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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.Today we bring you the second of three programs about beautiful andunusual places in our world. Last week, we told about structuresbuilt hundreds or thousands of years ago. Today we tell about someof the great natural Wonders of the World. We do not have time tovisit all these places, but here are a few from several differentcountries.
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We begin our program today high in the southeastern mountains ofVenezuela. Water falls from a mountain called Auyan-tepui (au-YANtay-PWEE) or Devil Mountain. The water falls from a height of ninehundred seventy-nine meters. It ends in an area called Devil’sCanyon. The water begins to fall in a tightly controlled stream.However it ends in a beautiful white cloud of water spray.
This waterfall is the highest in the world. The local nativepeople called it the Churun Meru. It is now called Angel Falls. AnAmerican pilot named Jimmy Angel saw the beautiful waterfall for thefirst time in the nineteen-thirties. He was flying alone in a smallairplane looking for gold when he saw water falling from a greatheight. Some time later several friends said the waterfall should benamed after Jimmy Angel.
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A small airplane is still the best way to enjoy this beautifulsight. You can also visit the area under the falls after athree-and-a-half-hour boat ride and a one-hour walk through thejungle. And you can see Jimmy Angel’s little airplane if you visitVenezuela. It is considered a national treasure.
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VOICE ONE:
From a waterfall in Venezuela, we travel to another mountain.This one is in Japan. It is one of the most photographed mountainsin the world. It is Mount Fuji on the island of Honshu. The Japanesecall it Fujisan and they say it with love and honor.
Mount Fuji is a sleeping volcanoabout three thousand seven hundred meters high. It is the tallestmountain in Japan. Since ancient times, the Japanese people haveconsidered it a holy mountain. It has also been the favorite subjectof thousands of artists. Its picture has even appeared on Japanesemoney.
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Mount Fuji is an almost perfectly shaped volcano. A crown ofwhite snow covers the top of the mountain most of the year. MountFuji seems to rise sharply out of the ground into the shape mostrecognized as a volcano.
A large area is missing from the side of the mountain. This is aresult of its most recent explosion in seventeen-oh-seven. But themissing part of the mountain does nothing to decrease its beauty.
Mount Fuji is much easier to enjoy than Angel Falls in Venezuela.On a clear day people can see it from both the major cities of Tokyoand Yokohama. The easiest way to see the famous mountain is on atrain from Tokyo to Osaka. Or you could climb the mountain to get aneven better look. Thousands of people climb Fujisan each summer.
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Next, we travel to the desert of the southwestern United States.In fifteen forty, Spanish explorer Garcia Lopez de Cardenas wassearching this desert area for gold. The desert area is almost flat,like a table.
His exploration team had been traveling north from Mexico forseveral weeks. Suddenly one morning he and his group came to an areathat stopped their exploration. They could not continue. In front ofthem was a huge hole cut in the ground.
Most of this canyon was more than one thousand two hundred metersdeep. It was more than three hundred kilometers long. This huge deepcanyon extended as far as the explorers could see. It was verybeautiful. The sunlight made deep shadows and seemed to change theshape of things every minute. The colors also changed with themovement of the sun and clouds. Often, some areas of the deep canyonappeared bright red. Other times they were a deep brown or purple.
The exploration team tried for three days to reach the river fardown in the canyon. They failed. They could also see no way to movearound the huge canyon. A lack of supplies forced Captain GarciaLopez de Cardenas to return to Mexico.
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That beautiful deep canyon is theGrand Canyon. It is a National Park that includes an area of almostfive hundred thousand hectares. It is one of the most studiednatural areas in the world. The high canyon walls are a record ofthe past written in rock. Explorers have found fossils of ancientcreatures near the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
People can see many kinds of animals in or near the great canyon.These include large deer. They do not fear the people who come tovisit the Grand Canyon. The canyon, its animals, plants and rocksare protected in this special place.
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The Colorado River is at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Theriver took several million years to cut the deep canyon into theface of the Earth. It is still doing this today.
Visitors today do not have a problem reaching the bottom of theGrand Canyon and the great Colorado River. Many people take longexciting trips in rubber boats on the river.
Millions of people from around the world visit the Grand CanyonNational Park each year. Many stay for less than a day. However,people leave with the memory of this beautiful natural wonder thatwill stay with them for the rest of their lives.
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Next we travel across the Pacific Ocean. Our next natural Wonderof the World is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It extends morethan two thousand kilometers along Australia’s northeast coast. Itis the largest group of coral reefs in the world.
A reef is a limestone formation that is usually under water orjust above it. The coral that forms the reef is made of the hardenedremains of dead sea animals called polyps. Thousands of millions ofliving coral polyps and plants are attached to the reef. The coralis many different colors. The water near the reef is usually clearand visitors can see far down into the ocean.
This natural formation supports many different kinds of fish, seaturtles, crabs, giant clams, birds and other wild life.
Millions of visitors from around the world come every year toenjoy the Great Barrier Reef. Many people visit in boats that haveglass bottoms so they can see the fish and the colorful coral.Others swim among the fish using underwater breathing equipment.
Swimming along the reef is fun. But it can also be dangerous. Thehuge great white shark is one of the creatures that swims near thereef.
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Scientists believe the Great Barrier Reef is about thirty millionyears old. However, in recent years, people have caused problems forthe reef. Some took coral from the reef. And boats dumped garbage orhuman waste.
Now the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine ParkAuthority, an agency of the Australian government. Visitors are toldit is against the law to collect any of the limestone or coral or todamage the reef in any way.
Laws prevent oil companies from drilling for oil anywhere nearthe reef. The Australian government has also worked to make surenothing is placed in the ocean that would harm the great reef.Scientists are working to make sure that Australia’s Great BarrierReef remains healthy and a true Wonder of the World for years tocome.
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We would have liked to have enough time to tell about other greatwonders of the world — Victoria Falls, for example. This hugewaterfall in southern Africa is on the border between Zambia andZimbabwe. Another great waterfall brings visitors to the border areabetween the United States and Canada. They come to see the famousNiagara Falls.
We also wanted to tell about the huge volcano that exploded nearthe Island of Krakatoa in Indonesia. And the tallest mountain in theworld, Mount Everest in Nepal, should be on any list of naturalWonders of the World.
It is easy to visit most of these great natural wonders if youhave a computer. If your computer can link with the Internet systemyou too can enjoy these beautiful sights. Have fun exploring.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byJill Moss. This is Faith Lapidus.
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And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week when we bringyou the third part of our Wonders of the World series onEXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.