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The Sonoran Desert in Arizona is not quite so dry as the Atacama.
亞利桑那州的索諾蘭沙漠并不像阿塔卡馬沙漠那樣干旱
Some rain does fall.
這里有時會下一些雨
But it is infrequent,
可是降雨次數很少
and when it does arrive, animals and plants have to be ready to make the most of it.
一旦雨水到來，所有動植物都必須做好準備盡量地利用它們。
And it's coming. When the summer monsoon blows in,
要下雨了。當夏季季風吹來時，
the giant saguaros, one of the biggest of all cacti, are ready to take full advantage of it.
巨大的弁慶柱--一種世界上最大的仙人掌，準備充分利用雨水。
After a rainstorm, the saguaro's long, shallow root system sucks up the water
暴風雨過后，弁慶柱用又長又淺的根系吸收水分
and the pleats on its trunk enable it to expand rapidly.
莖上的皺褶使之能迅速膨脹
When full, a saguaro stem can store up to five tonnes of water,
吸飽水后，弁慶柱的莖干中已儲存了5噸左右的水
and that's enough to see it through many months of drought.
這足以幫助它們度過幾個月的旱季
The trunks of these huge plants provide homes for the Gila woodpecker.
這些立柱般的巨型植物為橙腰啄木鳥提供了住所
But birds are not the only animals to benefit from the presence of the cacti.
不過鳥類并非唯一從仙人掌那里獲得好處的動物。
