Rainforests are home to a rich variety of medicinal plants, food, birds and animals. Can you believe that a single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the whole of Britain! About 480 varieties of trees may be found in just one hectare of rainforest.
雨林是各种药用植物、食物、鸟类和动物的家园。你能相信亚马逊的一片灌木丛中的蚂蚁种类可能比整个英国都多吗！在一公顷的雨林中，大约可以找到480种树木。

Rainforests are the lungs of the planet-storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world’s oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for ensuring their own survival; the tall trees make a canopy of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, intense dry heat from the sun and strong winds.
雨林是地球的肺，储存了大量的二氧化碳，并产生了世界上大量的氧气。雨林有自己完善的系统来确保自身的生存；高大的树木形成了树枝和树叶的树冠，保护自己、较小的植物和森林动物免受大雨、太阳的强烈干热和强风的侵袭。

Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together.never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is the plants’ way to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects like caterpillars. To survive in the forest, animals must climb, jump or fly across the gaps. The ground floor of the forest is not all tangled leaves and bushes, like in films, but is actually fairly clear, It is where dead leaves turn into food for the trees and other forest life.
令人惊讶的是，这些树的生长方式是，它们的叶子和树枝虽然靠得很近，但实际上不会碰到另一棵树的叶子和枝条。科学家们认为，这是植物防止任何树木病害传播的方法，并使毛虫等食叶昆虫的生活更加困难。为了在森林中生存，动物必须攀爬、跳跃或飞越缝隙。森林的底层并不像电影中那样全是纠结的树叶和灌木丛，实际上相当清晰，这是枯叶变成树木和其他森林生物食物的地方。

They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can generate 75% of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal-and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain-your umbrella may protect you in a shower, but it won't keep you dry if there is a full rainstorm. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. The humidity of large rainforests contributes to the formation of rainclouds that may travel to other countries in need of rain.
它们被称为热带雨林并非毫无意义！雨林可以产生75%的雨水。每年至少有80英寸的降雨量是正常的，在某些地区，每年的降雨量可能高达430英寸。这是真正的雨，你的伞可能会在淋浴时保护你，但如果下暴雨，它不会让你保持干燥。在短短两个小时内，溪流可以上涨十到二十英尺。大型热带雨林的湿气有助于形成雨云，这些雨云可能会传播到其他需要降雨的国家。