科罗拉多大峡谷

1、科罗拉多大峡谷A famous American John Muir said in 1898: "The Grand Canyon.as unearthly in the color and as grandeur in the quantity of its architecture as if you had found it after human being's extinction on some other star."Like Muir, those of us who stand along the rim are prompted to wond

2、er about the unearthliness and the forces it created and are still changing this place.After more than 100 years of study, many things are still obscure.Today visitors come by thousands no matter the common people or the great ones all in a spirit of marvel. Travelers come from every state of the Un

3、ion, from every country in Europe and Asia, pilgrims to a shrine that is the same as the creed.From the depth of the canyon comes welling silence.Seldom can you hear the roar of the river. You cannot catch the patter. Like applause, from the leaves of the cottonwoods on the shelf-like plateau below

4、you, for all sounds are swallowed in this gulf of space."It makes one want to murmur." A woman once whispered to her companion. This silence is not the silence of death;rather, it is a presence.It is like a great piece of music.But music made by man works up to a climax and ceases; the Gra

5、nd Canyon is all climax,a chord echoing into eternity.Perhaps the most spectacular feature of the Grand Canyon, its "Red wall" limestone cliff, stands about half way up the chasm and is practically vertical. Its average height is 550 feet almost exactly that of the Washington Monument. Tho

6、ugh it is actually gray-blue limestone, the surface of the cliff has been stained to a sunset hue by iron salts washing out of the rocks. Above the "Red wall" come alternating layers of red sandstone and shale 1,000 feet thick, then comes the next pale-blue layer. The topmost layers are a

7、yellowish limestone.Now, visitors to the South Rim alone may number 18,000 in a single day. Some of them will travel by mule train down Bright Angel Trail to the canyon's floor, cross the raging river by a suspension bridge and amount to the North Rim.Though the two rims face each other across o

8、nly 12 miles, it is a journey of 214 miles by car from one to the other. Nor can you visit the North Rim except in summer; some 1,200 feet higher than the South Rim, it is snow covered much of the year except in July and August.But there is no time that you may not visit the South Rim and find the s

9、un warm on your face and the air perfumed with the incense of smoke from an Indian hearth. The Grand Canyon is an unearthly sight. No wonder an American writer and journalist said, "I came here an atheist and departed a devout believer."一位著名的美国人约翰 ?缪尔曾在 1898 年说过：“（科 罗拉多河的）大峡谷它的色彩和构造的宏伟多样是世

10、上 绝无仅有的，就像是人消亡以后在别的星球上发现的东西。和缪尔一样，站在大峡谷边缘的人们顿时对这里的超 凡脱俗，对那种创造并仍在改变这个地方的神奇力量感到惊 奇。经过了 100多年的研究， 有许多事情仍是个谜。 今天， 数以千计的游客不管是普通人还是大人物都怀着 一种好奇的心情来到这里。他们来自于美国的各洲，来自于 欧洲和亚洲的每一个国家，就像朝圣者一样虔诚地来到这座 神殿。峡谷深处静寂无声。我们很少听见河水的咆哮声或下 面壁架式高原上三角叶杨树发出的鼓掌般的啪啪声。因为这 一切声音都被这深渊的空间吞没了。一位女游客对同伴说， “它让人禁不住地低声细语。 ” 这种寂静不是死一般的沉寂； 相反，

11、它是万物存在的宁静。它就像一曲伟大的乐章。人类创作的乐曲逐渐进入高潮，但也有终止的时候，而大峡谷则 高潮迭起，是永远回荡不止的和音。 也许，大峡谷最引人注目的风貌特色是“红墙”石灰 石悬崖，它耸立在裂口当中，几乎是垂直的。它的平均高度 为 167.64 米几乎和华盛顿纪念碑一样高。 虽然它实际上 是灰蓝色的石灰石，但是从岩石里渗出的铁盐却把悬崖表面 染成了晚霞般的色彩。在“红墙”的上方，是红色的沙岩和 304.8 米厚的页岩交替层，然后是浅蓝色的沙岩层，最上层 是淡黄色的石灰石。现在，每天来大峡谷南缘观光的游客大概有 18000 名， 其中有的会乘坐小型电动机车沿着“光明天使小道”来到谷 底，穿过波涛汹涌的河道上方的吊桥，然后到达北缘。尽管南北两缘面对面相隔只有 12 公里，可是坐车从一 边到另一边的距离却是 214