1402. "Fresh flowers add passing beauty to a timeworn street in Old Havana, where 60,000 of the city's two million residents live."
—From "The Many Lives of Old Havana," August 1989, National Geographic magazine
1403. Swiss Guards梤esponsible for the safety of the pope梬atch over as many as 9,000 visitors in the circa-1971 Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican City.
—From the National Geographic book Inside the Vatican, 1991
1404. On the Montana/Wyoming border, the Pryor Mountains are home to a small herd of wild horses. Believed to be of Spanish ancestry, the herd includes a unique breed of American mustang.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Searching for Sacagawea," February 2003, National Geographic magazine)
1405. Built by Flemish colonists hundreds of years ago, these windmills strike a distinctly European pose on Faial. The island is located in the middle of the Atlantic at around the same latitudes as Portugal and Morocco.
1406.As the states largest cash crop, cotton is still king in Mississippi's agrarian economy. Here, a farmer picks raw cotton by hand.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Traveling the Blues Highway," April 1999, National Geographic magazine)
1408.The height of fashion in the 17th century, the wig provided the wearer not only with style and panache, but served as a way to ward off head lice, a common ailment of the time.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Body Beasts," December 1998, National Geographic magazine)
1409. A shared landmark between the United States and Canada, Niagara Falls comprises three waterfalls: American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe. In 1969 the United States Army Corps of Engineers diverted water from American Falls for several months. Their aim was to assess the possibility of moving the loose rocks at the base to improve the falls' appearance.
1410. "The rough-hewn expanse of rocks [in Canyonlands National Park's Island in the Sky area], dusty red as though fired in a kiln, dates mostly from the Mesozoic Era, the time of the dinosaurs, when deserts and tidal plains took turns spreading over this region."
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Utah: Land of Promise, Kingdom of Stone," January 1996, National Geographic magazine)
1411. A different species from the savanna-dwelling African elephant, the forest elephant lives in the dense jungle of central and western Africa.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Gabon's Loango National Park," August 2004, National Geographic magazine)
1412. The retreating glaciers of Glacier Bay make it an ideal natural laboratory. Pioneer species are watched and studied as they recolonize the newly revealed land beneath the ice sheets.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Risk and Reward on Alaska's Violent Gulf," February 1979, National Geographic magazine)
1413. A single African elephant casts a distinctive silhouette against the Gabon sky. Since the mid-20th century, the African elephant population has declined greatly. Current members are estimated at 600,000.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Megatransect III," August 2001, National Geographic magazine)
1416. "Day of wrath for Eastern Christendom, depicted on a Romanian fresco, came on May 29, 1453, when Constantinople fell after a seven-week siege by Mehmed II and 100,000 Ottoman troops. Manned by 8,000 defenders, the walls proved invincible to the largest cannon the world had yet seen—until a lightly guarded portal offered a way in."
—From "The Byzantine Empire: Rome of the East," December 1983, National Geographic magazine
1418. "Carved layers of sandstone form a labyrinthine landscape in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Anasazi Indians, the Ancient Ones, once lived and hunted here."
Text from the National Geographic book America's Majestic Canyons, 1979
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "John Wesley Powell: Vision for the West," April 1994, National Geographic magazine)
1420. "Celluloid diva Preity Zinta heads to a set of the film Veer-Zaara, which screened last November in posh venues like the new multiplex in Mumbai [Bombay], part of a chain replacing local theaters."
From "Welcome to Bollywood," February 2005, National Geographic magazine
1422. The prairie rattlesnake's habitat ranges over much of the Great Plains and elsewhere梚ncluding parts of Canada and northern Mexico. The snake, the largest of the subspecies Crotalus virdis, has been recorded at a maximum of 57 inches (45 centimeters) long.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Searching for Sacagawea," February 2003, National Geographic magazine)
1423. Undisturbed by darkening clouds and lightning, these wild Pryor Mountain horses are accustomed to harsh environments.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Searching for Sacagawea," February 2003, National Geographic magazine)
1424. Snorkelers survey the clear waters of Caneel Bay off St. John. For most of the 18th and 19th centuries the land surrounding Caneel Bay was a sugar plantation.
