The large river best known to the ancient Greeks was the Nile of Egypt. They spoke of the river with admiration and called Egypt “the gift of the Nile”. The reason for this was, first, that the Nile brought water to a rainless desert and, second, that once a year, the river overflowed its banks, leaving, as the water went back, a new layer of fertile soil.
The flood waters carry in them soil (called silt) from the upper parts of the river valley to the lower parts, and so to the sea. But as the river meets the sea, the sea acts as a barrier and forces the river to drop the silt it is carrying.
There are no tides in the Mediterranean to carry the silt away, so year after year it collects at the mouth of the Nile, and the river must find its way around islands of silt to the always more distant Mediterranean. In this way, a vast area of fertile soil has been built up at the mouth of the Nile and out into the sea. The river water splits up to form small branches winding across the area. To the ancient Greeks, the mouth of the Nile looked like the drawing.
Now we sometimes name things after the letters of the alphabet they resemble: a U-turn, an I-beam a T-square, an S-bend, and so on. The Greeks did the same. The triangular area of land built up at the mouth of the Nile looked like the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet delta (Δ) and so this was the name they gave it. The word is now used for all areas of land formed at the mouth of rivers which flow into tideless seas, even when they are nor triangular in shape. The Mississippi delta, for example, is not shaped at all like the Greek delta, as you will see if you look at a map.
正确答案及解析
正确答案
解析
埃及尼罗河在古希腊人中享有盛誉。古希腊人每每提起尼罗河,总是满怀崇敬,把埃及称为“尼罗河的恩赐”。个中缘由有二:其一,尼罗河为一片久无甘露的沙漠带来了河水,其二,每年尼罗河水位上涨,会溢出河岸一次,退潮过后,留下的就是一层肥沃的泥土。
河水把泥土(或叫淤沙)从上游河谷带到下游地区乃至入海口。当与大海交汇时,由于受到海洋阻力,顺水而下的淤沙便停滞下来。
然而地中海潮水不会把淤沙带走,年复一年,淤沙便在尼罗河的入海口处堆积,尼罗河为此不得不绕道而行,距海洋越来越远。于是在尼罗河和地中海之间形成了一大片肥沃的土壤,尼罗河水也分成一股股细流,蜿蜒穿过这片土地。古希腊人觉得,尼罗河口的形状与三角图形很是相似。
如今我们会因为事物的形状酷似某个字母,便以此为之命名。比方说:U形转弯,I形标,T形广场,S形弯等等。希腊人也这样取名。尼罗河口的这片土地看起来很像希腊字母的第四个Δ(Delta),尼罗河三角洲便由此得名。现在任何在河流入海(无潮海)口形成的流域,不管其形似与否,都可以用Delta三角洲命名。如果你对照地图就会发现,其实密西西比河三角洲根本就不像三角形。
你可能感兴趣的试题
某患者,男,42岁,近期发现,右上肢无力,来院就诊,体检发现双上肢血压相差4.0kPa。临床怀疑锁骨下动脉盗血综合征,其最重要的诊断依据是
-
- A.患侧上肢脉搏减弱或消失
- B.患侧上肢动脉二维图像无异常
- C.患侧上肢动脉反向血流减弱或消失
- D.患侧椎动脉彩色及频谱多普勒呈现反向血流
- E.患侧椎动脉仍存在舒张期正向血流
- 查看答案
鉴别眼内金属性或非金属性异物的最常用超声方法是
-
- A.降低仪器灵敏度,强回声斑的回声强度无明显下降
- B."窗"试验法
- C.彩阶显示法
- D.增大仪器灵敏度
- E.超声磁性试验
- 查看答案
以下哪项不是乳腺纤维腺瘤的超声表现
-
- A.边界光滑
- B.有包膜
- C.内部呈均质低回声区
- D.导管扩张
- E.单发或多发
- 查看答案
判断视网膜中央静脉栓塞预后(病期在三个月内),其血流速度标准是:
-
- A.<2.0cm/s
- B.<2.5cm/s
- C.<3.0cm/s
- D.<3.5cm/s
- E.<4.0cm/s
- 查看答案
腮腺管结石(涎石病)的超声表现,哪一项是错误的
-
- A.腮腺大小、形态正常
- B.腮腺内可探及致密强回声斑点或斑块
- C.较大结石可引起导管阻塞
- D.腮腺导管无扩张
- E.较大结石后方伴声影
- 查看答案