Grand Canyon - Part 1

Grand Canyon - Part 1          audio        www.inglesvip.xpg.com.br

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I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

1. Today, we take you to one of the most popular and beautiful places in the United States. It is the Grand Canyon in the southwestern state of Arizona.

2. The canyons of America's Southwest are deep, ancient openings in the earth. They look as if they formed as the earth split apart. But the canyons did not split. They were cut by rivers.

3. The rivers carried dirt and pieces of stone that slowly ate away at the surrounding rock. For millions of years, the rivers turned and pushed. They cut deeper and deeper into the earth. They left a pathway of great rocky openings in the earth that extend for hundreds of kilometers.

4. The Grand Canyon in Arizona is one of the largest and most beautiful of all canyons. It extends four hundred fifty kilometers.

5. The surrounding area does not make you suspect the existence of such a great opening in the earth. You come upon the canyon suddenly, when you reach its edge. Then you are looking at a land like nothing else in the world.

6. Walls of rock fall away sharply at your feet. In some places, the canyon walls are more than a kilometer deep. Far below is the dark, turning line of the Colorado River.

7. On the other side, sunshine lights up the naked rock walls in red, orange, and gold. The bright colors are the result of minerals in the rocks. Their appearance changes endlessly -- with the light, the time of year, and the weather.

8. At sunset, when the sun has moved across the sky, the canyon walls give up their fiery reds and golds. They take on quieter colors of blue, purple, and green.

9. Hundreds of rocky points rise from the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Some are very tall. Yet all are below the level of an observer on the edge, looking over.

10. Looking at the Grand Canyon is like looking back in time. Forty million years ago, the Colorado River began cutting through the area. At the same time, the surrounding land was pushed up by forces deep within the Earth.

11. Rain, snow, ice, wind, and plant roots rubbed away at the top of the new canyon. Below, the flowing river continued to uncover more and more levels of ancient rock.

12. Some of Earth's oldest rocks are seen here. There are many levels of granite, schist, limestone, and sandstone.

13. The Grand Canyon has several weather environments. The top is often much different from the bottom. On some winter days, for example, you may find cold winds and snow at the top. But at the bottom, you may find warm winds and flowers.

14. Several kinds of plants and animals are found in the canyon and nowhere else on Earth. Because the canyon's environments are so different, these species did not spread beyond the canyon, or even far within it.

15. Native American Indians occupied the Grand Canyon three thousand years ago. Evidence of their existence has been found in more than two thousand five hundred places so far. Bones, hair, feathers, even the remains of plants have been found in deep, dry caves high in the rock walls.

Vocabulary

1. ancient = antigo(a)
2. ate away = causou erosão
3. beyond = além de
4. Bones = ossos
5. bright = brilhante
6. carried = carregaram
7. caves = cavernas
8. deep = profundo
9. dirt = sujeira
10. dry = seco(a)
11. edge = beira, borda
12. endlessly = infinitamente
13. even = até mesmo
14. fall away = despencam
15. Far below = bem abaixo
16. feathers = penas
17. fiery = ardente
18. found = encontrados
19. kinds of = tipos de
20. levels = níveis
21. limestone = calcário
22. look as if = parecem como se
23. naked = nua
24. nothing else = nada mais
25. pathway = caminho
26. pushed = empurraram
27. quieter = mais calmo(a)

28. remains = restos
29. rise from the bottom = elevam-se do fundo
30. rocky = rochoso
31. roots = raízes
32. rubbed away = roçavam
33. sandstone = arenito
34. schist = xisto
35. seen = visto
36. several = diversos
37. sharply = abruptamente
38. snow = neve
39. so far = até agora
40. southwestern = Região sudoeste
41. split apart = dividir-se
42. spread = espalharam-se
43. stone = pedra
44. suddenly = subitamente
45. sunset = Pôr do sol
46. sunshine = luz do sol
47. surrounding = circundante
48. through = através
49. warm = quente
50. weather environments = ambientes climáticos
51. wind = vento
52. winter = inverno
53. within = dentro
54. Yet = porém