世界上十大令人嘆為觀止的美景(下)

5.冰河國家公園

While Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Yosemite might get more attention than other national parks,Glacier National Park in Montana may take the cake as the most breathtaking. There is no shortage of amazing views along the 730 miles (1,174 kilometers) of hiking trails throughout the park. The park is known for its tall mountain peaks, isolated alpine lakes, abundant wildlife and, of course, the glaciers. It does indeed get its name from the huge glaciers that helped to shape the park'ssignature rock formations 10,000 years ago. In 1850, the park had 150 glaciers, but sadly only 26 now remain because of the effects of climate change on this high-altitude treasure. Don'tforget to take the snow line into account. You'll have to wait until mid-June for a snow-free hikein the lower elevations, and as long as late July for the higher elevations.

盡管黃石國家公園、大峽谷國家公園和約塞米蒂國家公園比其他的國家公園更受到世人的關注，但在“最令人驚艷”的國家公園排行中，冰河國家公園卻名列第一。公園里長達730英里(1，174公里)的徒步旅行路線中，美景360度無死角充溢眼球。該公園以其高大的山峰、分離的高山湖泊、豐富的野生動物，當然，還有冰川而聞名。一萬年前的巨型冰河塑造了該公園的標志性巖層，甚至連公園的名字也來源于此。1850年，當時公園內(nèi)有150條冰河，而由于氣候變化的影響，這高海拔瑰寶現(xiàn)在只剩下26條了。不過要去旅行的朋友們要注意雪線的高度，只有等到六月中旬才能在無積雪的低海拔區(qū)域遠足，想要去到更高的地方就得耐心等到七月底。

4.Underwater at the Galapagos Islands

4.加拉帕戈斯群島的水下世界

Naturalist Charles Darwin may not have known what he was getting into when he first exploredthe Galapagos Islands as part of a five-year journey to chart the area for the Royal Navy. He andhis cohorts discovered hundreds of new species and collected thousands of samples from theplants and animals that live there. Almost 200 years later, the wonder of the life that livesabove and below the sea at this archipelago remains as breathtaking as ever. Despite the inevitable tourism trade that's grown over the years, the islands are fiercely protected and divers can still rub elbows with sea creatures that haven't learned to be afraid of humans. There are more than 300 species of fish, 650 shells and mollusks, 120 crabs and 200 starfish and urchins alone. Add to that the giant sea tortoise, marine iguana, penguins, sea otters, dolphinsand sharks, and it's clear why diving in the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands is on thelist of most SCUBA enthusiasts.

自然學家查爾斯·達爾文在其五年航程中第一次來到加拉帕戈斯群島時，或許對眼前的這片水域一無所知。當時他受命于皇家海軍，繪制該地區(qū)的航海圖。達爾文及其同伴們在島嶼上發(fā)現(xiàn)了幾百個新物種，采集了當?shù)財?shù)千類動植物的標本。直到約200年后的今天，不論是水下亦或是陸地上的加拉帕戈斯群島，其獨有的壯景依然讓人驚嘆。近些年來，盡管地區(qū)旅游業(yè)不可避免的發(fā)展起來，但是加拉帕戈斯群島還是處于極好的保護之中，潛水愛好者們也仍然可以和海底那些不怎么怕人的小生物們近距離接觸。在這片海域中，魚類有300多種，貝殼類及軟體動物650種，蟹類120種，單單海星及海膽就有200種。除此之外，這里還生活著巨型海龜，加拉帕戈海鬣蜥，企鵝，海獺，海豚和鯊魚。這樣一來，想必你也很清楚為何加拉帕戈斯島受保護的水域是水肺潛水(SCUBA，譯者注：Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus，指潛水員自行攜帶水下呼吸系統(tǒng)所進行的潛水活動)愛好者的心頭所好了吧。

3.Earth from Space

3.太空中的地球

Unfortunately not many people will be able to see this one firsthand, but even high resolution images of the Earth from outer space can be pretty breathtaking. Satellite photos areappreciated for their aesthetic value now. The first photograph of Earth from outer space is agrainy black-and-white taken by a 35 millimeter movie camera in 1947. Even this captivatedresearchers, but the rocket that flew the camera into space was unmanned. When SovietCosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly into outer space 14 years later, his postflight description was this: "There was a good view of the Earth which had a very distinct andpretty blue halo. It had a smooth transition from pale blue, blue, dark blue, violet and absolutely black. It was a magnificent picture". Since that flight space exploration has neverbeen the same. It's doubtful that anyone who has ever witnessed the Earthrise was any lessawe-struck as Gagarin was. Perhaps with continued colonization efforts and space tourism,more people can witness this sight firsthand.

