价值连城的达不隆也许给埋在离罗得岛海岸9英里外的布洛克岛上。17世纪时，许多海盗曾来这里打劫和获取给养。
有一则故事讲到，只不过在100年以前，有一只船一天夜晚在近海抛锚，黎明时分又起航了。此后不久，岛上一位农夫，在他玉米地的一个洞口周围发现了几枚8分金币。岛上的居民们断定，那儿还有珍宝。有一个人出卖财产时还保留了“珍宝权”。
“这是藏宝的好地方。”另一位岛上居民说。他对广阔的海滨和悬岩峭壁指划着。“一个人可以在夜里溜进来，把抢来的东西藏好，又可不等别人知道发生了什么，悄悄地把东西取走。”
在布洛克岛海滨埋藏掠夺物的可能不只是海盗。据说，一些早期的岛上居民也是造成船只失事的人。他们用信号灯诱使船只朝尖如锯齿的岩石上猛撞，谁也不知道他们从失事的船上搬走了多少财物。
America’s Dead Sea
Picture a still，shallow lake at the bottom of a huge basin．Long after experts insist it should have dried up，the Great Salt Lake of Utah—America’s socalled Dead Sea—still exists．
The supposedly dead lake has no fish，but millions of tiny shrimp and several forms of algae—primitive plant lifethrive there，in waters saltier than the ocean．Gulls roost on islands in the lake and shore birds nest in the marshes around it．
Ancient beaches high on the sides of the surrounding mountains show that the lake once covered more than twenty times its present area．Other evidence shows that the lake has completely dried up several times in its history．
The lake’s level has not dropped much in the last hundred years，despite increased use of water from its sources for irrigation．Current plans for diverting the large Green River into the basin around the lake may even increase the lake’s present size．
美国的死海
描绘一下位于一个巨大盆地底部的既静又浅的湖泊吧。在专家们坚持认为它已干枯多年后，犹他州的大盐湖——号称美国的死海——却依然存在。
被人们设想为死湖的里面没有鱼，但是，数以百万计的小虾和几种形态的海藻——原始植物体，却在这比海水还要咸的湖水中繁衍。海鸥在湖中的岛上栖息，海岸鸟在周围的沼泽地筑巢。
高高立于周围山坡之上的古老湖滩表明：这个湖过去曾有它现今湖面的20多倍大。别的证据也显示，这个湖在历史上曾几度完全干枯。
虽然湖水被越来越多地用于灌溉，但在最近100年中，湖的水位并没有下降多少。将大格林河的水引入湖泊周围盆地的新规划，甚至还会扩大这一湖泊的现有面积。
The Grand Banks，the RichestFishing Ground in the World
John and Sebastian Cabot sailed back across the North Atlantic with bad news for their patron，King Henry Ⅶof England．Instead of a short sea route to Japan and India，they had found only rocky，icy coasts．
It was as a mere afterthought that they mentioned that they had visited a place near what they called New Found Isle．The codfish were so plentiful there that when the sailors had lowered baskets into the water and hoisted them up，they were full of squirming，silvery fish．
Although the merchants and the nobles at court did not care about this discovery，the fishermen of Europe became very interested．Before long，many fishermen were sailing across the Atlantic to Newfoundland in their little fishing boats and bringing back great numbers of dried fish for the kitchens of Europe．
In time，the right to fish the Grand Banks came to be considered far more valuable than all the treasure of the fabled East．The Grand Banks were，and still are，the richest fishing ground in the world.
