The Wave, Arizona

Millions of years of erosion, explosions and a touch of folklore form the narrative behind some of the most unbelievable sights in the world.
經(jīng)過(guò)大自然數(shù)百萬(wàn)年的雕琢，世界上出現(xiàn)許多令人難以置信的奇特自然景觀。

From sweeping curves of Arizona's The Wave in the U.S. to the Fairy Chimneys of Turkey's Cappadocia, the simple flow of water over stone has created some remarkable features that look as though they aren't even of this planet, all of which we can visit and marvel at today.
從美國(guó)亞利桑那州的波濤谷到土耳其卡帕多西亞的“精靈煙囟”，這些看起來(lái)好像是外星中的場(chǎng)景，但實(shí)際上都是我們可以身處其中的地方。

Here are some of the most unbelievable landscapes in the world.
以下是地球上八個(gè)最奇特的自然景觀，一起看看吧。

The Wave, Arizona
波濤谷，美國(guó)亞利桑那州

The sweeping design of this sandstone rock formation is found in the Coyote Buttes area of the Arizona Strip in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness area that would be hugely popular with hikers were it not so heavily protected.
波濤谷位于美國(guó)亞利桑那州北部朱紅懸崖的帕利亞峽谷，其砂巖上的紋路就像波浪一樣，深受游客喜愛。

Experts say the best photo opportunities come at midday but first visitors must get one of the 20 permits released each day for the area, with 10 of them released via a lottery four months in advance and the other ten dished out the day before an intended visit.
專家稱，波濤谷攝影的最佳時(shí)間是中午，但是這里每天只允許20人進(jìn)入，其中10人通過(guò)提前4個(gè)月的彩票抽獎(jiǎng)獲得名額，另外10人則在訪問前一天確定。

Once permission is granted to visit there are no marked hiking tracks to get you there, as authorities are keen to preserve its natural beauty formed by the erosion of Navajo Sandstone during Jurassic age.
波濤谷規(guī)定游客不能在此留下任何痕跡，這是當(dāng)?shù)卣疄榱藝?yán)格保護(hù)波濤谷的自然美。波濤谷是侏羅紀(jì)時(shí)代的納瓦霍砂巖受侵蝕形成的。

The 190 million-year-old formation is made of sand dunes which turned to rock through time.
這些沙丘經(jīng)過(guò)1.9億年的時(shí)間沉淀，最終變成砂巖。

They are stacked on top of another and hardened by deposit of calcium salts - causing the vertical and horizontal layers.
它們層層堆疊，并在鈣鹽的作用下硬化，形成了垂直和水平方向的巖層。

Svinafellsjokull glacier, Iceland

Svinafellsjokull glacier, Iceland
Svinafellsjokull冰川，冰島

Svinafellsjokull glacier, part of the great Vatnaj?kull Glacier in Skaftafell National Park, may look totally inhospitable but with the right gear and guide it's a popular hiking destination. Icelandic Mountain Guides are among a host of companies running tours and charge from ￡65 for a four-hour walk.
Svinafellsjokull冰川是斯卡夫塔國(guó)家公園中瓦特納冰川的一部分，它看起來(lái)荒涼無(wú)比，但實(shí)際上卻吸引了很多游客。

The glacier has also achieved an extra level of fame recently after being one of the filming locations for the blockbuster film Interstellar.
這里還因?yàn)槭呛萌R塢大片《星際穿越》的外景拍攝地而更加知名。

'Interstellar was my second time filming in Iceland,' the director told Film In Iceland. 'Iceland truly represents the beautiful extremes the nature has to offer.'
該片導(dǎo)演稱：“《星際穿越》是我第二次來(lái)冰島取經(jīng)拍攝的影片，冰島擁有世界上最美的自然景觀，這點(diǎn)毋庸置疑?！?/div>

Fairy Chimneys, Turkey

Fairy Chimneys, Turkey
精靈煙囪，土耳其

Legend has it that fairies living in ancient Cappadocia in Turkey's Central Anatolia lived underground, and these bizarre rock formations were the chimneys of their hidden residences. Another theory is the distinctive feature of the World Heritage Listed area were formed first by layers from rock developed over time courtesy of volcanic eruptions, and then erosion.
傳說(shuō)有精靈生活在土耳其卡帕多西亞的地下，而這些奇怪巖石結(jié)構(gòu)就是他們隱藏居所的煙囪。還有一種理論認(rèn)為，這個(gè)被列入世界遺產(chǎn)名錄的獨(dú)特地貌是火山噴發(fā)巖石硬化后一層層形成的，后來(lái)受到侵蝕所致。

The granite at the top that forms the mushroom cap-type feature is harder than the colourful sandstone below, hence the brilliant design.
煙囪頂部蘑菇帽式的花崗巖比下面的彩色砂巖更為堅(jiān)硬。

Visitors to Cappadocia can see the fairy chimneys in a host of ways. You can hire quad bike tours that can quickly get you around the vast area. For a close-up experience try a horseback tour. There are a host of ranches offering horses and guides, and it makes sense when you consider Cappadocia actually means, Land of the Beautiful Horses.?
游客前往卡帕多西亞觀看“精靈煙囪”有多種方式。你可以租用四輪摩托車，快速速走遍廣袤的區(qū)域；你也可以騎馬前往，這里有很多牧場(chǎng)提供坐騎和向?qū)?。?shí)際上，卡帕多西亞就是“駿馬之地”的意思。

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
烏尤尼鹽沼，玻利維亞

The world's largest salt flats are a sight to behold, with it covering a whopping 4.085 square miles in the Department of Potosi in southwest Bolivia.
位于玻利維亞西南部烏尤尼小鎮(zhèn)附近的烏尤尼鹽沼是世界上最大的鹽沼，這里10.58平方公里的地面上都被鹽粒覆蓋。

