A spur-of-the-minute detour led to a “real great adventure” for a Parisian visitor to the United States. Julien Navas, who was visiting the U.S. from France to see the launch of the first U.S. moon landing mission in decades from Cape Canaveral, Florida, also ventured to New Orleans. Along the way, he learned about the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, according to a news release from Arkansas State Parks. Having panned for gold and searched for ammonite fossils before, Navas took an interest in the park. On Jan. 11, Navas arrived at the park, bought his ticket, and rented a basic diamond hunting kit, according to the news release. “I got to the park around nine o’clock and started to dig,” Navas said in the release. “That is back-breaking work, so by the afternoon I was mainly looking on top of the ground for anything that stood out.” Lucky for Navas, the park had received more than an inch of rain a few days before he arrived, so it was wet and muddy, the release said. “As rain falls on the field, it washes away the dirt and uncovers heavy rocks, minerals and diamonds near the surface,” Assistant Park Superintendent Waymon Cox explained. Many of the park’s biggest diamonds are found on the surface, Cox said, and the park periodically plows the 37.5 acre search area to loosen the soil and to promote natural erosion. Eventually, Navas emerged at the park’s Diamond Discovery Center with his findings. There, he was told he had found a 7.46-carat brown diamond. Navas said he was stunned, according to the release, and said all he could think about was telling his fiancée what he had found. The stone is deep chocolate brown and rounded like a marble, according to the release, and is about the size of a gumdrop. Navas named his diamond the Carine Diamond, after his fiancée, and plans to have the stone divided into two diamonds, one to gift to his bride-to-be and the other for his daughter. The Carine Diamond is the eighth-largest diamond found in the Crater of Diamonds since it became a state park in 1972, according to the news release. On average, park visitors find one or two diamonds there every day. The diamonds formed hundreds of millions of years ago, some 60 to 100 miles underground. Geologists explained about 100 million years ago, there was a volcanic eruption, which carried the diamonds to the surface, according to the park’s website. Navas called the park a “magical place, where the dream of finding a diamond can come true! It was a real great adventure.” Navas said he hopes to come back to the park with his daughter when she is older. (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關詞匯 【一時興起】yīshí xìngqǐ spur-of-the-minute sudden and done without any planning 【果汁軟糖】guǒzhī ruǎntáng gumdrop a chewy sweet that usually has a fruit flavor 一個巴黎人在美國旅游，一時興起繞道，結果收獲了一次“激動人心的發現”。朱利安?納瓦斯前往美國佛羅里達州卡納維拉爾角觀看火箭發射，這是數十年來美國首次重啟登月計劃，隨后又去了新奧爾良。據阿肯色州立公園發布的新聞稿稱，他隨后了解到該州的“鉆石坑”州立公園。 納瓦斯以前淘過金，也尋找過菊石化石，這個公園引起了他的興趣。 新聞稿稱，1月11日，納瓦斯來到公園，買了票，并租了一套基礎的鉆石發掘工具。納瓦斯說：“我九點左右到達公園，開始挖掘。挖掘是一項艱苦的工作，到了下午的時候，我主要是在地面上找任何不尋常的東西。” 新聞稿中說，納瓦斯很幸運，在他到達的前幾天，公園里下了一英寸多的雨，所以地面都是濕泥巴。 公園助理主管韋蒙?考克斯解釋說：“雨水落在地上，沖走了浮土，露出了地表附近的厚重巖石、礦物質和鉆石?！笨伎怂拐f，許多最大的鉆石都是在地表發現的，公園會定期犁耕這片占地 37.5 英畝的搜索區，以疏松土壤，促進自然侵蝕。 最后，納瓦斯帶著他的發現來到了公園的鉆石探索中心。在那里，他被告知發現了一顆重達7.46克拉的棕色鉆石。新聞稿稱，納瓦斯說他當時驚呆了，滿腦子想的都是要告訴他的未婚妻這個消息。新聞稿稱，這顆鉆石呈深巧克力棕色，像大理石一樣圓潤，和一顆果汁軟糖差不多大小。 納瓦斯以他未婚妻的名字將這顆鉆石命名為“卡琳鉆石”，并計劃將這顆鉆石分成兩顆，一顆送給準新娘，另一顆送給女兒。新聞稿稱，卡琳鉆石是自1972年成立州立公園以來在鉆石坑發現的第八大鉆石。公園游客平均每天都會發現一到兩顆鉆石。這些鉆石形成于數億年前，位于地下約 60 到 100 英里處。 據公園網站介紹，地質學家認為大約一億年前的火山爆發將鉆石帶到了地表。納瓦斯稱該公園是一個“神奇的地方，在這里能夢想成真找到鉆石！這是一次真正偉大的冒險”。納瓦斯還說希望等女兒長大后帶她故地重游。(Translated by Debra) | 