Palm trees cast lacy contours against a star-speckled sky in Coromandel Forest Park, New Zealand. Sprawled across 180,387 acres (73,000 hectares) in northeastern New Zealand , Coromandel Forest Park is home to stunning vistas: luxuriant forests, velvety fields, gnarled volcanoes, and rushing rivers.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Case of the Missing Carbon," February 2004, National Geographic magazine)
Photograph by Peter Essick
(意譯)：棕櫚樹呈現花邊的輪廓，相反產於印度東部的烏木（Coromandel）森林公園有一些斑點樣的星空，新西蘭。烏木蔓生180，387英畝在新西蘭東北地區，烏木森林公園是極好的街景：豐產的森林，天鵝絨般的原野，扭曲的火山，和許多急流。
引自「美國國家地理雜誌」：當天的圖片。
A paraglider casts a shadow over the dunes of Niger 's Tenere desert. A south-central tract of the Sahara, the 150,000-square- mile (400,000-square- kilometer) Tenere is one of Africa 's most forbidding regions. Hot, dusty harmattan winds blow across the bone-dry desert, which receives an annual rainfall of about 1 inch (25 millimeters) .
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Journey to the Heart of the Sahara," March 1999, National Geographic magazine)
（意譯）：一把滑翔傘投射的陰影在非洲中西部國家－－尼日爾的（Tenere）沙漠。它是一個位於撒哈拉沙漠的南部中心的沙漠，合計達到十五萬平方英里（四十萬平方公里），（Tenere）沙漠是非洲最為可怕的地方之一。酷熱環境、滿是灰塵的、乾燥的熱風越過極為乾燥的沙漠，在那裡每年的降雨量大約是一英吋（25毫米）。
引自：「美國國家地理雜誌」。
Easter Island , 1979
Photograph by Gordon Gahan
Giant stone moai stand on Easter Island 's stony slopes. Earlier explorers believed the stone statues were worshipped as gods by native Polynesians, but Captain James Cook and his men speculated in 1774 that they were constructed to honor ancestors, a view still held by many today. (Text adapted from and photograph from the National Geographic book Voyages to Paradise: Exploring in the Wake of Captain Cook, 1981)
意譯：主標題：復活節島，1979 巨石雕像豎立在耶穌復活節島的石斜坡面，最早的探險家認為石雕像是本土玻利維亞人們崇拜神靈而作，但是一位船長廚師和其他人，在1774年推測是為了尊敬他們的祖先。這一景觀持續到今天。
Route 66, Arizona , 1997
Photograph by Vincent J. Musi
Vestiges of Americana linger in an ice cream shop's sign along Arizona 's historic Route 66. Memorialized in many ways—in writing (Grapes of Wrath, On the Road), in song ("Get Your Kicks on Route 66"), and on screen (Route Sixty-Six)—the road still echoes mid-twentieth- century American culture.
意譯：主標題：美國，亞利桑那州，66公路，1997。
美國人喜歡逗留在冰淇淋商店的痕跡，沿著亞利桑那州的著名的66號公路，表現多種方式，如作品、唱歌和看電影等，這裡依然是二十世紀中期美國文化的回放。
Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) ride out high surf on blue-ice icebergs near Candlemas Island in the South Sandwich Islands. Safe for the moment from predaceous leopard seals, chinstrap penguins are the second most abundant species in Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic.
意譯：南極洲的企鵝都聚結在純潔冰的冰山上，靠近聖燭節島的南部三文治島內。為了安全免受海豹的攻擊，南極企鵝是第二類盛產於南極洲或亞南極區。
Breaking Surf, Bora-Bora, French Polynesia, 1997
Photograph by Jodi Cobb
Lacy breakers lap the coral reef that rings Bora-Bora, an ancient sunken volcano 165 miles (266 kilometers) northwest of Tahiti in French Polynesia's Society Islands. Surrounded by sugar-white beaches, an electric-blue lagoon, and some of the clearest water on the planet, Bora-Bora is home to hundreds of species of tropical fish. Not surprisingly, it's one of the world's top spots for divers.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "French Polynesia: Charting a New Course," June 1997, National Geographic magazine)
意譯：法國屬的玻利尼西亞多島群島，季節性東北冷風吹襲，浪拍海岸，1997.