大浅滩——世界上鱼量最丰富的渔场
约翰和塞巴斯蒂安·卡伯特穿过北大西洋航行归来，给其恩主——英王亨利七世带回了不祥的消息：他们没有找到通往日本和印度的海上捷径，只发现了多岩石的冰封的海岸。
只是他们事后想起，他们访问过他们称为纽芬岛附近的一个地方。那儿鳕鱼多极了，甚至当水手们把篮子放入水中再提起时，篮子里尽是欢蹦乱跳的银色鳕鱼。
虽然商人和宫廷贵族们对这一发现并不在意，欧洲的渔夫们却很感兴趣。不久，许多渔夫便乘着自己的小渔船，穿过大西洋航行到纽芬兰，为欧洲的厨房带回了大宗干鱼。
后来，人们终于认识到，大浅滩的捕鱼权比传说中的东方的全部珍宝还要有价值得多。大浅滩过去是、现在依然是世界上鱼量最丰富的渔场。
The Tundra of the Arctic Regions
These are the signs of the coming arctic winter：The color of the tundra changes as the water grasses turn brilliant red．The migratory birds gather in flocks along the coast and gradually drift southward．Most of the birds that have spent the brief summer on the tundra now disappear，leaving only the golden eagle，the gyrfalcon，the ptarmigan，and the snowy owl to brave the sunless northern winter．
As the lakes and ponds freeze over，a thin mantle of snow covers the sedge．Occasionally a young and inquisitive arctic fox may be seen loping across the tundra．The weasel and the lemming begin to change color；as the winter deepens，their coats will turn snowwhite．
During the first week in August the arctic sun dips below the horizon for the first time since May—it has not set all summer long．The gold and purple sunsets color the sureezing waters of the Arctic Ocean．
By the end of September or early October the tundra is dark and seems deserted；winter has taken hold of the arctic for another nine long months．
北极地区的苔原
这些都是北极地区冬季即将来临的征候：随着水草变成艳红色，北极苔原的颜色也改变了；候鸟沿着海岸成群聚集，并逐渐南移；在苔原度过短暂夏天的大部分鸟类现已消失，只剩下金鹰、白隼、松鸡和雪白色的猫头鹰来迎接这没有太阳的北极之冬。
随着湖泊、水塘全部冰封，蓑衣草披上了薄薄的一层雪衣，也许偶尔能见到一只好奇的北极幼狐慢跑着越过苔原。黄鼠狼和旅鼠开始改变颜色，随着深冬的来临，它们的毛皮将会变成雪白色。
8月的第一个星期，北极的太阳自5月以来第一次沉入地平线以下——整个夏天太阳都没有落山。金色和紫色的夕阳把冰点以下的北冰洋水染成了五颜六色。
9月底或10月初，苔原是黑暗的，似乎是一片荒芜；冬天在长达9个月的时光中又主宰了北极。
The Guyots，a Geophysical Puzzle
If half of the water were to be drained from the Pacific Ocean，a curious kind of submarine mountain called a guyot would be exposed．Guyots are strange formations that resemble mushroom stalks with flat tops．More than six hundred and fifty of these volcanic stalks have been discovered in the Pacific Ocean，and a few others have been discovered in the Atlantic sea plains．
It is easy to suppose that the guyots were formed by underwater lava spouts that piled up volcanic debris over the years，but just how they acquired their curiously flat tops remains a mystery．Shallowwater fossils found embedded in the tops of some guyots suggest that at one time the flat caps were much nearer the ocean’s surface，but beyond this there is little that scientists can say．
One attempt to account for the flat tops suggests that the ocean levels were once much lower than they are today；thus wave action might have smoothed away the original peaks．Another theory holds that the guyots have probably always had flat tops and that their weight has pushed them slightly toward the ocean floor，causing them to slowly submerge．But these are only theories—the guyots are still a geophysical puzzle．
海底平顶山，地球物理学之谜
如果把太平洋的水排去一半，一种被称为“海底平顶山”的稀奇的海山便会显露出来。这些平顶山结构奇特，很像长着平顶的蘑菇的茎。太平洋中已发现了650多座这种火山茎，另外，在大西洋的海中平原上也发现了一些。
很容易做出这样的设想：水下熔岩喷发成为火山岩屑，长年堆积，形成了这些平顶山。不过，它们究竟是怎样成为奇妙的平顶，至今仍是一个谜。嵌在一些平顶山顶部的浅水化石表明，平顶一度远比现在接近洋面，然而，除此以外，科学家们就无法做出更多的解释了。
试图对平顶做出解释的一种意见是：大洋的水平面从前比现在要低得多，因而波浪的作用也许冲刷掉了原来的山巅。另一种理论则认为，这些平顶山可能一直是有着平坦的顶部的，是山的重量轻微地把它们向海底推压，使它们慢慢没入水中。然而这些说法只不过是理论上的揣测而已——平顶山至今依然是地球物理学的一个谜。
Are There Animals on the Galapagos Islands
