124 THE FALLS OF THE YOSEMITE
第124课 约塞米蒂瀑布

The Yosemite valley, in California, is a pass about ten miles long.
加利福尼亚州的约塞米蒂大峡谷，是一条约10英里长的峡谷。
At its eastern extremity it leads into three narrower passes, each of which extends several miles,
在其东端的尽头，有三条较窄的分流，每条都有几英里长，
winding by the wildest paths into the heart of the Sierra Nevada chain of mountains.
这是蜿蜒地通往内华达山脉的核心地带最荒凉的通道。
For seven miles of the main valley, which varies in width from three quarters of a mile to a mile and a half,
它有7英里的主峡谷，宽度在四分之三英里到一英里半不等，
the walls on either side are from two thousand to nearly five thousand feet above the road, and are nearly perpendicular.
两边的峭壁高低不等，大概有2000英尺到5000英尺的样子，与地面几乎垂直。
From these walls, rocky splinters a thousand feet in height start up,
每年冬季，从这些山谷峭壁上大约1000英尺的高度开始，
and every winter drop a few hundred tons of granite, to adorn the base of the rampart with picturesque ruin.
都会掉落几百吨的花岗岩岩石碎片，这也成了风景如画的废墟城墙不可缺少的装饰。
The valley is of such irregular width, and bends so much and often so abruptly,
山谷时窄时宽，弯曲绵延，峰回路转，
that there is a great variety and frequent surprise in the forms and combinations of the overhanging rocks as one rides along the bank of the stream.
构造出了这样一幅壮丽的景观，沿岸河谷的两岸高高悬挂着的突出的岩石形形色色，总是带给人们无限的惊喜。

The patches of luxuriant meadow, with their dazzling green, and the grouping of the superb firs, two hundred feet high, that skirt them,
河谷两边华丽的草坪发出耀眼的绿色，还有足有两百英尺高的无数冷杉树，就像给山谷穿上了一条绿色的裙子，
and that shoot above the stout and graceful oaks and sycamores through which the horse path winds,
下面还有许多粗壮而优美的橡树和桑树，这也让山路上的微风
are delightful rests of sweetness and beauty amid the threatening awfulness.
总是那么令人愉快和甜蜜，还不时透露出一丝威严的美丽。
The Merced, which flows through the same pass, is a noble stream, a hundred feet wide and ten feet deep.
默塞德河也是同样经过这里的一条溪流，它有100英尺宽，10英尺深。
It is formed chiefly of the streams that leap and rush through the narrower passes,
它沿着狭窄的峡谷飞速奔腾，形成了一道奇妙的瀑布，
and it is swollen, also, by the bounty of the marvelous waterfalls that pour down from the ramparts of the wider valley.
而由于水流速度之快，也让瀑布看起来更加汹涌澎湃。
The sublime poetry of Habakkuk is needed to describe the impression, and, perhaps, the geology, of these mighty fissures:
希伯来先知曾用令人赞叹的诗来形容对这里的印象，也算是概括这里的地质，就是那些宽大的裂缝：
"Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers."
“这里的大地仿佛被劈开，成了数不尽的河流。”
At the foot of the breakneck declivity of nearly three thousand feet by which we reach the banks of the Merced,
在这大约3000英尺高、异常陡峭凶险的山脚下，便是默塞德河的河床，
we are six miles from the hotel, and every rod of the ride awakens wonder, awe, and a solemn joy.
距离我们的酒店大约6英里，每到一处，人们都被它的景色所震撼。
As we approach the hotel, and turn toward the opposite bank of the river, what is that
当我们抵达酒店，回头看向河对岸时，天啊，
"Which ever sounds and shines, A pillar of white light upon the wall Of purple cliffs aloof descried"?
“永远都是那么震撼和闪耀，仿佛墙上的白色光柱与那紫色的悬崖交相辉映。”
That, reader, is the highest waterfall in the world -- the Yosemite cataract,
据了解，约塞米蒂是世界上最高的瀑布，
nearly twenty-five hundred feet in its plunge, dashing from a break or depression in a cliff thirty-two hundred feet sheer.
上游足有2500英尺高，一路向下冲击，落在将近3200英尺之下的水池里。