Three years in the making and topping $30 million in cost, the 30,000-square-foot skywalk, which will open March 28, will allow 120 visitors at a time to walk out over the Grand Canyon rim to look at the gorge through glass walls and through a glass floor at the bottom of the canyon, nearly four-fifths of a mile below. That novelty, Hualapai tribal leaders hope, will draw tourists and increase this site's 250,000 annual visitors.

施工三年，花費超過三千萬美元，占地三萬平方呎的空中步道將在3月28日開放，一次將容許120名遊客走在峽谷邊緣上頭，透過玻璃牆及位於將近五分之四哩下方峽谷底部的玻璃地板俯瞰峽谷。瓦拉派印第安部落領袖希望，這項新設施可以吸引遊客，使這個景點每年25萬的遊客增加。

The idea of the steel and glass skywalk was proposed to the Hualapai several years ago by Las Vegas tour company owner David Jin, who brought together the investors who paid for the structure's development and construction. He said he wanted to find a quiet way for tourists to view the canyon outside of a noisy helicopter and to increase the view from 180 degrees in an aircraft "to 720 degrees in a skywalk." The agreement with the Hualapai gives the tribe the majority of skywalk admission fees for several years and eventually, all proceeds.

鋼架玻璃空中步道的構想，是幾年前拉斯維加斯旅遊公司老闆金大衛向瓦拉派族人提出來的。金大衛集合投資人，支付這項建築的研發和建造費用。他說，除了嘈雜的直升機，他想讓遊客可以靜靜觀賞大峽谷，同時將觀賞角度從飛機的180度，「擴展為天空步道的720度」。和瓦拉派這項協議，將給該部落天空步道幾年門票收入的大部分，最後所有收益均歸瓦拉派部落。

The Hualapai Indians hope that this 2-million-pound engineering marvel will boost tourism to their remote ancestral land and provide the impoverished tribe with a desperately needed economic boost.

有了這個兩百萬磅的工程奇蹟，瓦拉派印第安人希望可帶動他們偏遠祖先土地的觀光業，並提供一窮二白的部落迫切需要的經濟活水。

But environmentalists and others have criticized the horseshoe-shaped skywalk project since its inception, saying that the overhang will tarnish the pristine canyon and that a less intrusive tourist attraction could have been developed.

但環保人士等團體，從這個馬蹄型天空步道計畫開始興建以來就痛加撻伐，他們說，這個突出懸垂物會汙染原始的峽谷，應開發一個較不具侵入性的旅遊景點。




《詞解》
Grand Canyon 大峽谷
 Skywalk 空中步道
novelty 新設施
overhang 突出懸垂物
pristine 原始的
intrusive 侵入性的