美国学生世界地理教材 第49期:仙境(1)

 Chapter 14 Wonderland 第14章 仙境

“ALICE IN WONDERLAND” is a fairy-tale, but there is a real Wonderland out in the West. One of the wonders is a river. “爱丽丝漫游仙境”是一个童话故事，但是远在西部真有一个充满奇迹的仙境。奇迹之一是一条河，
It is called the Colorado River, but it is not in the State of Colorado. It is in Arizona. 叫做科罗拉多河，但它却不在科罗拉多州，而在亚利桑那州。
The river runs deep down in the bottom of the deepest ditch in the World, a ditch a mile deep in places. 这条河流淌在世界上最深的水沟里的底部，
This ditch is called by the Spaniards a Canyon 1.  这条多处深达1英里的水沟被西班牙人叫做峡谷。
You can stand on the edge of the Colorado Canyon and look almost a mile down to what seems a slender little thread of water—the Colorado River—running at the bottom, 你可以站在科罗拉多峡谷的边缘向下看，大约1英里深的地方有一条细线一般的水——那就是科罗拉多河——流淌在峡谷底部， 
and yet this little stream has cut this ditch in which it runs—worn it down—all by itself. 然而正是这条小溪流“挖出”了这个大峡谷——一点点慢慢冲刷——全靠它自己。 
Here we can see, better than any place, what the World looks like on the inside if we could dig down into it a mile deep, 在这里往下1英里我们能比在世界上任何地方都能更清楚地看到世界的内部是什么样子， 
for here a little river has dug down a mile deep for us. I asked my guide how far it was across to the other side of the Canyon. 因为这里的一条小河已经为我们挖了1英里深。我曾问过向导到峡谷的另一边有多远。
“Oh,” he replied, “about ten or twelve shouts.” That was a new distance to me, for I didn’t even know how far one shout was.  “哦，”他回答说，“大概十到十二声喊叫声那么远。”那是我从未听说过的距离，因为我甚至不知道一声喊叫有多远。
My arithmetic says twelve inches make a foot and three feet make a yard, but does not say how many feet make a “shout.” 我的算术课本上说1英尺等于12英寸，1码等于3英尺，但是却没有告诉我一声“喊叫声”有多少英尺。 
You can look across to the other side of the Canyon and see the opposite wall almost a mile high—not a plain, blank wall like the wall of a building, 你可以朝峡谷的另一面望去，看见对面高达约1英里的岩壁——不是像建筑物的墙那样单调的一色， 
but more like the walls of heaven—layers of rock, pile upon pile, colored yellow, red, green, orange, purple, mixed with sunshine and shadow. 而是更像天堂的墙壁——它是由一层层岩石堆积起来的，岩石有黄、红、绿、橙、紫等多种颜色，在光和影的交替作用下这些颜色更是绚丽迷人， 
All of this rock was once under the sea, for it is limestone 2 and sandstone.  这里所有的岩石都曾经是在大海底下的，因为都是些石灰岩和砂岩。
Each layer has been dyed a different color by minerals like iron and copper 3; 每一层都被诸如铁和铜之类的矿物染成了不同的颜色； 
if there was iron in the water, it turned the rock the color of iron rust—red; if copper, it turned the rock green. 如果水中的岩石含铁，它就会把岩石变成铁锈的颜色——红色；如果含铜，就会把岩石变成绿色。
I once bought a souvenir pencil. In its end was a pinhole, and when you squinted 4 into the hole with one eye, there you saw in all its vastness the Colorado Canyon. 我曾经买过一个旅游纪念品，是支铅笔。它的顶部有一个小孔，眯着一只眼往里看，你能看到整个宽广辽阔的科罗拉多大峡谷。 
It seemed impossible, and yet there it was, stretching off in the distance, mile upon mile, in a picture the size of a pin head!  这似乎不可能，但确实是真的，在一幅针孔般大小的图景里竟能看到绵延数英里的大峡谷！
Some of the branches of the Colorado run in smaller canyons 5, and high up on the walls of these canyons are houses built in caves in the rock.  科罗拉多河的一些支流在较小的峡谷中流淌，在这些峡谷岩壁的石洞里还有房屋。
Once upon a time, long, long ago, people whom we call “cliff-dwellers” built these homes there to be safe from their enemies. 很久很久以前，我们称为“悬崖居民”的人为了躲避敌人建了这些房屋。