Reading comprehension
Exploring the Congo
lt’s September in the congo, Just north of the Equator. An international team of scientists is exploring an extraordinary place. The team numbers are walking more than 1900 kilometers across an enormous forest. They want to record all the animals and plants they discover here. This is the lead explorer. Dr. Michael Fay. He is here to do what he calls a Mega transect. What I’m trying to do in a desperate way is to show the world that we’re just about to lose the last Little gem in the African continent,and if we don’t do something now,if we don’t do it today,
We can forget about it. The Congo Basin contains about one-quarter of the world’s rainforests, And about half of all of Africa’s plant and animals species. People hardly ever come so deep Into the forest. There are many species which are unique to this area. Dr. Fay has spent eight months in the forest studying them. At last, the track they are following leads them out of the forests of Gabon. They climb onto mountains that rise high above the trees. This might be the scientists’ last chance to explore this amazing land. We can see a long way here,you know, 70 or 80 kilometers in every direction, we can see 360 degree around. There are no humans. There’s not a single village, there’s not a single road. lt’s an amazing place. NOW,the team has
To cross the Kongou chutes, a big, fast river. Okay, WOW! Lt is this river and water fall that keep this land a live. But if nothing is done to protect the forests, they might all be cut down.
Here, the river is only a few hundred meters wide. But the water is still very strong and fast. The team moves slowly and carefully. Over a year after they started, the team walks out of the forest. We’ d been walking in the woods in our own little world for fifteen months and now it was over. The Mega transect is over, but the impact of the team’s discoveries on helping to save the forest has just begun.