A CHILD’S GEOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD

图书在版编目（CIP）数据

美国学生世界地理/（美）希利尔著；赵玲丽，王小琼译．—天津：天津人民出版社，2012.12

ISBN 978-7-201-07778-9

Ⅰ．①美…　Ⅱ．①希…　②赵…　③王…　Ⅲ．①地理－世界－青年读物　②地理－世界－少年读物　Ⅳ．①K91-49

中国版本图书馆CIP数据核字（2012）第264669号

天津出版传媒集团

天津人民出版社出版、发行

出版人：刘晓津

（天津市西康路35号　邮政编码：300051）

网址：http://www.tjrmcbs.com.cn

电子信箱：tjrmcbs@126.com

北京金秋豪印刷有限公司

2012年12月第1版　2012年12月第1次印刷

710×1000毫米　16开本　30.5印张　字数：600千字　插图：156幅

定　价：59.80元（上下册）

TO

THE NINE-YEAR-OLD WHO SAID,

“I wish there were a hundred more ‘Lands’ in the World for you to tell us about”

本书写给9岁的孩子们，他们说：“我希望你能再讲世界上一百个这样的地方的故事……”

Just suppose you could go way, way off in the sky, sit on a corner of nothing at all and look down at the World through a spy glass

A Child’s Geography of the world

begins here

一本写给孩子们的世界地理，由此开始……

目 录

前言

01　The World Through a Spy-Glass ◆ 透过小望远镜看到的世界

02　The World Is Round, for I’ve Been Round It ◆ 世界是圆的，我围着它绕了一圈

03　The Inside of the World ◆ 世界的内部

04　The Endless Parade ◆ 没有尽头的队列

05　The 13 Club ◆ 十三俱乐部

06　A City Built in a Swamp ◆ 建于沼泽中的城市

07　Mary’s Land, Virginia’s State, and Penn’s Woods ◆ 玛丽的领地、弗吉尼亚的领土和佩恩的森林

08　The Empire State ◆ 帝国州

09　Yankee Land ◆ 扬基人的定居地

10　Five Big Puddles ◆ 五个大水坑

11　The Father of Waters ◆ 河流之父

12　The Fountain of Youth ◆ 青春泉

13　The Covered Wagon ◆ 大篷车

14　Wonderland ◆ 仙境

15　The ‘Est,’ Est West ◆ “之最”最多的西部

16　The ‘Est,’ Est West (continued) ◆ “之最”最多的西部（续）

17　Next-door Neighbors ◆ 隔壁邻居

18　The War-God’s Country ◆ 战神的国家

19　So Near and Yet so Far ◆ 近在咫尺，远在天涯

20　Pirate Seas ◆ 海盗的海洋

21　North South America ◆ 南美洲北部

22　Rubber and Coffee Land ◆ 橡胶和咖啡之国

23　Silver Land and Sliver Land ◆ 白银之国和棉条之国

24　The Bridge Across the Ocean ◆ 越洋之旅

25　The Land of the Angles ◆ 盎格鲁人的土地

26　The Land of the Angles (continued) ◆ 盎格鲁人的土地（续）

27　The Englishman’s Neighbors ◆ 英格兰人的邻居

28　Parlez-vous Français? ◆ 你讲法语吗？

29　Parlez-vous Français? (continued) ◆ 你讲法语吗？（续）

30　The Land Below the Sea ◆ 低于海平面的国家

图7

图8

书名页2

31　Castles in Spain ◆ 西班牙城堡

32　Castles in Spain (continued) ◆ 西班牙城堡（续）

33　The Land in the Sky ◆ 天空之国

34　The Boot Top ◆ 靴子顶端

35　The Gates of Paradise and the Dome of Heaven ◆ 天堂之门和天国的穹顶

36　The Dead and Alive City ◆ 死亡而又活着的城市

37　A Pile of Ashes a Mile High ◆ 一英里高的一堆灰

38　Wars and Fairy-Tales ◆ 战争和童话故事

39　The Great Danes ◆ 伟大的丹麦人

40　Fish, Fiords, Falls, and Forests ◆ 鱼儿、峡湾、瀑布和森林

41　Fish, Fiords, Falls, and Forests (continued) ◆ 鱼儿、峡湾、瀑布和森林（续）

42　Where the Sun Shines All Night ◆ 极昼之地

43　The Bear ◆ 熊

44　The Bread-Basket ◆ 装面包的篮子——粮仓

45　The Iron Curtain Countries ◆ 铁幕国家

46　The Land of the Gods ◆ 众神之国

47　The Land of the New Moon ◆ 新月之国

48　The Ship of the Desert ◆ 沙漠之舟

49　A “Once-Was” Country ◆ 昔日辉煌的小亚细亚

50　A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey ◆ 丰饶之国

51　The “Exact Spots” ◆ “确切地点”

52　The Garden of Eden ◆ 伊甸园

53　The Land of Bedtime Stories ◆ 产生《一千零一夜》的国家

54　The Lion and the Sun ◆ 狮子和太阳

55　Opposite-Feet ◆ 对面脚踩之地

56　Opposite-Feet (continued) ◆ 对面脚踩之地（续）

57　The White Elephant ◆ 白象

58　Where the Thermometer Freezes Up ◆ 温度计冻住的地方

59　A Giant Sea-Serpent ◆ 一条巨大的海蛇怪

60　Picture Post-Cards ◆ 风景明信片

61　Man-Made Mountains ◆ 人造山

62　Afraid of the Dark ◆ 害怕黑暗

63　Zoo Land ◆ 动物王国

64　The End of the Rainbow ◆ 彩虹的尽头

65　Fortune Island ◆ 财富岛

66　Cannibal Islands ◆ 食人生番的岛屿

67　Journey’s End ◆ 旅行结束

If you are under fifteen years, eight months and three days old …

如果你未满15岁8个月03天……

DON’T READ THIS

请勿读此篇

INTRODUCTION

前　言

This book is for the child who:

thinks heaven is in the sky and

hell is under the ground;

has never heard of London or Paris and

thinks a Dane is a kind of dog.

It is to give a traveler’s view of the World—but not a commercial traveler’s view.

It is to show the child what is beyond the horizon, from “Kalamazoo to Timbuktu.”

It is to show him not only “the Seven Wonders of the World” but the seventy times Seven Wonders of the World.

When-I-was-a-boy in New England we had for Thanksgiving six kinds of pie: apple, peach, cranberry, custard, mince, and pumpkin, but I was allowed to have only two kinds and I never could make a satisfactory choice. I have had the same difficulty in selecting geographical places and subjects to tell about. There are too many “most important” places in the World to be included in this first survey, and there will inevitably be those readers who will wonder why certain countries and certain places have been omitted, especially the place where the reader may live.

To me, as a child, geography was a bugbear of repellent names—Climate and Commerce, Manufactures and Industries, and products,PRODUCTS, PRODUCTS. It seemed that the chief products of every place in the World were corn, wheat, barley, rye; or rye, barley, wheat, corn; or barley, corn, rye, wheat. In my geography modern Greece had but a paragraph—because, I suppose, it did not produce wheat, corn, barley, rye. Geography was a “stomach” geography; the “head” and “heart” were left out.

I loved the geography pictures and maps but hated the text. Except for an occasional descriptive or narrative paragraph the text was wholly unreadable—a confused jumble of headings and sub-headings and sub-sub-headings: HOME WORK, NOTES, MAP STUDIES, Suggestions to Teachers, Helps, Directions, Questions, REVIEWS, PROBLEMS, Exercises, Recitations, LESSONS, PICTURE STUDIES, etc., etc., etc.

The World was an orange when I went to school, and there were only three things I can remember that I ever learned “for sure”—that the Dutch children wore wooden shoes, the Eskimos lived in snow houses, and the Chinese ate with chopsticks.

We had a question and answer catechism which we learned as we did the multiplication tables. The teacher read from her book:

Q. “What is the condition of the people of the United States?” and a thirteen-year-old boy in the next seat answered glibly: A. “They are poor and ignorant and live in miserable huts.” At which astounding statement the teacher unemotionally remarked, “No, that’s the answer to the next question, ‘What is the condition of the Eskimos?’”

When my turn came to teach geography to beginners nine years of age, I found the available textbooks either too commercial and industrial, on the one hand, or too puerile and inconsequential, on the other. Statistics and abstractions were entirely beyond the ken of the child of nine, and random stories of children in other countries had little value as geography.

As I had been a traveler for many years, had visited most of the countries of the Globe, and in actual mileage had been five times the distance around the World, I thought I would write a geography myself. Vain conceit! A class would listen with considerable attention to my extemporaneous travel talks, so I had a stenographer take down these talks verbatim. But when I read these notes of the same talk to another class, then it was that I discovered a book may be good—until it is written. So I’ve had to try, try again and again, for children’s reactions can never be forecast. Neither can one tell without trial what children will or will not understand. Preconceived notions of what words they should or should not know are worthless: “Stupendous and appalling” presented no difficulties whatever but much simpler words were misunderstood.

I had been reading to a class from an excellent travel book for children. The author said, “We arrived, tired and hungry, and found quarters in the nearest hotel.” The children understood “found quarters” to mean that the travelers had picked up 25-cent pieces in the hotel! Then again I had been describing the “Bridge of Sighs,” in Venice, and picturing the condemned prisoners who crossed it. Casually I asked if any one could tell me why it was called the “Bridge of Sighs”. One boy said, “Because it is of big size.” A little girl, scorning his ignorance, said, “Because it has sides.” A boy from the country, with a far-fetched imagination, suggested it might be because they used “scythes”; and a fourth child said, “Because it belonged to a man named ‘Cy.’”

The study of maps is interesting to almost all children. A map is like a puzzle picture—but new names are hard. And yet geography without either name or place is not geography at all. It is only fairyland. The study of maps and names is therefore absolutely essential and large wall maps most desirable.

Geography lends itself admirably to research on the part of the child. A large scrap-book arranged by countries may easily be filled with current pictorial news, clippings from magazines and Sunday newspapers, and from the circulars of travel bureaus. There is a wealth of such scrap-book material almost constantly being published—pictures of temples in India, pagodas in China, wild animal hunts in Africa, parks in Paris—from which the child can compile his own Geographic Magazine. Furthermore, the collection of stamps offers a most attractive field, particularly for the boy just reaching the age when such collections are as absorbing as an adult hobby.

Of course, the best way to learn geography is by travel but not like that of the business man who landed in Rome with one hour to see the city. Jumping into a taxi and referring to a slip of paper, he said: “There are only two things I want to see here—St. Peter’s and the Colosseum. Drive to them as fast as you can and back to the station.” He was accordingly driven to St. Peter’s. Sticking his head out of the window he said to the driver, “Well, which is this?”

In the little town where I was born, there lived an old, old man whose chief claim to distinction was the fact that he had never in his whole life been ten miles away from home. Nowadays travel is so easy that every child may look forward to traveling some day. This book is to give him some inkling of what there is to see, so that his travel may not be as meaningless as that of the simple sailor who goes round the world and returns with nothing but a parrot and a string of glass beads.

“ALL ABOARD !”

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY, my nurse used to take me to the railroad station to see the trains. A man in a blue cap and blue suit with brass buttons would call, “All aboard for Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and points north and east!” and wave his arm for the train to start. My nurse said he was a conductor.

So when I went home I used to put on a cap and play conductor shouting, “All aboard for Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and points north and east!” over and over, again and again, until I was told, “For pity sake, stop it!”

But some day I hoped, when I grew up, to be a real conductor in a blue cap and a blue suit with brass buttons. And now that I am grown up, I am still playing conductor, for in this book I am going to take you to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and points north, east, south and west—round the World!

这本书是写给这样的孩子：他认为天堂在天上，地狱在地下；他从未听说过伦敦或巴黎，他认为丹麦人是一种狗[1]。

这本书将呈现一个旅行者眼中的世界——但不是一个旅行推销员眼中的世界。

这本书将告诉孩子，在地平线以外有什么地方：从“卡拉马祖到廷巴克图”。

这本书不但给孩子讲“世界七大奇观”的故事，还要给他讲七十倍于世界七大奇观的故事。

我小时候在新英格兰过感恩节，有六种果馅派：苹果派、桃子派、越橘派、蛋奶派、百果派和南瓜派。但只准我从中选两种，而我从未能做出让自己满意的选择。在选择要讲述哪些地理上地点和主题时我也遇到了同样的困难。在这第一本世界地理概述中，世界上有太多的“最重要”的地方要提到，而不可避免的是，有些读者会奇怪为什么某些国家和某些地方被忽略了，尤其是读者本人生活的地方。

小的时候，我觉得地理是个令人头痛的学科，有着那么多令人厌恶的名字——气候和商业、各种制造业和行业以及产品、产品，还是产品！似乎世界各地的农产品都是玉米、小麦、大麦、黑麦；或者是黑麦、大麦、小麦、玉米；或是大麦、玉米、黑麦、小麦。在我读的地理课本里，现代希腊部分只有一个段落的叙述——我想，就是因为希腊不产小麦、玉米、大麦、黑麦吧。地理只关心“吃的”的学科，却忽视了“思想”和“感情”。

我爱看地理书上的图片和地图，却讨厌读上面的文字。除了偶尔出现的一段描写或叙述还能吸引人之外，地理书中的文字统统让人读不下去——一大堆杂乱无章的大标题、小标题以及小标题下的小标题：家庭作业、注释、地图练习题、给老师的建议、辅导、指导、问题、复习、疑难、练习、背诵、课程、图片习题，等等。

我上学的时候，世界对我来说就像一个橙子，我记得只有三个细节我学得非常“牢固”：荷兰孩子穿着木靴，爱斯基摩人住在雪屋里，中国人吃饭用筷子。

那时我们用的是一套问答形式的教科书，我们像学习乘法表一样机械地学习这本书。老师捧着书本照着念：

问：“美国人的状况是什么样的？”旁边座位上一个13岁的男孩流利地回答：“他们贫穷、愚昧，住在可怜的小屋中。”对这样错得离谱的回答，老师无动于衷地说：“错。这是下一题的答案，‘爱斯基摩人的状况是怎样的？’”

轮到我给初学地理的9岁的孩子上地理课时，我发现手边的教科书要么过多地涉及商业和工业，要么就是太幼稚，没有条理。数据和抽象的概念完全超出了9岁孩子的理解能力，而随意选取的讲述其他国家孩子的故事作为地理知识没有什么用处。

我有过多年旅行的经历，到过世界上大多数的国家，走过的路加起来可以绕地球五圈，那么，我想我自己可以写一本地理书。是不是自负又自大的想法？！我把我的旅行见闻即兴讲述给一个班的学生听，学生们总是很专注地听着，于是我请一个速记员逐字把这些讲课全记下来。但是当我把同样的内容按照记录读给另一个班级时，我发现把讲稿写成书也许会有用。于是我必须不断尝试，因为孩子有什么反应是无法预测的。不经过试讲就无法知道什么是孩子理解的，什么是孩子不理解的。对他们懂或不懂什么词汇的先入之见都是没有用的，“令人惊叹的”和“令人震惊的”这样的大词他们理解起来没有任何困难，而那些简单得多的小词却让他们产生误解。

我在课堂上向学生读过一本写给孩子看的游记。作者写道：“我们到了，又累又饿，就在最近的旅馆住了下来。”孩子们把“住了下来”理解成了旅行者在旅馆里捡到了多枚25美分的硬币！[2]当我向孩子们讲述威尼斯的“叹息桥”时，我绘声绘色地描绘了被判处死刑的囚犯过桥时的情景。我随口问了一句：有谁知道它为什么叫“叹息桥”吗？一个男孩说：“因为它很大。”一个小女孩对他的无知嗤之以鼻，说：“因为它有几个边。”另一个乡下来的男孩的想象更加牵强附会，他说可能是因为那些囚犯用大镰刀。第四个孩子说：“因为它属于一个名叫赛伊的男人。”[3]

研究地图对所有的孩子都是一件很有趣的事。地图就像拼图游戏一样，但是新地名很难学。然而没有名字或地点的地理就不能称其为地理了，那只是童话故事中的仙境。因此研究地图和地名是绝对必要的，挂在墙上的大幅地图是最受欢迎的。

小孩子学地理很容易不知不觉地自己去探索。按国家分类的大剪贴本很容易就被贴得满满的，有时事图片新闻，取自杂志和星期日报上的剪报以及旅游局的宣传广告。大量适合剪贴的材料几乎不断地发行出来——有各种各样的图片：印度的寺庙、中国的宝塔、非洲野生动物的追猎和巴黎的公园。从这些材料中，孩子可以编一本自己的地理杂志。除此以外，集邮也提供了一个非常有吸引力的领域，尤其是对到了一定年龄的男孩，这样的收藏就像成年人的爱好一样有吸引力。

当然学习地理的最好方式是旅行，但不是像商人那样旅行，商人到了罗马，只有一个小时的时间去游览这个城市。他跳上一辆出租车，一边看着手里的纸条一边对司机说：“我只想去看两个地方——圣彼得大教堂和罗马斗兽场。以最快的速度带我到那里去然后送我回车站。”于是他被带到了圣彼得大教堂，他把头伸出车窗外问司机：“嗳，这是我说的两个地方中的哪一个？”

在我出生的小镇上，住着一位很老的老人，他在镇上很有名气，主要因为他一生中从未去过离家10英里以外的地方。现在旅行变得很容易，所以每个孩子都盼望将来某一天能去旅行。这本书就是要让有这个愿望的孩子知道一点世界上有什么值得看的。这样他今后的旅行可能就不会毫无意义，不至于像那种头脑简单的水手，环游世界一周回来，除了一只鹦鹉和一串玻璃珠子，什么也没有。

我小时候保姆经常带我去火车站看火车。一个戴着蓝帽子、穿着有黄铜扣子的蓝制服的男人总是大声喊：“前往巴尔的摩、费城、纽约以及东北方向各地的乘客请上车！”然后他挥舞手臂示意火车开动。保姆告诉我他是列车长。

于是每次回到家，我总是戴上帽子，假扮列车长，大声喊道：“前往巴尔的摩、费城、纽约以及东北方向各地的乘客请上车！”一遍又一遍，乐此不疲，直到家人对我说：“老天啊！别喊了吧！”

但是我希望自己长大后将来某一天能成为一个真正的列车长，戴着蓝帽子、穿着有黄铜扣子的蓝制服。现在的我已是大人了，我仍然假扮一次列车长，因为在这本书中我将带你去巴尔的摩、费城、纽约，以及东、南、西、北方向的各个地方——去周游世界！

[1] 英文“丹麦人”（Dane）一词也可以表示“大丹犬”——译者注。

[2] 英语“found quarters”是“住下来”，其中“quarter”一词也可以表示“25美分硬币”，因此孩子产生误解——译者注。

[3] 英文“叹息桥”（Bridge of Sighs）中的“叹息”（sighs）一词与英文“大小”（size）、“几个边”（sides）、“大镰刀”（scythes）、和“赛伊”的所有格（Cy’s）等发音形同或近似，所以孩子们有了这么多的解答——译者注。

01

The World Through a Spy-Glass

透过小望远镜看到的世界

You have never seen your own face.

This may surprise you and you may say it isn’t so-but it is so.

You may see the end of your nose.

You may even see your lips if you pout out—so.

If you stick out your tongue you may see the tip of it.

But you can’t go over there, outside of yourself, and look at your own face.

Of course you know what your face looks like, because you have seen it in a mirror; but that’s not yourself—it’s only a picture of yourself.

And in the same way no one of us can see our own World—all of it—this World on which we live.

You can see a little bit of the World just around you—and if you go up into a high building you can see still more—and if you go up to the top of a high mountain you can see still, still more—and if you go up in an airplane you can see still, still, still more.

But to see the Whole World you would have to go much higher than that, higher than any one has ever been able to go or could go. You would have to go far, far above the clouds; way, way off in the sky where the stars are—and no one can do that, even in an airplane.

Now you cannot see the World in a mirror as you can see your face. So how do we know what the World looks like ?

A fish in the sea might tell her little fish, “The World is all water—just a huge tub; I’ve been everywhere and I know.” Of course, she wouldn’t know anything different.

A camel in the desert might tell her little camels, “The World is all sand—just a huge sand pile; I’ve been everywhere and I know.”

A polar bear on an iceberg might tell her little polar bears, “The World is all snow and ice—just a huge refrigerator; I’ve been everywhere and I know.”

A bear in the woods might tell her little bear cubs, “The World is all woods—just a huge forest; I’ve been everywhere and I know.”

In the same way, once upon a time, people used to tell their little children, “The World is just a big island like a huge mud pie with some water, some sand, some ice, and some trees on it, and with a cover we call the sky over us all; we’ve been everywhere and we know.”

When some inquisitive child asked, “What does the flat World like a mud pie rest on?” they really truly said, “It rests on the backs of four elephants.”

Western Hemisphere（西半球）

But when the inquisitive child asked, “And what do the elephants stand on?” they really truly said, “On a big turtle.”

Then when the inquisitive child asked, “What does the turtle stand on?” no one could say—for no one could even guess farther than that—so the turtle was left standing—on nothing.

That’s the old story that parents long ago used to tell their children as to what the World was like. But just suppose you could go way, way off above the clouds; way, way off in the sky, sit on a corner of nothing at all, dangle your feet over the edge and look down at the World far, far below. What do you suppose it would really look like? I know—and yet I have never been there.

The World from way off in the sky and through a spy-glass would look just like a full moon—round and white; not round like a plate, but round like a huge snowball. Not exactly white, either, but bright—for the sun shines on this big ball, the World, and makes it light just as the headlight on an automobile shines on the road at night and makes the road light. Of course, the sun can shine on only one side of this big ball at a time; the other side of the World is dark, but the World keeps turning round and round in the sunlight.

If you looked at the World through a telescope—you know what a telescope is: one of those long spy-glasses that make things seem closer and bigger—as men look at the moon, you would see on one side of the World two big patches that look like queerly shaped shadows and on the other side of the World twice as many big patches, four queerly shaped shadows. These patches which look like shadows are really land and are called by a long name: con-ti-nents. These continents have names, and if their names were printed across them in letters a thousand miles high—which they are not—so that the man with a spy-glass could read them, he would read on one side of the World

NORTH AMERICA

SOUTH AMERICA

and if he waited until the World turned round, until the other side showed in the sunlight, as I’ve seen the World do in “the movies,” he would read on this continent EUROPE and on that continent ASIA and on the other continent AFRICA, and the smallest one would have the longest name, AUSTRALIA. At the very bottom would be ANTARCTICA.

We call one side of a piece of money “the head,” because there is usually the head of some one on that side, and the other side we call “the tail,” as that is opposite from the head. It would be easy to tell which side of the World was which if we could call one side heads and the other tails. But there are no heads or tails on the World—only these queer shadows—so we use two big words instead of “heads” and “tails” to tell which side of the World is which. We call one side the “Western Hemisphere” and the other side we call the “Eastern Hemisphere.” Whew! Why don’t they call it something easy?—well, let’s call it “Half-a-Ball,” for that is what Hemisphere means. The Western Half-Ball has two continents and the Eastern Half-Ball has four continents.

Eastern Hemisphere（东半球）

The tip top and the very bottom of the World are called the Poles, although there are no poles. Around the top and bottom Pole it would be all white—snow and ice—for the Poles are so cold there is snow and ice there all the time.

The part of the World that isn’t patches of shadow or snow is water. The water all around the continents is the ocean, and though of course there are no walls nor fences dividing it into different parts, its different parts are called by different names.

Do you know your right hand from your left? Of course you do if you’re over six years old. But do you know the west side from the east side? If you are over nine years old you should. The east is where the sun rises, the west is where it sets. And if your right hand is east, your left hand is west, your face is north and your back is south.

The Atlantic Ocean is on the east side of North and South America. The Pacific Ocean is on the west. The ocean entirely in the Eastern Hemisphere is called “Indian.” No, it is not named for our Indians. At the top of the World is the Arctic Ocean. At the bottom, all around Antarctica, is the Antarctic Ocean. The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans are mostly ice, for it is so cold there the water freezes and stays frozen. If we wanted to put names on the oceans so that a man off in the sky could read them, we would have to stick huge signs in the water, as we can’t paint letters on the ocean.

There is no reason why I should show you the World turned this way with North America on top. I might just as well show it upside down or sideways, for there is no upside nor downside on the World. I suppose the reason the north side is always shown on top is because the people who made maps and geographies all lived in the north part of the World and they wanted their part of the World on top.

So this is our World. You may wonder, “Are there any other Worlds besides ours?” Some have guessed that there may be—that some of those sparks in the sky that look like stars at night may be other Worlds like ours with people living on them. But no one knows, for the strongest telescope is not strong enough for us to see what is on those far off sparks, so we can only guess about them.

【中文阅读】

你从来都没看过你自己的脸。

这样说可能让你惊讶，你也许会说这不可能，但事实的确如此。

你或许能看到你的鼻尖。

你或许能看到你的嘴唇——如果撅起嘴巴的话。

如果伸出舌头，你或许还能看到你的舌尖。

但是你无法离开你自己去看自己的脸。

当然你知道自己长的什么样子，因为你在镜子里看到过自己的脸。但这不是你自己，而只是你的一个图像。

同样的道理，我们中没有人能看到我们居住的这个世界，看不到它的全部。

你可以看到世界的一点点，也就是你自己周围的那点地方；如果你爬到一栋高楼上，就可以看到更多；如果你爬到一座高山顶上，就可以看到更多更多；如果你乘一架飞机向上飞，你可以看到更多更多更多。

但是要看到整个世界，你不得不到一个比那更高的地方，一个比任何人到达过或能够到达的更高的地方。你不得不走到远在云层之上，很高很高的地方，直到星空中老远老远的地方；这没有人能做到，即使坐飞机也做不到。

你无法像在镜子里看见你自己那样来看见这个世界，那么我们怎么知道世界是什么样子的呢？

大海里的鱼会对鱼宝宝们说：“世界都是水——就是好大好大一盆水；我哪儿都去过，我当然知道。”当然，除了水，她不可能知道什么别的事情。

沙漠里的骆驼会对小骆驼们说：“世界都是沙——就是好大好大一堆沙；我哪儿都去过，我当然知道。”

冰山上的北极熊会对小北极熊们说：“世界都是雪和冰——就是好大好大一个冰箱；我哪儿都去过，我当然知道。”

森林里的熊会对小熊仔说：“世界都是森林——就是一个巨大的森林；我哪儿都去过，我知道就是这样。”

同样，人们从前常常对孩子们说：“世界是一个大大的岛，就像是一个用泥做的大馅饼，上面有水呀、沙呀、冰呀和树呀等等，在我们的上方有一个我们称之为天空的盖子；我们哪儿都去过，我们当然知道。”

当某个好奇的孩子问道：“这个平平的像泥馅饼的世界是放在什么上面的呢？”他们非常真诚地说：“它放在四只大象的背上。”

当这个好奇的孩子又问道：“大象站在什么上呢？”他们非常真诚地说：“一个大海龟身上。”

当这个好奇的孩子又继续问道：“大海龟站在什么上呢？”没人能回答，因为没人能想那么远，因此就让大海龟这么站着——悬空站着。

那就是父母们很久以前常告诉孩子们的关于世界是什么样子的老一套说法。但是想象一下你可以到云层之上很高很高的地方，在天空中老远老远的地方，坐在一个什么都没有的角落，把脚放在边上垂下来，向下看着这个远在下方的世界，你认为它实际上会是什么样子的呢？我知道是什么样子，不过我从没去过那里。

在天空深处透过小望远镜看到的世界就像一轮满月——又圆又白；它并不是像盘子那样的圆，而是像个大雪球那样的圆。也并不是真正的白，而是明亮，因为太阳光照在世界这个大球上，使它发光，就像汽车的前灯在夜晚照在路上使路变亮。当然太阳一次只能照在世界的一面上；世界的另一面就是黑暗的，但它不停地在阳光中转啊转啊。

如果你用望远镜看世界的话（你知道望远镜是什么吧？就是一种长的小望远镜，可以使东西看起来更近更大），就像人们观察月亮那样，你会发现在世界的一面有两块大斑块，看起来就像形状奇怪的阴影，而在世界的另一面会有这面两倍大的斑块，四个形状奇怪的阴影。这些看起来像阴影的斑块实际上是土地，它们有个很深奥的名字：大陆。这些大陆都有自己的名字，如果他们的名字在距大陆上方1000英里的高度印出来的话（当然是不可能的了），这样拿着小望远镜的人就可以看得清，他会看到在世界的一面写着：

北美洲

南美洲

如果他在那等着直到世界的另一面转到太阳光下时，就像我在电影院里看到的那样，他会看到在这一个大陆上写着欧洲，那一个写着亚洲，还有一个写着非洲，最小的那个写着澳洲，最下面的是南极洲。

我们把硬币的一面叫做“正面”，因为那一面通常会有某个人的头像在上面；另一面叫做“反面”，因为它和正面正相反。如果能把世界的一面叫做正面而另一面叫做反面的话，会更容易区分世界的每一面。但是世界上没有正反面——只有这些奇怪的阴影——因此我们不用“正面”、“反面”而用两个大词来区分世界的这两面。我们把一面叫做“西半球”，另一面叫做“东半球”。咳，为什么不用简单点的词呢？嗯，好吧，我们可以把它叫做“半个球”，“半球”就是这个意思。西边半个球有两个大洲，而东边半个球有四个大洲。

世界的最顶端和最下端叫做极地，尽管那儿并没有杆子[1]。在上下两极到处都是白色的——冰和雪——因为极地地区非常的寒冷，终年都有冰雪。

世界上没有阴影斑块和雪斑块的部分是水。环绕着大陆的水叫做海洋，尽管并没有围墙或者篱笆把它们分成不同的部分，海洋的不同部分还是有它们自己不同的名字。

你能分清自己的左右手吗？当然能，如果你超过6岁的话。但你能分清东西方向吗？如果你超过9岁了，就该分得清了。东方是太阳升起的地方，而西方是太阳落山的地方。如果你的右手是东方，你的左手是西方，那么你的脸就是北方，你的后背就是南方。

大西洋位于南北美洲的东边，太平洋在西边。全部在东半球的海洋叫做印度洋，起这个名字不是指美国的印第安人。在世界的最顶部是北冰洋。在最底部，环绕着南极洲的是南冰洋[2]。北冰洋和南冰洋大部分都是冰，因为那里太冷了，水都结冰了，一直处于冷冻状态。如果我们要在这里的海洋上写上字让天空中的人能看得到，我们得在水上贴上巨大的标志，因为没人能在海洋上画上字。

并没有什么特别的原因让我把这个世界以北美洲在上的方式展示给你们看。我当然也可以把它上下颠倒过来或者斜向一边放，因为世界上根本就没有上部和下部之分。我想北半边总是被放在上面是因为绘制地图研究地理的人都住在北半边，他们想让他们那边在上边。

这就是我们的世界。你也许会想：“除了我们的世界之外，还有其他世界吗？”有人猜也许会有——夜晚的天空中闪闪发光的像星星一样的亮点也许就是其他的世界，像我们的一样，上面住着人。但是没人知道，因为就是最高级的望远镜也不足以让我们看清离我们那么远的小亮点上有些什么，所以我们只能猜猜而已。

[1] 英语中“极地”（pole）也有“杆子”的意思——译者注。

[2] 南冰洋（Southern Ocean或Antarctic Ocean）又称“南极海”或“南大洋”。国际水文组织于2000年确定其为一个独立的大洋。中国大陆普遍不承认南冰洋的存在——译者注。

02

The World Is Round, for I’ve Been Round It

世界是圆的，我围着它绕了一圈

DID you ever run away from home?

