英语听力精选进阶版 7332（在线收听）

世界著名的美国亚利桑那州的大峡谷可能比先前想象的历史要短得多。新的科研显示这一世界奇的形成仅有五至六百万年的时间。这比先前的说法要短得多。以前的研究声称大峡谷已经有七千万年历史。

Millions of tourists are drawn each year to the Grand Canyon to see its impressive rocks, which record nearly two billion years of Earth history. Running for almost 450km and to a depth of 1,800m, it is almost too vast to take in.

Its huge scale has also been problematic for scientists who've spent years gathering data from different locations through the canyon to try to work out its true age.

Some of the most recent investigations had indicated an ancient origin, while others thought it was much younger.

Now a new study in the Nature Geoscience journal pulls it all together. It finds, yes, the Grand Canyon has very old segments, but the full system was only cut into the form we know today by the Colorado River just over five million years ago.

Quiz 听力测验

Where is the Grand Canyon?

In the American state of Arizona.

How big is the Grand Canyon?

It is almost 450km long and 1,800m deep.

Where was the study published?

It was published in the Nature Geoscience journal.

Which verb in the report is similar in meaning to 'collecting'?

Gathering.

Glossary 词汇表

drawn 吸引

to take in 全部收入眼底，一览无余

scale 规模

problematic 成问题的，棘手的

gathering 搜集

origin 起源

segments （地）段