A famous American John Muir said in 1898: “The Grand Canyon… as unearthly (神秘的) in the color and grandeur (壮观) of its architecture as if you had found it after death on some other star.” Like Muir, those of us who stand along the rim are prompted to wonder about the unearthliness and the forces that created and are still changing this place.
After more than 100 years of studies, many things are still mysterious. Today visitors come by the thousands -- the great and simple of the earth -- all in a spirit of wonder. Travelers come from every state of the Union, from every country in Europe and Asia.
From the depths of the canyon comes welling silence. Seldom can you hear the roar of the river, for all sounds are swallowed in this gulf of space. “It makes one want to murmur.” A woman once whispered to her companion. This silence is not the silence of death; rather, it is a presence. It is like a great piece of music. But music made of man works up to a climax (高潮) and stops.
Now, visitors to the South Rim alone may number 18,000 in a single day. Some of that number will travel by mule train down Bright Angel Trail to the canyon's floor, cross the raging river by a suspension bridge (吊桥) and walk to the North Rim. Though the two rims face each other across only 12 miles, it is a journey of 214 miles by car from one to the other. Nor can you visit the North Rim except in summer; some 1,200 feet higher than the South Rim, it is snow covered much of the year except in July and August.
But there is no day that you may not visit the South Rim and find the sun warm on your face and the air perfumed with the incense (香气) of smoke from an Indian hearth (香炉). No wonder an American writer and journalist said, “I came here an atheist (无神论者), and departed a devout （虔诚的）believer.”
小题1:What is it that attracts so many travelers to the Canyon?
A．The unearthliness and the grandeur of its architecture.
B．The presence of American super stars.
C．The saying made by American writers and journalists.
D．The roaring of the river in the Canyon.小题2:What does the underlined word “simple” refer to?
A．peaceful stream
B．land surface
C．common people
D．tamed animals小题3:If you want to visit the North Rim from the South Rim, which of the following won’t be the way of traveling for you?
A．By train.
B．By animal.
C．By car.
D．On foot.小题4: The last sentence “I came here an atheist, and departed a devout believer.” implies that ______.
A．natural wonders such as the Canyon have some effect on human activities
B．all visitors to the Grand Canyon are God believers
C．atheist can’t see the magnificence of the Grand Canyon
D．the Grand Canyon is an unearthly sight that only God could create