(Photograph from the National Geographic book National Geographic's Guide to the National Parks of the United States, 1992)
1425. Located on the southernmost point of Key Biscayne island, the Cape Florida Lighthouse was built in 1825 and first lit in 1846. After surviving hurricanes and American Indian attacks, the lighthouse is still operational today.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "48 Hours in Miami," April 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine)
1426. The Andes is a relatively young system of mountains and they are still rising. Seen here near the southern tip of South America, the Andes stretch nearly the entire length of the continent.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book Secret Corners of the World, 1982
1427. The forest elephant traditionally lives in smaller family groups than the savanna-dwelling African elephant does. Both species have been hunted excessively and are listed as endangered on the World Conservation Union's Red List.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Gabon's Loango National Park," August 2004, National Geographic magazine)
1428. Growing in an area that receives only nine inches (22.86 centimeters) of annual precipitation, these small trees and shrubs still manage to survive. Grassland such as this covers many of the desert flats in the 337,570-acre (136,614.6-hectare) expanse of Canyonlands.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, ＂Utah: Land of Promise Kingdom of Stone,＂ January 1996, National Geographic magazine)
1429. Two competitors scramble up 60-foot (18-meter) poles in the speed-climbing event at a lumberjack tournament. Other events include log-rolling and sawing events.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Washington's Olympic Peninsula," May 1984, National Geographic magazine)
1430. Created after the collapse of Mount Mazama, an ancient volcano, Crater Lake is the world's seventh deepest lake. At it's greatest depth it measures 1,932 feet (588 meters) deep.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Amtrak's Coast Starlight" March 1998, National Geographic Traveler magazine)
1431. The quetzal is a symbol of freedom and the national bird of Guatemala. Loss of habitat, along with hunting for food and trade, has led to the steep declines in the number of quetzals in the Central American country.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Elusive Quetzal," June 1998, National Geographic magazine)
1432. Revelers during Venice's Carnival line a footbridge. Wearing of masks in Venice was first documented in the late 1200s and may have been intended in part to allow different classes to temporarily mix, thereby easing social tensions.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Venice Masquerade," Jan/Feb 1999, National Geographic Traveler magazine)
1433.The native Inuit people call the Arctic Bay Ikpiarjuk, meaning "the pocket," because the bay is nearly landlocked by hills.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Greenland Sharks," September 1998, National Geographic magazine)
1434. Home to a variety of animals, including kangaroos and wallabies, the rock basin known as Wilpena Pound was carved from ancient mountains by erosion. The high walls of rock are made of weather-resistant quartzite.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Rise of Life on Earth—Life Grows Up," April 1998, National Geographic magazine)
1435. Within a lion pride, the females generally do the hunting.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Cheetahs: Ghosts of the Grassland," December 1999, National Geographic magazine)
1436. Hanging from bows and limbs of trees throughout the U.S. South, Spanish moss is not a true moss. Belonging to the plant family Bromeliacae, this iconic element of the southern landscape is more closely related to the pineapple than to peat.
1437. A man and child enjoy Pacific Beach State Park. The 10-acre (4.05-hectare) camping park offers 2,300 feet (701 meters) of shoreline.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "San Diego Serenade," January 1998, National Geographic magazine)
1438. Built in 1808 and rebuilt in 1858, the red-and-white-striped West Quoddy Head Light still holds its original lens. The lighthouse was one of the first to use a fog bell. Such bells warned ships when fog rendered a lighthouse's lamp useless.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Founders of New England: Centuries After the Pilgrims and Puritans, an Englishman Seeks Forgotten Shrines In His Homeland and Theirs," June 1953, National Geographic magazine)
1439. Sunsets are one of the Florida Keys' biggest attractions. Made up of limestone and coral, the island chain stretches some 220 miles (355 kilometers) from just south of Miami to Key West, the southernmost city in the Unites States.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Journey Down Old U.S. 1," December 1984, National Geographic magazine)
1442. A baby bearded seal rests on an ice floe.] Soon after birth, bearded seal pups spend half their time romping and diving in near-freezing water, so they need energy to burn with some left over to store as fat. Mothers provide most of the fuel during a nursing period from 16 to 24 days, with pups feeding about every three hours day and night.?
(Text from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Bearded Seals: Going With the Floe," March 1997, National Geographic magazine)
1443. With the towers of the Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-Fourvi鑢e in the far distance the city of Lyon sprawls around the Sa鬾e River.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Castle Under the Louvre," July 1989, National Geographic magazine)
1445. With the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the background fishers set crab lines in North America's largest estuary. Overharvesting and environmental damage have led to a decrease in adult crab populations in the bay.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Chesapeake Bay: Hanging in the Balance," June 1993, National Geographic magazine)
1446. "Muscled with mountains, Acapulco crooks a protective arm around a yacht-studded bay."
—Text from "Mexico in Motion," October 1961, National Geographic magazine
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Mexico City," May 1973, National Geographic magazine)
1447. About 74,000 years ago, a volcano erupted and collapsed in on itself on Sumatra. The resulting crater later filled with water and became known as Lake Toba (pictured).
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "A Sumatran Journey," March 1981, National Geographic magazine)
1449. "Lucky Waimanalo: A sheltering reef and soft three-mile [4.83-kilometer] beach梠ne of the longest undeveloped strands on Oahu [island]梘ive the town a blissful front yard."
1450. "Oxen and donkeys tread the bygone glories at Ghazni, seat of conquerors. To Ghazni, Afghanistan's great empire builder Mahmud carried back the plunder of India almost ten centuries ago. Ghazni's splendor died in 1152 when the Indian prince Ala-ud-Din gave it fire and sword. In 1839 the British stormed Ghazni and blew in this gate."