I did—once upon a time—when I was younger than you are.

I wanted to see the World.

My Mother had told me the World was a huge ball and that if I kept on, straight ahead, following my nose, I would go round the ball and come back to where I started.

So early one morning, without telling any one, I set out to go around the World.

But I didn’t get very far before night came on, and a big kind policeman brought me back home.

When I was grown up and had no home, I started out once again to go around the World. This time I got on a train headed toward the setting sun. Night came on, but no big, kind policeman brought me back home; so I kept on and on, day after day, week after week, month after month—sometimes on trains, sometimes on boats, sometimes in automobiles, sometimes on the backs of animals—but always toward the side of the World where the sun sets, the side which the people call “the west.”

I passed broad fields and thick forests, small towns and big cities—I went over bridges, round hills, and through holes in mountains—I reached a great ocean and sailed across it on a big ship to another continent—I came to strange lands where people dressed in strange clothes, lived in strange houses, and spoke strange languages; I saw strange animals, trees, and flowers; I crossed another great ocean and at last, after many, many months, always going in the same direction, I came back here to the exact spot from which I had started. So I knew the World was round, for I had been round it—but it was not round and smooth like a tennis ball, but humpty and bumpety, and so huge that it didn’t seem like a ball at all.

It took me nearly half a year to go round the World—that seems like a long time, but then it was a long way—over twenty-five times a thousand miles. But others have been around the World in much faster time. The airship Graf Zeppelin flew around the World in three weeks. Two flyers took less than nine days to circle the globe in their airplane and return to their starting point, New York. An American Air Force plane flew around the World without stopping in less than four days.

If a man could start out when the sun rose in the morning and keep up with it all day long, go over the side of the World when the sun set, and keep up with it on the other side of the World, he would be back again where he started the next morning. He then would have gone round the World in one day. But to do that he would have to travel over 1,000 miles an hour to keep up with the sun for each of the twenty-four hours in a day and night.

All around the outside of the World—as you probably know—is an ocean of air that covers everything on the World as the ocean of water covers everything in the sea. What you probably don’t know is that this ocean of air is wrapped only round the World—it does not fill the sky. Men and animals live in this ocean of air as fish live in the ocean of water, and if a huge giant picked you out of the air you would die just as quickly as a fish does when taken out of the sea. The air is thick near the ground but gets thin and thinner the higher up you go off the ground. That’s why airplanes can go up but a few miles high—there is not enough air to hold up the plane, for the plane must have air to rest on and for its propeller to push against, just as a boat in the water must have water to rest on and water for its propeller to push against. Or if it’s a jet plane, it must have air to feed its jet motors. An airplane could not rise beyond the ocean of air and sail off into the sky where there is no air any more than a steamship on the sea could rise out of the water and sail off up into the air.

The World was once a ball of fire

世界曾经是个大火球

Then it rained on the World and the oceans formed

世界上开始下雨，海洋形成

Then the World wrinkled and crinkled like the outside of a prune

世界收缩、起皱，变成像梅子干的外皮一样

And the continents and mountains arose out of the ocean

陆地和高山从海洋下升起

There is only one thing that men can send up high enough to travel above the ocean of air. That is a rocket, which doesn’t depend on air for its motor or to hold it up. Someday rocket ships will probably carry men on trips to the Moon or even to the planet Mars. How would you like to go exploring in a rocket ship beyond the World’s atmosphere out through empty, airless space? How would you like to be the first Man in the Moon? You wouldn’t find any living thing on the Moon, for the Moon is a dead, lifeless ball without any air on it at all. But if your rocket got to Mars you would almost certainly find some living plants—and perhaps, who knows?—even some living animals.

Some mountains are so high that their tops almost stick out of the ocean of air; at least, there is so little air covering their tops that people can’t go all the way to the top unless they take along canned air to breathe.

You can’t see air—you may think you can, but what you see is smoke or clouds, not air. When air is moving, we call it wind. Then you can feel it when it blows your hat off, you can hear it when it bangs the shutters and whistles round the house; but no one has ever seen air itself.

The World wasn’t always as it is now. It was once a ball of fire—a huge burning ball. That was millions of years ago, and of course long before there were any people or animals or plants on the World. But the fiery ball got cooler and cooler until it was no longer burning but a hot ball of rock. There were then no oceans, no water on the World, for water won’t stay on anything very hot—it won’t stay on a hot stove—it turns to steam when there is fire under it; so there were only clouds of steam, an ocean of steam, around the World. But the World kept getting cooler and cooler until at last the steam turned to water and fell on the World—rain, rain, rain, until there perhaps was one big ocean covering the whole World.

But the World still kept on cooling and cooling, and as it cooled it shrank and shriveled and wrinkled and crinkled and puckered like the outside of a prune. You know a prune was once smooth and round when it was a plum. These little wrinkles and crinkles rose up out of the ocean and were the continents and mountains, so you see how big the wrinkles and crinkles really are. The earth is still wrinkling a bit even now, and when it does so it shivers and shakes and we say there has been an earthquake. But the earthquakes nowadays are as nothing to what may have been the tremendous shudder when the continents rose out of the first single ocean. The thunderous roar of that quake may have reached the stars with a stupendous and appalling boom of a bursting, cracking, rending, groaning World, as if the last day had come. Don’t you know what stupendous and appalling boom means? Why, it means “stupendous and appalling boom.” But that’s all guess—for the continents may have risen out of the sea as softly, slowly, silently as a blade of grass grows out of the ground. No one knows. We only know the continents did rise out of the water—we can find seashells on the tops of high mountains, and we know they could only have been made under the water when the mountain was under the water.

【中文阅读】

你曾离家出走过吗？

我有过，有一次在我比你还小的时候。

我想要去看这个世界。

妈妈告诉我世界是个大球，只要我一直向前走，跟着我鼻子所指的方向，我会环绕这个大球一圈，回到我出发的地方。

于是一天清早我没有告诉任何人就开始出发去环绕世界了。

但是我还没走多远天就黑了，一个个子高高的好心的警察把我送回了家。

当我长大后，还没成家的时候，我开始再次出发去环游世界。这次我坐上了一列开往太阳落山方向的火车。夜晚降临了，但是没有个子高高的好心的警察带我回家；于是我一直向前行，一天又一天，一周又一周，一月又一月，有时在火车上，有时在船上，有时在汽车上，有时骑着牲畜，但始终朝向太阳下山的方向，也就是人们称为“西方”的那一边。

我跨过了辽阔的田地，穿过茂密的森林，走过小乡镇和大城市——我跨过桥，绕过山，钻过山洞——我到达一片海洋，坐上一艘大轮船横越海洋抵达另一个大陆；我到了一些奇怪的地方，人们穿着奇怪的衣服，住在奇怪的房子里，说着奇怪的语言；我见到了奇怪的动物、树木和花草；我跨越了另一个海洋，最终在朝着同一方向旅行了好多好多月之后，我准确地回到了我开始出发的那个地点。所以我知道世界是圆的，因为我已经围着它绕了一圈。但世界并不是像网球那样又圆又光滑，而是像个蛋形矮胖子，而且它太大了，看起来根本不像个球。

我花了将近半年的时间环绕世界一周——看起来是很长的一段时间，但更是很长的一段路程——超过25个1000英里那么长。但是有人以更快的时间环绕过世界。“齐柏林飞艇”只要三个星期时间就能围绕世界飞一圈。两名飞行员用了不到九天的时间驾驶飞机环绕地球一周，最终回到他们的出发点——纽约。一架美国空军飞机连续不停地飞了不到四天环绕世界一周。

如果一个人能在早晨太阳升起的时候出发，一整天都跟着太阳走，太阳下山的时候走完世界的一面，并且一直跟着太阳走过世界的另一面，那么他就会在第二天早晨回到他出发的地方。那他就是在一天之内环游了全世界。但是要跟得上太阳的脚步，他必须得昼夜24小时时刻保持每小时1000英里以上的速度才行。

也许你知道，世界的外围包裹着一层空气，这个空气就像海洋一样覆盖着世界上所有的东西，就像大海里的水覆盖着海里的所有东西一样。但你可能不知道这个空气的海洋仅仅是包裹着我们的世界，天空中并没有。人和动物居住在这个空气的海洋中，就像鱼住在海里一样。如果一个大巨人把你抱出了这个空气海洋，你很快就会死掉，就像鱼从水里捞出来就会死一样。靠近地面的地方空气比较浓厚，但是离开地面越高空气就越来越稀薄。这就是为什么飞机只能飞到几英里高的地方——更高的地方没有足够的空气来支撑飞机，因为飞机必须依靠空气，让它的推进器推动空气使它飞行，就像船必须停在水面上，它的推进器才可以推开水使它前行。如果是喷气式飞机的话，必须得有空气来填充它的喷气式发动机。飞机不能脱离空气的海洋飞到没有空气的高空中，就像海上的轮船不能离开水行驶到空中一样。

人只能把一样东西发射到没有空气的高空中运行，那就是火箭，它不需要空气推动它的发动机，也不需要空气撑托它。也许有一天宇宙飞船可以载人飞行到月球上或是火星上[1]。你想乘一艘宇宙飞船飞出地球的大气层，到那空无一人、没有空气的太空中去探险吗？你想成为踏上月球的第一人吗？你会发现月球上没有任何生物，因为月球是一个没有空气、没有生命的死星球。但是如果宇宙飞船把你带到火星上去，也许你能发现一些活的植物，甚至会有活的动物，谁知道呢？

有些山非常高，高到山顶几乎都伸出了大气层；至少，山顶上空气非常稀薄，所以人们不带氧气罐就无法一直登到山顶。

你看不到空气——也许你觉得自己能看到，但你看到的只是烟或云，而不是空气。空气流动的时候，我们称之为风。当风把你的帽子吹走的时候你可以感觉到它，当它撞着百叶窗，在房子外呼啸的时候你可以听到它。但是没有人看到过空气本身。

世界并不总是现在这个样子的。它曾经是一个火球——一个巨大的燃烧的球。早在世界上人、动物或植物存在以前，它已经存在几百万年了。但是这个大火球逐渐冷却，直到不再燃烧，成为一个灼热的大石球。当时世界上没有海洋，没有水，因为水不能在任何热的东西上面停留，比如说一个热热的火炉，当下面有火的时候，水就会变成水蒸气。所以当时的世界上只有大团大团的水蒸气，一个蒸汽的海洋笼罩着世界。但是世界还在持续冷却，直到最后水蒸气变成了水落到地球上——那就是雨，雨不停地下，直到形成了一个巨大的海洋覆盖在世界上。

但是世界还在继续变凉，它在变凉的同时开始收缩、枯萎、起皱、卷缩、皱缩，最后变成像梅子干的外皮那样。你知道梅子干或梅子是光滑滑圆溜溜的。地球上的这些小皱褶从海洋上升起变成了大陆和高山，这下你就明白这些皱褶有多么的大了。我们的地球甚至现在还在一点点地皱缩，当它皱缩的时候，会摇晃、震动，我们就说是发生地震了。但是和陆地在巨大的抖动中从最初的一整片海洋中升起的时候相比，现在的地震根本不算什么。当时的地震肯定发出了轰隆隆的呼啸声，世界发出了大得惊人的、可怕的爆裂声、割裂声和呻吟声，这声音大得都能传到星星上去了，好像世界末日来临一样。你不知道什么是大得惊人的、可怕的轰隆声吗？嗯，那就是可怕的、大得惊人的轰隆声。但这都是我们的猜测，因为也许陆地是非常轻柔地、缓慢地、悄悄地升出了海面呢，就像一片小草叶悄悄地钻出了地面一样。没有人知道。我们唯一确定的就是陆地确实是从水下升上来的，因为我们能在高山顶上找到贝壳，而我们知道那只能是高山还在水下的时候形成的。

[1] 后来人类果然登月了——译者注。

03

The Inside of the World

世界的内部

WHEN I was a very little boy I was very inquisitive. At least, that’s what my nurse called me.

One day when I was walking with her along the city pavements, I asked:

“Jane, what’s under the pavement?”

“Oh, just dirt,” she replied.

“And what is under the dirt?”

“Oh, more dirt,” she replied.

“Well, what’s under that?” I asked. I wasn’t satisfied.

“Oh, nothing—I don’t know—why are you always so inquisitive?” she asked.

I knew there must be something underneath that, and I just wanted to know what it was—I was just inquisitive.

I had heard that the place bad boys went when they died was down under the ground somewhere—a big cave, perhaps—and I wanted to know if that were so.

And then I had heard that all the way through on the other side of the World Chinamen lived, head down, and walked upside down like flies on the ceiling. I wanted to find out if that were so too.

So I made up my mind I’d dig down through the World; down, down, down, till I came through on the other side, and then I’d know. I was a very little boy, you see. With a tin shovel I started a hole in the back yard behind the grapevines, where no one would know what I was doing. I wanted to keep it a secret until I had dug all the way through. Day after day I worked, digging up first soft ground—that was easy—then I got down to solid ground; that was hard. I had a hole which I could stand in up to my waist.

Then one evening my father asked, “What’s that hole in the back yard?”

My secret was out. He didn’t laugh when I told him—at least, out loud—but he asked me if I knew how far I’d have to dig.

“Could you dig down as deep as the Washington Monument goes up?” he asked.

I thought perhaps I could, but I was a little doubtful, for the Washington Monument seemed terribly high.

“Men have dug wells many times as deep as the Washington Monument,” my father told me, “but never all the way nor nearly all the way through the World. You would have to dig many thousands of times deeper than the Washington Monument to get down even to the center of the World. It’s eight thousand miles straight through the earth and most all the way is rock—just rock, and more rock, that’s all.”

Then I gave it up.

“How do you know it’s eight thousand miles if no one has ever been through the World?” asked the inquisitive child. I don’t know what my father answered. I was too young to understand. I wonder if you are too young, if I tell you how we know it’s eight thousand miles; for without ever having been through the World, we do know how far it is.

With a tin shovel I started to dig down through the World

This is how we know. It’s a funny thing, but every ball, whether it is a little ball or a medium-sized ball or a great big ball, is always just a little more than three times as big round as it is through. I have often wondered why this was so—why a ball shouldn’t be exactly three times or four times or five times as big round as through, but it isn’t. You can try it yourself if you don’t believe it. Take an apple or an orange and measure it around and then cut it and measure it through.

Now we know the World is a ball, a huge ball, and yet as it is a ball it must, like all other balls, be a little more than three times as big around as it is through. It is twenty-five thousand miles round the World, because men have actually measured that. So we know that the distance through must be about eight thousand miles, as twenty-five is a little more than three times eight. That is not geography; it’s arithmetic. If you want to use big words for “around” and “through,” as they do in geographies, you must say “circumference” for “around” and “diameter” for “through”—which mean the same thing: the circumference of the World is twenty-five thousand and the diameter is eight thousand.

Cross Section of World（世界剖面图）

The outside of the World is a crust of rock like the skin of a baked potato over the hot inside. Some of the crust that you go through first is in layers, like layers in a jelly-cake, one layer after another, only these rock layers look as if they were made of sand and shells, or coal or little stones, and that’s what they are made of. If you could cut the World in half as if it were an apple, it might look something like the picture on the next page. We call it a “Cross Section.”

Between some of the layers of rock there is coal like jelly in a jelly-cake and in other places there are gold and silver and diamonds and rubies, and in some of the rock there are pools of oil. That’s why men dig wells down through these layers of rock to get oil, and that’s why men dig mines to get coal and gold.

And still farther down the rock is not in layers—it is just solid rock; and still farther down it gets hotter and hotter where the world has not cooled off even yet, until the rock is no longer solid, but melted.

Whenever you see a chimney you know there is a furnace beneath it, and when smoke and fire come out of its top you know there is a fire in the furnace. Well, there are many places on the World where fire and smoke come out of the ground as if’ through a chimney from a fiery furnace. These places are called volcanoes.

Why was the World made of rock instead of brass or glass or china? Why is the World shaped like a ball and not like a box, a roller, or an old shoe?

【中文阅读】

我小时候就是个非常好奇的孩子，至少我的保姆是这样说的。

一天她带我一起走在城市的人行道上，我问她：

“简，人行道下面是什么？”

“哦，就是泥土。”她回答说。

“那泥土下面呢？”

“哦，更多的泥土。”她回答说。

“嗯，那再下面是什么呢？”我不满意这个回答，又问她。

“哦，什么都没有——我不知道——你为什么总是这么好奇呢？”她问我。

我想那下面一定有东西，我就是想知道那到底是什么东西——我很好奇。

我曾听说坏孩子死了之后会到地下的一个什么地方——也许是个大洞——我想知道是不是那样。

我还听说绕着地球直到走到另一面是中国人住的地方，人们都是头朝下，倒过来走路的，就像苍蝇趴在天花板上一样。我想看看到底是不是那样。

于是我下定决心要自己挖通世界；向下一直挖，一直挖，一直挖到世界的另一面，那时我就知道了。要知道我当时很小，我开始用一把铁锹在后院葡萄藤后面挖了个洞，没人知道我在那儿干什么。我想在我彻底挖通之前保守秘密。我一天又一天地干着，先挖到软软的土层——那很容易，然后我挖到了坚硬的土层，很难挖。我挖出了一个齐腰深的坑。

后来有天晚上，爸爸问我：“后院里那个坑是怎么回事？”

我的秘密被发现了。当我告诉他的时候他并没有笑我——至少没有大声笑出来——但他问我知不知道我得挖多深才能挖得通。

“你能在地下挖出华盛顿纪念碑那么高的深度吗？”他问我。

我想也许我能，但是我有点不确定，因为华盛顿纪念碑看起来真是高得怕人。

“人们挖过比华盛顿纪念碑还要高很多倍的深井，”爸爸告诉我，“但是从来没有人挖通，或者接近挖通过世界。要挖到世界的中心，你就得挖上比华盛顿纪念碑还要深几千倍的深度才行。从世界的一面直穿到另一面有八千英里，而这中间几乎全是岩石，岩石，还是岩石，就是这样。”

于是我放弃了。

“如果没有人穿过世界，你怎么知道是八千英里呢？”我这个好奇的孩子又问道。我不记得当时爸爸是怎么回答我的了，我太小了根本听不懂。我在想如果我告诉你我们是怎么知道那是八千英里的，你是不是太小了而听不懂。因为没有人穿过世界，而我们确实知道那有多远。

我们是这样知道的。很有意思的是，每个球，不管是小球还是中等大的球，还是很大的球，它一周的长度总是垂直深度的三倍多点。我常想为什么是这样——为什么它一周的长度不正好是垂直深度的三倍、四倍或五倍呢？但确实不是。你如果不相信的话可以自己试一试。拿一个苹果或橙子，量一量它的一圈的长度，再把它切开，量一量它垂直的深度。

现在我们知道世界是一个球，一个巨大的球，既然它是一个球，那就和其他所有的球一样，它一周的长度肯定是垂直深度的三倍多点。世界一周的长度是两万五千英里，因为人们确实量过这个长度。那么我们就知道从世界一面到另一面的距离肯定是大约8000英里，因为25是8的三倍多一点。这不是地理，是算术。如果你想用大词来表达“一圈”和“深度”，就像人们通常在地理上用的那些词一样，那么你必须用“周长”来表达“一圈”，用“直径”来表达“深度”——它们的意思实际上是一样的：世界的周长是二万五千英里，直径是八千英里。

世界的外层是个岩石的外壳，就像烤土豆的外皮，包裹着滚烫的芯。你最先穿过的外壳部分是分层的，像果冻蛋糕里的分层一样，一层又一层，只是这些岩石层看起来像是沙子和贝壳，或是煤炭或小石块做成的，事实也确实如此。如果可以把世界像切苹果那样切成两半，它也许看起来就会像下一页图片上显示的那样。我们把它叫做“剖面图”。

在有些岩石层中间有煤炭，像是果冻蛋糕中的果冻一样；其他地方有金、银、钻石和红宝石，有的岩石中还有石油层。这就是人们为了获取石油向地下挖井，穿透这些岩石层的原因，也就是人们为了得到煤和金才开矿的原因。

岩石下更深处就不是分层的了——全是坚硬的岩石；再向下更深处越来越热，那是世界甚至到现在还没完全冷却的地方，直到岩石不是坚硬的，而是熔化了的。

每次看到烟囱，你就知道下面肯定有个火炉；当烟囱顶部冒出烟和火的时候，你知道火炉里有火在烧。嗯，世界上有很多地方冒出火和烟，就像燃烧的火炉里的火和烟从烟囱冒出来一样，这些地方叫做火山。

为什么世界是岩石做的，而不是黄铜、玻璃或者陶器的呢？为什么世界是球形的，而不像一个盒子、像一个滚筒或者像一只旧鞋子呢？

04

The Endless Parade

没有尽头的队列

DID you ever see a parade—a very long one? I once saw a parade of soldiers that took all day to pass by. Tramp, tramp—tramp, tramp—tramp, tramp, hour after hour, all day long. I never had seen so many men in my whole life. There must have been a hundred thousand of them. It didn’t seem possible that there were so many people in the World. But if all the people there are in the World should pass by in one long parade, it would take not one day but a lifetime for them to pass by, for there are over two billion people in the world.

A hundred new people—babies—are born every minute of the day and of the night; many are born while you are reading this, and with every tick of the clock some one has died. But more people are born than die each day, so that the World is getting fuller and fuller of people all the time.

The people on the World are all about the same size and shape. Only in fairy-tales are people as small as your thumb or as tall as a church-steeple. None have wings instead of arms or wheels instead of legs. They all have one head, one nose, one mouth; they all have two ears, two eyes, two arms, and two legs. And yet in all these two billion people there are no two alike, there is not a single person exactly like any other one. Even twins are not exactly alike.

The chief difference in people is their color. Most of the two billion are white, but a great many are black and a larger number are halfway between white and black—they are sort of yellow-brown. These three colors of people we call “races.” “It’s a good day for the race,” my father used to say. I thought he was talking of a horse-race or a boat-race, but when I asked, “What race?” he would smile and say, “It’s a good day for the white race, the black race, all the races.”

Each race used to live by itself in its own part of the World, but many have wandered away to other parts. Most of the people in our part of the World are white, but there are also many black and a few yellow-brown.

Suppose you had been born black.

Suppose you’d been born yellow or red.

Suppose you had been born in

Africa or

Asia or

Australia.

Suppose you had been born with another

father and mother.

The endless parade of all the people on the World

世界上全人类的没有尽头的队伍

Suppose you had been born in another world

instead of this World.

Suppose you hadn’t been born at all—where

would you be now?

There are only six continents where people live, but on each of these there are several countries. A country doesn’t mean the country. A country means cities, towns, villages and country under one ruler. There are eighty countries on the World. Some countries are small with only a few thousand people in the whole country, and some countries are large with many millions of people. Our country, the United States, has over one hundred and fifty million people, but there are several countries with more. China, which is on the other side of the World, has the most people. It has three times as many people as the United States; and India, another country on the other side of the World, has the next largest number of people. Both these countries are in Asia—the largest continent with the shortest name and the most people.

Each country has a ruler, just as every family has a father or every football team has a captain. Some countries have a king for a ruler and some have a president, and most countries have other people to rule with the king and the president.

A king is a king because his father was a king, and his son will be king for the same reason. A president is president because he was chosen by the people in the country, just as the captain of a football team is chosen by his team. Choosing we call “voting.” A king is king for his whole life, but a president is president for only a few years.

The country of a king is called a kingdom. If one man rules over several countries, he is called an emperor and the countries an empire. A country with a president is called a republic. Our country is a republic. The king or the president and the others who rule with him are called the government. The government makes the rules, but it also does two things that no one else is allowed to do. The government makes the money of the country and the postage-stamps. The money of one country is not good in another country and neither are the postage-stamps. And neither is the language of one country good in another—usually.

The people on the World speak many different languages. Even in the same country many different languages are spoken. There are over 3,000 different languages in all—3,000, just think of that! You probably speak only one of these, and couldn’t talk to any one nor understand any one who spoke any other language than your own. In the United States almost every one speaks English, which, strange to say, is the language of another country—England. But on a continent like Europe you could hardly go a day’s journey without hearing a different language on the street, in the shops, at the hotel.

