1. If there had not been a hard layer of rock beneath the soil, they would have completed the job in a few hours.
    如果不是因为土壤下面有一层坚硬的岩石，他们的营救工作仅用几个小时就可以完成了。

2. In a marsh, the surface water can sink slowly down through the soil into the rock below.
    在沼泽地里, 地表水会通过土壤慢慢地渗透到下面的岩层里。

3. It might sink slowly through the soil into the natural holding areas in the rock.
    它也许会通过土地慢慢地渗透到岩层里的天然蓄水区；

4. It is in the soil, the ground that grows the food.
    土壤，生长食物的土地里都有水。

5. In his recent book Earth Politics, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsacker wrote that "perhaps 90 percent of the destruction of animal and plant species, soil erosion, forest destruction and creation of deserts is taking place in developing countries."
    在其新作《地球政治学》一书中，厄恩斯特·乌尔里克·冯·魏茨泽克写道："动植物物种灭绝，土壤受侵蚀，森林被毁，沙漠产生，在这些破坏中，也许有90%正发生在发展中国家。"

6. Fertile soil produces good crops.
    肥沃的土壤产生好的农作物。

7. Farmers add fertilizer to the soil to make plants grow better, or spray poison to kill plant pests.
    农民为了使作物长得更好而给土壤施化肥或者为了杀死害虫而喷撒农药.

8. From June to September the Nile rises and submerges the whole valley; then in the beginning of October it begins to fall, leaving the land saturated with water and covered with a layer of rich, black soil.
    从六月到九月，河水暴涨，淹没了整个流域；到十月初，河水开始减退，剩下饱含大量水分的土地，还覆盖着一层肥沃的黑土。