1451. Fireworks explode and are reflected in water by the Washington Monument. The first public Fourth of July party at the White House occurred in 1801.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book The Revolutionary War: America's Fight For Freedom, 1967)
1452. A U.S. flag dries on a clothesline after a 1993 flood in Iowa. Already saturated, Des Moines received a downpour of 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) of rain in just four hours. The result was a wall of water, 15 feet (4.5 meters) above flood level, barreling through the city.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Des Moines, Iowa: Riding Out the Worst of Times," January 1994, National Geographic magazine)
1454. Home to hundreds of Buddha statues, the 1,200-year-old Borobudur temple is the world's largest Buddhist monument.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Indonesia Rescues Ancient Borobudur," January 1983, National Geographic magazine)
1455. The main role of males within a lion pride is the defense of family and territory.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Wild Dogs," May 1999, National Geographic magazine)
1458. "[Film star] Amitabh and a tattered Shah Rukh frame former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. Such posters lure India's star-obsessed populace into the movies' fantasy realm, where true love and justice always prevail."
1459. "Within a modest radius of ten miles (16.09 kilometers), photographer Michael Nichols found a dramatic sampling of creatures that pass through the Loango area. Canoeing on the Echira River, he surprised an elephant swimming in the murky waters."
From "Gabon's Loango National Park," August 2004, National Geographic magazine
1460. "A 1912 eruption [from Mount Martin at Katmai National Park and Preserve] spewed ash as far as Washington state, shredded clothes on lines a hundred miles (160 kilometers) away, but, amazingly killed no one. From a new vent, Novarupta, incandescent pumice flowed down the valley in a glowing avalanche. Woodland pickets, killed by hot mudflows, spike the pale plain."
From the National Geographic book Alaska, 1969
1463. "With an average birthrate of six children per family, the ultra-Orthodox population in Jerusalem is surging. [In 1996] roughly 30 percent of the city's 420,000 Jews [were] ultra-Orthodox, as [were] 50 percent of the schoolchildren [such as the Ultra-Orthodox men and boys at this Hasidic temple].
"If trends continue, the ultra-Orthodox population will increase by 70 percent here by the year 2010 and will exert significant influence on the city's destiny."
(Text from "The Three Faces of Jerusalem," April 1996, National Geographic magazine)
1466. "A fleet of hired combines cuts 80 bushels of wheat an acre from Walter Mehmke's Montana farm. 'When I was in high school, if we cut 30 bushels an acre, that was an excellent crop,' recalled Mehmke."
—From "Special Issue: Best of America," September 2002, National Geographic magazine
1467. "The splendors of the depths are known to a fortunate few, like this biologist tagging a giant Pacific octopus in Washington's Puget Sound."
—From "Special Issue: Best of America", September 2002, National Geographic magazine
1468. Hot water bottles lie across a hedge. There are anywhere from a dozen to 50 or more types of hedges in Britain. Each type is as distinctive and as historic as the county in which it stands.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Hedgerows," September 1992, National Geographic magazine)
1474. "As other family members relax along the Rio Grande on the Mexican border, a mother dips her reluctant infant into a makeshift bathtub."
作者: 大脚熊 时间: 2006-4-3 14:22 标题: 我喜欢 地理
1476. "Theropithecus gelada, as a gelada is properly called, is the last species in a once great dynasty of grass-grazing primates....Only in the cool heights of the mountain meadows of north-central Ethiopia did a Theropithecus-friendly habitat survive. Today between 100,000 and 200,000 geladas remain in the country."
1477. Despite North Carolina's hurricane vulnerability, beachgoers are not dissuaded from living along the shore. The state has withstood many devastating hurricanes, including 1954s Hazel, which has been called the most destructive in the state's history.
1479. "Exploring the region's 2,800 lakes and ponds requires a boat light enough to portage, like a canoe. But on privately owned Lower Ausable Lake, the craft of choice remains the wider, time-tested Adirondack guide boat."
1480. A mourner's memories linger among the stone crosses that populate Warsaw's Powazki Cemetery on August 1, the anniversary of Warsaw's ill-fated uprising against the German occupation in 1944.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Poland: The Hope That Never Dies," January 1988, National Geographic magazine)
1481. Hedgerows outline fields throughout Britain. A hedge may be a vestige of a Roman or medieval field system or trace a parish boundary.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Hedgerows," September 1993, National Geographic magazine)
1484. A brisk wind carries a cowboy hat along the road that carried generations of Americans west, Route 66. Route 66 is also known as "the Mother Road," "the Main Street of America," and "the Will Rogers Highway."
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Route 66," September 1997, National Geographic magazine)
1486. "As photography rose in importance, so did the need to pack a camera to record the trip, as O.D. von Engeln advised on the Society's 1909 expedition to Alaska. 'Develop in the field,' he urged fellow explorers, 'and as soon as possible after
exposure.' "
1487.Lions spend up to 21 hours a day sleeping, napping, and cooling off, interspersed with short bouts of activity. Adult lions often frolic with their cubs to promote coordination and basic survival skills.
