24-英语听力

[00:02.27]The monsoon which sustains this lush and fertile valley [00:06.50]owes its very existence to the Tibetan plateau. [00:18.13]Like a giant hotplate, the plateau heats up in the spring and summer. [00:24.68]The change in air pressure [00:26.33]draws in warm moist air from the Indian Ocean in the south. [00:34.03]Thanks to this [00:35.64]Over a billion people from India to Burma [00:38.47]benefit from the monsoon rain that this wind brings with it. [00:43.19]Tibet is the engine that drives the fertility of a whole subcontinent. [00:52.59]But Tibet has an even greater role in the ecology of the region. [00:58.20]Clues to this function are found in a legend that pre-dates [01:01.77]even the ancient Tibetan culture [01:04.26]and which still draws pilgrims from all over the world. [01:14.24]Several world religions believe [01:16.48]in a mythical mountain that's equivalent to the Garden of Eden. [01:20.75]Its peak has four faces,aligned to the points of the compass [01:26.05]and from its summit four rivers are said to flow to the four quarters of the world. [01:31.82]Thanks to its life-giving waters [01:34.37]this mountain is known as the "axis of the world". [01:40.27]In one of the remotest areas of Tibet [01:42.28]there's a place where this legend takes physical form. [01:46.46]That place is Mount Kailash.