科羅拉多大峽谷

1、科羅拉多大峽谷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."一位著名的美國(guó)人約翰 ?繆爾曾在 1898 年說過：“（科 羅拉多河的）大峽谷它的色彩和構(gòu)造的宏偉多樣是世

10、上 絕無僅有的，就像是人消亡以后在別的星球上發(fā)現(xiàn)的東西。和繆爾一樣，站在大峽谷邊緣的人們頓時(shí)對(duì)這里的超 凡脫俗，對(duì)那種創(chuàng)造并仍在改變這個(gè)地方的神奇力量感到驚 奇。經(jīng)過了 100多年的研究， 有許多事情仍是個(gè)謎。 今天， 數(shù)以千計(jì)的游客不管是普通人還是大人物都懷著 一種好奇的心情來到這里。他們來自于美國(guó)的各洲，來自于 歐洲和亞洲的每一個(gè)國(guó)家，就像朝圣者一樣虔誠(chéng)地來到這座 神殿。峽谷深處?kù)o寂無聲。我們很少聽見河水的咆哮聲或下 面壁架式高原上三角葉楊樹發(fā)出的鼓掌般的啪啪聲。因?yàn)檫@ 一切聲音都被這深淵的空間吞沒了。一位女游客對(duì)同伴說， “它讓人禁不住地低聲細(xì)語(yǔ)。 ” 這種寂靜不是死一般的沉寂； 相反，

11、它是萬物存在的寧?kù)o。它就像一曲偉大的樂章。人類創(chuàng)作的樂曲逐漸進(jìn)入高潮，但也有終止的時(shí)候，而大峽谷則 高潮迭起，是永遠(yuǎn)回蕩不止的和音。 也許，大峽谷最引人注目的風(fēng)貌特色是“紅墻”石灰 石懸崖，它聳立在裂口當(dāng)中，幾乎是垂直的。它的平均高度 為 167.64 米幾乎和華盛頓紀(jì)念碑一樣高。 雖然它實(shí)際上 是灰藍(lán)色的石灰石，但是從巖石里滲出的鐵鹽卻把懸崖表面 染成了晚霞般的色彩。在“紅墻”的上方，是紅色的沙巖和 304.8 米厚的頁(yè)巖交替層，然后是淺藍(lán)色的沙巖層，最上層 是淡黃色的石灰石。現(xiàn)在，每天來大峽谷南緣觀光的游客大概有 18000 名， 其中有的會(huì)乘坐小型電動(dòng)機(jī)車沿著“光明天使小道”來到谷 底，穿過波濤洶涌的河道上方的吊橋，然后到達(dá)北緣。盡管南北兩緣面對(duì)面相隔只有 12 公里，可是坐車從一 邊到另一邊的距離卻是 214