(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Down the Zambezi," October, 1997 National Geographic magazine)
1488. Looking like a painting come to life, this water-lily pond in Giverny, France is just one of the many legacies of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Monet began painting in Giverny, a village on the Seine some 45 miles (74 kilometers) west of Paris, in 1883. Few modern fans of his paintings, however, know that he also designed the gardens he immortalized on canvas. Monet designed this pond and garden near his Giverny home and drew inspiration from it for many of his later paintings.
1489. "Trains don't even pause in Svishchevo, so locals like Vladimir Maltsev rely on horse-drawn sleighs to get around. Far from the ocean's climate-moderating effects, this tiny central Siberian village receives snowfalls so deep that even Vladimir's horse Vanya—a sturdy beast—gets mired in the drifts."
1490. "The rhythm of life slows in [a town] famed for music. A New Orleans carriage driver pauses between tourist rides around the French Quarter."
1493. A mob of Merino sheep grazes on Brian Thompson's 9,978-acre (4,038-hectare) ranch in New South Wales, Australia. Five hands and their dogs help Thompson manage 14,000 sheep and 800 cattle.
1494. As the sun sets, preparations get underway to shoot a scene at Film City, a vast Mumbai (Bombay) film studio complex. Running three hours or more, Bollywood films mix extravagant MTV-style musical numbers with plots rich in intrigue and romance.
India's film industry is the biggest in the world, producing more films and drawing a larger worldwide audience than Hollywood.
1495. Looming in a bedroom window, Josselin Castle in the French province of Brittany stands as a monument to nearly a thousand years of history. First built in the 12th century as a fortress, the castle梟amed for the son of the architect who designed it梬as demolished by English invaders soon after it was completed. It took more than three centuries to rebuild, and ever since its reconstruction it has been owned by the same family, whose patriarch holds the title of Duc de Rohan.
1496. The seaside resort of Clifton, near Cape Town, hugs the western slope of Table Mountain. One of Cape Town's most famous sights is the "tablecloth," a flat, white mantle of cloud that forms over the top of the mountain when moisture-laden air from the southeast rises and condenses. Its edges billow down the mountainsides like steam cascading over the edge of a cauldron.
1497. One of Utah's threatened prairie dogs pokes through the snow. Decades of determined eradication by federal, state, and local governments, wipeouts from flea-borne plague, recreational shooting, and habitat destruction have left prairie dogs a pale presence. Biologists estimate that five billion prairie dogs populated the western plains at the turn of the century.
1498. "Oak Alley, luminous pink pillars gleaming under an arch of oaks near Vacherie, Louisiana, welcomes sightseers by road or riverboat. Sugarcane still grows here梐nd pecan trees, the grafting pioneered by a slave gardener."
1499. Mountains reflecting off the serene Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, appear to engulf two fishermen. Srinagar is said to have been founded by the Buddhist Emperor Ashoka during the third century B.C. Water is Srinagar's signature桪al Lake, the Jhelum River, and a looping canal that joins the two effectively make an island of the city's busiest section.
作者: 大脚熊 时间: 2006-4-3 14:32
1501.
"In the heart of Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, stands an adobe church, recently restored to commemorate the town's Spanish colonial heritage. Founded in the early 18th century as a Roman Catholic mission, the church of St. Francis of Assisi retains many of its original paintings, altar screens, pieces of silverwork, and Santos—wooden statues carved by the Spanish settlers."
1502. Stretching to the dark skyline of the ponderosa-clad Black Hills, Buffalo Gap National Grassland showcases prairie recovering from near destruction by overgrazing and soil depletion.
1503. Surrounded by shrubs, Manobier Castle appears to fit perfectly into the Welsh countryside. In the past, castles were effective for defense but not exactly comfortable. Often all the residents—the lord, his family, and all his knights, soldiers, and serfs—lived in one large room, the great hall. With few windows and little ventilation, life in a castle was dank, dark, and dirty.
1505. Six stories high, with portholes for eyes and a spiral staircase in each hind leg, the elephant-shaped building known as Lucy has towered over Margate City, New Jersey, since 1881. A real estate developer built Lucy to lure customers by offering them pachyderm-top views of land for sale. Since then the structure, modeled after an Asian elephant, has served as a home, a tavern, and梐s seen here in 1932梐 privately owned tourist curiosity. Lucy was relocated to a nearby park in 1970.
1506. Until recently this vast, sparsely populated region in the far south of South America was a byword for remoteness?i>finis terrae, the uttermost ends of the Earth. Because of its remoteness and inaccessibility, Patagonia has always been, like Timbuktu or Shangri-la, a place of myths and legends.
1507. [Notting Hill Carnival] was begun in the 1960s by West Indian immigrants in response to area race riots. Today the carnival lures fans from around the globe. The m閘ange suits this city of seven million, one-quarter of them from ethnic minorities.
