The Wave, Arizona

Millions of years of erosion, explosions and a touch of folklore form the narrative behind some of the most unbelievable sights in the world.
经过大自然数百万年的雕琢，世界上出现许多令人难以置信的奇特自然景观。

From sweeping curves of Arizona's The Wave in the U.S. to the Fairy Chimneys of Turkey's Cappadocia, the simple flow of water over stone has created some remarkable features that look as though they aren't even of this planet, all of which we can visit and marvel at today.
从美国亚利桑那州的波涛谷到土耳其卡帕多西亚的“精灵烟囟”，这些看起来好像是外星中的场景，但实际上都是我们可以身处其中的地方。

Here are some of the most unbelievable landscapes in the world.
以下是地球上八个最奇特的自然景观，一起看看吧。

The Wave, Arizona
波涛谷，美国亚利桑那州

The sweeping design of this sandstone rock formation is found in the Coyote Buttes area of the Arizona Strip in Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness area that would be hugely popular with hikers were it not so heavily protected.
波涛谷位于美国亚利桑那州北部朱红悬崖的帕利亚峡谷，其砂岩上的纹路就像波浪一样，深受游客喜爱。

Experts say the best photo opportunities come at midday but first visitors must get one of the 20 permits released each day for the area, with 10 of them released via a lottery four months in advance and the other ten dished out the day before an intended visit.
专家称，波涛谷摄影的最佳时间是中午，但是这里每天只允许20人进入，其中10人通过提前4个月的彩票抽奖获得名额，另外10人则在访问前一天确定。

Once permission is granted to visit there are no marked hiking tracks to get you there, as authorities are keen to preserve its natural beauty formed by the erosion of Navajo Sandstone during Jurassic age.
波涛谷规定游客不能在此留下任何痕迹，这是当地政府为了严格保护波涛谷的自然美。波涛谷是侏罗纪时代的纳瓦霍砂岩受侵蚀形成的。

The 190 million-year-old formation is made of sand dunes which turned to rock through time.
这些沙丘经过1.9亿年的时间沉淀，最终变成砂岩。

They are stacked on top of another and hardened by deposit of calcium salts - causing the vertical and horizontal layers.
它们层层堆叠，并在钙盐的作用下硬化，形成了垂直和水平方向的岩层。

Svinafellsjokull glacier, Iceland

Svinafellsjokull glacier, Iceland
Svinafellsjokull冰川，冰岛

Svinafellsjokull glacier, part of the great Vatnajökull Glacier in Skaftafell National Park, may look totally inhospitable but with the right gear and guide it's a popular hiking destination. Icelandic Mountain Guides are among a host of companies running tours and charge from £65 for a four-hour walk.
Svinafellsjokull冰川是斯卡夫塔国家公园中瓦特纳冰川的一部分，它看起来荒凉无比，但实际上却吸引了很多游客。

The glacier has also achieved an extra level of fame recently after being one of the filming locations for the blockbuster film Interstellar.
这里还因为是好莱坞大片《星际穿越》的外景拍摄地而更加知名。

'Interstellar was my second time filming in Iceland,' the director told Film In Iceland. 'Iceland truly represents the beautiful extremes the nature has to offer.'
该片导演称：“《星际穿越》是我第二次来冰岛取经拍摄的影片，冰岛拥有世界上最美的自然景观，这点毋庸置疑。”

Fairy Chimneys, Turkey

Fairy Chimneys, Turkey
精灵烟囱，土耳其

Legend has it that fairies living in ancient Cappadocia in Turkey's Central Anatolia lived underground, and these bizarre rock formations were the chimneys of their hidden residences. Another theory is the distinctive feature of the World Heritage Listed area were formed first by layers from rock developed over time courtesy of volcanic eruptions, and then erosion.
传说有精灵生活在土耳其卡帕多西亚的地下，而这些奇怪岩石结构就是他们隐藏居所的烟囱。还有一种理论认为，这个被列入世界遗产名录的独特地貌是火山喷发岩石硬化后一层层形成的，后来受到侵蚀所致。

The granite at the top that forms the mushroom cap-type feature is harder than the colourful sandstone below, hence the brilliant design.
烟囱顶部蘑菇帽式的花岗岩比下面的彩色砂岩更为坚硬。

Visitors to Cappadocia can see the fairy chimneys in a host of ways. You can hire quad bike tours that can quickly get you around the vast area. For a close-up experience try a horseback tour. There are a host of ranches offering horses and guides, and it makes sense when you consider Cappadocia actually means, Land of the Beautiful Horses. 
游客前往卡帕多西亚观看“精灵烟囱”有多种方式。你可以租用四轮摩托车，快速速走遍广袤的区域；你也可以骑马前往，这里有很多牧场提供坐骑和向导。实际上，卡帕多西亚就是“骏马之地”的意思。

