余圣蓮

Almost everywhere you go on Earth, natural beauty catches your eye. Each continent boasts many awesome wonders. Snow-covered mountains and huge rock formations soar up into bright blue skies. Waterfalls plunge hundreds of feet to pools below. Dark, ancient forests shelter an amazing variety of life.

We have chosen what we believe to be the five most spectacular natural wonders—those that are the biggest, longest or most impressive of their kind. These natural wonders inspire awe in everyone who views them.

Mt. Everest

Mt. Everest, which straddles the border between China and Nepal, is the worlds highest mountain. It measures 29,035 feet. And the mountain is still growing! Geological forces push it up a few millimeters each year.

Sit Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay first reached the peaks summit in 1953. Since then more than 1,000 people have reached the top—and at least 100 have died trying. Why climb Everest? Briton George Mallory, part of the first expedition to climb the mountain in 1921, famously answered that question: “Because it is there.”

Grand Canyon

Visitors to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona admire its breathtaking colors, rock formations and cliffs. No picture can adequately capture its beauty. The canyon is 277 miles long and any where from 4 to 18 miles wide, rim to rim.

A national park protects the canyons most spectacular section. Visitors can either hike or ride a mule from the rim to the canyon floor 5,280 feel below. The Colorado River flows through the canyon. The river created several other canyons, but the Grand Canyon is the most beautiful.

Great Barrier Reefs

The Great Barrier Reefs extends 1,200 miles along Australias northeast coast through the Coral Sea. It is the largest coral formation in the world and is visible from space! Actually, it is not one reef but a chain of thousands.

More than 10,000 species live on the Great Barrier Reefs. These reef inhabitants include more than 1,500 kinds of fish and 200 kinds of birds. The beauty of the reefs also attracts thousands of human visitors each year. They dive or see the reefs by glass-bottom boat.

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls stretch across the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Locals call the falls “Mosioa Tunya,” or “The Smoke that Thunders.” The roar of the water can be heard long before the mist from the falls comes into view. During peak flood season, the falls form the largest curtain of falling water in the world. The mile-wide falls plunge 330 feet over a cliff into a narrow gorge. From February to May, nearly 120 million gallons of water a minute make the plunge into the gorge.

Amazon Rain Forest

The Amazon Rain Forest covers more than a billion acres of northern South America. If this rain forest were a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world!

Some scientists call the area the “l(fā)ungs of our planet.” The area produces more than 20 percent of the worlds oxygen. Millions of animal and plant species live in the Amazon, including one third of the worlds bird species!

無論你走到世界何處，都會有吸引你的自然美景。每個大洲均有許多令人敬畏的奇觀。積雪覆蓋的高山和巨大的巖體直入耀眼的藍(lán)天。瀑布轟然跌入數(shù)百英尺下的深潭。蒼郁的古老森林，蔭蔽著種類驚人的生物。這些令人嘆為觀止的自然奇觀，激起了每個觀眾的敬畏之心。

珠穆朗瑪峰

跨越中國和尼泊爾邊陲的珠穆朗瑪峰是世界第一高峰。它有29，035 英尺高，而且還在持續(xù)增長中！地質(zhì)作用力每年會將它推高幾毫米。

1953年，愛德蒙·希拉里爵士和夏爾巴人丹增·諾吉首度成功登頂。自那時起，有1，000多人成功攀至峰頂——而至少100人在嘗試登頂過程中長眠于此。為什么要攀登珠穆朗瑪峰呢？1921年首個攀登珠穆朗瑪峰的遠(yuǎn)征隊(duì)成員之一——英國人喬治·馬洛里--給了一句著名的答案：“因?yàn)樗谀抢?。?/p>

大峽谷

前往亞利桑納州欣賞科羅拉多河大峽谷的觀光客，無不被它令人驚艷的顏色、巖層和峭壁所傾倒。沒有照片足以捕捉它的美。大峽谷長277英里，峽谷兩側(cè)邊緣之間寬度從4英里到18英里不等。

一座國家公園保護(hù)著峽谷最壯觀的地區(qū)。游客可以徒步旅行，或者騎著騾子從山緣走到下面5，280英尺深的谷底?？屏_拉多河流經(jīng)整個峽谷。這條河還創(chuàng)造了其他一些峽谷，但大峽谷是其中最壯麗的一個。

大堡礁

大堡礁長1，200 英里，沿著澳大利亞東北海岸的珊瑚海而列。它是全世界最大的珊瑚結(jié)構(gòu)，即使在太空中也看得到！事實(shí)上，它不是一個礁脈，而是由數(shù)千個相連的礁脈所組成。

有1萬多種生物生活在大堡礁上。在這些礁脈中生活的有1，500多種魚類和200多種鳥類。大堡礁的美景每年也吸引了成千上萬的觀光客。他們潛水或乘玻璃底游船來觀賞珊瑚礁。

維多利亞瀑布

維多利亞瀑布跨越了津巴布韋和贊比亞之間的贊比西河。當(dāng)?shù)厝朔Q這一個瀑布為“莫西奧圖尼亞”，也就是“雷鳴的煙霞”。早在瀑布的水霧映入眼簾之前，就能聽到轟隆的水聲。在洪水高峰期，瀑布會形成全世界最大的落水帷幔。寬達(dá)1英里的瀑布自330 英尺高的峭壁沖瀉而下，直落狹窄的峽谷。從2月到5月，每分鐘有將近1億2千萬加侖的水瀉入峽谷之中。

亞馬遜雨林

亞馬遜雨林覆蓋了南美洲北部10億多英畝的地區(qū)。如果這片雨林是一個國家，它會是世界第9大國！

有些科學(xué)家稱這片區(qū)域?yàn)椤暗厍蛑巍?。這里生成全球20%以上的氧氣。數(shù)百萬的動植物物種棲息在亞馬遜，其中有全世界1/3的鳥類！