The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon Written by Mike Stark Focus Question What is the Grand Canyon, and why is it special?

科罗拉多大峡谷 作者：迈克·斯塔克 焦点问题 科罗拉多大峡谷是什么？它为什么特别？

A canyon so grand. In the high desert of northern Arizona is a canyon so big that we can see it from space. This dazzling place is called the Grand Canyon and for good reason.

如此宏伟的峡谷。 在亚利桑那州北部的高海拔沙漠里，有一道大到从太空都能看见的峡谷。 这片美得耀眼的地方名叫科罗拉多大峡谷，它完全配得上这个名字。

A canyon is a deep valley with steep sides, usually formed by a river. The Grand Canyon National Park stretches across about 1 ,900 square miles, 4 ,921 square kilometers. In some places, the canyon is more than a mile, 1 .6 kilometers deep. It can take two weeks to pass through on a river raft. The canyon walls are rusty red and yellow, and are made from rocks that are millions of years old.

峡谷指的是两侧陡峭的深谷，通常由河流冲刷形成。 科罗拉多大峡谷国家公园占地约1900平方英里，即4921平方公里。 峡谷部分区域的深度超过1英里，即1.6公里。 坐漂流艇横穿整个峡谷可能需要两周时间。 峡谷岩壁呈锈红色和黄色，由已有数百万年历史的岩石构成。

The Grand Canyon became a national park in 1919. National parks are special places. The land and the animals that live there are protected. More than 4 million people visit Grand Canyon National Park every year.

科罗拉多大峡谷在1919年被划为国家公园。 国家公园是非常特别的地方。 那里的土地和栖息的动物都受到保护。 每年有超过400万人游览科罗拉多大峡谷国家公园。

Formation. Time and erosion helped shape the Grand Canyon into what it is today. Erosion happens when bits of the ground are worn away by wind or water. For millions of years, the Colorado River ran over the land and wore away the earth. At first, the river water made only a shallow channel in the ground. Over time, it formed an amazing canyon.

形成过程 时间和侵蚀作用共同塑造了科罗拉多大峡谷如今的模样。 侵蚀指的是地表碎屑被风或水冲刷磨损的过程。 数百万年来，科罗拉多河从这片土地流过，不断冲刷土层。 最开始，河水只在地面冲出了一道浅浅的沟渠。 随着时间推移，它就变成了令人惊叹的大峡谷。

The Grand Canyon's walls have stripes of different colors. The stripes are layers of sediment that stacked on top of each other over millions of years. Each layer shows a different time in Earth's history. The layers are much like the layers of a cake. The river is like a knife that cuts into the cake and shows the layers inside.

科罗拉多大峡谷的岩壁上有不同颜色的条纹。 这些条纹是数百万年来一层层堆叠起来的沉积层。 每一层都代表着地球历史上的不同时期。 这些岩层就像蛋糕的分层一样。 河流就像一把刀，切开了这块“蛋糕”，露出了里面的分层。