成立于不到一百万年前的复活节岛是世界上最小的有人居住的地区之一。该岛面积仅为163平方公里，仅为曼哈顿大小的三倍，拥有起伏的山丘和数座休眠火山。在没有任何永久性河流或溪流的情况下，三个最大的陨石坑底部闪闪发光的泻湖为定居者提供急需的淡水来源。当第一批人到达岛上时，他们会遇到茂密的森林由火山土壤供养，但到了18世纪欧洲人到来的时候，该岛绝大多数已经沦为草原。学者们仍然在争论当地人在毁林过程中所发挥的作用，但根据NPR的说法，近些年来，一些专家已经放弃了过度开发岛屿资源是唯一原因的理论。有些人甚至宣称偷偷溜的波利尼西亚大鼠是罪魁祸首，在将废物堆放在覆盖该岛的巨大棕榈树之前无法控制地繁殖。不管是什么原因，仍然存在的稀有木材已成为珍贵的资产，岛民们采取了创造巧妙的岩石花园来捕获雨水，以便种植其食物。
英国伦敦Essay代写：一个年轻的岛屿
Formed less than a million years ago, Easter Island is one of the youngest inhabited regions in the world. Spanning just 163 sq km, the island is only around three times the size of Manhattan, and boasts undulating hills and several dormant volcanos. In the absence of any permanent rivers or streams, shimmering lagoons at the bottom of the three largest craters provided settlers with a much-needed source of fresh water.When the first people arrived on the island, they would have been met by dense forests fed by the volcanic soil, but by the time Europeans first arrived in the 18th Century, the vast majority of the island had been reduced to grassland. Academics still argue over the role that locals played in the deforestation, but, according to NPR, recent years have seen several experts move away from the theory that over-exploitation of the island’s resources was the sole cause. Some even claim that stowaway Polynesian rats were the culprits, breeding uncontrollably before laying waste to the giant palm trees which covered the island.Whatever the cause, the scarce wood that remained had become a prized asset, and islanders had resorted to creating ingenious rock gardens that captured rainwater in order grow their food.