第一篇 Passage 1

The Grand Canyon

Its beauty is astounding, its magnitude overwhelming. At the first sight of this immense abyss, one of the greatest natural wonders of North America, you feel dizzy and elated. Here, unique perspectives mock conventional understandings of distances. From most viewpoints the pinion and juniper forest continuing on from the brink of the far rim is about eight miles away, but it seems less than half that. The turbid Colorado River, glimpsed between an avenue of vertical cliffs deep enough to conceal the Empire State Building, is incredibly three miles out and one mile down.

The canyon has many disconcerting contradictions. Its yawning gulf of space is serene, but it is hemmed in by a topography of chilling savageness. Although the rocks are stark and gaunt, their beauty is ethereal. Distances are measured in miles, not feet.

Light is the magician of the canyon. The sinking sun heralds a performance of unique natural splendor. The colored layers of rock burst alight, burning with a ruby and gold light like massive walls of glittering fireworks. The mighty temples are momentarily leafed in rich gold and lacquers. Velvet blank shadows emphasize their brilliance, while the depths of the canyon are flooded by an ocean of vermilion dusk.

As you watch, the crisp edge of night advances upward, eclipsing the smoldering colors until there is at eye level only a single band of burnished gold lying across the canyon. Then the narrow light disappears abruptly and the canyon becomes a gulf of darkness. Perhaps a distant campfire, miles away, can be seen glimmering like a fallen star. With the coming of dawn the magnificent performance begins anew, this time in reverse.

Flat, hot daylight bleaches the tints out of the layered rocks and blends them in a haze of delicate blue. Often small thunderstorms take shape before you eyes and travel up the canyon. After the rain, fleecy clouds float upward in small gentle puffs. In winter, snow falls upward as flakes are borne out of the canyon on currents of air. On very cold days crystallized snow collected by the wind sparkles as if it were gold dust falling into the canyon. Occasionally the entire canyon is filled with soft cloud and you feel you can walk across it.

The Grand Canyon comes closer to illustrating the realities of eternity than, perhaps, any other natural phenomenon on earth. Apart from its great depth, width and length, it has a fourth dimension—time. Hendrik Van Loon described eternity as a rock, one hundred miles high, wide and long, where once every thousand years a little bird sharpens its beak. When the rock has worn away, the historian wrote, an eternity will have passed.

Compared to the immense span of time recorded in its rocky walls, man is new to the Grand Canyon. Three thousand years ago hunters used the remote caves in the canyon as shrines, where they left split-twig figures of deer, antelope and bighorn sheep. But little is known of these early visitors. Two thousand years later Pueblo Indians made their homes in small houses, mainly along the rims. They abandoned the area, probably because of drought, in 1276.

In the twelfth century a small tribe of Havasupai Indians found refuge in a long side canyon. These peaceful Indians continue to live in the riverside oasis of what is now called Havasu Canyon. Accessible only on foot or on horseback, the Indians were provided with prefabricated bungalows delivered by helicopters.

The first official exploration of the canyon was undertaken in 1857 by Lieutenant Joseph Christmas Ives, who wrote, “…after entering it there is nothing to do but leave. Ours has been the first and will doubtless be the last party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by Nature that the Colorado River along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed.” He could not have been more wrong.

Every year two and a half million people from all over the world visit the Grand Canyon. The first useful move to protect it was made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, and since 1919 it has been a national park of 1,052 square miles. But the Grand Canyon is unlike any of America’s national parks, for you cannot wander freely through its wilderness. Exploring the Grand Canyon is mountaineering in reverse. Even people accustomed to wild places find it difficult to realize that they have driven directly to the top of a cool and sometimes snowy “mountain” seven thousand feet high, and are overlooking a terrain which is rugged like the Rockies, but which is also a hot and arid desert.

National park wardens discourage people from wandering into the canyon because the grueling part, unlike ordinary mountain climbing, does not begin until you need to get out of the canyon. You then have to fight gravity, and the effects of altitude, when you are most tired. Every drop of water has to be carried and climbing from the bottom to the top takes a full day. Only the most dedicated and fit hikers, armed with water bottles and permits, may tramp down to the campground by the river at Phantom Ranch.

Nevertheless, there are other ways of exploring the Grand Canyon. You can ride down the steep zigzag trail by mule—not dangerous, but terrifying. Or you can ride the two hundred rapids of the Colorado River through the canyon. For decades it has been regarded as the fiercest stretch of white water in the world. Every summer sixteen thousand people float through the canyon. And it is they, men, women and children, who probably come nearest to terms with the reality of the canyon.

In large inflatable rafts or small wooden dories they ride the rapids, floating peacefully down the calm stretches and camping on the river’s small beaches. Once committed there is no turning back. For ten days, drenched by the water that created the canyon and lulled to sleep by its thunder, they can experience the Grand Canyon, Nature’s greatest feat of engineering.

课文词语 Words and Expressions from the Text

The Grand Canyon 大峡谷

abyss 深谷

elate 得意; 欢欣

pinion 矮松

juniper 刺柏

turbid 烟雾重重的

disconcerting 使困窘；使为难的

serene 安详的，平静的

topography 地貌

stark 光秃秃的

gaunt 贫瘠的

ethereal 非人间的; 美妙的

burst alight 点燃

lacquer 漆

vermilion 苍茫

herald 预告

eclipse 使失去颜色

smoldering 慢燃的

burnished 锃亮的；抛光的

bleach 冲淡

tint 黎明时天空浓淡不同的青色

blend 融合；混合

haze 烟雾

fleecy clouds 朵朵白云

crystallized snow 结晶的雪

eternity 永恒

beak 鸟嘴

shrine 神殿，圣地

antelope 羚羊

prefabricated bungalow 活动平房

grueling 令人筋疲力尽的

drench 浸泡

lull 使安静

feat 功绩