花邊樣的激浪包圍珊瑚蟲暗礁，好像發出Bora-Bora的聲音，一個遠古沉沒的火山距離法屬玻利尼西亞多島群島西北165英里（266公里）。被白糖海灘環繞，一個鐵藍色的瀉湖，
一些潔淨的水在行星上，還有數百種熱帶魚。不要驚訝，它是世界頂級潛水者的好去處。
An aurora borealis glows brightly over Churchill, Canada. Auroras occur when charged particles outside the Earth's atmosphere collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere. The result: a glowing display of curtains, arcs, and bands in the sky. The phenomenon is called aurora borealis or northern lights in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis or southern lights in the Southern Hemisphere.
意譯：一個黎明的女神－－北極光越過教堂，加拿大。
黎明的女神北極光的出現，在地球的外空大氣層粒子的碰撞並且伴隨許多原子在大氣層的上面。其結果是一股熾熱的,像弧形窗簾或法官的領帶明亮的展示在天空。這種現象在北半球稱作為北極光，而在南半球則叫南極光。
The tentacles of a box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) trail behind it and can reach 15 feet (4.6 meters) in length. Found in northern Australia and adjacent waters, a sting from this species can be deadly. This species of box jellyfish, the largest, can have as many as 60 tentacles.
Photograph by David Doubilet
意譯：在澳大利亞北部發現一種盒狀形水母，並且跟蹤到這種水母之後，它的觸角的長度達到15英尺（4.6米），水母生長的觸角刺人時會感到疼痛，其毒液還可以致人死亡。其最大的盒狀形水母的觸角可以達到60條觸鬚。
Meltwater sculpted the dagger-like shaft of ice near a cave in Matanuska Glacier in Alaska's Chugach Mountains. Matanuska is an active glacier, advancing about one foot (0.3 meters) every day.
Photograph by George F. Mobley
意譯：冰河融化後的水雕刻造型，很像一把冰制的匕首或短劍桿狀物，它靠近一個洞穴在馬塔怒損卡河－－冰河，位於美國阿拉斯加州的（Chugach）山脈。馬塔怒損卡河是一個活躍的冰河，它每天前進大約一英尺（0.3米）。
"Spanning a West Virginia canyon 3,000 feet [914 meters] wide, the New River Gorge Bridge transformed 44,000 tons of steel and concrete into structural art as graceful as the morning mists drifting below it. Opened in 1977, it replaced an 1889 trestle—and 40 white-knuckled minutes on one-lane switchbacks—with 40 seconds on cruise control."
—From 「New River's Deep Soul,」 June 1999, National Geographic magazine
Photograph by Susie Post Rust
意譯：在美國西維吉尼亞峽谷，峽谷有3000英尺（914米）廣闊，新建一座山峽大橋，使用了44000 噸的鋼鐵和混凝土做為結構材料。每當早晨薄霧漂移到大橋下面是那麼的優美。
大橋在1977年開放，它取代了1889年的老式高架橋。
Minerals, algae, and cyanobacteria give this geyser in Nevada's Black Rock Desert its brilliant colors.
Photograph by Jack Dykinga/Getty Images
意譯：礦物、藻類和藍綠色細菌給予這些間歇泉燦爛的色彩。美國西部的內華達州的黑石沙漠區。
A school of salema attempts to outmaneuver a hungry sea lion near the Galapagos Islands by circling to confuse the predator. Galapagos sea lions dive down some 120 feet (37 meters) on average to feed, returning to the surface after a minute or two to breathe.
Photograph by David Doubilet
意譯：一群深水海魚正在以策略制勝的機動戰術，抵禦一隻飢餓的海獅接近並想吞食深海魚群。事情發生在一個叫：「Galapagos Islands」島嶼。魚群組成環形，使得海獅糊里糊塗。但是海獅為了覓食能夠潛進到120英尺（37米），然後浮出水面進行呼吸1～2分鐘後又潛入海水裡覓食。
Paintlike swirls surround the Great Red Spot, a high-pressure area on Jupiter.
Photograph by NASA
意譯：圖片來自美國宇航局（NASA）。
好像油漆樣的漩渦形包圍那偉大的紅色地點，在木星區域有很高的壓力
Grand Staircase-Escalante Outpost, Utah, 1999
Photograph by Len Jenshel
Striated red-rock mountains capped by a piercingly blue sky overlook a weather-beaten outpost in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Part of southern Utah's "red rock country," Grand Staircase-Escalante was named a national monument in 1996, adding a 1.9-million- acre (768,903-hectare) slice of parched, mineral-rich wilderness to U.S. protected lands.
