沖出亞馬孫

羅躍梅

作者從來都不是一個喜歡冒險的人，但是和家人乘船沿著亞馬孫河而下的一次旅行改變了他對冒險的看法。這次旅行讓他著迷，讓他被世界上最茂密的熱帶雨林里的每一個角落的文化和景觀所吸引。

1I was never a very adventurous person but one trip that changed my view about adventures is the trip that I took with my family down the Amazon River in a boat.

2As we got ready for the trip， I was a little worried about whether it would be too adventurous for a laid?back person like me. We took a flight from home to Lima， Peru and from there to the small town of Iquitos which is right inside the rainforest. All my fears were transformed into wonder as I saw the rainforest for the first time. We boarded the cruise ship in the evening and after a dinner settled down for the night. The sunrise that I woke up to was a sight that I can never forget; the long winding river was ahead of me since the bedroom faced the Amazon River. Though technically we were on a cruise ship， most of our time was spent on the skiffs （小劃艇） which are bigger versions of canoes.

3Every morning we would be divided into batches （批） of 30 and loaded into the skiff boats for trips. It is rightly believed that the Amazon rainforest is a photographer's dream project. With the tropical landscape， the wildlife， and the river from great visuals around me， I felt that I had not captured enough photographs.

4Some mornings were quiet and spent on the boat where we chilled out and did some birdwatching. Most of the birds found in the rainforest are ones which we have never even heard of， many of which are in bright colors like parakeets. Yet another excitement in the trip was the forest trek through the winding terrains of the Amazon rainforest. The trek took us right into the forest and we got to experience the first?hand stillness of the jungle and also saw the flora and fauna there. There were a lot of medicinal plants in the forest and the guide explained that the rainforest is home to many rare species of plants.

Reading Check

Choose the best answers according to the text

Detail 1. How did the author feel before the trip？

A. Excited.? ? ? ?B. Worried.? ? ? ? C. Frightened.? ? ? D. Optimistic.

Detail 2. What do we know from the third paragraph？

A. The author is a photographer.

B. There were thirty travelers in all.

C. The author was satisfied with his photographs.

D. The Amazon rainforest is suitable for taking photos.

Inference 3. What's one excitement in the trip？

A. Enjoying the scenery.

B. Swimming in the river.

C. Watching some birds.

D. Finding medicinal plants.

Inference 4. In which column of a newspaper can you most probably read this text？

A. Travel. B. People.

C. Education. D. Environment.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Analyze the difficult sentence in the text

I was never a very adventurous person but one trip that changed my view about adventures is the trip that I took with my family down the Amazon River in a boat. 我從來都不是一個喜歡冒險的人，但是我和家人乘船沿著亞馬孫河而下的一次旅行改變了我對冒險的看法。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復(fù)合句，句中but連接兩個并列分句;在第二個分句中，that changed my view about adventures是限制性定語從句，修飾先行詞one trip;that I took with my family也是限制性定語從句，修飾先行詞the trip。

Ⅱ. Memorize some text?centered chunks

get ready for 準(zhǔn)備好

laid?back 安詳放松的;松弛的

be transformed into 轉(zhuǎn)化為

settle down 安定下來;安頓下來

be divided into 被分為;被分成

be home to （某地）是……的家園