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25.

Time is that relentless force that transports us from what was to what will be. Though no one can say exactly what time is, we do know what time it is. For Millennium, this is a landmark, a special moment in time. But far from all the commotion, millions of others count their years very differently. For Buddhists, the year 2000 came and went more than five hundred years ago. In the Muslin world it was only the year 1420. While for many Jews it is the year the date was 5760. Nevertheless the observance of this year 2000 is a singular opportunity... to listen to the heart beat of the planet. The National Geographic Society has long been capturing time: making it stop, slowing it down and speeding it up... All to better comprehend the relentless flow from what was to what will be. We invite you now to see the world through our eyes, as we explore the epic adventure of life through time. For time is the measure of our universe... and only over time can we understand the natural world, and it is our unique grasp of time that helped give rise to science and culture... to civilization itself. Take time, add exploration and the quest for knowledge and you have the human story. A story of constant and accelerating change. But now perhaps we are at a most critical point—on the verge of controlling the nature and on the brink of destroying it. What kind of world will we leave to our children? Only time will tell.

In a singe, ferocious instant explosion of heat and light, time, as we know it, began. It was the Big Bang. Some thirteen billion yeas later, the cosmos defined our sense of wander, strewn with things unimaginable like black holes and towering nebulae trillions of miles high spawning countless stars. About two-thirds of the way through the history of time, our own solar system was born, a handful of planets and assorted debris orbiting an unremarkable star. In this immense universe, our planet is like an insignificant blue ornament tenuously protected by a paper thin atmosphere, but a closer look reveals that there’s something wonderful going on here, something rare perhaps or even unique-----something called “Life”.

36.

This is a place unseen danger and subtle beauty. It is a mysterious swamp called “Okefenokee”, the realm of alligator.

Okefenokee, a forbidding place once thought to harbor deadly diseases. It shelter fugitives and inspired fear and superstition.

2.

Out of need or curiosity, man has learnt much about the earth on which he is both guest and prisoner. Often baffled in his brief journey through time, he has found reassurance in the order revealed in nature, the recurring sequence of the seasons, the symmetry in storm. Yet nothing has lessened his terror, when nature seems to turn against him and when the earth shudders and explodes in fire, making rubble of all he has built.

3.

Millions of years ago, before man, before the Ice Ages, when the world was warm and humid, forests like these covered much of the earth, and it was here, rough eons of geological time, that a profusion of life evolved. The remnants of those primordial jungles are the rainforest today. They are home to half of all the animal species on earth. Yet, in the shady depths of the forest, there is seldom more than a fleeting glimpse of this abundance. When they are seen, the animals are often revealed as strange and splendid examples of natural perfection and adaptation. Myriad in their diversity and sometimes bizarre in form, these creatures give the somber forest a special mystery and splendor.

49.

They are independent; they are affectionate; they are loyal; they are beautiful; they are sagacious; they are mysterious; they are ineffable; they are inscrutable. Probably the most mysterious creatures in the world, they are also vicious; they are very cruel things.

The domestic cat harbors a sort of split personality, within even the most demure pussycat lurks a creature of the wild. Even after thousands of years, we still know little about the behavior of domestic cats. To share one’s life with cats is to invite a bit of wildness indoors. Perhaps the writer is correct when he philosophized: “God made the cat that man might have the pleasure of caressing the tiger.”

26.

July 16, 1969, Apollo Eleven escapes the earth’s gravity and set its course for moon. Our urge to explore has finally outgrown our small planet, but as the people of the world look up the astronauts on board look back. They marvel at earth: it look as strange as the place they are headed. Below them is a planet still to be explored.

The spirit of exploration is as old as humanity itself. Brave people have always ventured out into the darkness and come back to enlighten us. In last century, the pace of accomplishment has been astonishing.

67.

Could it really happen? Could a giant wave really menace the beaches of Hawaii? There is something out there, and it threatens coastlines around the world.

The real monsters are tsunamis, freak waves usually produced by undersea disturbances. They can race across entire oceans and swallow cities whole. Throughout history, tsunamis have generated legendary disasters... reversion the shores nearly every ocean and sea without warning and without mercy. But tsunamis are as mysterious as they are deadly.

29.

It all begins with water and rock. As water seeks its level, it becomes acidic, and when it flows over limestone, it etches a path into the rock. Given eons of time, water will burrow and carve.                    

The real transformation of human life occurred when huge numbers of people began to rely primarily and permanently on the grain they grew and the animals they domesticated. Agriculture made possible a more stable and secure life. With it Neolithic peoples flourished, fashioning an energetic, creative era.

With the settled routine of Neolithic farmers came the evolution of towns and eventually cities.

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