国家地理-2008-08-09 黑峡谷国家公园

The warm glow of the summer morning settles on the slopes of western Colorado. But as the sun climbs higher, deep shadows shield the landscape that remains¹ dark and forbidding. It is among the nation's deepest, steepest and narrowest canyons³. You may hear varying explanations for how the Black Canyon² of the Gunnison got its name. "Well, there are two theories on that. I think the one that's most popular is that it is so deep and narrow that the sunshine only reaches most of the canyon a short time each day."

As one of America's newest national parks, Black Canyon struggles for the recognition enjoyed by that other canyon park of the Southwest. "Grand Canyon of course is so fabulous⁴ and everybody goes there and knows all about it. But you come here and it's so deep and so narrow, and it's just, just awe-inspiring."

Much of the Black Canyon is wilderness⁵, but almost from the moment white settlers arrived in the area; plans were hatched to make this "a canyon of commerce". "By 1880 you saw the Denver and Rio Grand Railroad (and) starting to look at the canyon as a possible way to bring the railroad from the Front Range of Colorado, Denver and Colorado Springs, on a route through to Salt Lake and then perhaps on to San Francisco."

The railroad made its way through 15 miles of the Black Canyon, but today it's mostly under Morrow Point reservoir. "We've got real technical class three whitewater in here." Not far from Black Canyon, Bill Dvorak has been guiding rafting and fishing trips in the Gunnison Gorge⁶ Conservation Area since 1982. "Yeah, I really like bringing people into these kinds of places and showing them what it's like when we do preserve these places and how, you know, just how spectacular and how beautiful it is."

Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area is adjacent to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. At its heart is a wilderness area that is especially popular for rafting and fishing. "You're humbled⁷ as a human. Let's put it that way. You go through that and you're a very little piece of something very big and very old and very dramatic."

For millions of years, the Gunnison River has been carving⁸ this canyon at work across eons of isolation⁹. Even now it's easy to imagine that you are the first to peer over the rim¹⁰ into the dark soul of the Black Canyon. "Because we don't have so many people, there is, you know, millions of people a year coming to visit the canyon, people do have that opportunity to have a personal relationship with this place."

 

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

3 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

4 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

5 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

6 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

7 humbled   

adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低

参考例句：

• The examination results humbled him. 考试成绩挫了他的傲气。
• I am sure millions of viewers were humbled by this story. 我相信数百万观众看了这个故事后都会感到自己的渺小。

8 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

9 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

10 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。