意譯：主標題－－重大的樓梯樣的邊區村落建築，美國猶他州，1999。
那帶有條紋的紅色岩石山脈，湛藍色的天空俯瞰一個飽經風霜的邊區村落在猶他州的重大的國家紀念碑。猶他州的南部是：「紅石村」。紀念碑的命名在1996年。該地區大小是：一千九百萬英畝，部分地區是炎熱的，富有的礦物石茫茫一片受到美國保護。
At twighlight, Miami's MacArthur Causeway Bridge is illuminated in nightclub-like hues of pink and purple.
Photograph by Rudy Sulgan/Corbis
意譯：主標題－－麥克阿瑟大橋。
在邁阿密（美國佛羅里達州東南部港口市），麥克阿瑟的堤道大橋十分明亮，那是夜總會發出的粉紅色和紫色色調，使得大橋裝飾的更加燦爛光芒。
A colony of sea squirts forms a colorful landscape, ample hiding place for an Eastern cleaner-clingfish (Cochleoceps orientalis) in the Tasman Sea off the coast of Australia. The tiny fish, which cleans parasites from the bodies of larger fish, fights strong currents by anchoring itself with a sucker disc on its abdomen.
Photograph by David Doubilet
意譯：一批海洋生物群體造就華美的風景線，充沛的食物和良好的隱匿環境為一批東方的清潔器－－小喉盤魚創造條件，它們生活在澳大利亞塔斯曼海並遠離海岸。這些小魚會清潔大魚身體上的寄生蟲，有時它們還互相打鬥顯示強壯，它們都有一個吸盤在其腹部以固定自己，然後開展清道夫樣的工作。
In a world of clouds and crystalline blue, a pair of stingrays glides just below the surface in the waters of French Polynesia's Tuamotu archipelago. The creatures find safe haven here under the protection of one of UNESCO's Man and Biosphere reserves.
Photograph by David Doubilet
意譯：在世界上的雲彩像水晶般的藍色，一對黃貂魚悄悄地在水面下滑行，這是在法國玻利尼西亞群島，它們尋找避難所，因為這裡是聯合國教科文組織規定的生物圈。
Black-and-white stripes ripple across the hide of a Grant's zebra.
Photograph by Tim Laman
意譯：黑和白色相間的斑紋像波紋那樣越過斑馬的軀體上。
Valley of the Moon, Chile, 2003
Photograph by Joel Sartore
Tourists career down a mountainous sand dune in the aptly named Valley of the Moon region of Chile's Atacama Desert.
This stark landscape between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains is considered the driest place on Earth, and some areas here have not received a drop of rain in hundreds of years. The terrain is so arid and forbidding, scientists came here to test the prototype for a rover destined for Mars.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Driest Place on Earth," August 2003, National Geographic magazine)
意譯：智利，月亮谷，2003年。
旅遊者願意速滑下到山一樣的沙丘，最合適的是智利的「月亮谷」。
這是在風景如畫的太平洋和安第斯山脈之間，是地球上一處乾燥的地方。在這裡已經有一百多年沒有下過一滴雨水。這地形令人十分可怕的，科學家曾到此處測試。
Goby and Bubble Coral, Indonesia, 2005
Photograph by Tim Laman
A goby fish with brilliant orange streaks stands out on a bit of gray bubble coral in Maumere Bay off Indonesia's Flores Island. In most of the ocean, turbid or murky waters force creatures to use nonvisual means of communication—smell, taste, touch, and sound. But in the clear, sunlit waters of coral reefs, light abounds, vision predominates, and animals drape themselves in blazing color.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," May 2005, National Geographic magazine)
意譯：蝦虎魚和泡沫的珊瑚蟲，印度尼西亞，2005。
一條蝦虎魚有燦爛的橙色條紋，停止在一小塊灰色泡沫珊瑚蟲上，在（Maumere）海灣，遠離印度尼西亞的昇華島。許多海洋裡，那混濁或者黑暗中水的力量，動物會用各種手段來傳達信息－－嗅覺、味覺、觸覺和聲音保護自己。但是在清晰的、陽光照射的水中的珊瑚蟲暗礁，陽光充滿，視力優良，動物它們自己閃耀強烈的顏色展示自己。
引自：「美國國家地理雜誌」。當天的圖片（2007年10月18日晚10時雜誌刊出）。
A school of fish swims past the underwater research laboratory Aquarius, located 62 feet (19 meters) beneath the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Photograph by Brian J. Skerry
意譯：一群小海魚游泳到水下研究實驗室寶瓶宮，它們在62英尺（19米）之下，尋找那個水下避難所－－美國佛羅里達州國家的海運業的鑰匙。