1508. "An exultant climber raises his ice ax near the mouth of an ice cave on Alaska's Matanuska Glacier. The 49th state's diverse landscape encompasses mountain and tundra, glacier and sand dune, meadow and rocky coastline."
1509. "Already at one with the well-ordered confusion of her city, a private-school commuter awaits her train at Shinjuku, Japan's largest station, transited by nearly three million people daily. Prosperity has arrived in a blur to a teeming city that still reflects images of its cultural traditions."
1510. The gardens at South Carolina's Middleton Place were begun in 1741 and are one of the oldest formally landscaped gardens in the United States. Designed to mirror the ordered, geometrically-balanced style that was popular in Europe at the time, the gardens are now planned so that flowering plants are in bloom in each of the four seasons.
1511. "In the antique light of a desert dawn, a Vickers Vimy biplane circles the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. In 1919 another Vimy buzzed above the sands here, attempting the longest, riskiest flight in history."
1512. Peeking out of the murky water in Loango National Park, a mudskipper reveals its blunt head and close-set, protruding eyes. These elongated fish are noted for their ability to climb out of water with the aid of their strong pectoral fins. Once out of water mudskippers breathe air and moisture trapped in their gill chambers.
1513. The Big Sur Coast stretches from just south of Carmel down to San Simeon, home of Hearst Castle. Spanish missionaries called the area el pais grande del sur, which means "the big country to the south." In a heavily populated state, Big Sur is stark, remote, and sparsely populated. Here, seals and sea lions may outnumber the humans.
1514. Big-city viewers are livelier, says film scholar Manjunath Pendakur. "They cheer, boo, get into fights, even get on stage and dance." Part of the appeal: Devoid of overt sex, Bollywood films exude a subtle eroticism, especially in 'wet sari' scenes."
1516. Labor Day vacationers enjoy Takhlakh Lake as a cloud-covered Mount Adams towers in the background.
Great forests once covered much of the United States. By the mid-20th century almost all virgin forest had been cut from private lands in the conterminous U.S. Citizen debate now centers on when and where to slow or stop logging on public lands.
1519. Among the Garguna people of Belize, fishermen rise before daybreak to head out to sea. Women work farms, raise the children, and prepare meals of fresh fish and cassava, plantains, pineapples, and coconuts plucked from village trees.
1522. "As any eagle can show you, a six-foot [183-centimeter] wingspan makes travel a lot easier among the magnificently corrugated Rocky Mountains. Although cliff-nesting golden eagles are most common, bald eagles like the adult perched on this subalpine fir also occur, especially along the edges of rivers and lakes."
1523. Horses cantering across a valley in southern Siberia evoke the mystery of the ancient Scythian peoples who once lived here. One of history's earliest and mightiest horse-riding cultures, the Scythians revered their mounts in life, death, and art.
Most details of the Siberian Scythians' everyday life remain a mystery. Nomads and fierce warriors, they faded from the scene in the second century B.C., and their culture entered the realm of legend and artifact.
1524. A kayaker carefully maneuvers around jagged icebergs in Glacier Bay, Alaska. Glacier Bay was designated as a national park in 1980, protecting this unique area, while still allowing adventurers to take part in recreational activities like camping, kayaking, and rafting.
1526. Camouflaged by its colors and patterns, an extremely venomous Gabon viper is barely visible on the forest floor.
At 18 pounds (8 kilograms) the Gabon viper is the heaviest venomous snake in Africa. It also has the longest fangs of any snake, up to 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) long.
1528. "Discarded chicken scraps bought from a restaurant barely make a meal for Untouchables in Bihar, one of India's poorest states. These villagers belong to the Musahar, or rat-eaters, caste, its members known for hunting rodents. Musahar women, many of whom work as field hands, have begun to agitate for better living conditions. This takes courage, says a local activist. 'If an Untouchable woman demands or questions something and a landlord doesn't like it, he will beat or sexually harass her.'"
1549. "A lowering thundercloud seems to erupt from Mount Singgalang, one of two volcanoes shadowing the bustling highland market town and tourist center of Bukittinggi. Dutch colonizers once made Bukittinggi their stronghold, aiming cannon from the heights of Fort de Kock into the town itself to preempt rebellion by the restive populace."
1534. The Black Hills region of South Dakota includes high ridges and deep caverns, the remains of a several-hundred-million-year period of intense pressure from the earth's molten crust. Over time, wind and water have eroded the landscape, a process still under way.
1535. This cyclist was a member of a trio that crossed a 700-mile (1,126-kilometer) section of the Alaskan Range by bicycle. The bicycles served not only as transport, but also as ice picks and tent stakes in the harsh conditions.
1538. "Flares of white cheeks and a blaze of red on its head gave away the lookout of a spying mangabey. 'Animals like sunset on the beach just as we do, and I often waited to see who would come out then,' Michael Nichols [a National Geographic photographer] says. 'One day this young mangabey came up the mangroves and watched me for five minutes. Then he was gone.'?
