https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1nM4y1K7eW?p=51
吐着泡泡的娃娃鱼
The Bubbling Chinese Giant Salamander
In the east of China, near the Yellow Sea in Jiangsu, there’s a magical island situated a little way1 off the province’s 765 kilometers of coastline.
Covering an area of less than 0.2 square kilometers, Qinshan Island is 1,000 meters long from east to west, and 200 meters in width.
From the air2, the island looks for all the world like a giant Chinese Salamander, with a huge bulbous head.
Qinshan Island is about 15 kilometers off the coast, and is one of the few coastal islands in Jiangsu Province.
In the past, the island has been ten times3 its size today4.
物称表达法 figurative
However, thousands of years of erosion has seen the rock consumed by the sea little by little, eventually spitting out this small fish-like island.
The long tail of this “fish” appears and disappears at regular intervals with the rise and fall of the tides.
It is 2.6 kilometers long and has existed for at least 2,000 years.
The Divine Path of Qinshan Island was formed by the action of the tides against this gravel island.
phrase: wear away
The shores were gradually worn away and eventually collapsed.
The debris drifted in the currents round to the south side of the island and was gradually deposited under the water line for a stretch of over 10 kilometers.
The rise and fall of the sea level over time has helped form a mound composed of gravel and debris.
This mound is 2.6 kilometers long and extends from the island towards the land.
Mounds like this can be seen all along the east coast of China.
However, it is very rare for a small island with an area of less than 0.2 square kilometers to have such a feature several times longer and wider than the island itself5.
It is known as the longest natural avenue at sea in China.
As the tide retreats, the Divine Path reappears in the sea.
Those who tread this path seem to be walking on an infinity of water.
Footnotes
-
here, way means a distance, for example, He grew up a long way from here. [=far from here], He talked the whole/entire way home. [=throughout the entire journey home] ↩
-
(usually the air) the space above the ground or that is around things ↩
-
three times as long as sth 某物的三倍长 three times longer than sth 比某物长两倍 three times the length of sth 三倍于某物的长度 ↩
-
作定语修饰 size ↩
-
定语 ↩