While salt is associated with the ocean, these flats are found 11,995 feet above sea level after being formed by a number of prehistoric lakes.
這里的鹽顯然與海洋有關(guān)，但這里的海拔高度達(dá)3656米，可能是史前湖泊所在地。地面上有數(shù)米厚的鹽殼，高低起伏不超過(guò)1米范圍。

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
大棱鏡彩泉，美國(guó)懷俄明州黃石公園

It looks like a bubbling volcano ready to blow but is in fact the third largest hot spring in the world, behind only after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica.
它看起來(lái)就像隨時(shí)都會(huì)噴發(fā)的火山，但事實(shí)上這是世界上第三大溫泉，僅次于新西蘭的煎鍋湖和多米尼加的沸湖。

Found in the Midway Geyser Basin at Yellowstone, it is also the biggest hot spring in the United States, but it's not size that makes it so remarkable.
這個(gè)溫泉位于黃石國(guó)家公園中的“中間歇泉盆地”，也是美國(guó)最大的溫泉。

The bright coloration of the spring is it's real point of marvel, with its shades of red, orange, yellow, green and blue.
但大棱鏡彩泉之所以如此著名，并非其規(guī)模，而是其鮮艷的色彩。

The unique park has a 40-mile-long slush of molten rock and crystal under the nation's first national park.
黃石國(guó)家公園地下有60多公里長(zhǎng)的熔融巖石和水晶泥。

Instead of a cone with a hole, the caldera is an interconnected maze of gas and water covering almost 60 miles of Wyoming's northwest corner, along with parts of Montana and Idaho.More than 10,000 mud pots, boiling rivers and geysers act as nature's pressure-release valves, keeping the heated monster from exploding.
但是這里沒有孔錐，火山口是一個(gè)互相連通的迷宮，超過(guò)10000個(gè)泥盆、沸水河以及噴泉充當(dāng)天然的壓力釋放閥，可確保大棱鏡彩泉持續(xù)噴水。

Dallol, Ethiopia

Dallol, Ethiopia
達(dá)羅爾，埃塞俄比亞

As if a giant hypercolour pen exploded on the moon, the Dallol hydrothermal fields offer some incredible flourescentcolours - all from nature.
就好像巨大的彩色筆在月球上爆炸，達(dá)羅爾熱水田呈現(xiàn)出令人難以置信的天然熒光顏色。

Found in the northeast of the Erta Ale Range in the rather grim-looking Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, the craters are the lowest subaerial volcanic vents in the world.
這個(gè)位于Erta Ale火山東北部的火山口，實(shí)際上是世界上海拔最低的陸上火山口。

The bright yellow of the sulphur mixes with the white salt for this bizarre effect.
亮黃色的硫與白色的鹽形成奇異的反應(yīng)。

For centuries Ethiopians have made the long trek to the Danakil Depression - one of the hottest and harshest environments in the world - to collect salt from the sun-blasted earth before transporting the slabs back by camel.
數(shù)百年來(lái)，埃塞俄比亞人經(jīng)過(guò)長(zhǎng)途跋涉，來(lái)此收集鹽，并用駱駝運(yùn)送。

Life is harsh for the thousands of camel herders and salt extractors who use traditional hoes and axes to carve the 'white gold' out of the ground in the Danakil Depression.
對(duì)于無(wú)數(shù)駱駝牧民和鹽收集者來(lái)說(shuō)，這里的生活十分艱難。他們使用傳統(tǒng)的斧子和鋤頭從地面上攫取“白金”。

The work, however exhausting, still draws thousands onto the baking salt flats.
盡管工作十分辛苦，但依然吸引許多人販鹽。

ZhangyeDanxia Landform, China

ZhangyeDanxia Landform, China
張掖丹霞地貌，中國(guó)

What looks like something created with coloured sand in primary school is in fact a colourful sandstone formation in the hills near Zhangye City.
乍一看這好像是小學(xué)生用彩沙建造的東西，但實(shí)際上它們是張掖附近山上的巖石結(jié)構(gòu)。

Walkways have been established throughout the area by the government to accommodate walkers keen to admire what is said to be 24 million years worth of red sandstone and mineral deposits.
當(dāng)?shù)卣呀?jīng)建立起人行道，以方便游客觀賞這些據(jù)說(shuō)已經(jīng)有2400萬(wàn)年的紅砂巖和礦床。

Geologists say the same tectonic plates that formed the Himalayas created the layer cake effect and centuries of water erosion complete the design.?
地質(zhì)學(xué)家認(rèn)為，形成喜馬拉雅山的同一塊構(gòu)造板塊形成了這一“千層糕”效應(yīng)，后經(jīng)無(wú)數(shù)年水的侵蝕才形成這一獨(dú)特景觀。

Puente del Inca, Argentina

Puente del Inca, Argentina
印加石橋，阿根廷

The Inca's Bridge, as it translates from Spanish, is an arch created by nature to form a bridge over theVacas River in Mendoza, Argentina.
阿根廷門多薩省的印加石橋?qū)嶋H上是自然形成的拱形結(jié)構(gòu)，充當(dāng)了Vacas河上的橋梁。

The bridge shares it name with the hot springs nearby and it's believed the extremes of hot and ice may have had something to do with its existence.
這座石橋與附近一個(gè)噴泉名字相同，這個(gè)溫泉據(jù)說(shuō)經(jīng)常極冷或極熱，有時(shí)候甚至可冷熱共存。

Charles Darwin visited the site in March 1835 and a thermal spa in the early 20th century took advantage of the apparent healing qualities of the spring.
達(dá)爾文曾于1835年3月份到訪這里。20世紀(jì)初期，人們已經(jīng)開始利用溫泉的治療效果。