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
乌尤尼盐沼，玻利维亚

The world's largest salt flats are a sight to behold, with it covering a whopping 4.085 square miles in the Department of Potosi in southwest Bolivia.
位于玻利维亚西南部乌尤尼小镇附近的乌尤尼盐沼是世界上最大的盐沼，这里10.58平方公里的地面上都被盐粒覆盖。

While salt is associated with the ocean, these flats are found 11,995 feet above sea level after being formed by a number of prehistoric lakes.
这里的盐显然与海洋有关，但这里的海拔高度达3656米，可能是史前湖泊所在地。地面上有数米厚的盐壳，高低起伏不超过1米范围。

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
大棱镜彩泉，美国怀俄明州黄石公园

It looks like a bubbling volcano ready to blow but is in fact the third largest hot spring in the world, behind only after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica.
它看起来就像随时都会喷发的火山，但事实上这是世界上第三大温泉，仅次于新西兰的煎锅湖和多米尼加的沸湖。

Found in the Midway Geyser Basin at Yellowstone, it is also the biggest hot spring in the United States, but it's not size that makes it so remarkable.
这个温泉位于黄石国家公园中的“中间歇泉盆地”，也是美国最大的温泉。

The bright coloration of the spring is it's real point of marvel, with its shades of red, orange, yellow, green and blue.
但大棱镜彩泉之所以如此著名，并非其规模，而是其鲜艳的色彩。

The unique park has a 40-mile-long slush of molten rock and crystal under the nation's first national park.
黄石国家公园地下有60多公里长的熔融岩石和水晶泥。

Instead of a cone with a hole, the caldera is an interconnected maze of gas and water covering almost 60 miles of Wyoming's northwest corner, along with parts of Montana and Idaho.More than 10,000 mud pots, boiling rivers and geysers act as nature's pressure-release valves, keeping the heated monster from exploding.
但是这里没有孔锥，火山口是一个互相连通的迷宫，超过10000个泥盆、沸水河以及喷泉充当天然的压力释放阀，可确保大棱镜彩泉持续喷水。

Dallol, Ethiopia

Dallol, Ethiopia
达罗尔，埃塞俄比亚

As if a giant hypercolour pen exploded on the moon, the Dallol hydrothermal fields offer some incredible flourescentcolours - all from nature.
就好像巨大的彩色笔在月球上爆炸，达罗尔热水田呈现出令人难以置信的天然荧光颜色。

Found in the northeast of the Erta Ale Range in the rather grim-looking Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, the craters are the lowest subaerial volcanic vents in the world.
这个位于Erta Ale火山东北部的火山口，实际上是世界上海拔最低的陆上火山口。

The bright yellow of the sulphur mixes with the white salt for this bizarre effect.
亮黄色的硫与白色的盐形成奇异的反应。

For centuries Ethiopians have made the long trek to the Danakil Depression - one of the hottest and harshest environments in the world - to collect salt from the sun-blasted earth before transporting the slabs back by camel.
数百年来，埃塞俄比亚人经过长途跋涉，来此收集盐，并用骆驼运送。

Life is harsh for the thousands of camel herders and salt extractors who use traditional hoes and axes to carve the 'white gold' out of the ground in the Danakil Depression.
对于无数骆驼牧民和盐收集者来说，这里的生活十分艰难。他们使用传统的斧子和锄头从地面上攫取“白金”。

The work, however exhausting, still draws thousands onto the baking salt flats.
尽管工作十分辛苦，但依然吸引许多人贩盐。

ZhangyeDanxia Landform, China

ZhangyeDanxia Landform, China
张掖丹霞地貌，中国

What looks like something created with coloured sand in primary school is in fact a colourful sandstone formation in the hills near Zhangye City.
乍一看这好像是小学生用彩沙建造的东西，但实际上它们是张掖附近山上的岩石结构。

Walkways have been established throughout the area by the government to accommodate walkers keen to admire what is said to be 24 million years worth of red sandstone and mineral deposits.
当地政府已经建立起人行道，以方便游客观赏这些据说已经有2400万年的红砂岩和矿床。

Geologists say the same tectonic plates that formed the Himalayas created the layer cake effect and centuries of water erosion complete the design. 
地质学家认为，形成喜马拉雅山的同一块构造板块形成了这一“千层糕”效应，后经无数年水的侵蚀才形成这一独特景观。

Puente del Inca, Argentina

Puente del Inca, Argentina
印加石桥，阿根廷

The Inca's Bridge, as it translates from Spanish, is an arch created by nature to form a bridge over theVacas River in Mendoza, Argentina.
阿根廷门多萨省的印加石桥实际上是自然形成的拱形结构，充当了Vacas河上的桥梁。

The bridge shares it name with the hot springs nearby and it's believed the extremes of hot and ice may have had something to do with its existence.
这座石桥与附近一个喷泉名字相同，这个温泉据说经常极冷或极热，有时候甚至可冷热共存。

Charles Darwin visited the site in March 1835 and a thermal spa in the early 20th century took advantage of the apparent healing qualities of the spring.
达尔文曾于1835年3月份到访这里。20世纪初期，人们已经开始利用温泉的治疗效果。