1539. Putting on their best faces, men of the Huli people prepare for a sing-sing, an annual festival of clan pride in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Together they preen, strut, and shake their feathered costumes, mimicking the local birds of paradise.
1540. "Late September in Michigan's Upper Peninsula can be a time of gray mists and steady rain. The deciduous trees梞aple, aspen, crab apple, birch梙ave begun to turn; but in a wet year their colors are more muted: umber, ocher, russet, and mustard."
1541. "The sea still serves as a byway, grocery, laundry, workplace, and playground for the Gar韋una people, much as its has for centuries."
1542. An intense storm cloud forms over South Africa's Highveld. The Highveld contains the greatest span of remaining grassland in southern Africa. These grasslands act as natural water purifiers, where the peat filters out 90 percent of the harmful chemicals from herbicides. Clean water is an extremely valuable resource in southern Africa.
1544. “Early morning anglers cast from shore at Byron Bay, one of the resort towns along the north coast of New South Wales, where beach follows beach almost continually for 360 miles (579 kilometers).”
1545. Kashmir exerts a powerful emotional pull. Millions of sweltering, plains-dwelling Indians and Pakistanis dream of its green mountains, its blue rivers and lakes, its fertile farmlands and cool, dry climate. [Here, residents stroll through a park in autumn.]
Lush fields and placid lakes once drew more than half a million visitors a year, but deadly civil unrest—feuding between Pakistan and India over the disputed region—has shattered Kashmir's calm and way of life and left tourism in shambles.
1547. Once wide enough for rituals around a ceremonial platform, Ampato mountain's avalanche-narrowed summit now only admits visitors single file. To the Inca, Ampato was sacred, a god who brought life-giving water and good harvests. As a god, the mountain claimed the highest tribute—an Inca mummy and other burial sites have been found here.
1553. Students in Derby, Vermont, board the bus for the journey to school.
Once boasting more cows than people, Vermont remains a mostly rural and small-town state. Though millions of tourists flock here during fall-foliage season, most Vermonters stay close to home, enjoying the seasonal changes in a tree or two outside their doors.
According to the ancient beliefs of the indigenous people's pre-Hispanic heritage, a volcano could be a god, a mountain, and a human all at the same time. Iztacc韍uatl and Popocatépetl together were seen as a fertile couple that gave the gift of life.
1555. The gates of a Shinto shrine on the grounds of Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market stand open to receive visitors.
The ancient, native religion of Japan, Shinto is a loosely structured system of beliefs and has no regular weekly service. People can visit shrines at their convenience—some devotees may pay their respects to the shrine every morning. The word "Shinto" is derived from the Chinese words shin tao, the "way of the gods."
1557. Score one for neighborliness when volunteer firefighters from Winifred and Hilger, small towns 23 road miles (37 kilometers) apart, defy summer storm clouds to assemble for their annual softball duel.
1559. A visitor savors a twilight run along a beach on the island of Tobago.
Tobago's pristine beaches and reefs are beginning to pay off. They have been discovered by international travelers who've had enough of the Caribbean's more developed islands.
1562. "The Kenai Peninsula梜nown simply as 'the Kenai'梒ouldn't be more user-friendly. It's the abridged version of Alaska: just an hour's drive south of Anchorage, packed with postcard views, seemingly endless riffles of snow-dusted mountains, rivers that roil with spawning salmon, and an abundant supply of moose, bears, eagles, and puffins."
1564.“Worshipers [in a Tahiti church] sit in same-sex groups, blending their voices in rousing himenes—Tahitian-style hymns. So transporting is the sound, vows one hearer, 'it lifts you right out of your seat.'"
1565. A woman carrying her infant on her back waters flowers in a graveyard in Puebla, Mexico.
Contained within the apparent peacefulness of the scene is a lurking threat. The nearby Popocatépetl volcano is stirring after more than half a century of quiet and could someday erupt on a scale not seen for a thousand years. Tens of thousands of people in a 660-square-mile area might have to flee for their lives, and public and private resources to carry out such an evacuation are slim.
1568. "Graduation dances and a beach bonfire celebrate the training of new izangoma in South Africa抯 KwaZulu-Natal. Part spirit medium, part herbalist, izangoma gather plant and animal materials to use in rituals against sickness and bad luck. Some izangoma now work with conservationists to limit the impact of such collecting on threatened species."
1570. Halloween has become an increasingly popular holiday worldwide. According to some estimates, U.S. consumers alone will spend upward of three billion dollars on Halloween festivities in 2005.
1572. Shy, fragile, virtually harmless, tarantulas still can't shake their horror-movie image. Like almost all spiders they are venomous, but they rarely bite people, and there has never been a reliable report of a human death from the venom.
Spiders cannot eat solid food. Instead, they pump digestive fluids into their prey, then suck up the dissolved body parts. A tarantula will sometimes kill a small animal like a snake, frog, or bird, but crickets, beetles, and other insects are more typical prey.
1573. Frown and blue blend as water from Ginnie Spring mixes with river water tinted by plant tannins. While this natural dye is harmless, man-made pollution clouds the future of these fountains梐 fact Floridians must now confront.?
