SECTION 4

So, welcome to your introductory geography lecture.

欢迎来听地理概论讲座。

We'll begin with some basics.

我们先从一些最基本的知识开始吧。

Firstly, what do we learn by studying geography?

首先，我们从地理中能学到什么？

Well, we learn a great deal about all the processes that have affected and that continue to affect the earth's surface.

当然，我们会探讨过去一直在改变以及未来将继续改变地球表面状况的地质运动过程。

But we learn far more than that, because studying geography also informs us about the different kinds of relationships that develop between a particular environment and the people that live there.

但我们学习的范围远不仅如此，因为地理还会告诉我们不同的自然环境与生存在这些环境中的人之间组成的各种微妙关系。

Okay. We like to think of geography as having two main branches.

好的。人们通常认为地理学有两个主要分支。

There's the study of the nature of our planet - its physical features, what it actually looks like - and then there's the study of the ways in which we choose to live and of the impact of those on our planet.

其中一个分支研究的是地球的本质——它的物理构成和外貌特征；另一个分支则研究我们所选择的生存方式以及这些生存方式对这个星球的影响。

Our current use of carbon fuels is a good example of that.

当代人使用碳燃料就是后者的极佳案例。

But there are more specific study areas to consider too, and we'll be looking at each of these in turn throughout this semester.

此外我们还有一些更具体的领域需要学习，我们会在这个学期内逐一探究。

These include bio-physical geography, by which I mean the study of the natural environment and all its living things.

这些领域包括生物地理学，主要研究自然环境和这些环境中的所有生物。

Then there's topography- that looks at the shapes of the land and oceans.

地形学主要关注陆地和海洋的形状。

There's the study of political geography and social geography too, of course, which is the study of communities of people.

政治地理学和社会地理学，顾名思义，研究的是人类社会。

We have economic geography - in which we examine all kinds of resources and their use -agriculture, for example.

经济地理学研究各种资源，如农业等，以及它们的使用情况。

Next comes historical geography - the understanding of how people and their environments and the ways they interact have changed over a period of time - and urban geography, an aspect I'm particularly interested in, which takes as its focus the location of cities, the services that those cities provide, and migration of people to and from such cities.

接下来是历史地理学，它研究的是人类和环境以及它们之间的交互方式在一段时期内的变化。城市地理学是我特别感兴趣的一个分支。它关注的是城市的分布、这些城市提供的服务以及这些城市的人口流动状况。

And lastly, we have cartography.

最后，我们会学习绘图法。

That's the art and science of map-making.

那是关于地图绘制的艺术和科学。

You'll be doing a lot of that!

到时候你们会做大量的练习。

So, to summarise before we continue, we now have our key answer ... studying this subject is important because without geographical knowledge, we would know very little about our surroundings and we wouldn't be able to identify all the problems that relate to them.

好的，再我们继续之前我来总结一下。我们现在有了关键问题的答案……学习地理非常重要因为如果没有地理学知识，我们无法了解我们身边的环境，因此也无法找到与它们相关的各种问题。

So, by definition, we wouldn't be in an informed position to work out how to solve any of them.

于是，我们在尝试解决这些问题的时候也会显得极其无知。

Okay, now for some practicalities.

好的，现在我们来看一些实际的问题。

What do geographers actually do?

地理学家到底都做些什么呢？

Well, we collect data to begin with!

首先，我们收集各种数据！

You'll be doing a lot of that on your first field trip!

你们在第一次野外考察的时候会做大量的数据采集工作！

How do we do this? There are several means.

那我们如何采集数据呢？有好几种方式。

We might, for example, conduct a census - count a population in a given area perhaps.

比如说我们可能会做人口普查，记录某个地区的人口数量。

We also need images of the earth's surface which we can produce by means of computer-generation technology or with the help of satellite relays.

另外，借助计算机技术和卫星，我们采集地球表面的图像。

We've come a very long way from the early exploration of the world by sailing ships when geographers only had pens and paper at their disposal.

早期航海探险时的地理学家只有纸笔，相比那时，我们的研究方式有了长足的进步。

After we've gathered our information, we must analyse it!

收集完数据之后，我们需要对数据进行分析！

We need to look for patterns, most commonly those of causes and consequences.

我们要在数据中寻找规律，主要是因果关系。

This kind of information helps us to predict and resolve problems that could affect the world we live in.

这些信息能帮助我们预测并解决影响着我们生存环境的问题。

But we don't keep all this information confidential.

但是我们并不会对他人保密。

We then need to publish our findings so that other people can access it and be informed by it.

我们会公开发表这些发现，以便其他人也能获得这些信息。

And one way in which this information can be published is in the form of maps.

将这些信息公开的方式之一是把它们放在地图上。

You'll all have used one at some stage of your life already.

你们早晚会用到这样的地图的。

Let's consider the benefits of maps from a geographer's perspective.

让我们从地理学家的角度来看看地图的好处吧。

Maps can be folded and put in a pocket and can provide a great store of reference when they're collected into an atlas.

地图能够折叠放在口袋里；将地图收集成册可以给人们提供海量的信息。

They can depict the physical features of the entire planet if necessary, or, just a small part of it in much greater detail.

根据需要，地图能够描绘整个地球的地表特征，也能提供某个小地区的具体细节。

But there is a drawback.

但地图有一点缺陷。

You can't exactly replicate something that is three-dimensional, like our planet, on a flat piece of paper, because paper has only two dimensions, and that means there'll always be a certain degree of distortion on a map.

你无法再一张纸上完全复原一个三维的物体，比如地球；因为纸是二维的。这就意味着地图必然存在某种程度的变形。

It can't be avoided. We can also use aerial photographs ... pictures taken by cameras at high altitude above the earth.

这是无法避免的。我们还可以利用在高空拍摄的航拍图像。

These are great for showing all kinds of geographical features that are not easy to see from the ground.

这些照片能够揭示各种我们在地面无法看到的地理特征。

You can easily illustrate areas of diseased trees or how much traffic is on the roads at a given time or information about deep sea beds, for example.

你能够清晰的看到地面上受灾的树木，或者是某时段道路上的交通流量，亦或是深海海床的信息。

Then there are Landsats. These are satellites that circle the earth and transmit visual information to computers at receiving stations.

除此之外还有陆地卫星。这些卫星环绕地球，向地面接收中心的计算机传送图像信息。

They circle the earth several times a day and can provide a mass of information - you'll all be familiar with the information they give us about the weather, for example.

它们一天绕地球好几圈，能够传送大量的信息。今后你们都会了解到这些信息，比如说天气信息等等。

So, what we're going to do now is look at a short presentation in which you'll see all these tools ...

那么，接下来我们要观看一段演示，在里边你们会看到各种工具……