58 The Rare and Beautiful Diamond

Here is an old sales pitch: What is a girl's best friend? The answer: a diamond. Why is the diamond so popular? Because nothing sparkles like this gem. The reason it sparkles so brilliantly is because it reflects the light. It also bends the rays of light so they hit more surfaces and reflect from them. And finally, it breaks up the light into all the colors of the rainbow. Here is another fact: the sparkle must be created. To create it, skilled men cut as many as 88 sides or facets onto a diamond. There are 33 facets above the middle. The other 25 facets are below. All are highly polished.

There are some famous diamonds. The world's largest stone is the Cullinan. It was found in 1905 in South Africa. It weighed 3,106 carats. This is equal to about 1 1/3 pounds. The stone was given to King Edward VII of England. The gem that has the most exciting history is the Orloff. This stone was stolen by a French soldier. He first broke into a Hindu temple. Then he climbed onto a tall idol. With a wooden bar he pried out the idol's eye, which was the diamond. Somehow he got the gem back to France. He sold it to a dealer. The dealer sold it to Orloff, a Russian prince. Orloff paid over a half million dollars for it. He gave it to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, with whom he was in love.

The exact weight of the Orloff is 199.6 carats. It is seven eighths of an inch high. It is 1 1/4 inches wide. It is 1 1/8 inches long. The stone became the jewel of the Russian czars, the Romanoffs. It is now in a Russian museum. It is mounted in the royal scepter.

58 罕见而美丽的钻石

以下是一个古老的推销说辞：什么是女孩最好的朋友？答案是钻石。钻石为何如此受欢迎？因为没有什么能像这种宝石一样闪耀。它如此璀璨闪耀的原因是它能反射光线，还能使光线折射，从而让光线撞击更多表面并反射回来。最终，它将光线分解成彩虹的所有颜色。还有一个事实：这种闪耀必须被创造出来。为了创造它，技术娴熟的工匠会在钻石上切割出多达88个面或刻面。中间以上有33个刻面，另外25个刻面在下方，所有刻面都经过高度抛光。

有一些著名的钻石。世界上最大的钻石是库里南钻石，它于1905年在南非被发现，重3106克拉，相当于约1又1/3磅。这块钻石被赠给了英国国王爱德华七世。拥有最激动人心历史的宝石是奥尔洛夫钻石。这块钻石被一名法国士兵偷走，他首先闯入一座印度教寺庙，然后爬上一座高大的神像，用一根木棒撬开神像的眼睛，而那眼睛就是钻石。不知怎的，他把这颗宝石带回了法国，卖给了一个商人，商人又把它卖给了俄罗斯王子奥尔洛夫。奥尔洛夫为它支付了超过50万美元，然后把它送给了他心爱的俄罗斯女皇叶卡捷琳娜大帝。

奥尔洛夫钻石的精确重量是199.6克拉，高7/8英寸，宽1又1/4英寸，长1又1/8英寸。这块钻石成了俄罗斯沙皇罗曼诺夫家族的珠宝，现在它在俄罗斯的一座博物馆里，被镶嵌在皇家权杖上。