-
Unit 2
Geography
1.
atlas
['?tl
?
s]
n.
地
图集
2.
superimpose
[?sju:p?
rim'p
?
uz]
vt.
置
于某物之上
,
添加
3.
topographical
[?t?
p
?
'gr?fikl]
adj.
地
形学的
,
地质的
u
['pl?t
?
u]
n.
高原
5.
laden
['leidn]
adj.
装满的
,
装载的
,
负担
重的
6.
monsoon
[m
?
n'su:n]
n.
季风
,
雨季
Text A
Geographical Inequalities
by John Bryan Starr
1.
AS
A
FIRST
STEP
toward
understanding
China,
one
can
hardly
do
better than to spend some
time with a good
atlas
1
. It is
vital to understand
China's diversity,
and a key element in that diversity is its
geography.
2.
Superimposing
2
an
outline of the United States on an outline of
China
shows
us
two
important
geographical
similarities
between
the
two
countries.
China,
covering
some
3.7
million
square
miles,
is
nearly
identical
in
size
to
the
United
States,
which
covers
just
over
3.6
million
square
miles.
The
two
countries
are
located
at
more
or
less
the
same
latitude; New York and
Beijing are at roughly the same latitude, as are
New
Orleans and Shanghai.
3.
A
topographical
3
map,
on
the
other
hand,
shows
us
important
geographical differences between China
and the United States. Only about
a
third of the United States is taken up with
mountains and desert, and the
remainder
is
reasonably
flat
and
easily
habitable,
but
in
China,
these
proportions are reversed. The
difference in the amount of land available
for cultivation in the two countries is
even more striking: 40 percent in the
United States versus only 10 percent in
China.
4.
Another
striking
difference
between
the
North
American
and
the
Chinese landmasses is found in the
nature of their western borders. In the
United States, of course, it is an
ocean coast, while in China it is marked
with mountains,
plateaus
4
, and
deserts. This difference accounts for major
dissimilarities in the prevailing
climates of the two landmasses. America's
weather
is
governed
by
the
movement
of
the
jet
stream
carrying
moisture-
laden
5
Pacific
storms
across
the
continent.
China's
weather
is
determined by monsoon winds that
between December and March blow
northwest
to
southeast;
coming
from
the
Siberian
landmass,
the
air
crossing the northwestern provinces is
very dry and provides little rainfall.
Then, during the summer months from
April to November, the
monsoon
6
winds reverse themselves, and, now
moving across the South China Sea,
they
are heavily laden with moisture, which descends as
rainfall on China's
southeastern coast;
the winds are relatively dry by the time they
reach the
northwestern
provinces.
Annual
rainfall
on
the
southern
coast
exceeds
seventy-five
inches,
but
along
the
Mongolian
border,
it
is
no
more
than
five inches.
5.
Temperatures
along
the
southeastern
coast
of
China
are
moderate
enough even in the
winter that there is a year-round growing season,
and
as many as three crops of rice can
be harvested. North of the Great Wall,
by
contrast,
the
growing
season
is
only
140
days,
and
farmers
consider
themselves
fortunate to harvest a single crop of spring
wheat.
6.
Energy
resources
and
raw
materials
are
somewhat
more
equally
1
Unit 2
Geography
e
['
?
n
??
:]
adj.(
风
)
向陆的
,
在岸上
的
8.
accord
[
?
'k
?
:d]
v.
与
...
一致
9.
sparsely
['sp
ɑ
:sli]
adv.
稀少地
,
贫乏地
10.
conform
[k
?
n'
f
?
:m]
v.
使一致
11.
sovereignty
['s
?
v
r
?
nti]
n.
主权
12.
populace
['p
?
p
jul
?
s]
n.
平民
13.
imperial
[im'pi
?
ri
?
l]
adj.
帝国的
14.
apex
['eipeks]
n.
顶点
,
最高点
15.
aggregation
[??gri'gei??
n]
n.
聚
合
,
集合体
16.
itinerant
[i'tin
?
r
?
nt]
adj.
巡回的
,
流动的
17.
stratum
['streit
?
m]
n.
阶层
mly
['ju:nif
?
:mli]
adv.
一
律地
,
无变化地
land
['hint
?
l?nd]
n.
内陆地
区
,
腹地
distributed
across
China
than
is
its scant
supply of
agricultural
land,
for
coal is
found in substantial quantities across the eastern
half of the country
as
well
as
in
Xinjiang,
while
principal
onshore
7
oil
fields
are
located
in
G
ansu, Xinjiang, Shanxi,
Sichuan, and Heilongjiang.
7.
The
distribution
of
China's
population
accords
8
closely
with
the
location
of
fertile
soil
and
adequate
growing
seasons.
Approximately
75
percent of the population
lives on 15 percent of the landmass, being most
heavily concentrated in the fertile
river basins, where densities in excess of
two thousand people per square mile are
not uncommon. (This compares
with
a
population
density
of
fewer
than
four
hundred
people
per square
mile in the northeastern United States,
the most highly populated area.)
Compared with the river basins, western
China is
sparsely
9
populated, but
even
these
wide-open
spaces
have
a
fair
number
of
people.
The
autonomous
region
of
Xinjiang,
China's
largest
province,
is
also
the
country's least densely populated, with
some twenty-six people per square
mile.
(By comparison, Wyoming and Alaska have five and
one per square
mile, respectively.)
8.
Nearly
six
hundred
million
people
--
45
percent
of
the
Chinese
population -- reside
in China's 570 cities, and the density of the
network of
these
cities
generally
conforms
10
to
the
pattern
of
population
density
shown in the map.
This is a more even distribution than is the case
with
many other countries at a
comparable level of economic development, and
for three distinct reasons.
9.
As
the
territory
over
which
China's
sovereignty
11
extended
began
to
expand
as
early
as
the
third
century
B.C.E.,
the
central
government
established
administrative
seats
from
which
its
officials
exerted
control
over the
populace
12
. At
the beginning of the nineteenth century, a network
of some two thousand cities and towns
covered all of what we now think of
as
Chinese
territory,
with,
at
the
center
of
each,
a
walled
compound
housing
the
local
representative
of
imperial
13
authority.
Each
administrative
seat
was
part
of
a
hierarchy
organized
according
to
the
respective
ranks
and
positions
of
the
imperial
officials.
Beijing,
the
imperial
capital,
stood
at
the
apex
14
of
this
hierarchy,
provincial
capitals
formed its mid-
levels, and county seats formed its base.
10.
A
second
reason
for
the
rise
of
urban
aggregations
15
in
China
was
commercial. The exchange of
agricultural goods and handicraft products
and, subsequently, the exchange of both
of these for manufactured items
led to
the rise of
itinerant
1
6
merchants, moving periodically
from village to
village,
and
then
to
a
whole
stratum
17
of
society
devoted
entirely
to
commerce. While some
villages were centers of commercial activity only
occasionally,
others,
by
virtue
of
their
location,
proved
more
durably
convenient for
marketing purposes. Market days in these villages
became
more
frequent;
eventually
the
markets
became
permanent.
Thus
was
created a hierarchy of
commercial centers that was integrated with, but
at
the
same
time
distinguishable
from,
the
hierarchy
of
administrative
centers.
11.
Whereas the
administrative centers were laid out from the top
down in
2