The seven natural wonders of the world weren’t made by humans, but were created by Mother Nature. Learn more about these amazing natural wonders! Northern Lights 北极光 Northern Lights are also called Aurora Borealis , named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas. They are nature’s fireworks. This wonderful light show most often occurs from September to October and from March to April. It takes place in the northern regions, but can be seen from many parts of the world. They occur when solar particles (微粒) from the sun collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere. The collision energy between the solar particle and the gas is emitted as a light particle. When there are many collisions, you have an aurora—lights that seem to dance across the sky. Parícutin Volcano 帕里库廷火山 On the afternoon of February 20, 1943, a Mexican farmer called Dionisio Pulido was working in his field. Suddenly he felt a thunder and the ground nearby opened up. Pulido recalled later, “I saw, in the hole, the ground swelled (鼓起) and raised itself high. Some smoke and ashes began to rise, and there was a smell of sulfur (硫). I then became frightened and ran away.” That’s how the Paricutin Volcano was born under a farmer’s feet. The volcano continued to erupt (喷发) and grew fast in the next nine years. In 1952, it finally went quiet. It had reached a height of 424 meters above Mr. Pulido’s field! Harbor of Rio de Janeiro 里约热内卢港 On the east coast of Brazil lies a wonderful scene of high mountains and beautiful beaches. Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to see the Harbor on January 1, 1502. They thought they had reached the mouth of a large river and named it Rio de Janeiro, which means River of January. The harbor is a natural beauty surrounded by the city of Rio. Landmarks include Sugarloaf Mountain (甜面包山) and Corcovado Peak (科尔科瓦杜峰), on which there is the magnificent statue of Jesus Christ. Actually, the place is so amazing that it is admired by people: “God made the world in six days and on the seventh, he concentrated on Rio.” Mount Everest 珠穆朗玛峰 About 60 million years ago, India was a separate continent that rapidly moved northward and collided with Asia. The collision created the highest mountain range (山脉) in the world known as the Himalayas. Mount Everest is part of the Himalaya range and stands at 8,848m above sea level. It is located on the border between Nepal (尼泊尔) and China. It is called Sagarmantha in Napali which means “goddess of the sky” and Chomolungma in Tibet (藏语) which means “mother goddess of the universe.” Thousands of people have tried to climb the mountain, more than 700 have succeeded, but at least 150 have died.