I happened to be born in the United States, and as I heard everybody around me speaking English I learned to speak English too. But I might have been born in Asia, a yellow boy, and learned to speak Chinese, or I might have been born in Africa, a black boy, and learned to speak a language I don’t even know the name of. I know a man who speaks a dozen different languages, and I know of a man who speaks 100! You can understand how wonderful this is when it usually takes years to learn to speak one other language besides your own. Letters of most of these languages are like ours, like the letters on this page—they are called Roman, because a people called Romans first used them long ago. But letters of Chinese and Japanese and some other far-away languages are different—they look like this:

【中文阅读】

你看过阅兵队伍吗？非常长的那种？我曾经看过一次阅兵队伍，队伍走了一整天才走完。噔噔，噔噔——噔噔，噔噔——噔噔，噔噔，一个钟头又一个钟头，走了整整一天。我一生中从没见过这么多人，肯定有十万人那么多。世界上居然有那么多的人，这似乎不可能。但是如果让世界上所有的人都排起来进行一次大阅兵，那么不是走一天，而是要走一辈子的时间才能走完，因为整个世界上一共有20多亿人。[1]

每天每夜的每分钟，都有100个新人——新生婴儿——来到这个世界；就在你读这本书的时候，许多孩子又出生了；在时钟的每一次滴答声中又有人死去。但是每天出生的人比死去的人更多，所以世界上的人越来越多。

世界上的人基本上个头和体形都差不多。只有在童话故事中才有像拇指般大的小人儿或是像教堂的尖塔那么高的巨人。没有哪个人上身不长手臂而长着翅膀，也没有哪个人下身不长腿而长着轮子。他们都有一个头、一只鼻子、一张嘴；他们都有两只耳朵、两只眼睛、两个手臂、两条腿。然而在世界的全部人口中，没有两个人长得是一样的，没有哪一个人长的和别人一模一样。即使是双胞胎也不是完全一样的。

人与人之间的最主要区别是肤色的不同。全世界人中大多数是白色的，也有大量的人是黑色的，还有更多的人是介于白色和黑色之间的——近似黄褐色。我们把这三种肤色的人叫做“种族”。“这是全民族的好日子。”我爸爸经常这么说。我认为他是在说赛马比赛或是划船比赛，但是当我问他“什么比赛”的时候，他会笑着说：“是白色人种、黑色人种、所有种族的好日子。”[2]

每个种族原来都是住在世界上他们自己那块地方，但是很多种族游荡到了其他地方。在世界上我们这块地方人大都是白种人，但是也有很多黑种人和一些黄褐种人。

假如你生来就是一个黑种人。

假如你生来就是一个黄种人或者红种人。

假如你生在

非洲

或者是亚洲

或者是澳洲。

假如你是别的爸爸妈妈所生。

假如你生在另一个世界而不是这个世界上。

假如你根本没有出生——你现在会是在哪儿呢？

世界上有人居住的大陆只有六个，但是每一个大陆上都有好多个国家。“国家”并不意味着“乡村”。一个国家意味着处于一个统治者之下的城市、乡镇、村庄和乡村。世界上一共有80个国家。[3]有的国家很小，全国总共只有几千人。有的国家很大，全国会有几百万的人。我们的国家，美国，有一亿五千万人，但是还有几个国家的人数更多。在世界另一面的中国拥有最多的人口，是美国的三倍。世界另一面的另一个国家——印度——拥有第二多的人口。这两个国家都位于亚洲——最大的大陆，它的名字最短，人口最多。

每个国家都有一个统治者，就像每个家庭都有一个爸爸，或者像每个足球队都有一个队长。有的国家的统治者是国王，有的是总统，大多数国家都由其他的人和国王或总统共同来统治国家。

一个国王能当国王是因为他的爸爸是国王，因为同样的原因他的儿子也会成为国王。一个总统能当总统因为他是由他的国家的人民选出来的，就像足球队的队长是由队员推选出来的一样。这种推选叫做“选举”。一个国王一辈子都是国王，而一个总统只能当几年的总统。

一个国王的国家叫做王国。如果一个人统治好几个国家，他就叫做帝王，这些国家就叫做帝国。一个总统领导的国家叫做共和国。美国就是一个共和国。国王或者总统以及和他一起统治国家的人叫做政府。政府制定规章制度，政府还做两件别人不能做的事情。政府制造国家的货币和邮票。一个国家的货币在另一国家并不能通用，邮票也是一样。同样的，一个国家的语言在另一国家里通常也不能通用。

世界上的人说很多种不同的语言。即使在同一个国家里也有许多不同的语言。世界上总共有三千多种不同的语言，想想吧，三千多种！你也许只会说其中一种语言，不会说，也听不懂其他语言。在美国，几乎每个人都说英语；说起来有点奇怪，这也是另外一个国家——英国的语言。但在欧洲大陆上，上街走一天，在商店里、旅馆里，你总是能听到不同的语言。

我碰巧出生在美国，由于听到周围的人都说英语，我也就学会了说英语。但是我也有可能出生在亚洲，是个黄色人种的小男孩，学会说汉语；我还有可能出生在非洲，是个黑色人种的小男孩，于是学会说一种我也叫不上名字的语言。我认识一个人，他会说12种不同的语言，我还听说过一个人，他会说100种语言！通常要学会另一种和你的母语不同的语言要花上几年的时间，所以你可以想象到他们有多了不起。大多数语言的字母和我们的差不多，就像这本书上的字母一样，这种字母叫做罗马字，因为是由叫罗马人的一个民族在很久以前最先使用的。但是汉语和日语以及其他更远地方的语言有着不一样的字母。

[1] 这是20世纪50年代的记载，现在大概达到60亿人——译者注。

[2] 英文中种族race一词正好有比赛的意思——译者注。

[3] 这是20世纪50年代的记载，现在大概有200多个国家和地区——译者注。

05

The 13 Club

十三俱乐部

A MAN may pay millions of dollars to have a hospital, a library, or a museum named after him, and another who has paid nothing, done nothing, deserved nothing, and asked nothing has two of the biggest things in the World—the two continents North and South America—named after him, and people will go on forever calling them America after him—an unimportant, almost unknown man named Amerigo.

Do you know the song that begins, “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”? What do you mean by “My Country”? It is a part, the smaller part, of North America.

Have you a buffalo nickel in your pocket—a 5-cent piece ? If not, perhaps you can borrow one just to look at. On the head side is the picture of an Indian with feathers in his hair. Why do you suppose our country has the picture of an Indian instead of a white man on the nickel? On the tail side is the picture of a buffalo. Why do you suppose our country has a picture of a buffalo on the nickel instead of a horse or a cow?

Well, long before there were any white men here at all, or any horses or cows, there were a great many Indians and a great many buffaloes in this country. Now there are very few Indians and very few buffaloes in America, so these pictures on the nickel are to remind us that the Indian is the first American man and the buffalo is the first American animal.

If you will look at the printing on the nickel you will see it says “United States of America.” That’s the full name of our country, but it is too long for us to say United States of America every time, so we usually say just United States or just America or use just the initials U. S. A.

Have you ever seen a picture of a tall man with a suit of clothes that looked as if it had been made out of a flag, with red and white striped breeches, a long-tailed coat, and a tall hat with stars on it? There never was such a man really, but he is supposed to be the picture of the United States. As the initials of the United States are U. S., some one said they stand for Uncle Sam, so the old fellow dressed in a flag we call Uncle Sam.

The map of the U. S. looks as if it were made like a patch-work quilt of patches of different sizes and shapes. These patches are the States that are United—that means, joined to one another. As a matter of fact, of course, there are no lines between the States. The lines on the map are marked on the ground by stone posts set so far apart that you may cross from one State to another without even knowing when you are in a different State. Each State has towns and cities and country. I live in a city and the city is in the State of Maryland. You may live in a city or a town or in the country in another State. But every one in the U.S. must live in some State unless—I’ll tell you later the few places he may live without being in any State.

Some of the States have straight sides and some have one, two or more crooked sides. Some are big and some are little. The biggest State is Texas, at the bottom, near the center—only we don’t say bottom, we say south. The smallest State is Rhode Island, which is not an island at all. It is near the upper right-hand corner—only we don’t say upper right-hand corner, we say northeast. Texas would make more than 200 Rhode Islands. That is, you could put more than 200 Rhode Islands in Texas.

So the old fellow dressed in a flag we call Uncle Sam

我们因此就把那个穿着国旗的老伙计叫做山姆大叔

Not so long ago there was no United States. There were only thirteen little States along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. These States were so small they thought they ought to form a club. There is an old story about a man who wanted to break a bundle of sticks. He tried and he tried but he couldn’t break the bundle. Then some one told him to take the bundle apart and break each stick separately; so he did, and broke them easily. The States thought that they, in the same way, might be broken easily if separate, so they tied themselves together like a bundle of sticks in order that they might not be “broken” by an enemy. And so the 13 States formed a 13 club and called themselves the United States. They took as their motto “In Union is Strength,” which means “In one bundle we are strong.”

Now thirteen is generally considered an unlucky number, but these 13 States were not afraid of bad luck. In fact, as the new country had to have a flag, they made a flag with 13 stripes— seven red stripes and six white—and they put a white star for each State in a blue corner of the flag. Other parts of North America thought they’d like to join the club too, and more and more pieces kept on joining until there were forty-eight States, and these States that were united stretched from the Atlantic Ocean on one side to the Pacific Ocean on the other—that is, from where the sun rises from the ocean on one side to where it sets over the ocean on the other. Each time a piece joined the U. S., another star was put in the corner of the flag, but the number of stripes was not changed, for there would have been too many; so now there are forty-eight stars—that means forty-eight States united into one country. That’s why there are on our coins the words “e pluribus unum,” which means “one from many.”

Not all of America joined the club, however. The country north of the U. S. called Canada and the country south of the U. S. called Mexico did not join. And yet the people in Canada are Americans, and the people in Mexico are Americans, too, but both Canada and Mexico have different rulers from what we have, for they are different countries.

Though there are very few Indians left in the U. S., we still use some of their names in naming our States. See if you can pick out some of the States on the map that have Indian names. Maryland and Virginia, of course, are not—for they are girls’ names. States beginning with “New”—like New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire—of course are not Indian. They are named after old places in another country. But Minnesota, which means “sky blue water”; Ohio, which means “beautiful river” or “great”; and many others are Indian.

【中文阅读】

一个人也许要花上几百万美元才能让一家医院、一个图书馆或者一个博物馆以他的名字命名，但是有个人却没花一分钱，没做任何事，没有任何功劳，也没提出任何要求，却让世界上两个最大的东西——北美和南美两块大陆——以他的名字命名，叫亚美利加，而且人们会永远这样叫下去，这个微不足道的人，名叫亚美利哥。

你知道那首歌吗？开头唱道：“我的祖国，这属于你。”你知道“我的祖国”指的是什么吗？它是北美洲的一部分，较小的那一部分。

你口袋里有一枚水牛硬币吗？就是5分的硬币。没有的话你可以借一枚来看看。硬币的正面是一个头发上插着羽毛的印第安人的画像。你能猜出为什么我们国家硬币上的画像是印第安人，而不是白人吗？硬币的反面是一个水牛的画像。你想想为什么不是一匹马或者一头奶牛呢？

原来，很久以前，这里根本没有白人、马或奶牛，而是有很多很多的印第安人和许多许多的水牛。现在在美国，印第安人和水牛已经非常少了，因此硬币上的这些图像是提醒我们印第安人是最早的美国人，水牛是最早的美国动物。

如果看一下硬币上的字，你会发现上面写着：美利坚合众国。这是美国的全称，但是每次都说美利坚合众国就太长了，所以我们通常就说美国，或简称为U.S.A.。

你有没有看过这样一个人的图片？他个子高高的，穿着一套好像是用美国国旗做的衣服，红白条纹的马裤，长长的燕尾服，戴着一顶满是星星的高帽子。实际上从来没有这样一个人，但是他被认为是美国的化身。美国的首字母是U.S，于是有人说它代表山姆大叔（Uncle Sam，首字母同U.S.），我们因此就把那个穿着国旗的老伙计叫做山姆大叔。

美国地图看起来就像由不同尺寸和形状的布块拼缝而成的被子。这些布块就是美国的州，这些州联合在一起——也就是说彼此联为一体。当然，实际上这些州之间并没有线。地图上的这些线在地面上就只是用界石远远地做的标记，所以你可能从一个州跨进了另一个州自己却不知道。每个州都有城镇、城市和乡村。我住在位于马里兰州的一座城市里。你也许住在另一个州的某座城市或者镇或者乡村里。但是每个美国人都得住在某个州里，除非他是住在不属于任何一个州的地方——稍后我会告诉你有哪几个地方。

有些州有着笔直的边界，有些州的边界至少有一两处是弯曲的。有的州大，有的州小。最大的州是德克萨斯州，靠近中心下边的地方——不过我们不说下边，而说南边。最小的州是罗德岛州，实际上它根本不是什么岛。它靠近右上角——不过我们不说右上角，而说东北部。德克萨斯州有两百多个罗德岛州那么大，也就是说，你可以把两百多个罗德岛州放进德克萨斯州里。

不久以前美国还不存在。只有沿大西洋海岸的13个小州。这些州都很小，所以他们觉得应该成立一个俱乐部。这与一个古老的故事有关，故事说有个男人想折断一束树枝，他怎么折都折不断。于是有人给他出主意把树枝解开，再一根一根折；他就照做了，果然很容易就把树枝折断了。这13个州认为如果他们彼此分开，同样也会很容易被打垮，于是他们团结起来就像一捆树枝那样，不会被任何敌人“折断”了。所以这13个州就组成了一个“十三俱乐部”，起名叫“合众国”。他们的座右铭是：“团结就是力量。”意思就是“抱成团，折不断”。

现在13通常被认为是个不吉利的数字，但是这13个州并不害怕什么坏运气。甚至想到一个新的国家总得有国旗，他们还制作了一面有13道条纹的旗子——七红六白——并在旗子蓝色一角用13颗白色的星星代表13个州。北美的其他地区也想要加入进来，于是越来越多的地方加入进来，直到一共有48个州，这些州连起来从大西洋东侧的岸向西延伸到西侧的太平洋——也就是从海洋一边太阳升起的地方到海洋另一边太阳落下的地方。每次有新州加入，旗子一角的星星就会添加一颗，但是条纹不再增加，不然就太多了；所以现在国旗上有48颗星——意味着48个州联合成一个国家。这就是为什么我们的硬币上有“e pluribus unum”这样的拉丁语字样，意思是“合众为一”。

然而并不是整个美洲所有地区都加入了这个俱乐部。美国北部的国家加拿大和南部的国家墨西哥都没有加入。不过加拿大人也是美洲人，墨西哥人也是美洲人，但加拿大和墨西哥都有着和我们不一样的统治者，因为他们是不同的国家。

尽管美国现在只有极少数印第安人，我们仍然用他们的名字来命名一些州。看看你能不能在地图上找出几个有印第安名的州。马里兰和弗吉尼亚当然不是——因为它们是女孩的名字。以“新”字开头的州——比如说纽约[1]、新泽西、新罕布什尔——当然也不是。它们是按别的国家的老地名来取名的。但是像明尼苏达（意思是“天蓝色的水”），俄亥俄（意思是“美丽的河”或“伟大的”）等许多其他州——都是印第安语。

[1] 英语“New York”字面意思为“新约克”——译者注。

06

A City Built in a Swamp

建于沼泽中的城市

A CAP which you wear on your head means “head.”

A cap-tain also means “head”—he’s the head of a company of soldiers.

A cap-ital means “head” too—it’s the head city of a country or of a State.

When I was a boy I lived in the capital of the United States, but I did not live in the Capitol of the United States. That may sound funny, but it’s true, for there are two kinds of capitals. The capit-Al is a city, the Capit-Ol is a building, and of course I didn’t live in the Capit-Ol building. Not even the President lives there.

When our country was started men tried to find a suitable place for the capital. Eight places were tried out and at last a swamp was chosen as the proper place to build the city, because it was then near the center of our country. So a city was built there and called Washington after George Washington, because he was the First President of the United States. Even when-I-was-a-boy there was a part of Washington which every one called “Swamp Puddle” or “Swam-poodle.” I wonder if boys there still call it that. It is now one of the most beautiful cities in the World, with lovely parks and beautiful buildings. George Washington didn’t live in Washington. He lived at a place in the State of Virginia about ten miles away called Mount Vernon. Washington is now on the edge of our country, over a thousand miles from the center. The capital hasn’t moved, but the center of the country has.

There are twenty-eight cities named “Washington” in the United States. Washington, the capital, looks on the map as if it were in the State of Maryland, but it isn’t. It isn’t in any State. The capital of all the States had to have a place all its own; so this piece of land is called the District of Columbia, or D. C. for short. The District of Columbia is named after Columbus, the man who discovered America. So if you write a letter to any one in Washington, the capital, you must be very careful to put “D.C.” after Washington, for there are so many cities and towns named after Washington that your letter might not go to the right one.

When-I-was-a-boy I thought the Capitol was the most beautiful building in the World. Since then I have seen nearly all of the most beautiful buildings in the World, and I have changed my mind. I have even seen a building fit to be in Heaven. I used to make a copy of the Capitol as nearly as I could in my sand-pile. I would fill a shoe-box with wet sand, then turn it carefully upside down so as to empty it out without breaking, and I made the dome on top in the same way with a tea-cup.

I thought all capitols of other countries must have domes, too. I didn’t learn until later that not capitols but churches were the first buildings to have domes, and that many capitols have no domes. As a boy I used to climb to the top of the dome—for there was no elevator—to see the view of the city, and to look down on the inside at the floor far below where people walking seemed like ants crawling.

I thought it the most beautiful building in the World

我认为国会大厦就是世界上最美的建筑

On one side of the Capitol is a large room called the Senate, and on the other side is a still larger room called the House of Representatives. In both the Senate and the House of Representatives men sit at desks like boys in school. These men are the ones who make our laws, which are rules that everybody in the United States must obey. The men in the Senate are called Senators. The men in the House are called Representatives. When I say “men,” I mean women too, for some of the Senators and Representatives are women.

Each State chooses two Senators to go to the Capitol in Washington. No matter whether the State is big like Texas or whether it is little like Rhode Island, it sends only two Senators. And each State also sends to the Capitol in Washington other men or women called Repre-sentatives, but the number of Representatives each State sends depends on the number of people in the State; New York has the most people, so it sends the most Representatives. Several States have so few people that they send only one Representative. The Senate and the House of Representatives together are called “Congress,” and when Congress is holding a meeting a flag is flying over the Capitol.

Look in the front of this book or any other book and you will see printed there “Copyright.” Just across a park from the Capitol is a large building with a golden dome on top. This building is the Library of Congress. Every one in the United States who prints a book sends two copies of it to this library, and the library sends him a “copy-right,” which means that no one else has the “right” to copy it or print it without his permission. In the Library of Congress there are more books than in any other building in the country.

You might live there some day

也许有一天你会住在里面

Look on your camera or phonograph, or any other machine in your home, and see if you can find the word “Patented.” Any one in the country who invents anything new and useful—whether it is a fountainpen, an airplane, or a mouse-trap—sends one—a model, it is called—to another building in Washington called the Patent Office and asks for a patent. If the thing is really new and no one has ever made anything of the kind before, the Patent Office gives him the sole right to make and sell it, and no one else is allowed to make or sell it. That is called a patent. Some of the models are very curious. One model that some one had invented was a steam-engine that walked with iron legs. When-I-was-a-boy I invented a “snapback” handkerchief. I would blow my nose, then let go the handkerchief, and a rubber pulled it back into my pocket. But I didn’t get a patent.

Parades! Soldiers! Bands of music! Flying flags! Some of the greatest parades have passed down a very wide street in Washington called Pennsylvania Avenue, or usually just “The Avenue.” It might be called “Parade Avenue.” It stretches from the Capitol to another building about a mile away that looks like a big bank. This other building is called the Treasury. There is a picture of it on the $10 bill. In the Treasury is kept money of the United States. We write United States with two letters, U. S., and we write the sign for “dollars” with the same two letters, written one on top of the other, with the bottom of the “U” cut off—thus, $.

Paper money and postage-stamps are printed in another building.

“You see that man over there turning the handle of that printing-press?” says the guide who shows you around. “He makes a million dollars a day!”

“Whew! He must be the richest man in the World.”

“Oh, no. He only gets $5 a day.”

It seemed a mile high

它看起来足有1英里高

The money made out of silver, and gold, and copper is made in another city—not in Washington—at a place called the Mint.

When-I-was-a-boy I had an old bookcase which I called my museum. In it I had a starfish, some shells, a bird’s nest, a “gold” rock, and so forth. In Washington there is a large museum called the National Museum in which there is a huge collection of all sorts of curious and remarkable things from all over the World.

There are many white houses in the country, but next door to the Treasury is a White House that is different from any other, for in this house the President lives. There is a picture of it on the $20 bill. From the back porch of The White House the latest President of the United States can look across his back yard and see a monument to the First President—Washington. The Washington Monument is the highest piece of stone work in the World. It’s like a giant finger, five hundred and fifty-five feet high. It seemed a mile high, but it is really only about a tenth of a mile high—not even as high as a low mountain. No man has ever been able to build as high as God. Though there is an elevator, I used to run up the stairs, two steps at a time, to the top of the monument—just for fun—to see how quickly I could do it, and whether I could beat the elevator. Boys are like that. They will run a race with anything. I could beat the elevator down by jumping half a dozen steps at a time, but not up. My heart did the beating going up.

Lincoln memorial（林肯纪念堂）

There is a long pool of water at the foot of the Washington Monument in which you can see the monument as in a mirror. At the other end of this pool is a marble building with columns all around the four sides. It was built in honor of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President after Washington. It is probably the most thrilling memorial ever built to a human being. There is a picture of Lincoln on the $5 bill and on the other side a picture of his Memorial. Lincoln was born in a tiny house made of logs, so small that the whole house could be put in one room of your home. No boy was ever poorer, or had less money or less chance, and yet he became President of the United States. While he was President two parts of the United States fought a terrible war with each other and almost became un-United, but Lincoln kept the States together. That’s why this beautiful building was built in his honor. The only thing in the building is a statue of Lincoln sitting in a chair. He looks down on the crowds of people who visit him, as if his spirit were inside that figure of stone.

【中文阅读】

有些含有cap（帽子）的英语单词表示“头”的意思。因为帽子是戴在头上的。

Cap-tain（队长）是“头”的意思——他是一队士兵的头。

Cap-ital（首都）同样也有“头”的意思——它是一个国家或一个州的头。

我小的时候住在美国的首都，但我并不是住在美国的国会大厦[1]。听起来很有趣，但真的是这样，因为这是两个不同的词。“Capital”，首都，是一个城市；“Capitol”，国会大厦，是一栋建筑，我当然不住在国会大厦里，就连总统也不住在那里。

美国刚建立的时候，人们要找一个合适的地方作首都。考察了八个地方后，最后一块沼泽地被选为最合适建首都的地方，因为它当时靠近国家中心。于是在那里建了一座城市，并以美国第一届总统乔治 · 华盛顿的名字命名为华盛顿。当我还是个小孩子的时候，华盛顿还有一块地方人人都称之为“沼泽坑”或者“沼泽潭”。不知那里的孩子们是不是还这样叫。华盛顿现在是世界上最美丽的城市之一，有可爱的公园和美丽的建筑。乔治 · 华盛顿那时并不住在华盛顿。而是住在距华盛顿有大约10英里的弗吉尼亚州的一个叫做弗农山庄的地方。华盛顿现在处于美国的边界，离中心有一千多英里。首都还在原地，但是国家的中心位置变了。

美国有28个城市都叫“华盛顿”。在地图上看首都华盛顿好像是位于马里兰州，其实却不是。它不属于任何州。所有州的首府必须有属于它自己的一块地方；所以这块地方就被叫做哥伦比亚特区，简称D.C.。哥伦比亚特区是以发现美洲大陆的哥伦布的名字命名的。所以如果你写信给首都华盛顿的某人，你得很仔细地在华盛顿后面加上“D.C.”，因为叫华盛顿的城市和城镇太多，不加的话很可能你的信就送不到你想寄去的地方。

小时候，我以为国会大厦就是世界上最美的建筑。后来我见到了世界上几乎所有最美的建筑，我改变了想法。我甚至还见过一个适合放在天堂里的地方。小时候玩沙，我都要在沙堆里尽可能造一个国会大厦。我先用鞋盒装满潮湿的沙子，然后小心翼翼地把它扣在地上，这样沙子倒出来不会散开，然后用茶杯以同样的方法在上面加个圆屋顶。

我原以为其他国家的国会大厦也一定有圆屋顶的。直到后来我才知道国会大厦不是最早有圆屋顶的建筑，最早的是教堂，而且许多国会大厦并没有圆屋顶。小时候我常爬到圆屋顶上面去——因为当时还没有电梯——观看城市风景，并朝下看大厦里地板上的人像蚂蚁爬行似的在走动。

国会大厦的一侧有个大房间，叫参议院，另一侧有个更大的房间，叫做众议院。在参议院和众议院里，人们就像孩子上课那样坐在桌子旁。正是这些人制定了美国的法律，法律就是所有美国人都要遵守的规则。参议院里的人叫做参议员，众议院里的人叫做众议员。我说“人”的时候，当然也包括那些女参议员和女众议员。

每个州选两名参议员到华盛顿的国会大厦。不管是像德克萨斯这样的大州，还是像罗德岛这样的小州，都只能选送两名参议员。每个州还选众议员到国会大厦，不过每州选送的众议员人数取决于这个州的总人口数；纽约人口最多，所以它选送的众议员也最多。有几个州人数太少，只能选送一名众议员。参议院和众议院一起被称为“国会”，国会召开会议的时候，国会大厦上会有一面旗子在飘动。

看看这本书或者其他书的前面，你会看到上面印有“版权”一词。从国会大厦穿过一个公园有一座很大的建筑，上面有金色的圆屋顶，这就是国会图书馆。在美国，任何人要出版一本书都要先送两册到这个图书馆，然后图书馆会授予他“版权”，就是说其他人没有他的同意就无“权”复印或印刷那本书。国会图书馆的藏书比美国任何别的建筑物里的书都要多。

看看你的照相机或留声机，或者家里其他任何机器，看看能不能找到“专利”这个词。美国任何人发明了新的有用的东西——不管是自来水钢笔、飞机还是老鼠夹——都要送一个——一般称为模型——到华盛顿的另一栋叫做专利局的大楼里，去申请专利。如果这个东西确实是新发明，从来没做过同样的东西，专利局就会授予他制造和销售这种东西的独享的权利，其他任何人都不允许生产和销售同样的东西。这就叫做专利。有些模型非常稀奇古怪。有个人发明的模型是个能用铁腿走路的蒸汽机。我小时候发明过一种“快速返回”手帕。擤完鼻涕，我一松开手帕，一根橡皮筋就把它拉回到我的口袋里。但是我没有获得专利。

游行！士兵！乐队！飘扬的旗帜！有一些大规模的游行都经过华盛顿一条非常宽大的街道，叫宾夕法尼亚大街，人们通常就直接称它“大街”。这条街满可以叫做“游行大街”。它从国会大厦一直延伸到约1英里外的另一栋建筑物，那栋建筑物看起来像是座大银行，那是财政部。10美元上就有它的图案。美国的钱都由财政部保管。我们用U.S.这两个字母表示美国，我们同样用这两个字母表示“美元”，把一个字母写在另一个上面，并把U的底下切掉——这样就变成了$。

印制纸币和邮票是在另一栋建筑物里。

“你看到那边那个人在转动印刷机手柄吗？”带你参观的导游会这样介绍说，“他一天制造一百万美元！”

“哇！他一定是世界上最有钱的人了。”

“哦，不。他一天只挣5美金。”

银币、金币和铜币是在另外一个城市制造的——不是在华盛顿——而是在一个叫铸币局的地方。

我小的时候有一个很老的书架，我把它叫做博物馆。里面放了一只海星、一些贝壳、一个鸟窝、一块“黄金”石等。在华盛顿有一个非常大的博物馆，叫做国家博物馆，里面陈列着从世界各地搜集过来的各种各样稀奇古怪、非同寻常的东西。

在全美国有很多白色的房子，但是要数财政部旁边那个白宫最为与众不同，因为那是总统住的地方。20美元上面就有它的图案。从白宫后面的走廊上美国在任总统可以看到在他的后院对面有一个纪念碑——此碑是为纪念第一任总统华盛顿而建的。华盛顿纪念碑是世界上最高的石方工程。它就像一根巨大的手指，有555英尺高，看起来足有1英里高，但它实际高度大概上只有1英里的十分之一——甚至还没有一座小山高。没有人能像上帝那样建造出高耸入云的东西。虽然有了电梯，我过去却经常自己登上纪念碑，一步两个台阶向上跑——这只是为了好玩——看看自己能有多快，能不能超过电梯。男孩子就是这样，跟什么都要比比速度。下来的时候我能一次跳六个台阶，比电梯还快，但是上去却比不过电梯；上的时候我心跳加速，只好败下阵来。

华盛顿纪念碑前有一个长长的水池，就像一面镜子，里面可以看到纪念碑的倒影。在池子的另一端有一个大理石的建筑，四周有圆柱环绕。这是为了纪念美国的第十六任总统亚伯拉罕 · 林肯而建的。这也许是有史以来为个人而建的最激动人心的纪念堂了。5美元纸币上有林肯像，纸币另一面就是他的纪念堂。林肯出生在一个木头造的房子里，房子小得可怜，可以整个放进你们家任何一个房间里。没有人比他更卑微、更贫穷、更缺乏机会的了，然而他后来当了美国总统。他任总统期间，美国的南北两方爆发了激烈的战争，差一点就分裂了，但是林肯维护了美国的统一。这就是为什么要为他建造这座漂亮的纪念堂。纪念堂里没有其他东西，只摆放着一尊坐在椅子上的林肯雕像。他向下注视着来瞻仰他的人群，好像他的精神还活在这石头的雕像里。

[1] 英语“首都”（capital）音同“国会大厦”（capitol），两者容易混淆——译者注。

07

Mary’s Land, Virginia’s State, and Penn’s Woods

玛丽的领地、弗吉尼亚的领土和佩恩的森林

DID you ever trade a top for some marbles or an apple for an orange? Long before there was any Washington or any United States there used to be trader Indians living on the shores of the river that flows by Washington. These Indians paddled their canoes up and down the river and traded with other Indians, swapping things they had for things they wanted—beads for furs, bows for arrows, corn for potatoes. In the Indian language the name for Traders was Potomac, so we call the river after these trader Indians, the Potomac River. The Potomac separates two States with girls’ names: Maryland and Virgina. They are named after two queens. The Potomac Indians paddled their canoes down the river till they came to a much broader piece of water. This piece of water was so big it seemed to them like the ocean, and they called it “the Mother of Waters,” which in their own language was “Chesapeake.” You can see it on the map. Chesapeake Bay is not the ocean, but it is the biggest bay in the United States.

Did you ever eat snails or terrapin or frogs’ legs? Some people like them. The Indians found oysters growing in the Chesapeake Bay. At first no one thought of eating oysters—they didn’t look good to eat. But one day an Indian who was very hungry broke an oyster-shell open and ate the oyster inside. It tasted good and it didn’t hurt him, so others began to eat oysters, and now almost every one likes oysters, either raw or cooked. Oysters grow in other parts of the World too, but many people say that those in the Chesapeake Bay are the largest and best, but they are not supposed to be good unless they are eaten during the eight months that have an R in their names. They are good in MaRch but not in June.

Near “the Mother of Waters” are two cities. One is named Annapolis. The other is named Baltimore. Annapolis means Anna’s City, and it too was named after a queen. That makes three places—Anna’s City, Mary’s Land, and Virginia’s State—named after queens. Annapolis is the capital of the State of Maryland, just as Washington is the capital of all the States. At Annapolis the United States has a school for teaching boys to be sailors and fit to fight the sea battles of the United States if the country should ever have any. This school is called the Naval Academy. Some of the best boys chosen from each State in the United States go to Annapolis. They study all about boats and fighting and about geography; they visit other countries and learn to command ships.

Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland. It was named after an English lord. The first railroad in our country started in Baltimore, and as it ran from Baltimore to the State of Ohio, it was called the Baltimore & Ohio, or the B. & O. for short. Baltimore is famous for the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. Boys come from all over the World to study at the “Hopkins,” and people come from all over the World to be treated at the “Hopkins Hospital.”

A man named Penn once owned the State just north of Maryland. It was then all woods, so it was called Pennsylvania, which means Penn’s Woods. But ages before Penn’s Woods other woods were there—huge forests of trees and giant plants growing high and thick and fast. More ages passed and these forests died and became buried and mashed down under the ground and turned into black rock. More ages passed and men dug up this black rock, and by accident they found that unlike other rock this rock would burn. Of course it would burn, because, as we know now, it was really only hardened wood—which we call coal.

There are two kinds of coal. One is called hard and the other is called soft. Soft coal doesn’t mean soft like a cushion; it means it crumbles easily. Hard coal is the best; soft coal is dirtier and smokier, but is a great deal cheaper. Why is it that the best things almost always cost the most? In the eastern part of Pennsylvania the coal that comes out of the ground is hard; in the western part it is soft.

Hundreds of thousands of men, called miners, work underneath the ground, where it is like night all day long, digging out the coal to run steam-engines and to heat our houses. They have been digging away for years and years, so that there are huge hollow places underneath parts of Pennsylvania.

Coal is in layers underneath the ground and between layers of rock like the chocolate in a chocolate layer-cake. But there are also iron mines in Pennsylvania, and iron is not in layers; it is all mixed through the rock under the ground and is called ore. To get the iron out of the ore, men build huge fires under the ore and the iron melts and runs out, like water, into troughs which they make in the ground to catch it. When the iron cools, the blocks of iron are called “pigs”—perhaps because they are about the size of pigs—or perhaps because a pig goes into a trough.

To get iron out of iron ore you must have heat, and to have heat you must have something to make heat with, like coal. Some places have iron ore but no coal, and some places have coal but no iron. It is as if some boys who wanted to play baseball had a ball but no bat, and some other boys had a bat but no ball. But Pittsburgh, in the western part of Pennsylvania, had both iron and coal near-by. That is like boys who have both a bat and a ball.

The Liberty Bell is cracked

独立钟已破损了

From the ore they make iron, and from the iron they make steel, and from the steel they make rails for railroad tracks and beams for tall buildings and bridges to cross rivers.

A name that is in the Bible is the name of a city, Philadelphia. It means the City of Brotherly Love. This name was chosen to give to the largest city in Pennsylvania, in fact, the third largest city in all the United States, but I don’t know whether it suits or not. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States before there was any Washington, D. C., but now it isn’t even the capital of its own State. Here in an old building, called Independence Hall, is the bell that rang out the news when the United States was first made a country. It is now cracked, so will not ring any more, but is more treasured than any bell in the United States that can ring.

If you want to see a board “walk,” go to Atlantic City

如果你想享受这样一条人行道，就去大西洋城吧

The biggest bathtub in the World is not far from Philadelphia. It is an ocean bath called Atlantic City, on the coast of New Jersey. People from all over the World go there to take salt baths and sun baths and to be amused. There is a boardwalk miles long and as wide as a street close by the ocean, and along its side is every kind of thing to amuse you and your “stummick.” If you want to see a board “walk,” go to Atlantic City.

【中文阅读】

华盛顿或者美国诞生以前，就有一条河流经现在的华盛顿，河边住着很多印第安商人。这些印第安人划着独木舟，在河上来来往往，与其他印第安人做交易，用已有的东西去换需要的东西——珠子换毛皮，弓换箭，玉米换土豆。在印第安语中商人被叫做“波托马克”，于是我们现在就以这些印第安商人的名字把这个河流称为波托马克河。波托马克河分隔开两个有女孩子名字的州，马里兰州和弗吉尼亚州。它们是以两位女王的名字命名的。波托马克的印第安人划着独木舟顺流而下，直至来到一片更开阔的水域。这片水域很大，他们觉得就像海一样宽广，于是他们管它叫“河之母”，用他们的语言说就是“切萨皮克”。这个地方地图上可以找得到。切萨皮克湾不是海洋，但却是美国最大的海湾。

你吃过蜗牛、水龟或青蛙腿吗？有些人喜欢吃。印第安人发现了生长在切萨皮克湾的牡蛎。最初没人想到吃牡蛎——因为那东西看起来不像是能吃的样子。但是有一天一个印第安人饥饿难耐，就敲开了一只牡蛎壳，吃了里面的肉。他觉得味道鲜美，也没有感到什么不舒服，于是其他人也开始吃牡蛎，现在几乎人人都喜欢吃牡蛎，无论是生吃还是烧熟了吃。世界上其他地方也有牡蛎，不过很多人说切萨皮克湾的牡蛎最大也最好吃，不过只有在有“R”字的八个月份里才好吃[1]。三月（“MaRch”）的牡蛎就很好吃，而六月（“June”）的就不好吃。

在“河之母”附近有两座城市。一个叫安纳波利斯，另一个叫巴尔的摩。安纳波利斯的意思是安娜之城，也是以一位女王的名字命名的。这样一共就有三个地方是以女王的名字命名的——安娜之城、玛丽的领地和弗吉尼亚的领土。安纳波利斯是马里兰州的首府，就像华盛顿是美国的首都一样。安纳波利斯有一所美国专门培养水兵的学校，万一美国发生战争，他们可以成为在海上作战的士兵。这所学校叫做海军军官学校。只有每个州挑选出来的最优秀的男孩子才会到安纳波利斯去学习。他们学习与舰船、作战以及和地理相关的知识；他们出访其他国家，学习指挥舰船的本领。

巴尔的摩是马里兰州最大的城市，它是以一位英国勋爵的名字命名的。美国的第一条铁路就开始于巴尔的摩，因为是从巴尔的摩通往俄亥俄州，所以这条铁路也叫做巴尔的摩—俄亥俄铁路，或者简称为巴俄线。巴尔的摩因有约翰 · 霍普金斯大学和约翰 · 霍普金斯医院而闻名。世界各地的许多孩子到霍普金斯大学学习，世界各地也有很多人到霍普金斯医院来看病。

一位名叫佩恩的男子曾经拥有马里兰州北面的那个州。当时那里森林密布，于是被叫做宾夕法尼亚，意思是佩恩的森林。早在佩恩的森林存在之前很多年代，那里就长着大片的森林——高大浓密，各种树木和植物生长迅速。很多年代之后，这些森林死去，深埋地下，被压成碎块，渐渐变成了黑色的岩石。又过去许多年代，人们挖出了这些黑色的岩石，偶然间发现这些岩石和其他岩石不同之处是可以燃烧。这种岩石当然可以燃烧，因为我们现在都知道，其实那只是硬化的木头——我们叫它煤。

煤有两种。一种叫硬煤，一种叫软煤。软煤并不是说它像垫子一样柔软；而是说它容易破碎。硬煤是最好的，而软煤更污染环境，冒出的烟也更多，但比硬煤要便宜很多。为什么最好的东西总是价格最高呢？宾夕法尼亚东部产出的煤是硬煤，西部产出的是软煤。

成千上万叫做矿工的人，在地底下挖煤，那里从早到晚好像都是黑夜，他们挖出煤用以运转蒸汽机，给我们的房子供热。这些矿工们年复一年地挖掘煤矿使得现在宾夕法尼亚地下有些地方成了一个个大洞。

煤炭在地下是一层层分布在岩石之间，就像巧克力夹心蛋糕中的巧克力一样。但是在宾夕法尼亚还有铁矿藏，铁不是分层的，而是和地下的岩石混为一体，叫做矿石。为了把铁从矿石中提炼出来，人们生起大火，把矿石放在上面烧，铁熔化成铁水从矿石里流出来，流入地上的槽中，那是人们为接住铁水事先在地上挖好的。铁水冷却后形成的铁块叫“生铁”[2]——也许是因为它们和猪的大小差不多，或者因为猪也到槽里吃食。

要把铁从矿石中提炼出来就得有热量，要有热量就得有像煤那样的东西来产生热量。有的地方有铁矿却没有煤炭，而有的地方有煤炭却没有铁矿。就好像有的男孩想打棒球却只有球没有球棒，而其他的孩子却只有球棒没有球。宾夕法尼亚西部的匹兹堡附近既有铁矿又有煤炭，就像有些男孩既有球棒又有球一样。

人们从矿石中提炼出了铁，将铁制成了钢，用钢造出铁路的铁轨、高楼的横梁和跨河的桥梁。

有座城市的名字是取自于《圣经》——非拉铁非（简称费城），意思是兄弟之爱的城市。费城是宾夕法尼亚最大的城市，也是美国第三大城市，但我不知道这合不合适。华盛顿特区成立之前，费城曾是美国的首都，但现在连自己本州的首府都不是了。费城有一座古老的建筑，名叫独立大厅，厅内有一口大钟，美国刚刚成立时，这口大钟响起，宣示了美国独立。现在钟已经破损了，再也不能响了，但是却比美国任何一口能敲响的钟都要珍贵。

世界上最大的“浴缸”离费城不远。那是一个叫大西洋城的海洋浴场，位于新泽西州海岸。来自世界各地的人到那里去享受盐浴和日光浴，尽情玩乐。大西洋城海滨有一条几英里长的木板人行道，有街道那么宽，两旁有各种各样供你娱乐的东西，也有各种美食满足你的胃口。如果你想享受这样一条人行道，就去大西洋城吧。

[1] 英语中含字母“R”的月份有：“January”，“February”，“March”，“April”，“September”，“October”，“November”，“December”。不含字母“R”的月份有：“May”，“June”，“July”，“August”——译者注。

[2] 英语用“pig”,与“猪”同用一词——译者注。

08

The Empire State

帝国州

SEVERAL countries together are called an “Empire.” So New York State is often called the Empire State, because it has as many people, who do as much business and make as much money, as several countries put together.

Down at the corner of New York State is New York City, the second largest city in the World, with more shops, more hotels, more people, and more money than any other city on this side of the World, and with more tall buildings than on any side of the World. It was named after a city across the ocean called York, but New York is now hundreds of times bigger than old York. It is the city of millionaires and millions who are not. People from all over the world come to New York hoping to be millionaires too. Some used to think the streets were paved with gold, and were disappointed when they found them just asphalt.

new york sky-line

纽约的空中轮廓

The main part of New York City is on an island which the Indians called Manhattan. White men bought it from the Indians and paid them about $24 for the whole island—not in money, for the Indians didn’t know what money was, but in beads and ornaments worth $24. A piece of ground only large enough to stand on would now cost many times more than what the whole island once cost. That may seem a big price for a small piece of ground, but a plot of ground is not like a sheet of paper, without thickness. The owner owns everything above and below the ground—down to the center of the earth and up to the sky. That is why men in New York build buildings up to the sky—“sky-scrapers” we call them—for a fifty-story building takes up no more land than a one-story building.

To me there is nothing in the World made by the hand of man more wonderful than New York’s giant buildings. They are marvelous, magnificent, awe-inspiring, stupendous, amazing, overpowering, thrilling, Brobdingnagian. Have you read “Gulliver’s Travels”? Brobdingnag was the land of the giants. They stand unmoved by thunder and lightning, by wind, storm, or tempest, and they look down on their creaters—mites of men who, with their hands of only five fingers, have built them. New York’s motto is “Excelsior,” which means “Higher,” and that is the motto of its builders. There is a saying, “Great oaks from little acorns grow,” and one of the greatest of these buildings—sixty stories high—was built from the nickels and dimes made by Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Stores. The most marvelous building of all is called the Empire State Building. It is one hundred and two stories high, taller than any other building in New York City, or in America, or in the whole World.

One group of high buildings in New York might be called the capitol of the World. After World War II most of the countries of the World wanted to find some way of keeping a third World War from happening. These countries each sent men to meet together as our States send men to Congress. At their meetings they discuss matters that are of interest to all the countries of the World. When any country quarrels with another these people try to have them settle their quarrel without fighting. This congress is called the United Nations. The United Nations decided that New York City would be the best place to have its meetings and carry on its business. So there it built its offices. When the buildings were dedicated, or solemnly set apart for United Nations use, the speeches were broadcast in twenty-six different languages.

At a meeting of the United Nations each speaker speaks in his own language, yet he can be understood by all the other people there, for everyone wears earphones and hears a translation of the speech in the language he understands. Of course the people who do the translation must know two languages, for they have to listen in one language and speak into a microphone in another language. What they speak into the microphones is what is heard in the earphones. Millions of other people watch the United Nations meetings on television.

Her nose is four and one half feet long. What a nose for smelling!

她的鼻子有4.5英尺长，这么大的鼻子能闻到多远的气味啊！

On a little island in New York Harbor is a huge bronze statue called the Goddess of Liberty holding aloft a torch-light. Her hand is over sixteen feet long. What a hand to shake! One finger is eight feet long. What a finger for a ring! Her nose is four and one-half feet long. What a nose for smelling! Her mouth is a yard wide. What a mouth for talking! You can climb up on the inside into the Goddess’s head and arm, and a dozen people can stand inside her torch. Ships pass by her, and their passengers crowding the deck greet her with a thrill of “My Country, ’Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty,” and wave her farewell as they leave for afar, perhaps never to return.

On one side of Manhattan Island is the Hudson River and on the other side is the East River. A bridge was built across the East River by stretching ropes made of steel from one side of the river to the other and hanging the floor of the bridge from these steel ropes. This is called a suspension bridge. It is called the Brooklyn Bridge because at the other end of it on Long Island is another big city called Brooklyn. Brooklyn is now a part of New York City. Such bridges had been built over small streams before, but this was the first big, long bridge built in this way. It is suspended in the air so high above the water that even the greatest ships easily pass beneath it.

At first people were afraid to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, for, said they, “A bridge hung on ropes, even if made of steel, will fall.” It swayed and shook as trucks and cars rumbled over it, and it still does—but still hangs. Several other bridges have been built over the East River and the Hudson River to New York City. Also, tunnels have been dug under the Hudson. The tunnels are called “Tubes” because they are like big tubes under the river.

Two of the most famous streets in the World run the length of Manhattan Island and still farther north. One is named Broadway and the other Fifth Avenue. Broadway was at first only a short street, but it seemed very broad, so they called it that. Broadway, however, is now so long that it might better be called “Longway.” One part of it is lighted so brightly at night by thousands of electric lights and flashing electric signs that it is often called “The Great White Way.” Fifth Avenue is a famous street of once fashionable homes, and many of the finest and most expensive shops are there, so that Fifth Avenue has come to mean Fashion Avenue. The streets of New York are so crowded that most of the people travel from their homes to their work by trains that run in tunnels underground. These underground tunnels are called Subways.

At first people were afraid to cross the Brooklyn Bridge

最初人们都不敢走过布鲁克林大桥

In spite of the fact that land in New York City is worth more than any other land in the World, there are two big parks where city people may have a little country. Central Park is fifty blocks long and several blocks wide, and Bronx Park has a wonderful Zoo where there are strange and curious animals which hunters have brought alive from the jungles, mountains, deserts, and wildernesses of far-off lands.

A man from across the ocean once landed in New York and spent the day seeing the sights. Just before dinner he said he would like to drive out and see Niagara Falls, which he had heard were the most wonderful falls in the World. When he was told that it would take all night on a fast train to get to Niagara, he couldn’t understand.

“But isn’t Niagara in New York?” he asked.

“Yes,” was the reply, “but not in New York City. Niagara is all the way across the State of New York.”

尼亚加拉瀑布局部一览

The roar of the water can be heard for miles

瀑布在悬崖边发出震耳欲聋的轰隆声，几英里外都能听到

On the west edge of New York State are two great lakes with Indian names—Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Lake Erie on the map looks lower than Lake Ontario, but it really is much higher. So the water from Lake Erie falls over a high and broad cliff to reach Lake Ontario. This waterfall is called Niagara, and though there are other falls in the World higher and other falls broader, Niagara is the most beautiful and most famous, and people go from all over the World to see it. The roar of the water as it thunders over the edge can be heard for miles, and when the sun is shining there is always a rainbow in the spray that rises from the bottom of the falls. Thousands of people view the falls each day, and of each thousand—

358 say “Isn’t it wonderful !”

247 say “Isn’t it grand!”

136 say “Isn’t it beautiful!”

93 say “Isn’t it lovely!”

45 say “Isn’t it pretty !”

24 say “Ah!”

And the rest say “Oh!”

A part of Niagara is caught in a huge bucket as it falls. and the falling water turns giant wheels in the bottom of the bucket. The wheels make electricity, which is carried on wires to turn the wheels of mills, to run the trolley-cars, and to light the houses and streets in the city of Buffalo near-by, and other places farther away.

For some reason or other, every now and then some man tries to jump the falls in a barrel, and at least one man has done it and lived. But boats on Lake Erie that wanted to go to Lake Ontario couldn’t jump the falls, So men dug a river around Niagara Falls from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and put water steps in it so that boats could go downhill to Lake Ontario or uphill to Lake Erie. This man-made river is called the Welland Canal.

It may seem strange for a boat to step downhill, but it not only can step downhill, it can step up too. A water step down a hill is called a “lock,” and a lock is like a huge bathtub set in the canal. Perhaps you have floated toy boats in your bathtub. If you have, you know that as you fill the tub the boat rises as the water rises, and as you let the water run out of the tub the boat lowers as the water lowers.

Now a canal lock works the same way with large boats as the bathtub with small boats. If a boat wants to go downhill it sails into the lock. The water in the lock is then let out and the boat lowers as the water lowers. When the boat is at the bottom, doors at the end of the lock are opened and the boat sails out on the lower canal. If a boat wants to go uphill it sails into the bottom of the lock through the open doors, the doors are then closed, and the water is turned on. As it fills the lock the boat rises with it, for water will lift anything that will float, no matter whether it be the smallest chip or the biggest ship. Water, just plain water, has more power to lift and lower the largest steamship than even giant machinery would have. It lifts the largest battle-ship as easily and softly as it would the lightest feather floating on the surface—as easily as you might lift a snowflake on your hand.

Boats that wanted to go to New York City—and almost all boats did want to go to New York—once had to go down through the Welland Canal and locks to Lake Ontario, then all the way out the St. Lawrence River, which runs from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean, then sail down the coast to New York. To avoid this long detour, this long way round, men dug a canal all the way across New York State from Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson River, so that big boats can now cut across from Lake Erie to New York City. This is called the Barge Canal. It’s one of the longest canals in the World.

【中文阅读】

几个国家合在一起叫做“帝国”，纽约州常被叫做帝国州，因为它人口众多，商业发达，财源滚滚，怎么都抵得上好几个国家。

纽约州南部的一角是纽约市，它是世界第二大城市，是西半球拥有最多的商店、旅馆、人口和财富的城市，也是全球拥有最多高楼的城市。它是以大洋对岸一个叫约克的城市命名的，但是“新约克”（纽约）要比旧约克大上几百倍。它是百万富翁的城市，也居住着数以百万的平民。世界各地的人来到纽约，都梦想成为百万富翁。有些人一直认为这儿的大街都是金子铺的，到了纽约他们才发现这里的街道也不过就是柏油路，不免大失所望。

纽约市的主要部分在一个印第安人称作曼哈顿的岛上。当时白人从印第安人手里买下了整个岛，只花了大约24美元——不是付的现金，因为那时印第安人还不知道钱是什么东西呢，他们只要了一些珠宝饰品。加起来值24美元左右。现在任何一块立锥之地也要比当时整个岛的价格高出很多倍。就一小块地来说这似乎是个很高的价格，但是一块地不同于一张纸，纸是没有厚度的。而土地的主人则拥有这块地的上下所有东西——下至地心，上至天空。所以纽约人建造了很多高耸入云的楼房——就是人们所说的“摩天大厦”——因为一幢50层的楼房和一幢一层的楼房的占地面积是一样的。

对我来说，世界上没有任何人工的东西会比纽约的大楼更奇异的了。它们蔚为大观，宏伟壮丽，令人敬畏，令人惊叹，令人惊奇，在它们面前你自觉渺小，激动不已，像是到了大人国。你读过《格列佛游记》吗？大人国是故事里巨人们居住的地方。这些摩天大厦在风雨雷电中巍峨耸立，暴风雨也奈何不了它们，它们俯视着它们的创造者——小小的人类，正是他们用仅有十根指头的一双手建造了这些大楼。纽约的座右铭是“Excelsior”[1]，意思是“追求更高”，这也是它的建造者们的座右铭。我们有句谚语说“小小橡果长成参天大树”，这些最高的大楼中有一幢60层的楼房就是用伍尔沃斯的廉价品商店赚的5分、10分的硬币盖起来的。纽约摩天大楼中最了不起的要数帝国大厦了，有102层，比纽约，比美国，比世界上任何其他建筑物都高。

纽约的一组高楼可以称作是全世界的“国会大厦”。第二次世界大战之后，世界上大多数国家都想寻找一个方法避免第三次世界大战爆发。就像我们每个州选派代表去国会开会一样，这些国家分别派出代表一起开会。他们在会上讨论各种与各国有利害关系的话题。当两个国家吵架了，这些代表就会劝说他们有事好商量，不要打架。这个国会叫做“联合国”。联合国认为纽约是他们召开会议、处理事务的最合适的地方，于是在这里建了办公地点。当这些楼正式划归联合国专门用于召开会议以后，会议发言是以26种语言播放的。

联合国会议上每一位发言人都说他自己国家的语言，但是其他人都能听懂，因为每个人都戴着耳机，听到发言被翻译成自己能听懂的语言。当然做翻译的人必须懂两种语言，听到一种语言后，就立刻通过话筒翻译成另一种语言，传到代表的耳机中。数百万人通过电视收看联合国会议。

在纽约港一个小岛上有一座巨大的铜像，叫做自由女神，她高高举着一个火炬。她的手有16英尺多长，这么大一只手谁能握得住啊！一根指头有8英尺长，这么大的手指要戴多大的戒指啊！她的鼻子有4.5英尺长，这么大的鼻子能闻到多远的气味啊！她的嘴巴有一码宽，这么大的一张嘴要能说话，该有多么响亮啊！你可以从她的身体里面攀登上去，进入女神的脑袋和手臂，她的火炬里面可以站12个人。轮船从她旁边经过，船上的人会聚集在甲板上向她问好，大声喊着“我的祖国，那属于你，美好的自由之邦”，然后跟她挥手道别，离开远去，有人也许永远不会再回来了。

曼哈顿岛的一面是哈得逊河，另一面是东河。一座桥横跨东河之上，拉紧的钢索从河岸两边吊起大桥的桥面。这种桥叫做悬索桥。这座桥名叫布鲁克林大桥，因为在桥的另一端是长岛，上面有另一个大城市，名叫布鲁克林。布鲁克林现在是纽约市的一部分。以前悬索桥是搭建在小河流上的，布鲁克林大桥是世界上第一座又大又长的悬索桥。它高高地悬在空中，就连最大的船只也能顺利地从桥下通过。

最初人们都不敢从布鲁克林桥上走过，因为他们说：“绳子吊起的桥会塌的，哪怕就是钢绳也不安全。”卡车和汽车轱辘轱辘急驶而过时，桥就摇摆晃动起来，现在仍然如此，不过桥还是稳稳悬在那里。东河和哈得逊河上还建了其他几座通往纽约的桥。哈得逊河下面还挖了隧道。这些隧道叫做“地下管道”，因为它们就像铺在河底的巨大的管子。

世界上两条最著名的街道穿过整个曼哈顿岛，还继续向北延伸。一条叫做百老汇大街，另一条叫第五大道。百老汇最初只是一条很短的街道，因为看起来很宽，所以被取名为百老汇大街，但现在这条街已经变得很长了，也许我们最好给它取名叫百老汇“长街”。到了晚上，这条街上有一段路被几千盏电灯和闪烁的招牌照得灯火通明，经常被人叫做“不夜大街”。第五大道是条非常著名的大街，曾经住着一些上流社会的家庭，现在有很多最精致、最高档的商店，因此第五大道现在就意味着时尚大道。纽约的街道非常拥挤，大多数人上班都乘坐地下隧道里的火车。这种地下隧道叫做地铁。

尽管纽约市的土地比世界上其他任何地方都要贵，但市内仍然有两个很大的公园，城里人可以在那里感受一点田园风光。中央公园有50个街区那么长，好几个街区那么宽，布朗克斯公园里有一座很棒的动物园，里面有各种珍奇罕见的动物，都是猎人从丛林、深山、沙漠和遥远国度的荒野之地捕捉来的。

有一次，大洋彼岸有个人来到纽约，欣赏了一天的风景。就在晚饭前，他说他想开车去看看尼亚加拉大瀑布，因为他听说那是世界上最壮观的瀑布。当他听说得乘坐快速火车花上一整夜的时间才能到达尼亚加拉，他很疑惑。

“尼亚加拉不是就在纽约吗？”他问道。

“是的，”对方回答说，“不过不是在纽约市，是在纽约州的另一端。”

在纽约州西部边界有两个大湖——伊利湖和安大略湖，这两个名字都是印第安语。从地图上看伊利湖在安大略湖的下面，其实伊利湖的地势要高很多。因此伊利湖的水从一处又高又宽的悬崖飞泻而下，流入安大略湖。这个瀑布叫做尼亚加拉瀑布，尽管世界上还有比它更高更宽的瀑布，但尼亚加拉瀑布却是最美丽、最著名的，世界各地的人都慕名前来观赏。瀑布在悬崖边发出震耳欲聋的轰隆声，几英里外都能听到，阳光灿烂的时候，瀑布底部升起的水雾中总能看到一道五彩缤纷彩虹。每天都有成千上万的人来观赏这个瀑布，每一千名游客中——

358人会说：“太棒了！”

247人会说：“太壮观了！”

136人会说：“太美了！”

93人会说：“太可爱了！”

45人会说：“太漂亮了！”

24人会发出“啊”的感叹声

其余人会发出“哇”的惊叹声。

尼亚加拉瀑布的水有一部分落入一个巨大的桶，桶底部有几个巨大的轮子，流水推动轮子转动就能发电了。电通过电线输送出去，就可以让磨坊的机轮转动起来，让电车开动起来，也让附近的布法罗市和其他更远地方的房子和街道的灯亮起来。

不时有人以这样或那样的理由要尝试坐在桶里跳下瀑布，还真有一个人这么做了，而且还幸存下来了。但是在伊利湖上要想开到安大略湖的船舶是不能过瀑布的。于是人们在尼亚加拉瀑布周围从伊利湖到安大略湖开凿了一条河，里面造了一些水中台阶，这样船就能从伊利湖开到下面的安大略湖，或者从安大略湖开上去。这条人工河叫做韦兰运河。

让一艘轮船沿台阶朝下坡行似乎很奇怪，但它不但能下坡，还能上坡。水中的台阶叫做“船闸”，船闸就像放在运河里的大浴缸一样。或许你在浴缸里玩过玩具船，把它漂在水面上。如果玩过的话你就知道当你往浴缸里灌水的时候，小船会随着水面的上升而上升；当你把浴缸里的水放掉的时候，小船也会随着水面的下降而下降。

船闸和大船之间的关系就像浴缸和小船之间的关系一样。如果一艘船想要从上游到下游去，它先驶进船闸，然后船闸里的水会被放掉，船就随着水面的下降而降低。当船到达底部的时候，船闸另一端的门就打开，船就可以驶到水位较低的运河中了。如果一艘船想要从下游开到上游去，它会由敞开的大门驶进船闸的底部，闸门随后关上，水就放进来。随着闸内的水不断上涨，船也会升高，因为水可以举起任何能漂浮的东西，不管是块小木屑还是大轮船。水，就是这普普通通的水，比大型的机器还有力量，可以举起或放低最大的轮船。它可以轻而易举地托起一艘最大的战舰，就像托起一片漂在水面上的最轻的羽毛，就像你轻轻托起手上一片雪花。

想去纽约市的船——几乎所有的船都想去纽约——以前得经过韦兰运河，通过那些船闸，进入安大略湖，然后进入圣劳伦斯河，再一直到大西洋，沿海岸最后到达纽约。为了避免绕这么个大弯子，人们横贯整个纽约州开凿了一条运河，把伊利湖的布法罗市与哈得逊河连接起来。这样大船就可以走近路从伊利湖直接航行到纽约市。这条运河叫做驳船运河。它是世界上最长的运河之一。

[1] 这是拉丁语——译者注。

09

Yankee Land

扬基人的定居地

A PAIR of shoes, a hat, or an automobile we should not call “New” if they were a year old, but there is a corner of our country which is 300 years old and yet we call it “New.” About 300 years ago people from England, across the ocean, came to the northeast corner of the United States and made their homes there. So the six States north of New York, where they settled, we call New England. The Indians tried to call the white people “English,” but the best they could say was “Yenghees” or “Yankees,” just as a child in trying to say “brother” might say “buddy”—so the people of New England we still call “Yankees.” We could put all six States of New England in any one of several States out West; but though the New England States are small in size, they are big in many other things.

The largest and most important city of New England is Boston, named after a town in old England. Many people call Boston “the Hub,” by which they mean to say that the rest of the World turns round Boston, for the hub of a wheel you know is the center, around which the rest of the wheel turns. Of course, the World really turns around the North and South Poles and these Poles are the real hubs of the World; so people are only joking when they say the World turns round Boston.

