啊杜 - 2007-12-25 9:44:00
原文：Easter Island, 1979
Photograph by Gordon Gahan
Giant stone moai stand on Easter Islands stony slopes. Earlier explorers believed the stone statues were worshipped as gods by native Polynesians, but Captain James Cook and his men speculated in 1774 that they were constructed to honor ancestors, a view still held by many today. (Text adapted from and photograph from the National Geographic book Voyages to Paradise: Exploring in the Wake of Captain Cook, 1981)
意译：主标题：复活节岛，1979 巨石雕像竖立在耶稣复活节岛的石斜坡面，最早的探险家认为石雕像是本土玻利维亚人们崇拜神灵而作，但是库克船长和其他人，在1774年推测是为了尊敬他们的祖先。这一景观持续到今天。
原文：Route 66, Arizona, 1997
Photograph by Vincent J. Musi
Vestiges of Americana linger in an ice cream shops sign along Arizonas historic Route 66. Memorialized in many ways—in writing (Grapes of Wrath, On the Road), in song ("Get Your Kicks on Route 66"), and on screen (Route Sixty-Six)—the road still echoes mid-twentieth-century American culture.
意译：主标题：美国，亚利桑那州，66公路，1997。
美国人喜欢逗留在冰淇淋商店的痕迹，沿着亚利桑那州的著名的66号公路，表现多种方式，如作品、唱歌和看电影等，这里依然是二十世纪中期美国文化的回放。
原文："Spanning a West Virginia canyon 3,000 feet [914 meters] wide, the New River Gorge Bridge transformed 44,000 tons of steel and concrete into structural art as graceful as the morning mists drifting below it. Opened in 1977, it replaced an 1889 trestle—and 40 white-knuckled minutes on one-lane switchbacks—with 40 seconds on cruise control."
—From “New River’s Deep Soul,” June 1999, National Geographic magazine
Photograph by Susie Post Rust
意译：在美国西维吉尼亚峡谷，峡谷有3000英尺（914米）广阔，新建一座山峡大桥，使用了44000 吨的钢铁和混凝土做为结构材料。每当早晨薄雾漂移到大桥下面是那么的优美。
大桥在1977年开放，它取代了1889年的老式高架桥。
原文：Grand Staircase-Escalante Outpost, Utah, 1999
Photograph by Len Jenshel
Striated red-rock mountains capped by a piercingly blue sky overlook a weather-beaten outpost in Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Part of southern Utahs "red rock country," Grand Staircase-Escalante was named a national monument in 1996, adding a 1.9-million-acre (768,903-hectare) slice of parched, mineral-rich wilderness to U.S. protected lands.
意译：主标题――重大的楼梯样的边区村落建筑，美国犹他州，1999。
那带有条纹的红色岩石山脉，湛蓝色的天空俯瞰一个饱经风霜的边区村落在犹他州的重大的国家纪念碑。犹他州的南部是：“红石村”。纪念碑的命名在1996年。该地区大小是：一千九百万英亩，部分地区是炎热的，富有的矿物石茫茫一片受到美国保护。
原文：At twighlight, Miami’s MacArthur Causeway Bridge is illuminated in nightclub-like hues of pink and purple.
Photograph by Rudy Sulgan/Corbis
意译：主标题――麦克阿瑟大桥。
在迈阿密（美国佛罗里达州东南部港口市），麦克阿瑟的堤道大桥十分明亮，那是夜总会发出的粉红色和紫色色调，使得大桥装饰的更加灿烂光芒。
原文：Workers collect colorful laundry from a rooftop clothesline in India.
European languages did not have a word for the color orange until the fruit of the same name arrived from Asia. The word "orange" comes form the Sanskrit naranga, which means orange tree.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Quest for Color," July 1999, National Geographic magazine)
Photograph by Cary Wolinsky
意译：印度的工人们收集华丽色彩的布料――纱丽，在屋顶晒衣绳凉晒。
欧洲人的语言中没有一个橙色的字，直到从亚洲的水果中有相似的名字――橙子。“橙”字来自梵语，它的意思是：桔、柑、橙树。
原文："Working two and a half miles [four kilometers] deep, Emory Kristof made his haunting Titanic portrait with a pair of submersibles carrying nearly 10,000 watts of high-intensity lighting."
—From "Geographic Century," December 1999, National Geographic magazine
Photograph by Emory Kristof
意译：一位名字是(Emory Kristof)的人，使他魂牵梦绕的事情是：泰坦尼克号沉没的影像，他在深达四公里的海水中工作，使用一对能够潜水的接近10000瓦特的强光灯。
原文："Memorials to Egyptian kings, the pyramids of Giza still rise above the desert after 4,000 years. Builders may have used water-filled ditches as a check on levels. Stone—not sun-dried mud brick—promised permanence for these monuments, only survivors of the ancient worlds classic seven wonders."
(From the National Geographic book Builders of the Ancient World: Marvels of Engineering, 1986)
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Ibn Battuta: Prince of Travelers," December 1991, National Geographic magazine)
意译：主标题――埃及的金字塔。
为了缅怀埃及帝王，四千年前在沙漠上修建起著名的金字塔。建筑者可能习惯用水填沟渠来检查质量水平。石头――不是晒干的泥砖――以保证这些纪念碑的永久，唯一的保存远古世界的第一流的七大奇迹。
原文：Miradouro da Senhora do Monte, Lisbon, Portugal, 2001
Photograph by Tino Soriano
The Lady of the Hill stands in her illuminated belvedere as the sun descends on Lisbon, Portugal, below. This vantage, called Miradouro da Nossa Senhora do Monte, is the highest of the seven peaks that nestle Lisbon. Built by seafarers where the Tagus River empties into the Atlantic Ocean, Lisbon was once Europes wealthiest capital and the center of world exploration.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Soul of Lisbon," January/February 2002, National Geographic Traveler magazine)
意译：主标题――葡萄牙，里斯本，2001年。――杜罗河（欧洲西南部）的贵妇人。
这位贵妇人站在山丘上她那明亮的望景楼上，当葡萄牙里斯本市的太阳落下的时候。
这个美景是最高的七个山顶偎依在里斯本。建筑者是一位航海家，那里塔霍河流入大西洋，而里斯本市过去是富人的首府和全世界探险中心。
引自：“美国国家地理杂志”――刊出当天的图片(2007年10月19日）。
原文：Kashmir Dancers, Pakistan, 1988
Photograph by George F. Mobley
Dancers engage in what looks like hand-to-hand combat in Karimabad in Pakistani Kashmir. The dance, performed to hypnotic music played by local musicians, begins slowly and builds to a dramatic, saber-waving crescendo.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book Mountain Worlds, 1988)
意译：主标题――克什米尔（南亚）舞蹈少女，巴基斯坦，1988年。
舞蹈少女从事那看起来像极为接近的白刃战的格斗舞，在（Karimabad）是属巴基斯坦克什米尔。
这种舞蹈表演开始却是慢节奏催眠的音乐，播放的是当地的音乐人，开始时是慢慢地以构造一种戏剧性的挥动马刀致意，那时音乐的声音也渐渐增强。