Literacy International: Rivers - 什么是河流 - 重要性与世界名河简介

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Noah

Literacy International’s Rivers explores what a river is, how river water moves through channels, and where rivers ultimately empty into oceans, lakes, or other waterways. It highlights major rivers of the world, including the Nile, Amazon, Volga, Congo, and rivers in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The text explains why rivers matter—providing fish and food, enabling travel, generating electricity, shaping political borders, and supplying water for drinking, washing, cooking, and irrigation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

WHAT IS A RIVER?

RIVERS OF THE WORLD

THE IMPORTANCE OF RIVERS

Literacy International: Rivers Copyright © 2010 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Spiritual Literacy International: Rivers Part of a Geography series including Forests Deserts Mountains Rivers Copyright © 2010 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Copyright © 2010, Literacy International [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. When we look around us, we see many interesting things. There are tall, beautiful mountains. There are thick green forests with thousands of trees. There are deserts, so dry that they don’t seem to have any life. But when we look closely we see a variety of plants and animals in the deserts. Together with mountains, forests and deserts, rivers are part of our world. They are all part of God’s creation. Rivers carry life. Water carries life. WHAT IS A RIVER? A river is a large, natural flow of water. The water is moving all the time. It travels through a channel (a cut-out place in the ground). The river keeps traveling until it empties into an ocean, a lake or another river. A river can be thousands of kilometers long, or just a few kilometers. It can be very wide or very narrow. One river may be shallow enough for a person to stand in. Another may be a fourth of a kilometer deep. RIVERS OF THE WORLD Most people agree that the Nile is the longest river in the world. It is 6,650 kilometers, or 4132 miles, long. It starts out in two sections, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile begins at Lake Victoria in Uganda. The Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. These two rivers flow together into one. The Nile flows through several African countries to South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt. Then it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The second longest river in the world is the Amazon. It flows through several countries in South America into the Atlantic Ocean. Some people say it is longer than the Nile. They include a part of the river that flows south from its beginning in Venezuela. Other long rivers are in China, Russia, Mongolia and the United States. The Volga River in Russia is the longest one in Europe. The Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the tenth longest in the world. But it is the second longest in Africa. It is second among all the world’s rivers in the amount of water it carries. The Amazon carries more water than any other river. Some rivers flow between high rock cliffs. One of these is the Grijalva River in Mexico. Three special rivers are mentioned in the Bible. They are the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Jordan. Many people believe that the Tigris and Euphrates were in the Garden of Eden, in a place now called Iraq. The Jordan River is in the land of Israel. In the Bible that land was called Palestine. The Jordan is at a lower elevation than any other river. THE IMPORTANCE OF RIVERS Why are rivers important? Rivers have fish, crabs and other food. They mark boundaries between countries and between states. They give power to make electricity. They give ways to travel from one town to another. They are pleasant places where people can goto rest and enjoy the out-of-doors. Most important, rivers give people water for drinking, washing, cooking, and watering plants and trees. We could not live without water. Much of the water we use comes from rivers. Which rivers are the boundaries between states or between countries? There are many, many of them. Here are just a few: In Europe, the Rhine River is part of the boundary between France and Germany. The Prut River runs between Romania and Ukrain

FAQs

What is a river and how does it work?

A river is a large, natural flow of moving water that travels through a channel and continues until it empties into an ocean, a lake, or another river.

Which rivers are among the longest in the world?

The Nile is described as the longest river, and the Amazon is described as the second longest, with some people noting it may be longer depending on how its course is measured.

Why are rivers important to people and communities?

Rivers provide food such as fish and crabs, supply water for drinking and daily needs, support agriculture, help generate electricity, enable travel, and often form boundaries between countries and states.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Noah