Rocks and cold weather are bad for farming. New England in winter is very cold and it also is very rocky, so rocky that men make their fences of stones gathered off the fields. The cold and the rocks make it very hard to grow things there, but there are many, many waterfalls in New England, and waterfalls can be used to turn the wheels of factories to make things, so what people chiefly do in New England is to make things for the rest of the United States—thousands of different kinds of things—not big things such as railroad tracks and bridges that they make in Pittsburgh, but small things for a person’s use, such as needles and pins, watches and clocks, boots and shoes. If the wheels of the factories are turned by waterfalls they are called mills. Nowadays, most of the waterfalls are used to make electricity, and the electricity is used to run the machinery, but the factories are still called “mills.”

When-I-was-a-boy my idea of perfect happiness was to go barefoot. In some countries rich and poor alike go barefoot all the time, but in America almost every one wears shoes all the time. One of the chief things they make in these New England mills is shoes. In New England they make enough shoes for every pair of feet in the United States. Shoes wear out, so we can understand why the mills should keep on, year after year, making so many shoes. But in one of the States—the one with the Indian name, Connecticut—they make pins—enough for every man, woman and child in the United States to use 100 every year. What becomes of so many pins, do you suppose? They don’t wear out like shoes, and yet they disappear—billions of pins every year.

And clocks and thread and boots and shoes and needles and pins

有钟表、线团、靴子、鞋子、缝衣针和别针

And clocks and watches—they make millions of them too, though one clock or one watch should last a person a lifetime—little watches for the wrist and little clocks for mantelpieces and big clocks for clock towers.

And spools of thread—enough thread is made in one mill in a single day to wind round the World—that is, over twenty-five thousand miles of thread in one mill in one day!

Where do you spend your vacation ? Do you go to the seashore, to the mountains, or “down on a farm”? New England is the vacation land of many people from other parts of the country, because there are so many lakes, waterfalls, and beautiful spots for camps, streams for fishing, and in the Maine woods places for hunting deer and moose. In New Hampshire there are mountains called the White Mountains, and one of these White Mountains, named after our First President, is Mount Washington. It is the highest mountain in this part of the country, and just because it is so high many people like to climb it. Some people are like that. In Vermont, which means “green mountain,” there are the Green Mountains, not as high as the White Mountains, but very lovely. All along the New England coast are places where people go to spend the summer, because this part of the country is so cool while the rest of the country is so hot.

But the thing that New England is proudest of is its schools and colleges. In their mills they make Things, in their schools and colleges they make Men. Two of the most noted colleges in the country are in New England—Yale is in Connecticut and Harvard is in Massachusetts. Harvard is the oldest college in the United States.

Sticking out from Massachusetts like a long, bent finger, as if beckoning to people across the water to come to Massachusetts, is a piece of land called Cape Cod. It was named in honor of the codfish, because codfish are so plentiful in those waters, and they are caught and dried in great quantities and shipped everywhere.

The finger of Cape Cod has beckoned to people of other lands than England. People who speak strange languages have come to New England to work in factories and mills, so that now almost one quarter of the people in New England are not from England; they are not Yankees.

【中文阅读】

一双鞋、一顶帽子或一辆汽车，如果用了一年，我们就不该说它们是“新”的了，但是美国有一个角落已经有300年历史了，我们却仍然称它是“新”的。大约300年前，一群人从英国穿过大洋，来到了美国的东北角，在那里安家落户。因此，纽约北面他们安家的六个州被叫做“新英格兰”。印第安人把这些白人叫做英格兰人，但是他们尽了最大努力也只能发音为“英给”或者“扬基”，就像牙牙学语的孩子可能会把“哥哥”喊成“得得”一样——因此我们现在仍然把新英格兰地区的人叫做“扬基”。我们可以把新英格兰的六个州一起放到西部任何一个州里面；不过尽管新英格兰这些州面积小，在其他许多方面却很强大。

新英格兰最大、最重要的城市是波士顿，是以老英格兰一个镇子命名的。很多人把波士顿叫做“轮毂”，也就是说他们认为整个世界是绕着波士顿转动的；你知道轮毂就是车轮的中心，整个轮子都绕着轮毂转动。当然，世界实际上是围绕南北极而转的，南北两极才是世界真正的中心；所以人们说世界围着波士顿转不过是开玩笑而已。

如果一个地方天气寒冷，土地里有很多石头，肯定不适合种庄稼。新英格兰的冬天非常寒冷，土地里满是石头，当地人甚至用田里捡的石块建围墙，所以这个地区不适合种东西。但是当地有很多很多的瀑布，而瀑布可以让工厂的轮子转动起来，人们就可以制造各种产品。因此新英格兰人的主要工作就是为美国人生产东西——成千上万种不同的产品——不是像匹兹堡生产的铁轨或桥梁之类的大东西，而是个人日用的小东西，比如说缝衣针、别针、手表、钟、靴子和鞋子等等。如果工厂的机轮是由瀑布推动的，我们就把它叫做磨坊。现在大多数的瀑布都是用来发电，电又用于开动机器，但工厂仍然被叫做“磨坊”[1]。

我小的时候认为最快乐的事就是光着脚丫走路。在有些国家，不管是穷人还是富人，都终年光着脚走路，但在美国，几乎人人一年四季都穿着鞋。新英格兰的那些工厂里主要产品之一就是鞋子。当地生产的鞋子足以让美国人“人脚”一双。鞋子会穿坏，所以我们都知道为什么那些工厂年复一年不停地生产那么多的鞋子。但是在其中一个州——一个有着印第安名字的州，康涅狄格州——生产别针，每年都造出足够美国每一个男人、女人、孩子用上100枚的别针。你想过没有，这么多的别针都哪里去了呢？它们又不像鞋子那样会用坏，但是它们都不见了，丢失了。每年丢失的别针有几十亿枚呢。

他们还生产各种钟表，数量成千万，有戴在腕上的小手表，也有挂在壁炉架上的小钟，还有挂在钟塔上的大钟，各种品种，应有尽有——尽管一个钟或一块表一个人可用一辈子。

产品还有成卷成卷的线——一家工厂一天所生产的线能绕地球一周，也就是相当于两万五千英里！

你一般在哪里度假呢？去海滩，山上，还是下到农庄？新英格兰是个度假胜地，美国其他地区的很多人都到那儿去度假，因为那里有很多湖泊、瀑布，还有很多风景优美的景点可以野营，有可以钓鱼的小溪流，缅因州的森林里还有鹿和麋可以供人捕猎。在新罕布什尔州有一些山叫做怀特山脉，其中有一座山是以美国第一任总统命名的，叫“华盛顿山”。它是这一地区最高的山，正因为它很高，很多人都喜欢去爬这座山。有些人就是爱好登山。佛蒙特州的名字意思是“绿色的山”，佛蒙特州内有座格林山，还真是“绿色的山”[2]，格林山不像怀特山脉那么高，但风景很美。新英格兰沿海地区是避暑胜地，因为当其他地区都很炎热的时候，这一地区却非常的凉爽。

但是新英格兰最引以为傲的是它的学校和大学。在工厂里，他们生产物品，在学校和大学里，他们培养人才。全美最知名的大学中有两所就在新英格兰——位于康涅狄格州的耶鲁大学和位于马萨诸塞州的哈佛大学。哈佛大学是美国最古老的大学。

马萨诸塞州沿海有块地方伸向海洋，像根长长的弯曲的手指，好像在召唤人们越过海洋到马萨诸塞州来，那就是科德角半岛。因这里盛产鳕鱼而起的名字[3]，当地海域鳕鱼资源丰富，人们捕捞大量的鳕鱼，晒干后运往各地。

除了英国人以外，科德角还召唤其他地方的人。说着各种奇怪语言的人来到了新英格兰的工厂和作坊工作，因此现在几乎有四分之一的新英格兰人并不是来自英格兰，他们不是扬基人，也就是说不能算是“新英格兰人”。

[1] 英文“mill”一词有“工厂”和“磨坊”两个意思——译者注。

[2] “格林山”在英语中是“Green Mountains”，字面意思是“绿色的山”——译者注。

[3] “科德”的英文是“cod”，这词有“鳕鱼”的意思——译者注。

10

Five Big Puddles

五个大水坑

DID you ever wonder what an ant must think of us giants who tread on his ant-hills, or what he must think of a puddle of water?

There are five big puddles of water along the northern edge of the United States—at least they look like puddles on the map—as if a gigantic giant had left his wet umbrella standing and the water had trickled out over the land. We call these puddles “The Great Lakes,” for they are the biggest lakes on this side of the World, though a giant with legs a mile long would think them only puddles to wade across. Two of the lakes—the smallest two—I have already told you about. They are Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Two of the others also have Indian names, Lake Michigan, which means “Great Lake,” and Lake Huron. The Greatest Lake of all the Great Lakes is called Superior, which means simply Greater Lake, as we say a boy who is a better football player or who makes better marks is “superior” to some other boy. Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that belongs entirely to the United States, as it is entirely inside of the United States. Half of the other four lakes belong to the country north of the United States—the country called Canada—because these other lakes are along the border between the two countries. The United States owns its side of each of these lakes and out to the middle; Canada owns its side and out to the middle.

Lake Superior is not only bigger, it is higher than the other lakes. It empties its water into Lake Huron through a little river called St. Mary’s, and in this river are falls. These falls in the St. Mary’s River are called St. Mary’s Jump, because the water jumps, jumps down. These falls are not nearly as high as Niagara Falls, but they are too high for boats to go over the jump, so men had to build canals with locks around the falls to lower boats down and raise them up from one lake to the other. As there are so many boats that want to go down and up, one canal was not enough to take care of all the boats that wanted to go round the falls, so men have built five canals round St. Mary’s Jump. St. Mary’s Jump in French is Sault Ste. Marie, and as this is so difficult to say, people simply call the falls Soo, the river Soo, and the canals Soo too.

Some of the boats on the Great Lakes are as big and fine as those on the ocean; and they have to be, for the Great Lakes are like small oceans. When you are out, far out, you cannot see land, and at times there are high waves and storms, just as at sea. The chief difference is that the water in the lakes is fresh, not salt.

“Business before pleasure.”

A great many people take trips on these big lake boats just as they do on the ocean—for pleasure; but the chief reason for the great number of ships that go from one end of the lakes to the other is not pleasure but business. The business is carrying things, which we call freight. It is much cheaper to send things by ship than by train, for one big ship can carry much more than many trains, and ships do not have to have land and tracks to run on, as trains do. When we send freight by train we also call that “shipping,” which seems strange. Every one would ship by ship instead of by train if he could, because it is so much cheaper, but of course you have to be near the water to ship by ship.

Fortunately, eight out of our forty-eight States are on the Great Lakes, although some of the States have only a small “frontage” on a lake. Michigan has the most frontage, by far. It fronts on four of the Great Lakes, all except Lake Ontario.

You remember that the Potomac Indians were great traders, paddling their canoes up and down the river, and swapping things they had for things they wanted. The Indians of the Great Lakes used to do the same thing. Nowadays the white man’s huge ships—thousands of times bigger than the Indians’ canoes made out of a single log—do the trading. They carry huge loads of freight from one end of the Great Lakes to the other, unloading at different places along the way the things that people want, and loading up with other freight to go back.

Most of the ships start at the far end of Lake Superior at a place called Duluth. Trains loaded with wheat come to Duluth from the wheat-lands west of that city, and other trains loaded with iron ore from mines near-by. Then huge machines on the shores of the lakes, with giant hands of iron, lift whole cars of wheat and ore and dump them into the ships waiting to be filled, as you would lift a toy car of your toy train and empty its load with two fingers. Other ships collect copper ore and also iron from that part of Michigan which is on Lake Superior. They then carry their loads through the Soo Canal and unload at a place called Detroit, between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, or carry their iron ore to Cleveland and Buffalo on Lake Erie. Most of the ships do not go past Niagara Falls. They load up again with things that have been made in New England, or in the east of the United States, or with coal from Pennsylvania, and go back to Duluth.

But when winter comes, all this trading up and down the lakes has to stop, for this part of the country is very cold and ice forms and stops the ships.

A baby is born every second, but in Detroit an automobile is born every minute. Most of the automobiles in the World are made in Detroit. Into one end of a Detroit factory go iron and wood, leather, etc., and out at the other end comes an automobile. Every hour of the day hundreds of automobiles are finished and run out of the factories, to be shipped over the whole World.

I am sitting in a chair that was made from a tree that grew in Michigan, a thousand miles away, before I was born. The upper part of Michigan used to be covered with forests of trees especially suited for making furniture—and more furniture was made there, especially at a place called Grand Rapids, than at any other place in the World. You probably have some Grand Rapids furniture in your own home. Look on the bottom and see if you can find a label “Made in Grand Rapids.” So much furniture was made there that men have cut down and used up most of the trees, and only stumps are left. But the people had learned how to make furniture, and so they kept on making furniture, though now much of the lumber has to be brought to Michigan from other parts of the country.

Side by side, like two children trying to peek out of one small window, are two States looking out on Lake Michigan. They are Illinois and Indiana, written “Ill. and Ind.” for short. The second largest city in the country is in the State of Illinois on the lower end of Lake Michigan. It has an Indian name—Chicago. More trains of cars come into and go out of Chicago than any other city in the World. Most trains going across the United States stop there and start there—freight trains carrying things and passenger trains carrying people.

There are a great many kinds of animals in the World, and yet of all these animals there are only three kinds that people generally eat. These three are the cow, the sheep, the pig. It takes millions of these animals every year to feed all the people in the United States, and millions of these animals are raised in the States near-by and far from Chicago. These animals have to be fed, and the food that is best to make them fat is corn, so whole States grow corn, just to feed cows and sheep and pigs. The State of Iowa grows more corn than any other State, so it is called the Corn State. Some of the corn is shipped to Chicago, but most of it is shipped “on the hoof”—that is, it is fed to the animals and the animals are sent alive to Chicago to be killed. They are kept in big pens called stock-yards until they are killed. From Chicago they are sent in refrigerator cars or ships, everywhere, even to Europe. Chicago is the greatest butcher-shop in the World. The bacon I had for breakfast, the ham sandwich I had for luncheon, and the roast beef I had for dinner came from Chicago.

【中文阅读】

我们经常踩到蚂蚁窝，你是否好奇小蚂蚁会怎么看我们这些巨人呢？或者在蚂蚁眼中一个水坑是怎样的呢？

沿着美国的北部边界有五个大水坑——至少它们在地图上看起来像水坑——就像是一个庞大的巨人拿一把湿漉漉的雨伞立在那儿，水顺着雨伞滴到了地面上形成这些水坑。我们把这些水坑叫做“大湖”，因为它们是西半球最大的湖了，不过在腿长1英里的巨人眼里，这些湖就像很容易就蹚过去的小水坑。我已经介绍过其中两个湖的故事了，最小的两个——伊利湖和安大略湖。另外还有两个用印第安名字的湖——一个是密歇根湖，意思是“大湖”，另一个是休伦湖。五大湖中最大的是苏必利尔湖，意思就是更大的湖，就像我们会说一个孩子球踢得更好，得分更高，也会用同样的一个词：优秀的（superior）[1]。五大湖中只有密歇根湖整个都在美国境内，因此是完全属于美国的。其他四个大湖每个都有一半属于美国北边的邻国——加拿大，因为这四个湖正好在两国的交界处。这些湖以湖中心线为界，分属加、美两国。

苏必利尔湖不仅面积最大，地势也最高。它的湖水经由一条叫做圣玛丽的小河流入休伦湖，圣玛丽河上有很多瀑布。这些瀑布叫做圣玛丽急流瀑布，因为水急速下泻，就像是在不断蹦跳。这些瀑布远没有尼亚加拉瀑布那么高，但是船只却无法直接从上面开下去，于是人们只好在瀑布附近开凿运河，河里有船闸，这样船只就可以在大湖之间上下来往了。那里有很多的船只要往返穿梭，一条运河远远不够，人们在圣玛丽急流瀑布附近一共修建了五条运河。圣玛丽急流瀑布在法语中叫做“苏圣玛里”，很不好念，人们干脆就叫这些瀑布“苏”，叫这条河“苏”，也叫运河“苏”。

五大湖上的有些船像海洋上的船那样巨大壮观；这也是航行的需要，因为五大湖就像是小型的海洋。当你离岸远去，就看不见陆地了，湖上时有暴风雨，波涛汹涌，就像在海上一样。主要的区别就是湖水是淡水，海水则是咸水。

“事业在先，享乐在后。”

很多人乘着大湖上的船只游玩，就像出海度假一样。但大量船只穿梭往来主要是为了做生意，而不是游玩。所谓生意就是运输东西，也就是我们所说的货运。用船运东西要比火车便宜多了，因为一艘大船装的东西比很多列火车装的都多，而且船不需要像火车那样在陆地和轨道上行驶。当我们用火车运货的时候，也使用“shipping”[2]这个词，这似乎很奇怪。只要能用船人们就会选择船运，而不是火车，因为比火车便宜多了，当然是你附近必须有可以船运的水域才行。

幸运的是，美国的48州中有8个州在五大湖边，尽管其中几个州的临湖地面积很小。密歇根州有着最长的湖岸线，除了安大略湖，它滨临其他四大湖。

还记得波托马克河的印第安人吧？他们很会做生意，划着独木舟在河上往返上下，用自己已有的东西去换自己想要的东西。五大湖区的印第安人以前也这么做。现在白人巨大的轮船——比印第安人用一根木头做成的独木舟要大几千倍——在做买卖。它们装载着大量的货物从湖区的一端运到另一端，沿途在不同的地方卸下人们需要的货物，然后装上其他货物返回。

大多数的船只都从苏必利尔湖远端一个叫做德卢斯的地方起航。火车从德卢斯以西的小麦产地运来小麦，从附近的矿区运来铁矿。湖岸边巨大的机器用它大大的铁手托起整车厢的小麦和矿石然后倒入等待装载的轮船里，就像你会用两根指头举起你的玩具火车的车厢把里面的货物倒掉一样。其他的轮船在密歇根州的苏必利尔湖区装上铜矿和钢铁。然后这些轮船载着货物经过苏运河，在一个位于休伦湖和伊利湖之间叫做底特律的地方卸下货物，或者把铁矿运到克利夫兰和伊利湖边的布法罗。大部分船并不经过尼亚加拉瀑布。这些船卸完货再装上在新英格兰或者美国东部生产的东西、或者是宾夕法尼亚产的煤矿，返回德卢斯。

但是到了冬天，湖上所有的船运贸易都不得不停下来，因为这个地区冬天非常寒冷，湖水结冰，轮船无法航行。

每一秒钟就有一个婴儿降生，但是在底特律每一分钟就有一辆汽车生产出来。世界上的大部分汽车都是在底特律生产的。在底特律的汽车厂一端进去的是钢铁、木材和皮革等材料，另一端出来的就是一辆辆汽车。每天每小时都有几百辆汽车生产出来，开出工厂，准备运往世界各地。

我正坐在一把椅子上，木材取自于一棵早在我出生以前就生长在一千英里以外的密歇根州的大树。密歇根州的北部过去覆盖着大片的森林，那里的树木很适合做家具——那里生产的家具，尤其是一个叫做大瀑布市的地方，比世界上其他任何地方生产出来的家具都要多。你家里或许就有一些大瀑布市产的家具。看看家具的底部，看看能不能找到一个写着“大瀑布市制造”的标签。那里生产了太多的家具，人们已经砍下并用光了大部分的树木，只剩下了树桩在那儿。但是当地的人们已经学会了怎么造家具，所以他们还在不停地生产家具，不过现在很多木材必须从别处运到密歇根州来。

有两个州互相紧挨着面向密歇根湖，就像两个孩子挤在小窗户探头向外看一样。那就是伊利诺伊州和印第安纳州，英语简写为“Ill.”和“Ind.”。美国第二大城市就在伊利诺伊州，位于密歇根湖南部。它有一个印第安名字——芝加哥。芝加哥的铁路是世界上最繁忙的。大多数跨越美国的火车都会在芝加哥停靠或从芝加哥出发——货运列车载着货物，客运列车载着乘客。

世界上有很多种动物，而在这所有的动物中人们通常只吃三种，那就是牛、羊、猪。全美国的人每年要吃掉好几百万头这样的动物，在离芝加哥较近或较远的一些州人们饲养几百万头牛、羊、猪。养这些牲畜就要喂饲料，最能让它们长肥的饲料就是玉米了，因此全国都种植玉米，就是为了养牛、养羊和养猪。爱荷华州种植的玉米比其他任何州的都多，因此被称为“玉米州”。有些玉米被运到芝加哥，但是大部分直接用来喂养牲畜，然后这些牲畜尚未屠宰就运到芝加哥。它们被关在我们称为牲畜围栏的地方，直到被屠宰。被屠宰的动物肉加工后被装上冷藏车或者冷藏船，从芝加哥运到各地，甚至运到欧洲。芝加哥是世界上最大的肉店。我早餐吃的熏肉、午餐吃的火腿三明治和晚餐吃的烤牛肉都来自于芝加哥。

[1] “苏必利尔”的英文是superior，本意为“优秀、较大、较好的”——译者注。

[2] shipping，意思是“运输”，也可以表示“船舶”——译者注。

11

The Father of Waters

河流之父

THE biggest bay in the United States I told you is called “the Mother of Waters.” The biggest river in the United States is called “the Father of Waters.” Although the river is called a “father,” he is not a Mr. He is a “Miss.” In the Indian language he is Miss—issippi, and is spelled in this jingly way:

M

i double s

i double s

i double p

i

which is very easy to learn.

If I asked you to draw a picture of a river, and also of a tree without any leaves on it, you would probably draw the tree this way—a main stem, with big branches, and big branches with little branches, and little branches with tiny branches—like the picture to the left. And you would probably draw the picture of the river as just a wiggly line—now wouldn’t you? As a matter of fact, the picture of a tree and the picture of a river should be drawn exactly the same way, for they each have a main stem with big branches, big branches with little branches, and little branches with tiny branches—although you may not see all the branches in the picture of a river on the map.

But there is this big difference between a tree and a river:

A tree grows from the bottom to the top of its branches.

A river flows from the top of its branches to the bottom. The sap runs up a tree, water runs down a river. If a river were just a single line and had no branches at all, it would be just as big at the finish as at the start. It’s the river’s branches that make it bigger and bigger. The biggest river in the United States, the Mississippi, starts almost at the top of our country, at a little lake called Itasca, in the State of Minnesota, and flows all the way to the bottom of our country, getting bigger and bigger all the time as its branches flow into it, until at last it reaches a corner of the ocean we call the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River really cuts our country into two parts, but the two parts are not the same size. The part west of the Mississippi is about twice as big as the part east of the Mississippi.

The Mississippi River hardly gets a good running start on its long journey south to the Gulf of Mexico before it falls down, and where it falls men have built big mills, the wheels of which are turned by the falling water. These mills, however, are not like those in New England. They do not make things. They grind wheat to make flour to make bread, for more and better wheat grows near where the Mississippi starts and the States near-by than anywhere else in the whole World.

An acre seems to me, who lives in a city, a large piece of ground, a hundred acres seems immense, and a thousand acres seems enormous, but some farms in Minnesota where they raise wheat have as many as ten thousand acres of wheat in a single farm! The farmers would never get through planting or gathering the wheat if they did so by hand or even with a horse. So they plow with an engine and often with ten plows in a row, and they use machines for gathering the wheat and for separating the grains of the wheat from the straw, which has to be done before it can be ground into flour.

On opposite sides of the Mississippi near these falls two large cities of almost the same size have grown up. These two cities are connected by a bridge, and they are so nearly the same size they are called Twin Cities. One of them is named Minneapolis, which means “Water City,” as Annapolis means “Anna’s City”; and the other is named St. Paul. Notice that almost all names around the Great Lakes and the Mississippi are named either after saints or after Indians. That’s because priests were among the first to come to this country to make the Indians Christians, and they named places either after the Indians or after the Christian saints.

The water city—Minneapolis—is the greatest flour-making place in the whole World. I have to say “in the whole World” so often, I’m going to use only the first letters from now on—i for “in,” t for “the,” w for “whole,” W for “World”—thus: i.t.w.W. Minneapolis is the greatest flour-making place i.t.w.W. Minnesota and the States near it are the greatest wheat-raising States i.t.w.W.

As the Mississippi River flows south toward the Gulf of Mexico it passes other cities, but the biggest one is St. Louis, about half-way down. St. Louis—another saint—is near the two biggest branches of the Mississippi River—the Missouri, which comes in from the west, and the Ohio, which comes in from the east—both rivers named after States and both States named after the Indians. The Missouri is such a big branch that it is hard to tell whether it is a branch of the Mississippi or the Mississippi is a branch of it. Indeed, if you can find where the Missouri River begins you will see that from that point to the end of the Mississippi the river is much longer than the Mississippi itself—it is over 4,000 miles—so the Missouri- Mississippi together is the longest river i.t.w.W.

The Mississippi gets bigger and bigger as it gets more and more branches, and in the spring when the snow melts and the rain rains so hard and flows down into the branches, the river swells and swells until it finally bursts over its banks and floods the country. So, down where this is likely to happen, men have built banks along the river on each side, to hold the water in. These banks are called levees; but sometimes the river grows too big and strong even for these levees to hold it in, and the river breaks through or over the top and floods the country. If there happen to be any farms or houses or towns with people in them, the water washes houses away and drowns people and animals, and destroys thousands upon thousands of farms and other property.

The Mississippi near its end passes the city called New Orleans and at last flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The end of a river where it flows into the sea is called its mouth. I never knew why, because a mouth is where water flows in, not where it flows out. At any rate, the Mississippi has several mouths instead of one mouth, for the water in the river brings along with it so much mud that it settles right in the way of the river’s mouth and forms mud islands which the river has to go round, so the river blocks itself.

Where the Mississippi begins in the far north of the United States it is very cold in winter, but as the river flows farther and farther south it gets warmer and warmer and warmer. This warm country is nicknamed “Dixie.” When the river is near its end at New Orleans, flowers bloom even at Christmas and it is warm all the year round. Where the river begins you see white people in the fields and on the shores, but when it gets down south in Dixie Land you see more and more colored people working in the fields. The chief thing they are doing is growing cotton, for “Dixie Land,” as the song says, is way down south “in the land of cotton,” and more cotton is grown here than anywhere else i.t.w.W. Strange to say, there was no cotton in America at first. A cotton plant was brought first to Maryland from the other side of the world and grown only for its pretty flowers.

Cotton grows on a low bush in little white balls, and inside each white ball are troublesome little seeds. The cotton is picked off the bush and then these seeds have to be picked out of the cotton before it can be made into cotton thread, and then into cotton cloth, and then into cotton clothes, sheets, towels—can you think of anything else made out of cotton ? Things made of cotton were once very expensive, because it took such a long time to pick the seeds out of the cotton, but a school-teacher—a man—invented a way to pick the seeds out by a machine—an “engine” which the colored people called “a gin,” for short, and now cotton goods can be made very cheaply. Indeed, it is now hard to understand how we ever got along without cotton, for this little plant that was once grown only for its flowers is used in more things and in more ways than anything that grows out of the ground. This is why it is often called “King Cotton.”

