世界之旅:Grand canyon, Ari

美国亚利桑那州大峡谷闻名遐迩，是世界七大奇观之一。位于美国西南部，亚利桑那州西北与犹他州、内华达州交界处凯巴布高原的三角地带。由于科罗拉多河穿流其中，故又名科罗拉多大峡谷。这一大片隆起的高原，最深处达1500米，地形险峻绮丽，地质多由花岗石构成，色彩夺目，予人身置其间，有如走进地质博物馆之感。

A famous American John Muir said in 1898: “The Grand Canyon… as unearthly in the color and grandeur and quantity of its architecture as if you had found it after death on some other star.”

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上所无的，就像是人消亡以后在别的星球上发现的东西。”

美国大峡谷的“死亡电单车”

科罗拉多大峡谷(the Grand Canyon)总面积接近3公里，任何人都不可能一眼看遍大峡谷的全貌。只有从高空俯瞰，才有可能完整地欣赏这条大地的裂缝。真正身临其境的人，只能从峡谷南缘或者北缘欣赏大峡谷的一部分。这倒是应了“不是庐山真面目，只缘身在此山中”的道理。

Perhaps the most spectacular feature of the Grand Canyon, its Redwall 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. Though 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 Redwall come alternating layers of red sandstone and shale 1,000 feet thick, then comes the next pale-blue layer. The topmost layers are a yellowish limestone.

也许，大峡谷最引人注目的风貌特色是“红墙”石灰石悬崖，它耸立在裂口半当中，几乎是垂直的。它的平均高度为550 英尺--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上了晚霞般的色彩。在“红墙”的上方，是红色的沙岩和1 000 英尺厚的页岩交替 层，然后是浅蓝色的沙岩层，最上层是淡黄色的石灰石。

Though the two rims face each other across only 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.

尽管南北两缘面对面相隔只有12英里，可是坐车从一边到另一边的距离却是214英里。北缘只能在夏天参观；它比南缘高出1 200英尺左右；除了7、8月外，其它大部分时间都为冰雪覆盖。

But there is no day that you may not visit the South Rim and find the sun 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.”

然而南缘任何时候都欢迎人们的来访。在那里温暖的阳光照在人们的脸上；空气中弥漫着印第安香炉中散发出的烟香气。大峡谷是一道超凡脱俗的风景。难怪一位美国作家兼记者说：“我来这里时还是个无神论者，离开时却是个虔诚的信徒了。”