英语点津（微信同号）

Mother Nature is the most amazing creator（创造者） there is. Its masterpieces are so astonishing and impressive that they seem to be part of some fantastic world outside our reality（现实）.

An underwater waterfall（水下瀑布）

© bolivares

© blogspot

This illusion is created by sand deposits lying along the coast（海岸） of Mauritius（毛里求斯）. They look like a huge waterfall underwater.

A picture

© dailymail

In fact, this is not a picture painted by an expressionist artist（表现派艺术家）. In the foreground there are dead trees during a sunset, and in the background there are red dunes of Namibia（纳米比亚）. As we can see, the tricky game of light and shadows creates a hard-to-believe image.

A rough sea

© fox41blogs.typepad

© wordpress

Looking at clouds（云） like these, one may imagine a rough sea above his head instead of the sky. Undulatus（波状） asperatus are a rare（罕见的） type of cloud that usually look frightening like this. But don’t be fooled by the appearance, for asperatus clouds are never accompanied by a hurricane（飓风） or storm.

A magic lake

© flickr

© boomsbeat

Lake Uyuni（乌尤尼盐湖） is famous for the distorted perception of space it creates due to the absence of any objects on its surface（表面）. During rainy seasons（雨季） alkaline soil（碱性土壤） of the lake transforms into a huge mirror（镜子）; salt cells are covered by a very thin layer of crystal clear water, which reflects the sky and totally erases the skyline（地平线）.

小编说：其实中国也有“天空之境”，地点呢，是在青海的茶卡盐湖。

On the edge of a cliff

© grindtv

It seems like the man in this picture is walking on the edge of a cliff（悬崖）, but in fact it’s the bank of a river flowing inside Glen Canyon（格伦峡谷）.

A baby

Can you find the baby in this image? It’s tricky at first because our brains naturally see the whole picture and focus on the light as well as silhouetted（轮廓） trees and figures at the bottom of the frame（框架）. However, on looking closer, you can see a baby in a womb（子宫）.

An abyss

© hk.on

Do you see two boys jumping into the abyss（深渊）? In fact, it’s a picture of Jacob’s Well, which is located in the state of Texas（德克萨斯州）. Jacob’s Well is a huge artesian spring with a 12-foot diameter mouth and a 30-foot descent. The water is so crystal clear（清澈的） that jumping in it feels like jumping in empty space.

A tree shape

© nationalgeographic

Is this a creek bed（河床） or a tree? Well, it’s neither a river nor a tree. Those tree-like shapes in Baja California (Mexico) are formed in the sand due to the high amplitude of tides in the shallow waters that appear because of strong streams（溪流）.

The stone waves

© wikimedia

© f

On the border between Arizona（亚利桑那州） and Utah（犹他州）, you can see some unique（独一无二的） rock formations. They have been forming for millions of years out of sand dunes, gradually turning into solid rock. The continuous impact of both winds and rains over a long period of time played a major role in the creation of this bizarre formation.

A mountain road

© grindtv

© petemcbride

When looking at this picture for the first time（第一次）, one sees a road that runs across the top（顶端） of a mountain chain. But in fact, it’s a picture of the Colorado River（科罗拉多河） perceived incorrectly by our vision because of the color and shades of the river.

A burning tornado

© nydailynews

© ifantasyc

What you’re seeing here is not a picture of a burning tornado（龙卷风） (which doesn’t even exist), but a picture of the river Rio Tinto in Spain（西班牙）, full of waste from mining activity. As a result of mining works, the river has become acidic. The bright red color of the water is caused by the high percentage of heavy metals（重金属） in it.

Phantom suns

© wikimedia

This phenomenon（现象） is known as parhelion, and it is usually caused by the refraction （折射）of sunlight（阳光） from ice crystals drifting in the atmosphere.

A spider web

© joyreactor

This image seems to be the perfect photo of rain. But if you look closely, you will notice that each of these drops（水滴） is just hanging on a spider web（蜘蛛网）.

A two-headed zebra

© actualno

© blogspot

The alternation of black and white colors disables our ability to detect the edges of objects, and that’s why we see these ’two-headed’ zebras（斑马）.

英语点津

GPS FOR THE SOUL

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