【中文阅读】

我介绍过美国最大的海湾叫做“众水之母”。美国最大的河叫做“众水之父”。这条河就是密西西比河，虽然它被称为“父亲河”，但是按照印第安语的发音，它却是“西比小姐”，英语拼写出来是：Miss-issippi，你能看出中间哪个部分是对称的吗？

M下面的i后面有一对ss

再下面的i后面又有一对ss

再下面的i后面有一对pp

最后是i

这样就好记好学。

如果我让你画一条河，再画一棵没有叶子的树，你或许会这样画这棵树——先画一根树干，然后画上大的树枝，大树枝上再画小树枝，最后在小树枝上加上更细小的树枝——就像左边这幅图一样。而你或许会把一条河就画成一条波浪形的线——是不是？其实，画一棵树和画一条河应该按同样的方法，因为它们同样都有一个主干，上面有大的分支，大分支上有小分支，小分支上还有更细小的分支——不过你可能在地图上看不到一条河流所有的支流。

但是树木和河流还是有很大的区别：

一棵树从下往上长，从树干到树枝。

一条河自上向下流，从支流到干流。树液顺着树干往上升，河水则顺着河道向下流。如果一条河就是一条线的话，没有任何支流，那么从源头到尽头整条河都一样宽了。正是有了支流河才变得越来越宽。美国最大的河流密西西比河起源于明尼苏达州境内一个叫做艾塔斯卡的小湖，几乎就在美国的最北部。密西西比河一路流向美国的最南部，途中随着支流河水的不断注入而变得越来越宽，最后汇入大洋的一角，我们称之为墨西哥湾。密西西比河实际上把美国分成了大小不同的两部分。河西的这一部分大约是河东的那一部分的两倍大。

在密西西比河向南流入墨西哥湾的长途行程中，地势都比较平缓，没有很大落差。在墨西哥湾的入海口，河水倾泻而下，这里人们修建了很多巨大的磨坊，磨坊的轮子是由落下的河水推动的。然而这些磨坊和新英格兰的磨坊不一样。这些磨坊并不生产东西。它们把小麦磨成做面包的面粉，因为密西西比河的发源地和附近各州产出的小麦比世界上任何地方的小麦都要多，质量也更好。

在我这样的城里人看来，一英亩好像是很大一块地，一百英亩更像是大得无边无际，一千英亩就像大得无法想象了。但是明尼苏达州有些种植小麦的农场仅一个农场就有多达一万英亩的小麦田！要是光靠双手或者即使用马干活，这些农民永远种不完或割不完小麦。因此他们用机械犁具耕地，经常一排十个犁具同时开动，还使用机器收割小麦，并把麦穗和麦秆分开，这是把小麦磨成面粉之前必须完成的农活。

沿密西西比河东西两岸，离瀑布很近的地方建起了两个面积几乎一样的大城市。这两个城市由一座桥连接起来，它们大小几乎相同，所以被称做“双子城”。其中一个叫做明尼阿波利斯，意思是“水城”，就像安娜纳波利斯的意思是“安纳之城”一样[1]；另一个叫做圣保罗。请注意看，五大湖区和密西西比河附近几乎所有地名都是以基督教圣徒或印第安语的名字而命名的。那是因为最早来美国的人中有一些牧师，他们在印第安人中传播基督教，于是他们用印第安人的名字或者基督教圣徒的名字来给一些地方命名。

水城——明尼阿波利斯——是全世界最大的面粉产地。明尼苏达州和附近各州是全世界最大的小麦种植地。

密西西比河一路向南流往墨西哥湾，沿途还经过其他城市，其中最大的就是中途的圣路易斯。圣路易斯——也是一位圣者之名——靠近密西西比河最大的两条支流——由西汇入的密苏里河和由东汇入的俄亥俄河——两条河都是以所在的州命名的，这两个州又都是来自印第安语。密苏里是一条非常大的支流，以至于很难分清它是密西西比河的支流还是密西西比河是它的支流。甚至，如果你能找到密苏里河的源头，你就会发现从源头到密西西比河的尽头，这样一条河要比密西西比河本身长很多——有4,000多英里——因此密苏里河和密西西比河加在一起，就是全世界最长的河流。

随着支流的不断增多，密西西比河越来越宽，春季，白雪消融，雨水丰富，大量的水流入到各支流中去，密西西比河河水上涨，直到最终漫过河岸淹没乡村。于是，在下游有可能发生洪水泛滥的地方，人们沿着河流两岸修建了堤岸，拦住河水。这些堤岸叫做防洪大堤；但有时河水上涨过猛，水势太凶，就连这些大堤也拦不住，河水冲垮或是漫过大堤，造成洪水灾害。如果碰巧这里有农田或房屋或者是有人居住的小镇，河水就会冲走房屋，淹死人和动物，毁掉成千上万的农田和其他财产。

密西西比河流入墨西哥湾前经过的最后一个城市叫新奥尔良。河流尽头入海处叫做河口。我一直不知道为什么叫“河口”，因为“口”是水流入的地方，而不是流出的地方。不管怎样，密西西比河有好几个河口，而不是只有一个，因为河水带来大量的淤泥，淤泥正好在河口堆积下来形成了好几个岛，这样河流必须绕过小岛流入大海，因此河流自己堵住了自己前行的路，形成了好几个河口。

在美国遥远的北方密西西比河起源的地方，冬季非常寒冷，但是随着河水往南流，气候开始暖和起来，越往南流就越暖和。南方这块温暖的土地俗称“迪克西”。当河流快要走完行程，在新奥尔良，即使在圣诞节也有各种鲜花绽放，一年四季都很温暖。在密西西比河源头附近你可以看到白人在田间岸边劳作，但是随着河流进入南部迪克西地区，你会看到越来越多的黑人在田里劳动。他们最主要的农作物就是棉花，因为就像歌里唱的那样，远在南方的“迪克西的土地，就在满是白棉花盛开的地方”，这里是全世界棉花产量最多的地方。说来也怪，最初美国并没有棉花。第一颗棉花秧是从世界另一面带到马里兰州的，种棉花只是为了观赏它漂亮的花朵。

棉花成熟后，变成一个个白色的小球长在像灌木一样的植株上，每个小棉球里有很细小的种子，要把种子弄出来是很麻烦的。棉花采摘后，必须去籽，才能将棉花纺成棉线，棉线再织成棉布，然后做成棉布衣服、棉床单、棉毛巾——你能想到其他用棉花做成的东西吗？从前棉花做的东西非常昂贵，因为把棉籽从棉花里摘出来要花很长的时间，但是一所学校的男教师发明了一种机器，很快就能把棉籽取出来——黑人把这种机器叫做“轧棉机”，所以现在棉制品的生产成本就很低了。确实，现在很难理解没有棉花的时候人们是怎样过日子的呢。因为最初人们种这棵小植物只为了观其花朵，现在用棉花制作的东西之多和它的用途之广超过任何一种地里长的植物。因此棉花常被称为“棉花大王”。

[1] 英语polis有“城市”之意——译者注。

12

The Fountain of Youth

青春泉

BIRDS go south in the winter to get warm. Some people in the cold Northern States do the same. The farthest south they can go in the United States is to the corner State, shaped like a dog’s paw, called Florida, which means the land of flowers. On the automobiles that go to Florida you can read the tags of every one of the forty-eight States. People go to Florida in the winter to sit in the sunshine, to bathe in the sea in January, to get rid of shivers, sneezes, and handkerchiefs. It is a winter playground, as New England is a summer playground. I know a man who is supposed to live in Baltimore, but he spends his winters in Florida and his summers in New England, so he only lives in Baltimore a few weeks in between.

The first white people who came to America came to Florida, because they had been told there was a fountain of youth there. The fountain of youth was supposed to be a spring which was said to have magic powers. It was believed if old people bathed in it or drank its water they would become young again. But no one has ever found a fountain of youth in Florida or anywhere else, though many old people after they have spent the winter in Florida say they feel young again.

But not everybody in Florida plays all winter long. Many have to work. They have to run the hotels for the people who do come to Florida to play. And a great many others are busy raising “fresh early vegetables” to ship to the cold Northern States, where they would have only canned or frozen vegetables during the winter otherwise. Just as there is a top time, a kite time, a football time, and a baseball time, there used to be certain times or seasons for certain fruits and vegetables; but in most of Florida it is so warm they seldom or never have frost or snow or ice, so they can raise fruits and vegetables the year round. Farmers ship the vegetables they raise out of season to other States, so that people in the North can now have fresh strawberries at Christmas, and asparagus too, and lettuce and radishes every month in the year.

The chief fruits from Florida are oranges and grape-fruit, which will grow only where there is no frost. Grape-fruit grows in bunches like big, yellow grapes—that’s why it is called “grape”-fruit. Grape-fruit was at first thought not fit to eat—too bitter and not sweet like an orange; but people have learned to like it. More grape-fruit grows in Florida than in any other place i.t.w.W.

Once there was no Florida at all—the United States had no “paw” sticking out into the sea. It grew a paw and this is the way it grew it. The sea was warm and shallow and in the sea there lived millions, billions, trillions of little animals, each like a tiny drop of jelly with a tiny stony speck in the center, or a tiny stony shell on the outside, and millions and billions and trillions of these little sea animals died. As they died, millions, billions, trillions of these stony specks and shells fell to the bottom of the sea like a snowfall of chalk dust, and this piled up until the water was filled up. This stony, bony, chalky pile is Florida. On this kind of ground of which Florida is made plants grow very well indeed. In fact, this soft, chalky ground is so good for growing things that people dig it up and send it to other States to be put on the ground to make vegetables grow better.

Long, long years ago, before there were any people on the World, our whole country was at the bottom of the sea, and a great deal of our country was made under the sea just as Florida was made, from bones and shells of sea animals. This kind of bone and shell rock—for it is rock—is called limestone, because if you burn it it makes lime. Limestone is really bone-stone; stone made of the bones of sea animals. Then the earth wrinkled and crinkled and rose out of the water and formed our country. We know it was once under the sea because in many places now, high above the sea, even on mountain tops, we find this limestone with shells and bones of fish and other sea animals still showing in it. Marble, the most beautiful of all stone, is a kind of limestone, for it also is made of bone. People build houses and palaces of it and make statues and tombstones of marble or limestone.

Many of the people who go to Florida stop on their trip to see sights, and one of the greatest sights is in Virginia and Kentucky where the rock under the ground is all limestone. The “sights” are huge caves, and in Kentucky they are so large they are called Mammoth Caves. These caves have not been dug out by men but by water. Water, you know, melts sugar; but perhaps you didn’t know that water melts rock too—not ordinary rock, but it melts limestone, and these caves are in limestone rock. The Mammoth Cave is like a huge cellar underground—a cave so large and high that you could put a whole city with its tall buildings in it. You could easily get lost and wander for miles. Men have been lost and unable to find their way out again and died and their skeletons have been found long years after.

mammoth cave（猛犸洞）

Through the roof of the cave water drips drop by drop, and each drop leaves a bit of limestone, until in the course of time the dripping water makes icicles of rock that hang down from the roof of the cave. Drops of water from each icicle fall on to the floor of the cave, and the limestone gradually piles up and up like a stone post until at last the icicle above meets the post beneath. The trickling water also forms pools in the bottom of the cave, and in these pools of water live fish that are different from the fish in the water above ground. As it is pitch dark in the caves, these fish have no use for their eyes, so after long, long years they at last grew none. They are blind. Instead of seeing, they feel with the part of their heads where their eyes were.

【中文阅读】

冬天鸟类飞到南方过冬取暖。美国北部冬天极冷，一些人也去南方过冬。在美国他们能去的最南方的地方是一个比较边远的州，叫做佛罗里达，形状像个狗爪子，“佛罗里达”的意思是“鲜花之地”。在开往佛罗里达州的那些汽车上，你可以识别有来自48个州各州的汽车牌照。冬天人们到佛罗里达州去享受阳光，一月份去洗海水浴，让寒战、喷嚏和擤鼻涕的手帕都见鬼去吧。佛罗里达州是冬季的度假胜地，就像新英格兰地区是夏季的度假胜地一样。我认识一个人，据称他家是在巴尔的摩市，但他冬天在佛罗里达州过冬，夏天就到新英格兰避暑，因此一年中只有其余的几个星期才住在巴尔的摩的家中。

最早一批到达美国的白人听说佛罗里达州有个青春泉，所以也来到这个边远地区。青春泉据称是一眼泉水，泉水据说有着神奇的魔力。人们都坚信老人用泉水沐浴或喝点泉水，就能返老还童。但从来就没有人在佛罗里达州或者其他什么地方找到过青春泉，不过很多老人在佛罗里达州度过一个冬天之后都说他们真的感觉变年轻了。

但是在佛罗里达州并不是每个人整个冬天都尽情玩乐。很多人都要工作。他们要经营旅馆，为来到佛罗里达州旅游的人提供服务。还有很多人忙于种植“新鲜的早熟蔬菜”运送到寒冷的北部各州，否则那儿的人在冬天就只能吃罐装或冷冻蔬菜。就像有陀螺季节、风筝季节、足球赛季和棒球赛季一样，某些水果和蔬菜也是有时令的；但是佛罗里达州大部分地区都四季如春，很少或者从来没有霜冻或冰雪，因此人们一年四季都可以种植水果和蔬菜。农民把他们种植的反季节蔬菜运送到其他各州，因此北部地区的人们就可以在圣诞节吃到新鲜的草莓和芦笋，一年中每个月都能吃到生菜和小萝卜。

佛罗里达州的主要水果是橙子和葡萄柚，这两种水果只生长在没有霜冻的地区。葡萄柚是簇生的，果实像成串的黄色大葡萄——这就是为什么它叫做“葡萄”柚的原因了。最初人们认为葡萄柚并不适宜吃——太苦了，不像橙子那样甜；但是人们逐渐喜欢了它的味道。佛罗里达州葡萄柚的产量比全世界任何地方都要多。

以前并没有佛罗里达——美国本来没有伸到海里的“爪子”。“爪子”是长出来的。它是这样长出的：那里的海水很温暖，也很浅，海里生长着数百万、数十亿、数万亿的小动物，每一个都像一小滴果酱，中间有个小小的硬点，或者是外面有个小小的硬硬的壳，当这些数百万、数十亿、数万亿的海洋小动物死掉后，数百万、数十亿、数万亿的小硬点和小贝壳纷纷掉落到海底，就像粉笔灰飘落下来一样，它们堆积在一起，直到海水被填满。这样一堆既像石头、又像骨头、又像粉笔的东西形成了现在的佛罗里达州。在佛罗里达州的这种土地上植物长得特别好。事实上，这种松软、像粉笔灰样的土壤非常适宜种植各种作物，于是还有人把土壤挖出来运到其他州，施在地里，让蔬菜长得更好。

很多很多年以前，在世界上还没有任何人之前，美国整个国家都在海底，我们国家的大部分地区都是在海底形成的，就像佛罗里达州那样，由海洋动物的骨头和贝壳慢慢堆积而成。这种骨头和贝壳形成的岩石——因为它就是岩石——叫做石灰岩，因为如果你把它烧着的话，它就变成石灰了。石灰岩真的就是骨头岩石，是由海洋动物的骨头形成的。后来地球起皱、弯曲，升出水面，形成了美国。我们知道美国以前在海底，因为现在在很多高出海平面的地方，甚至在山顶上，我们都能发现这种石灰岩，在岩石里还能看到贝壳、鱼和其他海洋动物的骨头。大理石是所有石头中最美丽的，也是一种石灰岩，因为它也是由骨头形成的。人们建造大理石的房子和宫殿，也用大理石或石灰岩来制作雕像和墓碑。

许多前往佛罗里达的人们会在中途停下来欣赏风景，而最美丽的风景之一是在弗吉尼亚州和肯塔基州，那里地下的石头全都是石灰岩。“风景”就是巨大的山洞，在肯塔基州有些山洞非常大，叫做“猛犸洞”。这些山洞不是由人工开凿的，而是由于水的作用形成的。你知道，水可以溶解糖；但是你也许不知道水也能溶解岩石——不是普通的岩石，而是石灰岩，这些山洞正是处在石灰岩中。猛犸洞就像是地下一个巨大的地窖——又大又高，以至于你可以把整个城市连同它的高楼大厦一起放进去。你在里面很容易就会迷路，漫无目的地走上几英里。有人在里面走失过，无法找到出来的路，于是死在里面，他们的骸骨多年以后才被人发现。

水从岩洞顶部一滴一滴往下滴，每一滴水都会留下一点石灰岩，时间久了水滴就慢慢形成了倒挂在洞顶的石柱。水沿着石柱滴到岩洞的地面上，留下的石灰岩逐渐堆积起来，也形成石柱，直到上下石柱最后会合在一起。滴下的水还会在洞底形成小水池，里面生长着一种与众不同的鱼。由于洞里是漆黑的，这些鱼不需要用眼睛看东西，久而久之它们就不长眼睛了。它们看不见东西。它们不用眼睛，而是用头上原来长眼睛的地方去感觉。

13

The Covered Wagon

大篷车

NOT so many years ago the Mississippi River was the far edge of the United States. Beyond the Mississippi it was wild, wilder, wilder-ness. Few people had ever been all the way across our country to the Pacific Ocean. There were wild Indians, wild animals, and high, high mountains in the way. Why did people want to go across the country anyway, and what sort of people were they? They were hunters who wanted to hunt wild animals, they were missionaries who wanted to make the Indians Christians, and they were people who were just inquisitive and who wanted to see what the wilderness was like.

Then one day a man told another, that another man had told him, that another man had told him, that still another man had told him that he had found gold in California, a land way off on the edge of the Pacific Ocean—plenty of gold; all you had to do was to dip it up in pans out of the rivers and pick it out of the sand and water.

Loaded their beds and cooking things on wagons and started for the West

把床铺和炊具装上了马车出发奔向西部

Gold! Gold! It was almost as if some one had cried Fire! Fire! Thousands of people dropped their tools, stopped their farming, shut up their shops, loaded their beds and cooking things on wagons, put a cover over the wagon so that they could live under it as under a tent, took along a gun, and rushed for the Far West to hunt for gold. There were no roads, there were no bridges, there were no sign-boards to tell which was the right way—it was just wild, wilder, wilder-ness. For months and months they traveled. Many of them died of sickness, many were killed by the Indians, many were drowned in crossing rivers, many lost their way and died of starvation or of thirst—but many also, at last, reached California, found gold just where they heard it was to be found, and made their fortunes. This was in the year 1849, so these people who went West were called “Forty-niners.”

Since that time roads and railroads have been made all the way across the country; great cities have been built where once was only wilderness; and the wild Indians have been tamed. The United States has given the Indians large pieces of land to pay them for having taken other land away from them. These places given to the Indians are called “Reservations,” because they are reserved for them, just as a seat in the theater that is reserved for a person is called a “reserved seat.”

The first railroad to the Pacific coast took the middle route from Chicago to San Francisco. But you can now take a train from Chicago and cross to the Pacific by the north, middle, or south. It took months when the “Forty-niners” went across in their covered wagons, but now it takes less than one day by airplane.

People used to say, “Go West, Young Man, if you want to make a fortune,” and many thousands did go West, not looking for gold, but for farm lands, which were given them free by the United States if they would raise crops. Some of these men who went to Oklahoma and Texas and other places, chiefly west of the Mississippi, found oil oozing out of the ground on their farms. This oil spoiled the land for farming and made the water unfit even for the horses and cows to drink. The land was ruined—no good—so many farmers gave up and moved away.

There are three kinds of oil in the World—vegetable, animal, and mineral. Did you ever play the game called Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral? It’s a good game. The “Old Man” shouts, “Vegetable !” and you must name a vegetable, any vegetable—“potato,” for instance—before he can count ten. Or he shouts, “Mineral !” or “Animal!” and you must name a mineral or an animal before he counts ten. In this game a mineral is anything that isn’t animal or vegetable. But no matter whether he says “Animal,” “Vegetable,” or “Mineral,” you will always be right if you say, “Oil!” for it is one of the few things in the World that can be all three.

The oil from vegetables, like olive oil, and the oil from animals, like cod-liver oil, is good for food, but mineral oil from the rocks under the ground is not good for food. But some one found out that mineral oil could be burned to give light and heat, and then the automobile was invented, and from this mineral oil was made the gasoline to run automobiles. Many other things are now made from this kind of oil—medicine, colors for dyeing, and even perfumes.

People who thought their farms had been spoiled by oil found that the oil was worth a fortune, worth much more than what they could make out of chickens and pigs, or corn and wheat. Some wells had to be dug and the oil pumped up, but others sprouted up like fountains—these were called gushers.

This oil that comes out of the rock underneath the ground is called petroleum, which means rock oil. Some of the petroleum companies are nicknamed “Pete” for short, which is a pretty good name because Pete means “rock.”

If you take a train by the middle route you cross Iowa, the Corn State, passing through endless fields of corn. You next cross Nebraska and gradually rise higher and higher as the ground slopes gently upward, until you reach the State called Colorado. Colorado means “color red.” Colorado is at the foot of the highest mountains in America—they are called the Rocky Mountains. The capital of Colorado is Denver and Denver is just about half-way from Chicago to the Pacific Ocean.

Not so far from Denver you can climb to the top of a Rocky Mountain peak, if you want to and if you have a good heart. The first man who tried to climb this mountain was named Pike, but he gave it up, so ever since it has been called “Pike’s Peak.” When I was in school we used to try to say this “tongue-twister”: “Speak Pike, Speak Pike, Speak Pike” over and over as fast as we could without saying “Pike’s Peak.” We couldn’t do it—neither can you! Pike couldn’t climb to the top of his mountain, but nowadays thousands of people climb to the top each year just as a “stunt” to see in how many hours they can do it. Pike’s Peak is so high that there is snow on the top in the summer as well as in the winter, and it is so high in the air that there is very little air to breathe when you are at the top. A great many people cannot stand it at the top; they have to sit down. They gasp for breath as if they had been running, or like a fish out of water; their hearts beat fast and so hard they can hear it drumming in their ears, and they feel faint and weak. There are now an auto road and a railway up to the top, so that you don’t have to climb Pike’s Peak if you don’t want to. The railway track, however, is so steep that an ordinary railway car would slide down like a sled, so the track has small iron steps between the rails, and the car has a wheel that catches into the steps so that it cannot slip backward or run away down-hill—it walks up and down the steps.

【中文阅读】

以前，但并非遥远的古代，密西西比河是美国的远方边界线。密西西比河之外是渺无人烟的茫茫荒野。过去没有什么人横穿美国一直到达太平洋。因为路上会遇到野蛮的印第安人、凶猛的野兽和高高的大山。后来为什么有人要这么做呢？他们是些什么样的人呢？他们中有想猎捕野生动物的猎人，有希望向印第安人传播基督教的传教士，还有仅仅出于好奇的、想去荒野看个究竟的人。

后来有一天有个人告诉另一个人，说有人告诉他，他从另一个人那里听到一个传言，这个传言又是那个人听别人说的，说在加利福尼亚州——一个遥远的濒临太平洋的地方，有人发现了大量的金子；你要做的就是用淘金盘连沙带水把金子从河里捞出来，再从沙子和水中拣出金子。

金子！金子！就好像有人大声叫喊：着火了！着火了！成千上万的人放下手中的工具，停下农活，关上店铺，把床铺和炊具装上了马车，又在车上支起一个篷，这样他们就可以住在里面，就像是住在帐篷里一样，他们还带上了枪，然后出发奔向遥远的西部，加入淘金潮中。没有路，没有桥，没有道路指示牌告诉他们正确的方向——只有渺无人烟的茫茫荒野。他们走了一月又一月。在路上很多人得病死了，很多人被印第安人杀死了，很多人在过河时淹死了，很多人迷路之后饿死了或者渴死了——但是还有很多人，最终到达了加利福尼亚州，在他们听说有金子的地方真的找到了金子，就此发了大财。当时正好是1849年，所以这些到西部去的人也被叫做“49淘金人”。

从那时起公路和铁路开始修建起来，横贯整个国家；以前的荒野之地建起了大城市；野蛮的印第安人也变温顺了。美国曾从印第安人那夺走了一些土地，现在作为补偿，给了他们另外的土地。这些给印第安人的土地叫做“保留地”，因为是专门为他们而保留的，就像剧院里为某个人保留的座位叫做“保留座位”一样。

第一条通往太平洋海岸的铁路是从芝加哥出发，沿着中间路线，抵达旧金山。但是现在乘火车从芝加哥出发，无论是沿北线、中线或者南线都可以到达太平洋海岸。“49淘金人”当初驾着大篷车，历经数月艰辛才能到达太平洋沿岸，现在乘飞机一天之内就能到达。

人们过去常说：“年轻人，想发财的话，就去西部吧。”成千上万的人确实到西部去了，不是去淘金，而是去找田地。当时美国政府规定，只要有人愿意在西部种庄稼，就可以免费获得那里的土地。其中有些人去了密西西比河西岸的俄克拉荷马州、德克萨斯州和其他地方，却发现农田里不断渗出油。这种油破坏了农田的土壤，还影响了水质，甚至马或牛都不能喝。土地被毁了——不能做农田了——因此很多农民放弃了田地，搬走了。

世界上有三种油——植物油、动物油和矿物油。你有没有玩过一种叫做“动物、植物和矿物”的游戏？那是个很好玩的游戏。“老人”大声喊：“植物！”那你就必须在他数到10之前说出一种植物，任何植物都可以，比如说“土豆”。或者他会喊：“矿物！”或“动物！”你就必须在他数到10之前说出一种矿物或动物。在这个游戏里，矿物指的是除动物或植物之外的东西。但是不管他是说“动物”、“植物”还是“矿物”，如果你说“油”，你永远都是正确的，因为世界上同时归于这三者的东西寥寥无几，油就是其中之一。

植物油，像橄榄油，动物油，如鱼肝油，适合做食物，但是地下岩石里的矿物油是不适合做食物的。但有人发现矿物油可以燃烧，发光发热，后来人们发明了汽车，从矿物油提取出汽油，开动汽车。现在有很多其他东西也是用这种油生产出来的——药物、染色颜料甚至香水。

那些以为农田被油毁掉的人发现这种油有巨大的价值，远比他们养鸡养猪或种玉米小麦能赚的钱更多。要获得矿物油就得先挖井，然后把油用泵抽上来，但是有些地方油就像喷泉一样自然冒出来——这种叫做自喷井。

这种来自于地下岩石中的油叫做石油，顾名思义，就是“石中的油”。有些石油公司被人用简称戏称为“皮特”，这是个很不错的名字，因为皮特的意思就是“岩石”[1]。

如果你乘火车从中线走的话，你会横穿“玉米之州”爱荷华，要经过无边无际的玉米地。接下来你会穿过内布拉斯加州，慢慢地，地势越来越高，最后到达叫做科罗拉多的州。科罗拉多的意思是“红颜色”。科罗拉多位于美国最高山脉的山脚下——这个山脉叫做落基山脉。科罗拉多州的州府是丹佛，丹佛差不多位于从芝加哥到太平洋的中途。

你可以在离丹佛不远的地方出发，登上落基山脉的顶峰，条件是你有这样的意愿，又有一颗强劲的心脏。第一个尝试登顶的人叫派克，但是他中途放弃了，从那之后这座山峰就被叫做“派克峰”。我上学的时候我们经常说的“绕口令”是：“说派克，说派克，说派克”，一遍又一遍，能说多快就说多快，而不会说成“派克峰”。我们做不到——你也做不到！派克没能登上以他名字命名的山峰，但是现在每年都有成千上万的人爬到山顶，只是为了展现自己的“特技”，比一比看谁能更快登顶。派克峰巍峨高耸，不论是冬天还是夏天山顶都白雪皑皑，地势越高，空气越稀薄，人在山顶会感到呼吸困难。很多人在山顶受不了，只好坐下来。他们就像刚跑过步一样，或者就像鱼儿离开了水一样大口大口吸气；此时心跳快速有力，能清楚听到自己“咚咚”的心跳声，人们感觉眩晕虚弱。现在有公路和铁路通往山顶，你可以选择坐车登上派克峰。然而，火车轨道非常陡峭，如果使用普通的火车，车厢会像雪橇一样滑下来。人们就在轨道上的两条铁轨之间铺设了有小“台阶”的齿轨，火车配有齿轮，行驶的时候齿轮卡着齿轨上的“台阶”一步一步向前走，这样火车就不会向后滑或脱轨冲下山——它是顺着台阶上山下山的。

[1] 英语“pete”（皮特）是“peter”（皮得）的昵称。“Peter”的希腊语有“岩石”之意——译者注。

14

Wonderland

仙　境

“ALICE IN WONDERLAND” is a fairy-tale, but there is a real Wonderland out in the West. One of the wonders is a river. It is called the Colorado River, but it is not in the State of Colorado. It is in Arizona.

The river runs deep down in the bottom of the deepest ditch in the World, a ditch a mile deep in places. This ditch is called by the Spaniards a Canyon. You can stand on the edge of the Colorado Canyon and look almost a mile down to what seems a slender little thread of water—the Colorado River—running at the bottom, and yet this little stream has cut this ditch in which it runs—worn it down—all by itself. Here we can see, better than any place i.t.w.W., what the World looks like on the inside if we could dig down into it a mile deep, for here a little river has dug down a mile deep for us. I asked my guide how far it was across to the other side of the Canyon.

You can look almost a mile down

你可以往下看到1英里深处

“Oh,” he replied, “about ten or twelve shouts.” That was a new distance to me, for I didn’t even know how far one shout was. My arithmetic says twelve inches make a foot and three feet make a yard, but does not say how many feet make a “shout.” You can look across to the other side of the Canyon and see the opposite wall almost a mile high—not a plain, blank wall like the wall of a building, but more like the walls of heaven—layers of rock, pile upon pile, colored yellow, red, green, orange, purple, mixed with sunshine and shadow. All of this rock was once under the sea, for it is limestone and sandstone. Each layer has been dyed a different color by minerals like iron and copper; if there was iron in the water, it turned the rock the color of iron rust—red; if copper, it turned the rock green.

I once bought a souvenir pencil. In its end was a pinhole, and when you squinted into the hole with one eye, there you saw in all its vastness the Colorado Canyon. It seemed impossible, and yet there it was, stretching off in the distance, mile upon mile, in a picture the size of a pin head!

Some of the branches of the Colorado run in smaller canyons, and high up on the walls of these canyons are houses built in caves in the rock. Once upon a time, long, long ago, people whom we call “cliff-dwellers” built these homes there to be safe from their enemies.

A giant hop and skip north from the Grand Canyon would bring one to the State of Utah, where there is a great lake, but this Great Lake is different from the five “Great Lakes.” The water in the five Great Lakes is fresh, the water in this great lake is salt, so it is called Great Salt Lake, though it is really a little ocean. As in the case of the ocean, rivers run into the Great Salt Lake, but no rivers run out of it.

What makes it salt ?

The same thing that makes the ocean salt.

What makes the ocean salt?

cliff dwellings（悬崖住所）

The ground through which rivers flow is salt. If you ever tasted the ground, you would know it, but, of course, I don’t suppose you ever have, unless you have fallen and gotten some in your mouth or on your lips. Rivers, as they flow along, wash some of this salt out of the ground, carry it along, and dump it into the ocean. They carry so little salt at a time you would never know by tasting the river water that it was salt at all, but the rivers pour in this ever so little bit of salt all the time, all the time, and so the salt gradually does collect in the ocean and in Great Salt Lake, for there is no way for the salt to go out once it’s in the ocean or the lake. The water gets out of the lake as it does out of the ocean—by rising into the air as vapor—evaporating, we call it—but the salt doesn’t evaporate, it can’t rise into the air, and so it has no way of getting out.

