中国打造“绿色长城”：沙漠里种树的惊人壮举_BEC初级作文

中国打造“绿色长城”：沙漠里种树的惊人壮举

A desert doesn't sound like the most promising place to plant a tree. Yet, since 1978, China has planted at least 66 billion of them across its arid northern territories, hoping to transform its sandy steppes and yellow dunes into a Great Green Wall.

沙漠听上去不像是最理想的种树之地。但是自1978年以来，中国已在干旱的北方地区栽种了至少660亿棵树，希望能将沙质草原和黄色沙丘改造成绿色长城。

Ian Teh documented this epic undertaking while traveling through northern China last year. His expansive photographs show workers tending saplings, filling irrigation tanks, and blasting young trees with water. “Planting trees sounds great on paper, but you can feel skeptical,” Teh says. “But in person, it was impressive.”

郑永仁去年穿越中国北方，记录下了这一惊人的壮举。他拍摄了大量的工人管理树苗、给灌溉水车注水和给小树浇水的照片。他说：“从理论上说，种树是好事，但是你可能产生怀疑。不过亲眼目睹后令人难忘。”

中国打造“绿色长城”：沙漠里种树的惊人壮举1

The tree-planting strategy is a massive attempt to help fight desertification. Roughly a million square miles of China—a quarter of the country—is covered in sand. Drought, deforestation, overgrazing and other problems threaten an additional 115,000 square miles, fueling brutal sandstorms that regularly blast cities like Beijing and Dunhuang. Many scientists are skeptical planting trees will make a difference in the long run. But China’s State Forestry Administration claims the measure has reduced sandstorms by 20 percent and desertification by nearly 5,000 miles in recent years.