【BBC地球脉动】淡水 11

英语自学网

Baikal is the oldest lake in the world and, despite the harsh conditions, life flourishes here in isolation. 80% of its species are found nowhere else on earth, including the world's only fresh water seal. With this seal and its marine-like forests of sponges Baikal seems more like an ocean than a lake.
There are shrimp-like crustaceans - giant amphipods - as large as mice. They are the key scavengers in this lake. The water here is just too cold for the bacteria that normally decompose the dead. Most rivers do not end in lakes but continue their journey to the sea. The planet's indisputable super-river is the Amazon. It carries as much water as the next top-ten biggest rivers combined.贝加尔湖是世界上最古老的湖，尽管环境恶劣，各种生物还是在这个独立王国生生不息。它的物种有80%以上都是自己所独有，其中包括地球上唯一的淡水海豹。有这些海豹，还有这些像海底世界一样的海绵森林，贝加尔湖更像一个海而不是一个湖。  
这里有长相类似海虾的甲壳类巨型端足目动物，可大如老鼠一般。它们都是贝加尔湖最重要的食腐动物。这里的水温太低，通常分解腐尸的细菌在这里无法生长。绝大多数河流最终并不是流向湖泊，而是经过湖泊以后最终流向大海。地球上无可争议的超级大河是亚马逊河。它的河水流量是排名其后的10条最大河流的流量的总和。