（3）黄河过潼关折向东流进入黄河最后一个峡谷段三门峡。
After the yellow river runs past Tongguan, it flows east and enters the last gorge reach——Sanmen Gorge.
3．下游（孟津以下）――长870km，支流少，河床宽坦，水流缓慢，泥沙淤积旺盛
The lower reach is 870 km long with few branches. The riverbed is wide and stable filled up with mud and sand, and the water flows slowly. 除在孟津至桃花峪间纳入伊洛河、沁河，在山东汇入大汶河等少数几条支流外，再无其它支流汇入。
No other branches pour into the yellow river except River Yiluo and River Qin from Mengjin to Peach blossom valley, and River Dawen in Shandong.
（四）多年平均径流量仅563亿立方米（只有长江的6％，占全国的2％），是我国北方最大的供水水源。径流基本来自上、中游，以雨水补给为主，径流量的70-80％集中在夏秋季节
With an average water flow of 56.3 billion cubic meters per year (only 6% of the Yangtze River, 2% of the whole nation), it is the largest water resource of north China.
（五）含沙量特多（中游河段平均为37kg/m3），洪水与泥沙主要来自中游两岸的黄土高原（所以黄河中游是治理黄河水患的关键地段），中游各支流来沙量相当于黄河总沙输量的90％。因为含沙多而使得颜色黄,所以称黄河
the yellow river contains large proportions of sand.( with an average of 37kg/m3min the middle reach). Flood and sand are mainly comes from The Loess Plateau in the middle reach, which is therefore the crucial part of flood control of the yellow river. The branches in the middle reach bring 90% of the total sand of the yellow river, which gets its name because the sand makes the water become yellow. 黄河水的颜色之黄（图） The yellow color of the water
二、黄河是黄河文明形成与发展自然基础的主要奠基者
The Yellow River is the major founder of the formation and development of the Yellow River Civilization
黄河文明主要形成与发展与黄河中下游地区，在自然地理上主要包括黄土高原与华北平原两部分。
The Yellow River Civilization has mainly been formed and developed in the middle and the lower reaches which cover loess plateau and North China Plain in natural geography.
黄河是雕塑黄土高原地貌的主要力量
The Yellow River is the main sculptor of loess plateau’s topography
黄土高原是在第四纪冰期干寒气候条件下形成的世界上最大的黄土分布区，黄土覆盖层厚度60-200米不等
With the thickness of loess ranging from 60m to 200m, the loess plateau is the largest loess area in the world which was shaped under the dry and cold climate in Quaternary ice age.
范围：黄土高原位于内蒙古高原以南，北起长城，南达秦岭，东至太行山，西抵祁连山。
黄土堆积的总厚度在地域上有明显的变化，陇东、陕北、晋西是黄土分布的中心区。除黄河峡谷两岸地带黄土厚度为60—70米以外，黄土厚度大多在100米以上。
Area: The Yellow River Plateau lie to the south of Inner Mongolia Plateau.It begins in the north from the Great
Wall and ends at the Qinling Mountain in the south. And it begins in the east from Taihang Mountain and ends at the Qilian Mountain in the west.
The aggregate thickness of loess has a clear regional variation with the east of Gansu, the north of Shannxi, the east of Shanxi being the center regions. In most areas the thickness of the loess is above 100m except for the banks of the Yellow River gorge where the thickness is about 60 to 70m.
目前黄土高原大部地区沟壑纵横、梁峁遍布，地表极其破碎
Nowadays ravines, ridges and hills cover most of the loess plateau and make its surface extremely broken.
随着间冰期气候转向温湿，质地疏松的黄土经流水强烈侵蚀，使高原大部地区沟壑纵横、梁峁遍布。黄土高原广大地面被为数众多的大小沟谷切割得十分破碎。远在人类社会出现之前黄土高原早已是千沟万壑。
With the climate of interglacial stage turning into humid and the soft loess eroded strongly by the running water, in most parts of the plateau, ravines crosses each other and ridges and hills are everywhere. Thus the surface of the plateau is cut into broken pieces by numerous ravines. Far before the human society came into being, the loess plateau had already presented such a fragmented landform.
目前，平整的黄土塬已残存不多，塬面已不及黄土覆盖面积的1/10。黄土高原的大部分地区已被分割成千沟万壑的丘陵沟壑区，称为黄土梁峁丘陵沟壑区，其面积约占黄土总覆盖面积的9/10，梁峁分布区地面非常破碎，丘陵顶部面积小，梁的面积很少超过2平方千米，峁的面积一般仅0.25平方千米。 At present, few loess tablelands have survived. The surface of tablelands is less than 1/10 of the loess coverage. The most parts of the plateau have been split into thousands of gullies and hills. This is called () which covers an area of 9/10 of the total covering area of loess. The surface where ridges and hills cover is extremely cracked. The top area of a hill is very little. The area of a ridge
rarely goes beyond 2 km2 while generally the area of a hill is just 0.25 km2
黄土塬(loess tableland)
黄土梁(loess ridge)
黄土峁(loess hills)
对黄土高原地貌进行雕塑的主导力量就是黄河水系，包括黄河干流及其支流 The main power responsible for the loess plateau’s topography is the drainage of the Yellow River which contains both its main stream and branches.
黄土沟壑(the gullies)