1574. Men of Appenzell, Switzerland, gather to vote on public issues at the annual Landsgemeinde (constitutional assembly).
Most Swiss cantons have abolished the Landsgemeinde in favor of anonymous written ballots, but a few Landsgemeinde are still held, continuing this 600-year-old tradition of direct democracy.
1575. A family rides their horses along the beach, headed for Oregon's Curry County Fair.
In 1852 explorers discovered gold and other precious metals in the rivers and along the beaches of this area. Initially, settlement was concentrated along the coast and depended primarily on water transporation. Today water transportation of a different sort is popular here. The area has several times played host to U.S. championships for windsurfing.
作者: 大脚熊 时间: 2006-4-3 15:44
1576. Arms outstretched above a crowd of spectators, a Bollywood actor serenades his co-star. As in all Bollywood films, he lip-syncs his song. Actual lyrics are recorded by studio "playback singers," who often become musical stars in their own right. Well before a Bollywood film hits the screen, its soundtrack hits the airwaves, part of a pre-release blitz to build an audience for coming attractions.
1577. "In the laying of a [hedgerow] live branches are cut partway through, leaving a section 'about as thick as a lamb抯 tongue.' They are then bent over and held in place by 'ethers,' twined stems secured by stakes."
1580. Time seems to stand still along a canal in the Old Town in 舝hus, Denmark. The Old Town is actually a living museum. The historic buildings and their furnishings have been moved there from various other locations around Denmark, effectively re-creating the look and feel of an old Danish market town.
The Danes also hold an annual celebration of somewhat less genteel ancestors—the marauding Vikings
1583. Filipino girls line up to practice a dance routine during a training session to become overseas entertainers. Daily lessons teach the girls how to sing and dance and how to smile sweetly. Training programs provide women with job contacts at clubs (most of them in Japan), with help obtaining visas, and with promises to monitor their welfare and whereabouts.
1584. On a lonely highway in the Australian outback, the air is still, dry, and very hot. The road is a nine-foot-wide ribbon of bitumen that disappears into a shimmering horizon.
1585. Ariaal women and warriors dance at a traditional wedding in the Marsabit District of Kenya.
Before weddings, warriors and beaded girls prepare by applying makeup of red ocher and sheep fat. During the festivities, a newly circumcized bride spends much of the celebration in her mother's hut in the company of her best friend.
1587. A ground squirrel emerges into a field of wildflowers in the Canadian Rockies.
Ground squirrels are well suited to survival in the sometimes unforgiving climate of these mountains. Their networks of burrows help them stay dry during storms. They hibernate during the winter cold; and their large litters help them maintain their population
1588. Bushman children play soccer in a village near the Nyae Nyae conservancy of northeastern Namibia.
Reduced to servitude in the land that was once their ancestors' domain, southern Africa's 85,000 indiginous Bushmen are struggling to avoid cultural extinction.
1589. Thai fishermen use a crane to hoist fish traps from the sea near Phuket, Thailand.
The tsunami of December 2004 destroyed the livelihood of numerous fishermen, who lost everything from their boats to their fishing supplies. It will be several years before the industry can recover.
1590. Two stallions stomp and fight in a status display. Stallions are protective of their herds and fights often occur when mares are at stake.
1591. Replicas of five tiny bronze figurines—dancers and musicians escorted by a jester—provide a tantalizing glimpse into Myanmar's (Burma's) history.
The originals date from the 6th or 7th century and are archeologically invaluable. Four of them were stolen and sold on the black market shortly after their discovery in 1967, but were later returned.
1593. Spectators at the Big Rodeo in Burwell, Nebraska are silhouetted against roiling sunset-tinged clouds.
Bull riding and a wild horse race are big draws at the Big Rodeo. Although participants risk injury, it's not enough to make some Nebraska cowboys hang up their spurs. When asked why he keeps riding at the Big Rodeo, one contestant said, the adrenaline. And to see if you can conquer the beast.?
1594. From a distance, Montserrat's capital city, Plymouth, reveals little of the damage caused by eruptions of the nearby Soufriere Hills volcano.
In reality, Plymouth and its suburbs receive much of the airborne ash. "This area has been overridden by such deposits many times in the past," says one geologist. "It's really an unsafe place to have a city."
1595. Crevalle jack (Caranx hippos) are a common sight at the mouth of the Homosassa River, where fresh and salt waters mix as the river spills into the Gulf of Mexico.
1597. In 1919 a Vickers Vimy biplane won the Great London-to-Australia Air Derby. Seventy-five years later pilots matched the feat in this Vimy replica.
1599. A Pacific salmon struggles to swim up a stream on Kodiak Island. Salmon that manage to evade the commercial fishing fleets, hungry bears, dams, and fishermen swim to their birthplaces and spawn before dying.
