快快换好泳衣，戴上墨镜！今天正是去海滩的好天气。阳光明媚，天气温暖，人们成群结队地涌向海滩。

　　Looking past the People 海滩上的人们

　　Beach towel dot the sand with color. Plastic buckets and balls roll around in the breeze. You can swim. You can splash. You can wade or just rest. There are lots of things to do today.

　　随处可见的大浴巾把海滩点缀得五颜六色。塑料小桶和沙滩球在海风的吹拂下四处滚动。你可以游泳，打水仗，还可以在浅滩上玩水，或者干脆休息休息。今天有许多事情可以做。

　　It seems that people bring all the activity to the beach. But the sandy shore is a busy place even without the many people who visit. And the wind and waves change it all the time. There's lots of interesting science to discover at the beach.

　　似乎是人们让海滩变得生机勃勃，不过即使没有这些游客，海滩仍然是个很热闹的地方。风浪一直在改变着海滩的面貌，这里有许多有趣的科学知识等你去发现。

　　Want to know more about the sandy shore? Well, let's see.

　　想知道更多关于海滩的事情吗？好吧，就让我们来看看。

　　See History in the Sand 了解沙子的由来

　　Sand! It's everywhere. It sticks to your face and hands. It even gets inside your sandwich. Where does it all come from?

　　沙子！这里到处都是沙子，不仅沾上了你的脸和手，甚至还跑到了你的三明治里。沙子究竟是从哪里来的呢？

　　Day after day, year after year, wind and water pound the shore. The pounding breaks shells and rocks into little pieces. As the grinding goes on, the pieces get small. Over a long time, tiny grains of sand are made. Wind and water move these grains to many places along the shore.

　　日复一日，年复一年，风浪不停地冲击着海岸，把贝壳和岩石撞成很小的碎粒。在风浪的冲刷下，这些碎粒被磨得越来越小，很久以后就形成了很小的沙粒。风浪又把这些沙粒沿着海岸线带到许多地方。

　　Did you know that sand can be many different colors? Some sand is yellow. Some is red. Some is even pale purple. The color of sand comes from the rocks or shells it was made from. Some rocks from volcanoes break down to form black sand.

　　你知道吗？沙可以有很多不同的颜色。有些沙是黄色的，有些是红色的，甚至还有些是浅紫色的。不同颜色的岩石和贝壳形成不同颜色的沙。有些火山岩被撞碎后会形成黑色的沙。