The Great Salt Lake is getting saltier and saltier all the time. It is already much saltier than the ocean. Salt water holds up a person or anything in it much better than fresh water, and the saltier the water the more it holds the person up. So in Great Salt Lake you couldn’t drown whether you knew how to swim or not. You can stand in the water or sit in the water or lie down on the water as you would on a sofa. You can read the paper or eat your luncheon while sitting in the water, but you have to be very careful not to get any of the water in your eyes or in any small cut you may have on your hands or body, for the salt water is so strong it smarts. Some day the ocean will be as salty as Great Salt Lake, for the ocean too is slowly, very slowly, getting saltier and saltier all the time. Then, even if there were a shipwreck, people would not drown—they would bob about in the sea like corks.

Still farther north, a hop, skip, and a jump from the Colorado Canyon, in the corner of the State of Wyoming, is a place that looks on the map like a little State within the State. It is called Yellowstone Park. There are so many wonderful things in this part of the State—freaks, funny things, and lovely things—that the United States thought people would like to see them, so they made a Park of this corner of the State, with good roads and hotels, for people who wish to see the sights. No hunting is allowed, so wild animals and birds can live and raise families without fear of being killed. There are bears in Yellowstone Park, but as they are not allowed to be hunted or shot, they become very tame and people can even go close enough to photograph them.

The World in that part of the country has not yet cooled off altogether, and it is still very hot not far down under the ground. If a person asked me to have a glass of spring water, I should expect a nice cool drink; but if the spring were in Yellowstone Park the water would probably scald my throat, for there are hundreds of springs in Yellowstone Park heated so hot by underground fires that they boil up and over like a pot on the fire.

There is a big lake in Yellowstone Park called Yellowstone Lake. You can stand on its edge and catch a fish in the lake and, without taking the fish off the hook, drop it into one of the hot springs near shore and cook it. In other places the water is blown up by the steam underneath into fountains. These fountains are called “geysers,” and some are quite big and some are quite beautiful. One called “Old Faithful” spouts regularly about once every hour, throwing a beautiful stream of water straight up into the air like a gigantic fire-hose. It does this so faithfully that it seems almost as if a person turned the water on and off, but it has been spouting this way ever since it has been known—never missing an hour, night or day, never forgetting, never running down, more faithful than any human being would or could be.

【中文阅读】

“爱丽丝漫游仙境”是一个童话故事，但是远在西部真有一个充满奇迹的仙境。奇迹之一是一条河，叫做科罗拉多河，但它却不在科罗拉多州，而在亚利桑那州。

这条河流淌在世界上最深的水沟里的底部，这条多处深达1英里的水沟被西班牙人叫做峡谷。你可以站在科罗拉多峡谷的边缘向下看，大约1英里深的地方有一条细线一般的水——那就是科罗拉多河——流淌在峡谷底部，然而正是这条小溪流“挖出”了这个大峡谷——一点点慢慢冲刷——全靠它自己。在这里往下1英里我们能比在世界上任何地方都能更清楚地看到世界的内部是什么样子，因为这里的一条小河已经为我们挖了1英里深。我曾问过向导到峡谷的另一边有多远。“哦，”他回答说，“大概十到十二声喊叫声那么远。”那是我从未听说过的距离，因为我甚至不知道一声喊叫有多远。我的算术课本上说1英尺等于12英寸，1码等于3英尺，但是却没有告诉我一声“喊叫声”有多少英尺。你可以朝峡谷的另一面望去，看见对面高达约1英里的岩壁——不是像建筑物的墙那样单调的一色，而是更像天堂的墙壁——它是由一层层岩石堆积起来的，岩石有黄、红、绿、橙、紫等多种颜色，在光和影的交替作用下这些颜色更是绚丽迷人，这里所有的岩石都曾经是在大海底下的，因为都是些石灰岩和砂岩。每一层都被诸如铁和铜之类的矿物染成了不同的颜色；如果水中的岩石含铁，它就会把岩石变成铁锈的颜色——红色；如果含铜，就会把岩石变成绿色。

我曾经买过一个旅游纪念品，是支铅笔。它的顶部有一个小孔，眯着一只眼往里看，你能看到整个宽广辽阔的科罗拉多大峡谷。这似乎不可能，但确实是真的，在一幅针孔般大小的图景里竟能看到绵延数英里的大峡谷！

科罗拉多河的一些支流在较小的峡谷中流淌，在这些峡谷岩壁的石洞里还有房屋。很久很久以前，我们称为“悬崖居民”的人为了躲避敌人建了这些房屋。

离大峡谷的北面不远处就是犹他州，那里有一个很大的湖，但是这个大湖不同于“五大湖”。五大湖的水是淡水，这个大湖里的水却是咸水，因此它被叫做“大盐湖”，其实它就是一个小海洋。大盐湖和海洋一样，只有流入的河，却没有流出的河。

是什么把湖水变咸的呢？

是把海洋也变咸的东西。

那么，是什么把海洋变咸的呢？

河水流经的土地含有盐分。如果你尝过泥土的味道你就会知道的，但是，我想你当然没尝过，除非你跌倒了，不小心嘴里或者嘴唇上沾了点土。河水流经土地时由于不断冲刷，带走了一些盐分，最后汇入海洋。河流一次带走的盐分很少，所以你尝河水是感觉不到咸味的，但是众多河流日复一日，年复一年地把盐分一点点带进海洋，海洋和大盐湖里的盐分就逐渐积累起来了，因为盐一旦进入海洋和大盐湖，就没有办法再出去。湖水和海水都是变成水蒸气升到空气中——我们称之为蒸发——但是盐是不能蒸发的，它不能升到空气中去，因此它没有任何办法出去。

大盐湖不断变得越来越咸。它已经比海水还咸。人和一些东西能在水里浮起来，盐水比淡水浮力更大，水越咸，浮力就越大。所以，在大盐湖不管会不会游泳你都不会溺水。你可以站在水里、坐在水里或者躺在水面上，就像躺在沙发上一样。你可以一边坐在水里，一边看报纸或者吃午餐，但是你得小心别把水弄到眼睛里或者手上或身上任何小伤口里，因为盐分很强会引起剧痛。有一天海洋也会变得像大盐湖一样咸，因为海洋也在一直非常缓慢地变得越来越咸。到那时，即使发生船只失事，也不会有人遇难了——人们会像软木塞一样在海上漂来漂去。

从科罗拉多大峡谷再往北不远处是怀俄明州，在怀俄明州的西北角有块地方，在地图上看起来就像是“州中之州”。这个地方叫黄石公园。这里有很多奇妙的东西——有的奇形怪状，有的滑稽可笑，有的美丽迷人——有这么好的地方所以美国政府认为人们都想来观赏一下，于是就在怀俄明州的西北角建了这个公园，这里公路宽敞，酒店舒适，非常便于前来旅游的人。这里禁止捕猎，因此野生动物和鸟类可以自由地繁衍生息，不用担惊受怕。黄石公园里有熊，但是没有人捕猎或射杀，它们就变得非常温顺，游客可以靠近它们拍照。

世界在美国的那块地方还没有完全冷却下来，在地下不深的地方仍然很热。如果有人请我喝一杯泉水，我期待喝上清凉可口的水；但是喝了黄石公园的泉水，很可能会烫伤我的喉咙，因为在黄石公园有许许多多的温泉被地下熔岩加热至沸腾溢出，就像是火上烧开的水壶一样。

黄石公园里有个大湖叫做黄石湖。你可以站在湖边钓一条鱼，然后不用把它从鱼钩上取下来就直接丢到湖岸附近的一个热泉里把它给煮熟了。在其他地方，由于地下蒸汽的压力泉水会喷出来形成喷泉。这种喷泉叫做“间歇泉”，有的间歇泉非常壮观，有的非常美丽。一个叫做“老实泉”的间歇泉很规律地大约每隔一小时就喷射一次，此刻一条美丽的水柱直入空中，就像从一个巨大的消防水带里喷射出来一样。它每次喷射都是这么尽职守信，就好像有个人看着时间开关水龙头一样，但它自从被人所知就一直这样喷射——日日夜夜从未漏过一个小时，从未忘记，从未停止，我们人类没有人愿意或能够做到像它那样忠实守信。

15

The ‘Est,’ Est West

“之最”最多的西部

A LAND where they have the b-est, the bigg-est, the fin-est, the highest, the loveli-est of everything—so they say—the best oranges, the biggest prunes, the finest grapes, the tallest trees, the highest mountains, the loveliest weather—i. t. w. W. No, it’s not Paradise. That’s the ’est, ’est West.

California was named after an island in an old fairy-tale and in many ways the real California is a fairy-tale land. When gold was found in the rivers there, the story sounded like a fairy-tale, but it turned out to be a true tale. Many stories they tell nowadays about California still sound like fairy-tales to people in the East. Who would believe that there are trees in California so tall they seem to brush the sky—trees so big around that men have cut tunnels in them for automobiles to go through—trees so old that they were born before Christ was born! It’s true, there are. They are called Giant Redwoods. How more wonderful than a fairy-tale it would be if those trees could tell us the true story of what has happened in their long lives!

Let us see how many ’ests we can count in California.

California is the longest State in the United States. If you could take up California and put it down on the Atlantic coast it would stretch from Florida to New York. That’s one ’est.

California has the highest mountain in the United States. It is called Mount Whitney. That’s two ’ests.

California has the lowest place in America. It’s a valley, and the valley is more than two hundred feet lower than the ocean. It is so dry and so hot down in this hollow—this lowest spot—that nothing can live there, either animal or vegetable, except horned toads and lizards, both of which animals love heat—the more heat the better for them. Some people say they can even live in fire—but that’s a fairy-tale. This low hot valley is called Death Valley. People usually keep away from it, but some men have strayed into it looking for gold and have lost their way, or some who wanted to get to the other side tried to cross it and before they could get out or reach the other side they have died of heat or thirst. That’s why it is called Death Valley. That’s longest, highest, lowest—three ’ests.

Besides Death Valley, California has another valley—but this is one of the loveliest valleys. It is called the Yosemite. It is a very deep trough, and streams of water fall over the edge into the trough from many high places. One of these falls turns to mist before it reaches the ground and looks like a huge veil of a bride, so it is called Bridal Veil Falls. Half a dozen of these waterfalls in the Yosemite Valley are higher than Niagara, and two of them tumble headlong a quarter of a mile from the top to the bottom of the valley, the highest falls in America—loveliest valley, highest falls; that makes two more ’ests.

California has, beside these ’ests, the sweetest oranges, the sourest lemons, the biggest grape-fruit, so they say, but they didn’t come from California; they went there. There were no oranges and no lemons growing in America at all before white men came to this country. The first white people to settle in California came from the country of Spain on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In Spain oranges and lemons grew, and the people from Spain, called Spaniards, brought over orange and lemon plants and started them growing in California and also in Florida.

The Spaniards built houses like those back in Spain, with white stucco walls and red tile roofs and with the “back yards” in the center of the house. They gave their cities Spanish names—Los Angeles, which means The Angels; and they named many of their cities after saints—San Francisco after St. Francis, Santa Barbara after St. Barbara—for many of the Spaniards were priests, who built mission churches up and down the land.

The City of the Angels is now the largest city on the Pacific coast. Near the City of the Angels is Hollywood, the greatest (another ’est) moving-picture place i. t. w. W. There are 365 days in the year, as you know, but in Hollywood they say the sun shines on 400 days a year—fairy-tale land! At any rate, the weather is fine most of the time for taking moving pictures. This is one reason why it is such a good place for making movies, but another is that there are so many different kinds of natural scenery near-by. If they want to make a picture of a ship scene or shipwreck, there is the ocean. If they want to make a picture of the desert with camels and Arabs, there is the seashore. If they want to make a picture in the hot countries, there are palms and flowers. If they want to make pictures of winter scenes, all they have to do is to go to the mountains near-by and there is snow and ice all the year round.

The city of San Francisco on the coast north of Los Angeles is nearly as large as Los Angeles. It might have been larger, but not so many years ago a terrible earthquake shook down the city. The quake only lasted a few minutes, but in that few minutes it rocked the city, cracked open the ground, and knocked down buildings as if they were houses of children’s blocks, and hundreds and hundreds of people were killed. But the worst thing the earthquake did was to upset stoves and lamps that started one of the worst fires ever known—fires that burned up most of the city. Were the people discouraged? Not at all. They collected their insurance money—and they built the city up again.

Hollywood is the greatest moving-picture place in the wide World

好莱坞是世界上最大的电影制作地

San Francisco has one of the finest harbors in the World. Its harbor is a long bay—fifty miles long. Ships enter the harbor from the Pacific Ocean through an opening called the Golden Gate. The city is built on many hills so steep that it is difficult for automobiles to climb them, but houses built on them have lovely views of the ocean, the bay, or the Golden Gate. Across the Golden Gate is a huge suspension bridge much bigger than the Brooklyn Bridge.

Ships enter and leave San Francisco for all the countries on and across the Pacific Ocean. Across the Pacific Ocean are China and Japan, and in days gone by so many Chinese came to the United States and landed in San Francisco that there is a part of the city called Chinatown, where there are Chinese houses and shops and theaters. Many Japanese too came to the United States from Japan, and bought farms where they raised fruits and vegetables.

【中文阅读】

据说有个地方，那里有最好、最大、最优、最高、最美的东西，如世界上最好吃的柑橘、最硕大的李子、最美味的葡萄、最高大的树木、最巍峨的山峰、最宜人的天气。是天堂吗？不，不是天堂。那就是拥有最多“之最”的美国西部。

加利福尼亚是以一个古老童话故事里的小岛命名的，而真正的加利福尼亚在很多方面都是一个童话般的地方。当人们在那里的河流里发现金子的时候，这样的事听起来就像是个童话，但结果证明这是一个真实的故事。人们现在讲的很多关于加利福尼亚的故事对东部的人来说仍然像是童话故事。谁会相信加利福尼亚有冲天大树——粗大的树干可以凿个洞，让汽车通过——有些树非常古老，在耶稣诞生前就开始生长了！是真的，真的有这样的树。它们叫做大红杉。如果这些树能告诉我们在它们漫长生命中发生过的真实故事，那一定比童话故事更加精彩啊！

让我们来数一数在加利福尼亚究竟有多少个“之最”吧。

加利福尼亚是美国“最”长的州。如果你能拿起加利福尼亚州，放到大西洋沿岸，它将从佛罗里达延伸到纽约。这是一个“之最”。

加利福尼亚有美国“最”高的山，叫做惠特尼山。这是两个“之最”了。

加利福尼亚有美国的“最”低的地方。那是一个山谷，低于海平面200多英尺。这个最低点的山谷里极其干燥炎热，没有动植物能在里面生存，除了角蟾和蜥蜴，这两种动物都喜欢炎热的环境——越热越好。有人说它们甚至在火里也能生存——但那是童话里才发生的事。这个炎热的低谷叫做“死亡谷”。人们通常不会靠近死亡谷，但有人在找金子时误入其中而迷路，还有人想到另一面去，就尝试穿越死亡谷，但还没等他们走出去或到达对面就已经热死或渴死了。正因如此，它才叫死亡谷。这里就有三个“之最”了：最长，最高，最低。

除了死亡谷，加利福尼亚还有一个山谷——但这个是“最”美丽的山谷之一，叫做约塞米蒂谷。它是一个非常深的谷槽，股股溪流从很高处流过谷顶边缘直落下去，形成瀑布。其中一个瀑布落地之前就变成了薄雾，看起来就像新娘巨大的面纱，因此被叫做“新娘面纱瀑布”。约塞米蒂谷有六处瀑布都比尼亚加拉瀑布还要高，其中有两处从谷顶一泻而下直到谷底，高达四分之一英里，是美国最高的瀑布——最美的山谷，最高的瀑布；这样又有了两个“之最”。

除了这些“之最”外，加利福尼亚据说还有最甜的柑橘、最酸的柠檬和最大的葡萄柚，但这些水果原产地不是加利福尼亚；他们是“移居”到那儿去的。白人来美国定居前美国根本没有这几种水果。第一批到加利福尼亚定居的人来自于大西洋对岸的西班牙。西班牙盛产柑橘和柠檬，西班牙来的人，也就是西班牙人，带来了柑橘和柠檬的植株，开始在加利福尼亚州和佛罗里达州种植这两种水果。

西班牙人建造的房屋和西班牙国内的风格相似，有着白色拉毛粉饰的外墙和红瓦的屋顶，房屋中间还有“后院”。他们给他们建造的许多城市取了西班牙名——如“洛杉矶”市，意思是“天使之城”；他们还以圣人的名字给许多城市命名——如以圣弗朗西斯命名的圣弗朗西斯科市（旧金山），以圣巴巴拉命名的圣巴巴拉市——因为当时来美国的很多西班牙人是牧师，他们在这片土地上建造了很多教堂，进行传教活动。

“天使之城”现在是太平洋沿岸最大的城市，附近就是好莱坞，世界上最大的（又一个“之最”）电影制作地。你知道一年有365天，但是在好莱坞人们说一年有400天阳光照耀的日子——童话世界！不管怎么说，当地大多数时间天气都很好，适宜拍摄电影。这就是“天使之城”是拍电影的好地方的一个原因，但是另一个原因是好莱坞附近有各种各样的自然风景。如果他们想拍一个航海镜头或海滩的场景，这里有海洋；如果他们想拍一个有骆驼和阿拉伯人的沙漠影片，这里有海滩；如果他们想拍一个热带地区的电影，这里有棕榈树和鲜花；如果他们想拍冬天场景的影片，他们只要爬到附近的山上，那里一年四季都是冰天雪地。

洛杉矶北面的沿海城市圣弗朗西斯科市（旧金山）几乎和洛杉矶一样大。以前或许比洛杉矶还要大一点，但是在没有多少年以前，一场可怕的地震震倒了整个城市。地震只持续了几分钟，但就在那短短几分钟里城市摇晃，地面断裂，楼房倒塌，就好像是小孩搭的积木房子说倒就倒，许许多多的人失去了生命。但地震造成的最严重的灾难是打翻了火炉和油灯从而引发了至今为止最严重的火灾之一——大火烧掉了这个城市的大部分。人们因此而丧失希望了吗？丝毫没有。他们领取了保险赔偿金——重新建起了这个城市。

圣弗朗西斯科有着世界上最好的港口之一。它的港口是一个长长的海湾——长达50英里。从太平洋来的船只通过一个叫做“金门”的海峡进入港口。这个城市建造在很多陡峭的山上，因此汽车很难爬上去，但建在山坡上房子里能看到很美的风景：大海、海湾和金门。横跨金门海峡的金门大桥是一个比布鲁克林大桥更大的巨大吊桥。

在圣弗朗西斯科进进出出的船只来自于太平洋上和对岸的所有国家。太平洋对岸是中国和日本，在以往的岁月里有许许多多的中国人不断来到美国在圣弗朗西斯科上岸，所以这里有个叫做“唐人街”的地方，唐人街有中国风格的房屋、商店和剧院。许多日本人也远离故土来到美国，他们买下农场种植水果和蔬菜。

16

The ‘Est,’ Est West (continued)

“之最”最多的西部（续）

HERE is a riddle for you. What is it that has no legs and yet can jump as high as the Washington Monument? I’ll tell you the answer in a minute.

Between Oregon and Washington is a river named Columbia, after Columbus. In the Columbia River are large fish called salmon. Salmon live in the salt ocean, but when Mrs. Salmon wants to lay her eggs she goes way up the Columbia River, far above the falls to fresh water, looking for a quiet place to do so. How can she get by the falls? She jumps the falls. You may wonder how fish without legs can jump at all, and it is peculiar that they can, but they do. They bend their tails into a kind of spring, then flip!—up they go; for a salmon can jump as high as the Washington Monument.

What is it that can jump as high as the Washington Monument?

什么东西能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高？

“Are the falls as high as the Washington Monument?”

“No, they are all low.”

“But you said a salmon could jump as high as the Washington Monument.”

“A salmon can, for the Washington Monument can’t jump at all!”

Millions of salmon together called “schools” swim up the river and fishermen catch them in nets, but they leave most of them so that they can lay eggs from which little salmon are born, and the little salmon swim down the river and out into the ocean, where they live and grow up until it comes time for them also to lay eggs, and then they in their turn swim up the river, jump up the falls, and are either caught or left to raise more families of little salmon. Salmon meat is pink; we call it salmon color. It is packed in cans. You have probably eaten salmon from the Columbia River yourself.

The oldest fruit in the World is the apple. It is the fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden, but people believe the apple that Eve gave Adam was a very poor one compared to the apples that grow in the State of Washington. People in Washington, D. C.—all the way across the country—buy apples that have been shipped from Washington State—3,000 miles away—for they are so much better than ordinary apples. They are “skookum.” That’s what the Indians of the Northwest call something very nice—whether it is a girl or an apple.

There are great forests in Washington and Oregon. The forest trees are cut down to make lumber for building houses; and the paper I am writing on was made from trees that grew in Oregon. How do I know that? When I hold the paper up to the light, there is printed in white—we call it a watermark—the word “Oregon.”

At the northwest corner of America is a large country that belongs to the United States and yet it is not a State. It is called a Territory. It is Alaska. The highest mountain in North America is there. It is called Mount McKinley. Alaska is so cold, so far off, and so hard to get to, and yet the United States bought it and paid millions of dollars for it, not because it had the highest mountain, but chiefly because of the fish in its waters and the fur on its animals, and then one day gold was discovered there.

“Skookum”

“呱呱叫”

Gold is a magic word. Again, as in the days of the Forty-niners, thousands of people, when they heard of the gold, left everything and, with nothing but shovels to dig the gold and sieves to strain it out of the water, started off to that far-away place, hoping to make their fortunes before the new year. Many foolishly went off with nothing to live on after they reached Alaska. They didn’t seem to know that where the gold was to be found there was no food, nothing to eat, and no stores where one could buy food. Others, more wise, carried cans of food with them, and when the foolish gold-diggers had found gold, the wise ones sold them food for their gold. For a can of beans they often asked hundreds of times what it had cost, and the foolish gold-diggers had to pay it or starve, for they couldn’t eat gold and they had to eat or die. So the wise ones came back with the gold which the foolish ones had dug, and the foolish ones were lucky to get back at all.

In the parts of Alaska where fish can be caught for food, Indians live in small villages. In the center of each village they put up a tall pole carved and painted in the forms of birds and animals with big ugly faces. These are called Totem Poles. Each tribe or family has some bird or animal such as an eagle or a bear for its mascot, as you might call your club “the Lions” or “the Owls,” and the Totem Pole is the tribe’s sign.

If you should suddenly see at night the whole northern sky hung with curtains of fire and ablaze with flashing flames shooting from the ground far up into the heavens, you might think, as I did the first time I saw it when a boy, that the World was coming to an end. It looked as if the World were on fire and were about to explode. This amazing sight is called the Aurora Borealis or Northern Light, and it may be seen often in Alaska and sometimes, though perhaps only once or twice in a lifetime, much farther south. It is a terrifying sight to those who have never seen or even heard of such a thing before, and yet the Aurora Borealis does no more harm than a beautiful sunset or a rainbow in the sky.

Totem Poles

图腾柱

What causes the Aurora Borealis? That’s a hard question to answer. Electricity has something to do with it and so have sun spots. Have you ever heard of sun spots? Sometimes a dark spot will appear on the sun and move slowly across it. You can’t see sun spots because the sun is much too bright to be stared at. But men who look through telescopes with darkened glass to protect their eyes can see these spots and they can photograph them with special cameras. After a sun spot appears on the sun there is usually a very bright Aurora Borealis.

That’s all I can tell you. A little girl once asked, “What is a thought made of?” That’s a hard question to answer too.

【中文阅读】

有个谜语给你猜：什么东西没有腿却能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高？我一会儿就告诉你答案。

在俄勒冈州和华盛顿州之间有一条以哥伦布的名字命名的河，叫做哥伦比亚河。哥伦比亚河里有一种很大的鱼，叫做鲑鱼。鲑鱼生活在海洋的咸水里，但是当鲑鱼夫人要产卵的时候，她会沿哥伦比亚河往上游，到远远高于瀑布的淡水里，找一个安静的地方去产卵。她怎么才能通过瀑布呢？她跳过瀑布。你也许很纳闷鱼没有腿怎么会跳呢，鲑鱼能跳起来真是太奇怪了，但它们就是能。鲑鱼把尾巴弯成像弹簧的样子，然后猛然翻转——就跳上去了；因为鲑鱼能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高。

“瀑布有华盛顿纪念碑那么高吗？”

“没有，那里的瀑布都很低。”

“但是你说鲑鱼能跳得和华盛顿纪念碑一样高啊。”

“鲑鱼肯定能，因为华盛顿纪念碑根本就不会跳！”

千千万万的鲑鱼在一起叫做“鱼群”，这些鱼群游到河流的上游，被渔民用网捕捞起来，但渔民会放走大部分的鱼，好让它们产卵生出小鲑鱼，小鲑鱼往河的下游游去最后游到大海里，它们在大海里生长，长到它们自己也要产卵的时候，就会接着沿河向上游，跳过瀑布，这时或被捕捞或被放生去繁衍出更多的小鲑鱼家族。鲑鱼肉是粉红色的；我们把它叫做鲑肉粉红色。鲑鱼可以制成罐头。你大概就吃过哥伦比亚河产的鲑鱼。

世界上最古老的水果是苹果。它是长在伊甸园里的水果，但是人们认为和华盛顿州的苹果相比，夏娃在伊甸园送给亚当的苹果一定很不好吃。住在华盛顿特区的人——从华盛顿州到华盛顿特区要横穿整个美国——买从华盛顿州运送来的苹果——运程达3000英里——就因为它们比普通的苹果可口多了。它们是“呱呱叫的”。西北部的印第安人形容什么好东西都说“呱呱叫”——不管是女孩子还是苹果。

华盛顿州和俄勒冈州有着大片的森林。森林里的树木被砍倒，做成建房用的木材；我正在写字用的纸也是用生长在俄勒冈的树造的。我是怎么知道的呢？我把纸举起来对着亮光时，能看到上面印着白色的——我们把那叫做水印——“俄勒冈”的字样。

在美洲的西北角有一片很大的区域，它属于美国，却不是一个州[1]。那叫做领土，那是阿拉斯加。北美洲最高的山峰就在那里，叫做麦金利山。阿拉斯加非常寒冷，远离本土，去一趟很困难，然而美国还是花了数百万美元买下了这块地方，不是因为那里有最高的山峰，而主要是因为那片海域盛产鱼类和动物皮毛，后来有一天人们还发现了金子。

金子是一个有魔力的词。又一次，像“49淘金人”那时一样，一听说有金子，成千上万的人就丢下所有的东西，出发到那遥远的地方，只带着挖金子用的铲子和从水里滤出金子的筛子，指望在新年之前发大财。很多人愚蠢之极，什么都没带就出发了，到达阿拉斯加以后没有任何可以赖以生存的东西。他们好像不知道能找到金子的地方没有食物，没有任何吃的东西，没有能买到食物的商店。另一些人要比他们精明，随身带着罐头食品，当那些愚蠢的淘金者挖到金子时，那些精明的人就把食物卖给他们，换来金子。一罐豆子往往被卖到原价几百倍的价钱，那些愚蠢的淘金者不得不付钱，否则就要挨饿，因为他们不能吃金子，他们要吃食物，不然就要死掉。于是那些聪明的人带着那些愚蠢的人挖出来的金子回家了，而那些愚蠢的人只要能回来就已经是很幸运了。

在阿拉斯加那些产鱼的地方，都有一些小村庄，里面住着印第安人。在每个村子的中央他们竖立起一个高高的柱子，上面刻画着鸟和动物的图案，这些动物都长着又大又丑的脸。这些柱子叫做图腾柱。每一个部落或家族都有某种鸟或动物作为他们的吉祥物，比如鹰或熊，就像你可能把你的俱乐部叫做“狮子”或者“猫头鹰”一样，图腾柱是部落的标志。

如果你在夜晚突然发现整个北边的天空上悬着片片火幕，熊熊燃烧的火焰从地面直冲到天上，你也许会像我小时候第一次看见这种景象的时候一样想：世界末日到了。看起来好像整个世界都在燃烧，就像要爆炸了。这种令人惊叹的景象叫做北极光，在阿拉斯加经常可以看到，不过有时候在较为南部的地方，很可能一生只能看到一两次。对那些从来没看过或听说这种景象的人来说，这是很恐怖的现象，然而北极光和天空中美丽的日落或彩虹一样，不会对人有任何伤害。

是什么造成了北极光呢？这是个很难回答的问题。它与电和太阳黑子有关。你听说过太阳黑子吗？有时候太阳上会出现一个黑点，然后慢慢地在太阳表面从一边移到另一边。你看不到太阳黑子，因为太阳光太刺眼，不能盯着看。但是人们可以用望远镜看到太阳黑子，望远镜上配有暗色的镜片，能保护眼睛，他们还可以用特殊的照相机把太阳黑子拍下来。太阳上出现一个太阳黑子之后通常会有很明亮的北极光。

我只能告诉你这么多。一个小女孩曾经问我：“思想是用什么做的？”那也是个很难回答的问题。

[1] 现在是美国的州——译者注。

17

Next-door Neighbors

隔壁邻居

THERE is a saying that “Good fences make good neighbors,” but that depends on the neighbors. North of the United States is a country bigger than the United States called Canada. It stretches across America from sea to sea, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and there would have to be a fence 3,000 miles long if there were a fence, but there is none—nothing but an imaginary line. An imaginary line is a line on the map but not on the ground. On this imaginary line the two countries set up a stone on which they said something like this, “Canada and the United States agree never to fight”; that’s all—a gentlemen’s agreement. It is called the “Peace Stone.”

