VOA标准英语2010-Sand Tells a 'Never-Ending Story'

Grab a handful and you'll see "a world in a grain of sand"

Adam Philips | New York 15 April 2010

Close up, sand grain can appear jewel-like. Indeed, many gems¹, such as diamonds and sapphires², are made from ancient sands.

Related Links

"Sand: The Never-Ending Story"
Michael Wellands's Blog
American Museum of Natural History
John Burroughs Association

Whether at the desert, on the beach or piled up at a construction site, sand is one of the most  common, useful and wondrous³ materials on earth.

But what is sand? Where does it come from? How is it formed and how does it behave?

Never-Ending Story

Those are questions that prompted British geologist⁴ Michael Welland to write his book-length ode to the stuff, "Sand: the Never-Ending Story."

"Sand is an apparently⁵ mundane⁶ everyday material," says Welland, "and yet the journeys an individual sand grain can take you on, both physically⁷ and imaginatively, I found extraordinary." 

Geologist Michael Welland collects sand samples in central California.

Geologist and physicists⁸ long ago decided⁹ that what makes sand sand is the size of the individual granular bits, not what they are made of. Welland notes that sand grains differ from other granular materials, both in the way they pile, and in how they behave. 

"When they're flowing in the air or flowing in water, for example, they behave very differently from everything that is smaller — that's silt¹⁰ and mud — and everything that is bigger — that's gravel¹¹ and pebbles¹² and cobbles and boulders¹³."

Welland's book about sand earned him the prestigious¹⁴ John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing, which was presented earlier this month at New York's American Museum of Natural History. He was right at home in that august locale; sand is an important element in the beautiful old building's sparkling pink granite¹⁵ fa?ade. 

 

'Sand: the Never-Ending Story' has garnered¹⁶ geologist Michael Welland the 2010 John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing.

A Sand Grain Is Born

"Well, what's sparkling are quartz¹⁷ grains. In a few million years, the granite of the Natural History Museum, exposed to the elements of New York, will begin to rot and disintegrate," says Welland. As the most frail¹⁸ minerals dissolve, "the quartz, which is as tough as old boots, will eventually just drop out as a sand grain."  

Some of those quartz sand grains will be washed away by rainwater into nearby rivers where they will make their way down to the shoreline, and the sea or get blown to the desert. In the desert, sand grains are usually buffeted¹⁹ and shaped by the wind, which tends to make them smooth and rounded.

"The sand grains bang into each other," says Welland, "and that force tends to knock the rough edges off a grain." Desert sands are often frosted like sand blasted glass.

The beauty and variety of sand is visible in this array from South Africa, arranged by the artist Loes Modderman.

"But," says Welland "if you go to the beach where the water buffers²⁰ the impact between grains, it takes millions and millions of years to knock their rough edges off."   

In yet another kind of transformation²¹, grains of coastal²² sand can get squeezed together by the weight of overlying sediments²³ and become rock themselves, which is how sandstone gets formed.

Welland explains that those sand stones can then be churned back up to the earth's surface by the movement of the earth's plates and then those sandstones themselves will rot.

"And so, the sand grain starts off on a second life journey. Many of the grains we see on the beach will have been through two, three, four, five of those cycles over hundreds of millions of years."   

 

 British geologist Michael Welland says sand has many uses in the modern world.

Sand families

Sand grains tend to group together in "families" according to mineral type, density²⁴, shape, weight and other factors. The relative proportion of these groupings in any one area of beach is unique.

Sand can even be used as forensic²⁵ evidence in criminal investigations²⁶. For example, if the specific array of minerals in the sand found in a suspect's shoe match the stretch of beach where a murder victim is found, the owner of that shoe might be wise to call a lawyer. 

Welland says sand has so many other uses that the modern world would be unrecognizable without it.

"We wouldn't have any glass or concrete, or the mobile phones or computers we have now — or they would have to work in completely different ways. Much of the world's jewelry²⁷ would disappear. Sapphires and diamonds, for example, come from ancient deposits of sand [where] rivers have winnowed²⁸ the minerals away."

"A World in a Grain of Sand…"

In his book "Sand: the Never-Ending Story," Michael Welland says that sand's beauty and diversity are every bit as compelling as its science.

He advises skeptics to bring a magnifying glass next time they go to the beach, grab a handful, and take a close look.

He confidently predicts that, like the mystic British poet William Blake, you'll see "a world in a grain of sand." 
 

1 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

2 sapphires   

n.蓝宝石，钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 )；蔚蓝色

参考例句：

• Again there was that moment of splintered sapphires before the lids, dropping like scales, extinguished it. 她眼眶中又闪烁出蓝宝石的光彩，接着眼睑象鱼鳞般地垂落下来，双目又黯然失色了。 来自辞典例句
• She also sported a somewhat gawdy gold watch set with diamonds and sapphires. 她还收到一块镶着钻石和蓝宝石的金表。 来自辞典例句

3 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

4 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

7 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

8 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 silt   

n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞

参考例句：

• The lake was almost solid with silt and vegetation.湖里几乎快被淤泥和植物填满了。
• During the annual floods the river deposits its silt on the fields.每年河水泛滥时都会在田野上沉积一层淤泥。

11 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

12 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

13 boulders   

n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾

参考例句：

• Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

15 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

16 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

17 quartz   

n.石英

参考例句：

• There is a great deal quartz in those mountains.那些山里蕴藏着大量石英。
• The quartz watch keeps good time.石英表走时准。

18 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

19 buffeted   

反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去

参考例句：

• to be buffeted by the wind 被风吹得左右摇摆
• We were buffeted by the wind and the rain. 我们遭到风雨的袭击。

20 buffers   

起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头

参考例句：

• To allocate and schedule the use of buffers. 分配和计划缓冲器的使用。
• Number of times the stream has paused due to insufficient stream buffers. 由于流缓冲区不足导致流程暂停的次数。

21 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

22 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

23 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。

24 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

25 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

26 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

27 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

28 winnowed   

adj.扬净的，风选的v.扬( winnow的过去式和过去分词 )；辨别；选择；除去

参考例句：

• Administration officials have winnowed the list of candidates to three. 行政官员将候选名单筛减至3人。 来自辞典例句
• I had winnowed the husk away when he came in. 他进来时，我已把糠筛去了。 来自辞典例句