2007-07-21 Italy, 1998 Photograph by O. Louis Mazzatenta Italy's antiquities, the remains of thousands of years of history, are literally strewn throughout the country. But perils like earthquakes, car fumes, vandals, and thieves have taken a heavy toll on these treasures, like this ancient wall outside Rome, stripped by looters of much of its decorative marble. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Italy's Endangered Art," August 1999, National Geographic magazine)
Bangladesh, 1991 Photograph by James P. Blair Fishing boats with colorful handcrafted sails stop along the banks of Bangladesh's Meghna River. Water is a way of life throughout Bangladesh, a country that essentially comprises a vast floodplain for some of the world's most powerful rivers. According to one resident: "To understand Bangladesh, you must understand our rivers." (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine)
2007-07-23 Madagascar, 2000 Photograph by Lynn Johnson Light permeates the sheer petals of a Madagascar periwinkle. Catharanthus roseus's delicate appearance belies its powerful pharmaceutical prowess. The flower yields a compound that has been used effectively to treat leukemia. Scientists are racing to study the thousands of potentially beneficial plant species found in the world's tropical forests before they are destroyed by deforestation. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, 揘ature抯 RX,?April 2000, National Geographic magazine)
2007-07-24 Nebraska, 1974 Photograph by James L. Amos A narrow trail hugs the sides of a mesa and descends into a valley etched by deep ravines and bordered by other large mesas. This scene in Bayard, Nebraska, would have been a common one for pioneers heading west on the Oregon Trail in the mid-1800s in search of land and fortunes in gold. One such pioneer wrote of the prairie: "Imagine the ocean, when the waves are rolling mountain high, becoming solid and covered with beautiful green grass, and you have some faint idea of it." (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Itch to Move West: Life and Death on the Oregon Trail," August 1986, National Geographic magazine)
2007-07-25 Greenland, 2006 Photograph by David McLain Frost-flecked and sun-chapped, a hunter braves the cold in Kangerlussuaq, an inlet in western Greenland's Davis Strait. Besides hampering the living of hunters there, thinning sea ice along Greenland's fringes is threatening to capsize an entire ecosystem dependent on the ice: including seals, walruses, and polar bears. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, 揕ast Days of the Ice Hunter,?January 2006, National Geographic magazine)
2007-07-26 Arizona, 2007 Photograph by Michael K. Nichols A ribbon of water spills down a cliff in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. The canyon’s rock strata, laid bare over the past six million years by the rushing Colorado River, details nearly two billion years of North America’s geologic history. At 277 miles (446 kilometers) long, 18 miles (29 kilometers) across at its widest, and 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) down at its deepest, it is one of Earth’s largest canyon systems. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, “The Unexpected Canyon,” January 2006, National Geographic magazine)
2007-07-27 Bahama Islands, 1986 Photograph by James L. Stanfield Crabbers hunt for their quarry by torchlight on the Bahamas' Samana Cay. Many historians think that the island's Lucayan Indians using the same hunting technique may have been the lights "like a small wax candle" that Christopher Columbus wrote about in his diary before his fleet found land here in October of 1492. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Where Columbus Found the New World," November 1986, National Geographic magazine)
Mexico, 1999 Photograph by Jonathan Tourtellot Ornate metal balusters color the view from a hotel balcony in Batopilas, Mexico. This history-rich town, located in the depths of Batopilas Canyon, arose in the 1800s with the region's silver boom. By 1900, the mines were closed, but some residents stayed on. It's now a tourist stop for visitors to Mexico's picturesque Copper Canyons region. (Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Two Faces of Tourism," July/August 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine) 在墨西哥的巴托皮拉斯,装饰用的金属栏杆使得这座旅馆阳台上看到的景色缤纷多彩。这座有着悠久历史的小镇位于巴托皮拉斯峡谷深处,在十九世纪随着该地区银矿业的繁荣而建立。到了二十世纪,银矿倒闭,但一些居民仍留了下来。如今这里已经成为那些去往墨西哥风景如画的铜谷地区的游客们的驿站。
2007-07-29 Marshall Islands, 1996 Photograph by Emory Kristof An orange crab taken from the waters near the Marshall Islands?Rongelap Atoll bears no outward evidence of the radioactive compounds that pollute its habitat. In the 1940s and ?0s, the United States conducted a series of nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll, a ring of Pacific islands. Radioactive fallout still pollutes Rongelap Atoll, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the east, but recent studies have found no long-term impact on marine life there.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, 揟esting the Waters of Rongelap,?April 1998, National Geographic magazine) 图为一只在马尔绍群岛附近的水域中捕获的橙色螃蟹。朗格拉普环礁并无公开的证据表明这里存在污染生态环境的放射性化合物。 在上个世纪四十年代和某年代,美国在一座环状的太平洋群岛--比基尼环礁进行了一系列的核实验。放射性尘埃给朗格拉普环礁以东100英里(160公里)造成了污染,但最近的研究并未发现这对那里的海洋生命有着长期影响。
2007-07-30 Niland, California, 2005 Photograph by Gerd Ludwig An irrigation canal reflects dawn-stained skies over Imperial Valley, a fertile farming region just north of Baja California. The canal brings Colorado River water to the dry Salton Sea watershed, which, with an average of three inches (seven centimeters) of rainfall a year, would otherwise revert to desert. The Imperial Valley's half million acres (202,343 hectares) of croplands soak up more water than Los Angeles and Las Vegas combined. (Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, 揝alton Sea,?February 2005, National Geographic magazine)
Sunflowers bloom under a brilliant blue sky between the towns of Siena and San Gimignano in Italy's Tuscany region. In the Tuscan countryside people start their day quite early, just before dawn, but wind down in the early afternoon for siesta. Shops reopen in late afternoon and dinner usually isn't served until 9 p.m.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Siena: Italy's Very Own Magic Kingdom," September 2003, National Geographic Traveler magazine)
圣约翰斯是一个平淡无奇的城市,人们除了啤酒,就想象不出还有什么东西能让自己高兴的。但当有人发现了那只小北极熊,就向电台报告,说:在Quidi Vidi Lake里有一只Baby polar bear。这下子,全城的人都轰动了,所有的公司都没人上班了,全到那个湖边去看小北极熊。警察只好去维持秩序,不许车辆通行,且步行的人也只能在那里停留15分钟。