A famous American John Muir said in 1898, "The Grand Canyon ... as unearthly in the color and grandeur and quantity of its architecture as if you had found it after death on some other star." Like Muir, those of us who stand along the rim are prompted to wonder about the unearthliness and the forces that created and are still changing this place.
After more than 100 years of studies, many things are still obscure Today visitors come by the thousands - the great and simple of the earth - all in a spirit of marvel.Travelers come from every state of the Union, from every country in Europe and Asia, pilgrims to a shrine that is the same as the creed.
From the depths of the canyon comes welling silence.Seldom can you hear the roar of the river. You cannot catch the patter,like applause, from the leaves of the cottonwoods on the shelf-like plateau below you. For all sounds are swallowed in this gulf of space. "It makes one want to murmur ." A woman once whispered to her companion. This silence is not the silence of death; rather, it is a presence.It is like a great piece of music. But music made of works up to climax and ceases. The Grand Canyon is all climax, a chord echoing into eternity.
Perhaps the most spectacular feature of the Grand Canyon, its Redwall limestone cliff, stands about half way up the chasm and is practically vertical Its average height is 550 feet - almost exactly that of the Washington Monument.Though it is actually gray-blue limestone, the surface of the cliff has been stained to a sunset hue by iron salts washing out of the rocks. Above the Redwall come alternating layers of red sandstone and shale l,000 feet thick, then comes the next pale-blue layer. The topmost layers are a yellowish limestone.
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一位著名的美国人约翰·缪尔在1898年曾说过，“科罗拉多大峡谷……它神奇的色彩和宏伟多变的构造是世间少有的，就像是人死后在另一个世界看到的东西一样。”和缪尔一样，我们站在大峡谷边缘，顿时对这里的超凡脱俗，对那种创造并仍在改变这个地方的神奇力量感到惊奇。
经过100多年的研究，许多事情仍然是未解之谜。今天，数以千计的游客——不管是普通人还是大人物——都怀着一种好奇的心情来到这里。他们来自于美国的每一个州，来自于欧洲和亚洲的每一个国家，都像朝圣者一样虔诚地来到这座神殿。
峡谷深处寂静无声。人们很少听见河水的咆哮声或下面壁架式高原上三角叶杨树鼓掌般的噼啪声。一切声音都被大峡谷吞没了。一位女游客对同伴说，“它让人不禁低声细语。”这种寂静不是死一般的沉寂；相反，是万物存在的宁静，就像一段伟大的乐曲的篇章。人类的乐曲渐入高潮，止于无声，而大峡谷则高潮迭起，是永远回荡不止的和音。
也许，大峡谷最令人叹为观止的特点是“红墙”石灰石崖。它耸立在裂口半中央，几乎是垂直的。其平均海拔为550英尺——几乎和华盛顿纪念碑一样高。实际上它是灰蓝色的石灰石，但其表面却被从岩石里渗出的铁盐染上了晚霞般的色彩。在“红墙”的上方，是红色的砂岩和1，000英尺厚的页岩交替叠层，然后是浅蓝色的砂岩层，最上层是淡黄色的石灰石。