块会从北冰洋向南漂浮下来横着阻挡住海船的条条航道。
现在我们有很多非常快速的方法到国外旅行，以致这个大西洋使我们觉得比以前小多了。哥伦布用了两个多月才横渡了大西洋。现在用现代的快轮用不了四天就能完成这段航程。飞机从纽约飞到伦敦只用八个小时，而从南美洲飞到非洲只用四个小时就行了。 |