WORD LIST
civilization
equator
equatorial
stretch
degree
tropical
percent
desert
vegetation
shrub
gazelle
hare
survive
shade
temperature
portion
rainfall
plateau
tree-dotted
herd
antelope
variety
zebra
giraffe
rhinoceros
leopard
hyena
cradle
characteristic
regularity
annual
Ethiopia
Ethiopian
originate
laden with
submerge
saturate
layer
maize
millet
bean
date
worship
legend
temple
measure
survey
geometry
calender
astronomy
IDIOMS AND EXPRESSION
keep out
to feed on
to come into being
TEXT
AFRICA—LAND AND CIVILIZATION
Africa is a very large continent—larger than China, Europe and the United States put together. It sits on the equator, stretching both north and south about 35 degrees. For this reason it is the most tropical of continents.
40 percent of Africa is desert country. Parts of the desert are so dry that there is no vegetation. Where a little rain falls, grass and desert shrubs appear. Typical desert animals are the gazelle, the fox, and the hare. They can survive in this region of little water, little shade, and high day-time temperature.
Central Africa, the most tropical portion of this tropical continent, is a land of heavy rainfall and high plateaus. It is also a land of vast tropical rain forests. In these forests there are so many trees, and they grow so close together, that it is hard to move around. The tops of trees form a kind of roof, under which there is little light, as the sun cannot get in, and it is very quiet because the trees keep out the wind.
South of the equatorial regions is the tree-dotted grassland called the savanna. The savanna is the home of great herds of animals—antelopes of many varieties, zebras, giraffes, elephants, rhinoceroses. All of them live on grass and leaves of trees. The savanna is also the home of meat-eaters—the lion, leopard, and hyena—who feed on the grass-eaters.
One cannot think of Africa without thinking of Egypt, the cradle of an ancient civilization, nor of Egypt without the Nile. The great characteristic of the Nile is the regualrity of its floods. The annual flooding is caused by the melting snows on the high Ethiopian plateaus, from where the Nile originates. The floods, laden with rich earth, reached the lower valley about 15 June—at a time when the whole land has been burnt black by the sun. It brings “the water of life “. From June to September the Nile rises and submerges the whole valley; then in the beginning of October it begins to fall, leaving the land saturated with water and covered with a layer of rich, black soil. On it farmers grow maize, rice, millet, beans and dates. Here too cotton is grown, for which Egypt is rightly famous.
The story of a great river is very often the story of a great civilization. For centuries the ancient Egyptians worshipped the Nile. They bathed in the river, drank its water, told legends about it and built tombs and temples on its shores. Fighting the annual floods men got themselves organized, and society came into being. Measuring the irrigated land men inventd surveying and became interested in geometry. Predicting the coming of floods men made a calendar, and better calenders were made by observing the sun and the moon and the planets, and this led to the growth of astronomy. |