1600. In the early 18th century, Dutch settlers began creating tea plantations on the island of Java. The tea is usually hand picked, which involves great skill and exhaustive labor. Tea pluckers, like the one seen here, must know the exact time to pick the leaves to ensure the best quality.
1601. "Pueblo Indians for centuries built their terraced villages without openings in the walls, for better defense against enemy tribes; ladders gave access to openings in the roofs. Resisting the white man's influence, many Taos Indians choose to live without telephones, electricity, or running water."
1603. A serene scene belies the thriving nightlife and culture of the up-and-coming neighborhood around Beijing's Houhai Lake.
1604. Often found in large flocks, flamingos spend much of their time performing breeding displays, often together in a series of synchronized movements.
1606.An artist displays his wares along the banks of the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia. The city is situated in the delta of the Neva River and is built on a series of islands.
1607. Winter can be a difficult time for rabbits like these Eastern Cottontails. With their preferred food sources unavailable, they forage farther and expose themselves to greater danger. Rabbits are a favorite prey species of many predators, such as hawks, owls, and foxes, and their life expectancy in the wild is short.
1610. Buddhist monks walk beside a field of sunflowers in northern Thailand.
Opium poppies once covered the hillsides here, and sunflower fields like this one often grow from seeds dumped over the fields in an attempt to eradicate the poppies. Strict laws and alternate agricultural opportunities for farmers have helped bring an end to most of Thailand's opium production. The opium trade continues, however, with poppies grown in neighboring Myanmar (Burma) and elsewhere.
1613. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens looms in the early morning mist. Notre Dame is France's tallest cathedral and is a classic model of the French Gothic style of architecture.
1617. "In an open-air shop in Kabul, a coppersmith fingers his prayer beads, as his tolerant eyes take the measure of writer-photographer Williams. Were he to change his dress, he would be very much at home in an American country store."
1619. "A wall of walleyes caught by a single family at Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, ranged from pound-and-a-half [0.68 kilograms] sacks to seven-pound [3.18 kilograms] feasts. Spurning a long, cold crouch over a hole, this group from Minneapolis pursued their quarry from a snug 42-foot [12.80 meters] trailer heated with a portable electric generator."
1620. Branches sealed in ice take on a glass-like fragility in Newfoundland. Reaching east into the Atlantic Ocean, the island faces harsh temperatures and deep snows throughout the winter.
1623. A woman and child enjoy ice skating, one of the many recreational activities available in Park City. After the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the city became famous for its world-class resorts. From the late 1860s to the early 1970s Park City was known as a silver-mining town.
1624. "A [Nenets] herder relies on the instincts of his lead reindeer. When lost in a blizzard with no hope of finding the camp, he'll look to the lead reindeer to show the way. If the animal hesitates, or perhaps sneezes, while attempting to cross a frozen river, the herder will turn back or look for a new crossing point."
1625. A diner booth in Truxton, a town located on historic Route 66, doesn抰 see as many patrons as it once did. In the highway's heyday, Route 66 streamed with Dust Bowl fugitives, World War II supplies, hitchhiking GI's and post-war seekers of the California dream.
作者: 大脚熊 时间: 2006-4-3 15:52
1276. Located several miles south of the Pyramids at Giza, Abusir’s smaller pyramids mark the burials of forgotten kings and queens of the 5th dynasty. Here also is a cemetery of shaft tombs from the sixth century B.C., when the Persians invaded Egypt. At the bottom of one of these shafts is a rare archaeological find: the unlooted tomb of Iuffaa, an Egyptian priest.
1278. "Destined for high places from birth, a lone mountain goat stands vigil over the crown of the [North American] continent, the Rocky Mountains, on supple hooves with traction soles."
1384. "Sunrise bursts over Haleakala, Hawaii‘s legendary ‘House of the Sun.‘ Eons of erosion shaped the 2.5-by-7.5-mile (4-by-12 kilometer) basin. Eruptions have strewed its floor with volcanic debris."
1385. An elephant handler, or mahout, rests atop his Asian elephant in Royal Bardia National Park. The park is one of more than ten national parks and wildlife reserves in Nepal.
1387. Once a town that was a busy way station along "America's Main Street", historic Route 66, Seligman has little to show for its lost vitality. Although the traffic may be gone, people still live their lives. Here a man ranches cattle in Arizona's high desert.
1388. "To get ready for the [Easter] festivities, some men of [Ólimbos] village have their hair trimmed in a street outside the main coffeehouse."
1389. Spread over 1.6 million acres (647,520 hectares) in Utah, Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument is unique among the United States‘ protected lands, because it was created by the Bureau of Land Management, not by the National Parks Service, which is usually responsible for setting aside public lands.
1392. “The wind-powered ferry shuttles people and automobiles across the choppy Strait of Tiquina, separating the lake’s two main segments. Steamboats and hydrofoils also ply Titicaca—highest of all navigable lakes.”
1398. "The garb worn by Nita Solanki, an Untouchable [a member of the lowest Hindu castes] bride in Gujarat, is perhaps the finest she will ever put on."