很不幸，能夠親眼看到這種畫面的人并不多。不過即使只是這樣一張高分辨率的照片，也已經(jīng)足夠讓人驚奇不已了?，F(xiàn)今，衛(wèi)星照片由于自身所具有的審美價值而受到了人們的喜愛。1947年，人類用一臺口徑35毫米的電影攝像機拍攝了第一張顆粒面的黑白衛(wèi)星照。那時盡管研究人員對外太空著迷不已，但搭載攝像機進入太空的仍是一艘無人火箭。14年后，蘇聯(lián)宇航員尤里·加加林成為了飛入外太空的第一人。后來，在對這次太空之行的描述中，加加林說道：“從外太空觀賞地球簡直太美妙了。它擁有著如此獨特而又美麗的藍色光暈，顏色的過渡也緩慢柔和：先是淺藍，再是藍色，然后深藍色，再到藍紫色，最后完全變黑。這真是一副瑰麗奇景。”對于太空的每一次探索都是各不相同的，因此后來登上太空，看到地球升起的人會不會像加加林那樣感到非常震撼還難說。隨著人類對太空的進一步探索和開拓，或許未來更多的人有機會親身體驗這一奇觀。

2.The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

2.西斯廷教堂的天頂畫

Since art is completely subjective, it's impossible to find a single work of art that everyone would agree is breathtaking, but you probably won't hear too many arguments against the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Michelangelo, the original Renaissance man, is regarded more often as a great sculptor even though his most famous work is arguably the vast frescopainting. Fresco is a challenging technique in which the artist paints on wet plaster, forminga bond causing the paint to actually become part of the surface. The Italian painter, sculptoran poet (among other things) spent four years painting more than 400 figures above his head while standing, contrary to legend that he worked on his back. One great aspect of the ceiling is that you can stand just about anywhere underneath it and view a single, distinct work of art. Upon completion of the arduous work, the great artist said, "After four tortured years, more than 400 over life-size figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only 37, yet friends did not recognize the old man I had become".

藝術是完全主觀的，所以很難找到一件藝術作品讓所有人都為之驚詫。然而，你可能不會聽到太多關于反對羅馬西斯廷教堂天頂畫的觀點。米開朗基羅是文藝復興的代表人物，盡管他最著名的作品無疑是巨大的壁畫，但他更多的是被當成一個偉大的雕塑家。創(chuàng)作濕壁畫是一項具有挑戰(zhàn)性的工藝, 藝術家們要在濕漉漉的墻灰上描繪，使畫上去的色彩與墻皮混在一起，不易脫落。這位意大利畫家、雕塑家和詩人(還有其他身份)花了四年時間，站著畫了他頭頂上的400多個人物，而傳聞他其實是躺著畫的。天頂畫一個偉大之處是，你可以站在它下面的任意位置，欣賞這個獨特的藝術作品。在完成這項艱巨的工作時，這位偉大的藝術家曾說：“經(jīng)過這煎熬的四年，畫了超過400個栩栩如生的人物，我覺得我和耶利米一樣年老、疲憊。我只有37歲啊，但朋友們已經(jīng)認不出我這位‘老人’了。”

1.Northern Lights

1.北極光

An aurora is a bright glow that occurs in the night sky when energetic particles, mostly electrons, enter the Earth's upper atmosphere from the magnetosphere. When they breakthrough, they collide with atoms and molecules, which take some of the energy and store it,creating what's known as an excited atom. The only way to calm this atom down is for it to riditself of the energy by firing off a photon. This makes the glow we see here on Earth. There are all kinds of auroras, but the most well-known are the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. Theseare the multi-colored lights in the Northern Hemisphere's polar region. Green, white, purple and red glowing "curtains" blanket the dark, clear skies of the North Pole about 1,500 times a year during what's called a sub storm. This is when the sun releases hot plasma gas as energy into the magnetosphere. This gas breaks up and penetrates the Earth's atmosphere and curious humans below marvel at the breathtaking result. For your best chance at witnessing the Northern Lights, trvael north during the winter in Canada, Alaska or Scandinavia and then keep and eye on the skies.

極光出現(xiàn)于夜空中，是高能粒子，主要是電子，從地球的磁層進入高層大氣時而產(chǎn)生的明亮光芒。沖破大氣層過程中，這些高能粒子與高層大氣的原子或分子碰撞，促使這些原子或分子吸收一部分的能量并將其儲存，產(chǎn)生一種所謂的激發(fā)態(tài)原子。唯一讓這種原子回到基態(tài)的方式是發(fā)射光子，降低自身的能量。然后就產(chǎn)生了我們在地球上所看到的極光。盡管極光多種多樣，但最有名的還是北極光。北半球極地地區(qū)那些五顏六色光芒，綠光、白光、紫光和紅光像“窗簾”一樣覆蓋整個北極明凈的夜空，這種現(xiàn)象在每年的“亞暴”期間發(fā)生，大約會出現(xiàn)1,500次。太陽釋放熱等離子氣體作為一種能量進入磁層，這些氣體會分解并穿過地球大氣層。然而，人們對這美麗的景象除了好奇，更多的是驚嘆。目睹北極光的最好機會是冬季，飛往北方的加拿大、阿拉斯加或者斯堪的納維亞，然后注意觀察天空的變化。