Boys often say “findings is keepings.” The French people found Canada, but England thought she had a better right to it, so she fought for it and took it away from the French. That was a long time ago, but there are a great many French still in Canada, and in the city of Quebec more people speak French than English.

I once had a Newfoundland dog. He was woolly and big and ate as much as a man. Newfoundland dogs came from an island on the At-lantic side of Canada which an Englishman found, and so he called it New-found-land. Newfoundland is now a part of Canada.

Just off the coast of Newfoundland is a shallow part of the sea called the Grand Banks. But the Banks are under the water. It is a great fishing ground, but men go fishing there, not for pleasure, but for business. Thousands of small boats go off and stay off and do not return until they have caught all the fish they can carry. It is often very foggy on the Grand Banks, and sometimes big ocean steamships coming over from across the Atlantic Ocean cannot see the small fishing boats and run into them and sink them with all on board.

Canada is big in size but small in number of people. There are not as many people in all of Canada as there are in the State of New York. Most of the people in Canada live as close along the edge of the United States as they can, because it gets very cold in winter farther north than that. Close to the United States people do pretty nearly the same things and raise the same things as people south of the border in the United States. For instance, Canada raises more wheat than any other country in the World except the United States.

One of the biggest concerns in Canada is a railroad company called the Canadian Pacific. The railroad runs all the way across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada. But it doesn’t stop at the Oceans. It has big steamers that cross the Atlantic Ocean and it has big steamers that cross the Pacific Ocean. The Canadian Pacific owns all the hotels along the railroad, too. Along one part of the railroad there is very wonderful scenery—beautiful mountains and lakes. Lake Louise, in the Rocky Mountains, is so beautiful that many people go there on their vacations or on their wedding journeys.

No woman likes a wild animal such as a fox or wolf close to her, but as soon as the animals are dead she loves their skins close to her and will pay high prices to get them. There is a big bay in Canada, almost as big as the Gulf of Mexico; it is called Hudson Bay and named after the man who discovered it. He is the same man who discovered the Hudson River, but Hudson Bay and Hudson River have no other connection. Hudson Bay is filled with ice all winter long, and all around Hudson Bay the winters are so cold that men do not live there unless they have to. The chief reason some men do live there is to hunt animals. The animals in that cold country can’t buy overcoats, so they grow overcoats on themselves—fur overcoats, which are the very best kind of overcoats. Hunters trap and kill wolves, foxes, and other animals, skin them of their overcoats, and sell them to ladies who can pay big prices for them. This company of people who trap animals and sell furs is called the Hudson’s Bay Company.

As we have States, Canada has provinces, but there are only ten provinces in Canada. The chief one is called Ontario, after Lake Ontario. Ontario, however, borders all the other Great Lakes too, except Michigan. In Ontario is the capital of Canada. It is called Ottawa. England sends a man across the ocean to Canada, called the Governor-General, but the people in Canada send men to Ottawa to make their own laws.

As you go north in Canada the country gets colder and colder, till at last it gets so cold that it is too cold even for trees to grow. The trees that grow farthest north hold their leaves and stay green the year round like the pine and spruce. They are called “evergreens.” The wood of evergreens is soft. The trees that cannot grow as far north as evergreens drop their leaves in the winter, like the oak and maple. Their wood is usually hard. The hard- wood trees are used chiefly to make furniture, but the soft-wood trees are ground up to make paper.

The paper on which this book and almost every other book is printed and all the paper used for newspapers is made from wood. A great city newspaper will use up many acres of trees in a single day. It takes as many trees as grow in a space the size of a city block to feed a single paper a single day. So you see how fast trees are being cut down in Canada to keep the presses in the United States going. Day after day miles upon miles of trees are cut down, ground into pulp, made into paper, and shipped to us in large rolls, that we may have the news—only to be burned up the day after. As people are fed wheat, and animals corn, printing presses must be fed trees for their daily meal, year in and year out, without ceasing.

One of the first geography lessons I ever had was about Eskimos, who lived in snow houses and fished through a hole in the ice. One of the homes of the Eskimos is Labrador on the northeastern corner of Canada. The Eskimos are related to the Indians, and both are very distantly related to the Chinese, but I’ll tell you more about them later.

【中文阅读】

有句谚语说“篱笆筑得牢，邻居处得好”，但那也要看是什么样的邻居。美国北面是一个比美国更大的国家，叫做加拿大。加拿大和美国之间的边界线从大西洋沿岸一直延伸到太平洋沿岸，如果竖起一道篱笆的话，这道篱笆要长达3000英里，但实际上并没有篱笆——只有一条想象中的线。想象中的线是地图上的一条线，但不是地面上的线。在这条想象中的线上，两个国家立起一块石头，上面写着像这样的话：“加拿大和美国约定永不交战”；就是这些——一个“君子协定”。这块石头叫做“和平石”。

男孩们常说“谁找到，就归谁”。法国人发现了加拿大，但是英国认为自己更有权获得加拿大，因此与法国交战并从法国手里夺走了加拿大。那是很久以前的事了，但是现在加拿大仍然有很多法国人，在魁北克市说法语的人比说英语的人多。

我曾经有一条纽芬兰狗。它毛茸茸的，体形很大，食量很大，和人差不多。纽芬兰狗来自于加拿大大西洋一侧的一个岛。这座岛是一个英国人发现的，所以他把它叫做纽芬兰岛[1]。纽芬兰岛现在是加拿大的一部分。

纽芬兰岛沿海有一片很浅的海域，叫做“大浅滩”。但是所谓的“海滩”是位于水下的。这里是一个很大的渔场，但人们去那捕鱼并不是为了消遣，而是为了做生意。成千上万的小船驶离海岸，停留在海上，直到捕够了满满一船的鱼才会返回。大浅滩上经常有大雾，有时从大西洋对岸驶来的大型远洋轮船看不到小渔船，就会撞到它们，于是小船连鱼带人全部沉入海底。

加拿大是个地广人稀的国家。整个国家的人口还没有纽约州的人多。加拿大的大部分人口都住在离美国边界尽可能近的地方，因为再往北冬天就非常寒冷。由于靠近美国，那里的人和边界线以南的美国人几乎做同样的事、种植同样的东西。比如说，加拿大是除美国以外世界上种植小麦最多的国家。

加拿大最大的公司之一是一个叫做加拿大太平洋的铁路公司。铁路从大西洋一直延伸到加拿大西部海岸的温哥华，跨越整个加拿大。但它在海上的交通并没有停止。太平洋和大西洋上，公司都有大型轮船横穿而过。加拿大太平洋公司还拥有铁路沿线的所有旅馆。其中一段铁路沿线的风景非常优美——有美丽的高山和湖泊。落基山脉的路易斯湖非常美丽，很多人度假或新婚度蜜月都选择到那儿去。

没有女人会喜欢狐狸或狼这样的野生动物靠近自己，但这些动物一死，她们就巴不得要它们的毛皮贴近自己，不惜以高价买下来。加拿大有个大海湾，几乎和墨西哥湾一样大；叫做“哈得孙湾”，是以发现海湾的人的名字而命名的。他也是发现了哈得孙河的同一人，但除此之外，哈得孙湾和哈得孙河没有别的任何联系。哈得孙湾整个冬天全部都被冰封住了，哈得孙湾周边地区冬天非常寒冷，人们都尽量不居住在那里。有些人住在那儿主要是为了捕猎动物。在那个寒冷的地方，动物们无法买到大衣，于是它们在自己身上长出了厚厚的皮毛——真正的毛皮大衣，最好的保暖大衣。猎人们设陷阱捕杀狼、狐狸和其他的动物，剥掉它们的大衣，然后卖给那些付得起高价的女士们。这伙捕猎动物出售毛皮的人来自哈得孙湾公司。

就像美国有州一样，加拿大有省，但加拿大只有十个省。最重要的省是安大略省，是以安大略湖而命名的。然而，除密歇根湖外安大略省也和所有其他几大湖接壤。加拿大的首都就位于安大略省境内，叫渥太华。英国派一个人渡过大洋来到加拿大，任总督，但是加拿大人民选派代表到渥太华制定他们自己的法律。

在加拿大，越往北走，天气就越来越寒冷，最北端的地区气候过于寒冷，连树木都不能生长。有些生长在最北部的树木一年到头树叶不落，而且四季常青，比如松树和云杉。这些树叫“常青树”。常青树的木材质地是软的。那些不能像常青树那样生长在遥远北部的树木在冬天树叶掉落，比如橡树和枫树。它们的木材质地通常是硬的。硬材树主要用来做家具，但软材树则被碾碎用来造纸。

印刷这本书和几乎所有其他书籍用的纸以及所有报纸用的纸都是由木材造的。一份大城市的报纸一天的发行量就要用掉几英亩的树木。一天发行一份报纸就要用掉一个城市街区那么大一块地方上生长的树木。这样你就明白了加拿大的树木正在以多快的速度被砍伐掉来维持美国印刷机的运转。日复一日，数英里又数英里的树木被砍倒，先磨成木浆，后做成纸张，然后成卷成卷地运送到我们这里，这样我们就可以读到报上的新闻——第二天这些报纸就被烧掉。正如人以小麦为食、动物以玉米为食，印刷机必须以树木作为它们每日的“食物”，年复一年，从不停止。

我学到的最早的地理课之一是关于爱斯基摩人的，他们住在雪做的房子里，在冰上凿洞捕鱼。加拿大东北角的拉布拉多地区是爱斯基摩人的定居地之一。爱斯基摩人和印第安人有亲属关系，而这两者也和中国人有着一定程度的亲属关系，但是我会在后面告诉你更多关于他们的故事。

[1] 纽芬兰岛英文“Newfoundland”，意思是“新发现的地方”——译者注。

18

The War-God’s Country

战神的国家

TOMMY TINKER was eating a slice of bread and butter. He was biting it very carefully round the edges and between bites he looked at it thoughtfully.

“What in the world are you doing!” asked his father.

“I’m biting a map of North America,” replied Tommy. He placed it carefully on the tablecloth. “There’s Alaska on this corner, Labrador on this corner, Florida on this corner, and Yucatan opposite it.” Then he rolled out a little tail of bread and placed it on the other corner. “And there’s Lower California.”

“I ought to send you from the table for playing with your food,” said his father; “but I won’t if you can tell me where the Gulf of California is.”

“It’s not in California,” said Tommy. “You didn’t catch me that time. It’s in Mexico and so is Lower California too—both are in Mexico.”

“Right,” said his father. “When I was a boy my teacher asked me where the Gulf of California and Lower California were and, though I hadn’t studied my lesson, I answered ‘California,’ for I felt sure that must be right.”

Did your teacher show you this one?

你老师给你看过这个吗？

“Did your teacher ever show you this one?” asked Tommy. He curved the finger and thumb of his left hand to form the letter “G.” “G is for Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “My finger is Florida, my thumb is Yucatan and here is Mexico. Do you see it?”

“They didn’t teach me geography that way when I went to school,” said his father.

“They don’t now,” said Tommy. “I made that up myself.”

Perhaps you have heard people speak of some place as “God’s Country.” Well, the country just south of the United States is named “God’s Country,” but it is the War God’s Country. It is called Mexico after the Indians’ God of War, Mexitli.

When you cross the line from the United States to Canada you hardly know you are in another country—the people are the same, they talk the same language. But when you cross the line from the United States to Mexico you do know you are in another country—the people are different and they talk a different language. Mexico used to belong to Spain across the Atlantic; it now belongs to itself.

I told you there was a Peace Stone on the Canada line and that Canada and the United States agreed long ago never to fight each other. There is no peace stone on the Mexican border line and there have been many fights between the United States and Mexico. Our States of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona once belonged to Mexico. Between Texas and Mexico is a river called the Rio Grande, which means River Grand or Grand River. The Rio Grande runs through such a dry country, however, that part of the time there is no river, only a dry place where the river did run, so that people can walk right across from the United States to Mexico in certain places, or at certain times of the year.

When the white people came to America there were Indians living all over our country. The white people pushed the Indians farther and farther off to the corners and out-of-the-way places until now there are so few Indians in the United States that many boys and girls have never seen an Indian except in the circus or on the 5-cent piece. When the white people came to Mexico there were Indians living all over that country too, but in Mexico there still are more Indians now living than there are white people. Many of the white Spanish people have married Indians, so some Mexicans are Spanish, more are Indian, and still more are mixed Spanish and Indian.

The people in the United States speak English and do many things as the people in England do. The people who came to Mexico were white people from Spain. So they speak Spanish and do many things as the people in Spain do.

When the Spanish first came to Mexico they found the Indians there wearing silver necklaces and silver bracelets and silver ornaments, so they knew there must be silver in Mexico. The Spaniards were really looking for gold, but silver was next best, so they set to work to dig for silver and they are still doing so, and even now, more than 400 years after white people came to Mexico more silver is mined there than anywhere else i. t. w. W. except the United States. Silver mines are in the mountains, the same chain of mountains as the Rocky Mountains in the United States, only in Mexico they are called Sierra Madre.

Up in the Sierra Madre Mountains, in a bowl-shaped valley, is the capital of Mexico. It is called Mexico City, so you don’t have to learn a new name. The farther north you go the colder it gets, but not always. The farther south you go the warmer it gets, but not always. But the higher up you go in the mountains the colder it gets—always. Mexico City is so far south you would think it would be very hot, but it is not, because it is so high up in the mountains. They have mild weather in Mexico City all the year round.

Near Mexico City is an old volcano with the peculiar name: Po-poca- tepetl. It sounds something like Po-poca-teakettle. Why didn’t they give it an easy name, you may wonder. They did, for in the language of the Indians who named it, Popocatepetl means “smoking mountain.” Popocatepetl is so far south we should expect it to be warm, but it is so high that its top is cold and is covered with snow all the year round. Popocatepetl is no longer firing up, but clouds of sulphur smoke pour out of it all the time and sulphur collects in its mouth. Indian workmen climb up the sides of Popocatepetl and climb down inside to get the sulphur, which is used in making matches and medicine and other things.

On the Gulf side of Mexico, along the shore, it is very warm indeed, very damp and unhealthful, so no one would live there if he didn’t have to; but great lakes of oil were found down under the ground, along the shore near a city called Tampico, and men have dug wells through the ground to get the oil. It is so close to the sea that tank ships can fill up with the oil and carry it to the United States and other places in the World. It is much cheaper to send oil by ship than by train, for one tank ship will carry as much as a thousand tank cars.

墨西哥和中美洲地图

The thumb-like piece of Mexico is called Yucatan. In Yucatan grows a plant with tall swords-haped leaves. From these leaves a fiber that looks like long gray hair, called sisal, is obtained. It is used to make rope and twine. From the juice of another plant that grows in Yucatan, chewing-gum is made.

【中文阅读】

汤米 · 廷克正在吃一片涂了黄油的面包。他很小心地沿着面包边缘咬着，还不时停下来看着面包，若有所思。

“你究竟在干什么！”爸爸问他。

“我在咬一块北美洲的地图，”汤米回答说。他把面包小心地放在桌布上。“阿拉斯加在这个角，拉布拉多在这个角，佛罗里达在这个角，尤卡坦在佛罗里达对面。”然后他把一点面包末梢展开放在另一个角，“这里是下加利福尼亚。”

“你玩弄食物，我该把你从桌边赶走，”爸爸说；“但是如果你能告诉我加利福尼亚湾在哪我就不赶你走。”

“它并不在加利福尼亚，”汤米说，“那次你就没有难住我。它在墨西哥，下加利福尼亚也在墨西哥——两个都在墨西哥。”

“对的，”爸爸说。“我小的时候，老师问我加利福尼亚湾和下加利福尼亚在哪里，虽然我还没预习课文，我就回答说‘加利福尼亚’，因为我想当然地认为那一定是对的。”

“你的老师给你看过这个吗？”汤米问。他把他左手的食指和大拇指弯曲起来形成字母“G”的形状。“G代表墨西哥湾，”他说。“我的食指是佛罗里达，我的大拇指是尤卡坦，这里是墨西哥。你懂了吗？”

“我上学的时候老师没有这样教我地理，”爸爸说。

“他们现在也不这样教，”汤米说，“是我自己创造的。”

也许你曾听人把某个地方称为“神的国家”。是啊，美国南面那个国家就是叫做“神的国家”，但它是“战神的国家”。它叫墨西哥，是以印第安人的战神“墨西特利”命名的。

当你跨过边界线从美国进入加拿大时，你几乎不知道自己到了另一个国家——加拿大人和美国人长得一样，都说同样的语言。但是当你跨过边界线从美国进入墨西哥时，你很清楚自己到了另一个国家——墨西哥人和美国人长得不一样，他们说不同的语言。墨西哥曾经属于大西洋对岸的西班牙；现在它是一个独立的国家。

我告诉过你在加拿大边界线上有一个和平石，加拿大和美国早在很多年以前就约定好永不向对方开战。墨西哥边界线上没有和平石，美国和墨西哥之间也发生过很多次战争。我们的德克萨斯州、新墨西哥州和亚利桑那州以前属于墨西哥。德克萨斯州和墨西哥之间有一条河叫做格兰德河，意思是“大河雄壮”或者“雄壮的大河”。然而格兰德河流经的那片区域非常干燥，一年中部分时节格兰德河没有河水，河水经过的地方已经干涸，因此在有些地方或者一年中有些时候人们可以直接穿过河从美国走到墨西哥。

当白人初到美洲的时候，美国到处都生活着印第安人。白人把印第安人逼到越来越远的角落和偏僻的地方，到了现在美国只有极少数印第安人，以至于许多男孩和女孩从来都没有见过印第安人，只有在马戏团里和五分硬币上才看到印第安人的样子。当白人初到墨西哥时，那个国家到处也都生活着印第安人，但是现在在墨西哥，印第安人仍然比白人要多。许多西班牙白人和印第安人结了婚，因此有些墨西哥人是西班牙人，更多的是印第安人，还有更多的是西班牙人和印第安人的混血后裔。

美国人说英语，很多生活习惯与英国人相同。而最初到墨西哥的人是西班牙的白人。因此墨西哥人现在说西班牙语，很多生活习惯与西班牙人相同。

当西班牙人最初到达墨西哥时，他们发现当地的印第安人戴着银项链、银手镯和银饰品，于是他们就知道墨西哥肯定有银子。西班牙人其实是在找金子，但银子是仅次于金子的好东西，所以他们开始一心挖银子，现在还在挖，甚至就在此刻，在白人来到墨西哥400多年之后，墨西哥的白银产量仍居世界第二，仅次于美国。银矿位于山里，和美国的落基山脉相连，属同一山系，只不过在墨西哥这段山脉被叫做马德雷山脉。

在马德雷山脉上有一个碗形的山谷，里面坐落着墨西哥的首都，叫做墨西哥城，因此你不用再学一个新名字了。通常，越往北就越冷，但并不总是这样；越往南就越暖和，但也并不总是这样；但是上山，越高就越冷——总是如此。墨西哥城在往南很远的地方，你会以为那里很热，但实际上并不是这样，因为它在高高的山上。墨西哥城一年四季气候都很温和。

墨西哥城附近有一座古老的火山，它有一个奇怪的名字：波波卡特佩特。听起来就像是波波卡水壶[1]。你也许会想：为什么不给它取个简单的名字呢？这其实就是个简单的名字，因为在给火山命名的印第安人的语言中，“波波卡特佩特”的意思是“冒烟的山”。波波卡特佩特在南部那么远的地方，我们会认为那里该是很温暖的，但是它海拔很高，山顶非常寒冷，终年积雪覆盖。波波卡特佩特不再喷发，但是成团的硫黄烟一直从里面喷出来，硫黄不断堆积在火山口。印第安工人顺山坡爬上波波卡特佩特火山，然后进入火山口去采集硫黄，硫黄可以用于制造火柴、药物和其他东西。

墨西哥沿海湾这一带的气候炎热潮湿，不利于健康，因此除非是不得已，没有人愿意住在那儿；但是在这沿岸有个城市叫做坦皮科，人们在附近的地下发现了大油池，于是打井深入地下开采石油。这里离海很近，所以油船可以装满石油运送到美国和世界其他地方。用船运油远比火车便宜得多，因为一艘油船装运的石油和一千辆铁路罐车一样多。

墨西哥那块像大拇指的地方叫做尤卡坦。尤卡坦生长着一种植物，叶子形似长剑。从这些叶子里可以提取出一种看起来就像灰色长头发的纤维，叫做波罗麻纤维。这种纤维可以用来做粗绳和麻线。尤卡坦还生长一种植物，它的汁水可以做口香糖。

[1] “波波卡特佩特”英文为Po-poca-tepetl，其中最后一部分发音类似水壶teakettle——译者注。

19

So Near and Yet so Far

近在咫尺，远在天涯

N-A-M-E-R-I-C-A and S-A-M-E-R-I-C-A are two names printed in large letters across my map of North America and South America. Namerica and Samerica sound like brothers: Nam and Sam Erica. They look as if the Creator had pulled them just as far apart as He could without pulling them quite in two. They are held together by a little piece of land called Central America, and the very thinnest part of Central America—the part as thin as a leaf stem—is called the Isthmus of Panama: spelled “isthmus,” but sounded “ismus.”

On one side of the Isthmus is the Atlantic and on the other side the Pacific Ocean, so near to each other and yet so far. Ships that wanted to get from one ocean to the other couldn’t get across this little strip of land—they had to go the long way round, all the way round the bottom of Samerica, thousands of miles out of the way. There was no way at all round the top of Namerica, for both land and ice were in the way up there. It seemed a terribly long distance for a ship to have to go just because it couldn’t cross this little strip of land. It was as if you were motoring and the road came to a river and there was no bridge, and a sign said “Detour 10,000 miles.” It was the longest detour i. t. w. W. Naturally, people tried to find a way not to make that detour. Some men suggested wheeling ships across the Isthmus. They said, “Let us lift a ship out of the water on a kind of huge elevator, then put it on a huge truck, push it across the Isthmus to the other ocean, then lower it into the water again by another huge elevator.” But it seemed simpler to cut a canal across the Isthmus so that a ship might sail straight through from one ocean to the other. On the map this looked easy enough—just a snip with the scissors or a nick with a knife; but that little stem of land was over thirty miles across and there were mountains in the way too.

They have many earthquakes in Central America, and if one of these earthquakes had only cracked the Isthmus of Panama across and broken Namerica and Samerica apart it would have been very convenient; but earthquakes don’t do helpful things like that—they make cracks where you don’t want them.

Why did ships want to get from one ocean to the other, anyway? Why shouldn’t those on one side stay on that side, and those on the other side stay on the other side? Well—your mother goes downtown shopping for things to wear and things to eat and furniture for the house; so ships go shopping—shipping, shopping—around the World. Ships from the countries around the At-lantic Ocean go shopping to countries around the Pacific Ocean for tea and China dishes and silk stockings. And ships from countries around the Pacific Ocean go shopping to the countries around the Atlantic Ocean for things they want and haven’t got. That’s one reason why ships wanted to get from one ocean to the other, and they didn’t want to go the long way round, ten thousand miles out of the way, if they could possibly help it. So at last a company of men from France on the other side of the ocean, who knew how to dig canals—for they had already dug a long canal—started to dig a canal across the Isthmus.

Now the Isthmus of Panama used to be the most unhealthful place i. t. w. W. The Indians and black men who lived there didn’t seem to mind it, but with white men it was different. One out of every three white men who went there died of fever. The company of men from France set to work and worked for several years on the canal, but so many of their men died and so much money was spent and so little canal was dug that at last they gave it up, stopped digging.

Later the United States rented from the little country of Panama a piece of land forever, a piece of land ten miles wide like a belt right across the Isthmus. This belt of land is called the Canal Zone. But before the United States started to dig the canal they said, “We must make the Canal Zone a healthful and fit place for white people to work so that they won’t die as soon as we send them down there.” So they sent a famous doctor down to the Canal Zone to see if he could make the Zone a more healthful place for white men to live in.

This doctor found out that what made the Isthmus so unhealthful was—what do you suppose?—nothing but little mosquitos. These mosquitos were different, however, from those we have that merely leave an itchy spot where they bite. The mosquitos down there were of an entirely different kind. Some of them were town mosquitos and some were country mosquitos. The country mosquitos gave people malaria, which was bad enough, but the worst kind of mosquitos were the town mosquitos. They gave people a terrible disease called yellow fever—a disease that turned people yellow and killed almost every one who caught it. So the doctor said I’ll find out how to get rid of the mosquitos and keep them from killing the people. Accordingly, he went after the mosquitos first, and this is the way he killed them. The town mosquitos he killed with sulphur smoke—sulphur from Popocatepetl—and the country mosquitos he killed with oil—oil from Mexico too. Then he cleaned up the marshes and other places where the mosquitos lived and raised their enormous families, so that they had no place to live, and in these ways he changed the Canal Zone from the most unhealthful place i. t. w. W. to one of the most healthful places i. t. w. W.

Then, and not until then, the United States went ahead and made the Canal. They didn’t cut the land straight through, however, as the French had started to do, so that the Atlantic and Pacific could run together—that would have meant too much digging, even with dynamite, for dynamite blows up land, and the land has to be carried away after it is blown up. So the United States dug a ditch across the Isthmus on top of the land and used a river and a lake already there to keep this ditch filled with water. At each end of this ditch or canal they made locks to raise ships from the sea at one end, and to lower them to the sea at the other. So ships now go across from one ocean to the other, but most of the way they sail on fresh water, for neither ocean runs into the other. Namerica and Samerica are not cut apart—they are still joined and always will be, until the Creator does the separating.

【中文阅读】

我有一张北美洲和南美洲的地图，从地图的一边横穿到另一边，印着用很大的英文字母拼的两个名字：N-A-M-E-R-I-C-A和S-A-M-E-R-I-C-A。这两个名字“Namerica”[1]和“Samerica”[2]听起来就像一对兄弟：纳姆艾瑞卡和萨姆艾瑞卡。从地图上看好像造物主尽可能地把这对兄弟拉开来却又没有完全分开。它们被一小块叫做中美洲的土地连在一起，中美洲最细的那一部分——就像树叶的梗那么细的一块地方——叫做巴拿马地峡：“地峡”英语拼写是“isthmus”，但它的发音却是“ismus”。

巴拿马地峡的一面是大西洋，另一面是太平洋，两个海洋近在咫尺，却又远在天涯。想从一个海洋驶往另一个海洋的轮船却跨不过这一小块狭长的陆地——轮船不得不绕行很长的路，一直要绕过南美洲最南端，偏离直道走数千英里的路程。要绕过北美洲最北端是不可能的，因为那里都被陆地和冰雪挡住了，根本无法通行。就是因为不能越过这小块狭长的地方轮船就得绕那么远的路，似乎太不方便了。就好像你正在路上开车，来到一条河边，却没有桥，河边牌子上写着“请绕行10000英里”。那可是世界上要兜的最大的一个圈子。人们自然要想办法避免兜这个大圈子。有人提议用车把船运过地峡。他们说：“我们用一种巨大的起重机把船吊出水面，然后把它放在一个巨型卡车上，运到地峡另一边的海洋，再用巨大的起重机把船放到海里。”但是开凿一条穿过地峡的运河似乎更简单，那样轮船就能直接从一个大洋开到另一个大洋。开凿运河在地图上看起来很容易——只需要用剪刀咔嚓剪一下或者用小刀划个缺口；但是那块像树叶梗的地方足有30多英里宽，中间还有高山。

中美洲发生过很多次地震，如果其中有一次地震能把巴拿马地峡震断，把南北美洲分开的话，就会方便很多了；但是地震不会做这样有益的事——它们偏要在你不需要它断裂的地方震出裂缝。

轮船为什么非要从一边海洋到另一边海洋去呢？为什么两边的轮船不能各自在自己一边的大洋里航行呢？你想，你妈妈会到市中心去购物，买穿的、吃的和家里用的家具；轮船也是去购物——运货，采购——到世界各地去购物。来自大西洋沿岸的国家的轮船到太平洋沿岸的国家去购买茶叶、中国餐具和丝袜。而来自太平洋沿岸国家的轮船则到大西洋沿岸的国家去买他们想要的和自己没有的东西。这是轮船要从一边海洋驶到另一边海洋去的一个原因，如果能有办法的话他们不想绕行那么远的路，漫长的一万英里。最后一伙来自大洋彼岸的法国人开始开凿一条穿过地峡的运河——法国人知道怎么挖运河，因为他们已经挖过一条很长的运河。

巴拿马地峡曾是世界上最有害于健康的地方。住在那里的印第安人和黑人似乎并不在乎，但对白人来说就不一样了。到那里去的白人，每三个人中就有一个死于热病。那伙来自法国的人开始工作，干了几年，但是死了很多人，花了很多钱，却只挖了一点点运河，所以最终他们放弃了，不再开凿运河了。

后来美国从巴拿马这个小国家永久性租用了一块土地，这块土地有10英里宽，就像横系在地峡上的一条腰带。这片土地叫做“运河区”。但是美国人在开凿运河前说：“我们必须把运河区变成一个有益于健康的、适合白人工作的地方，这样我们派去的人就不会一到那里就生病死掉。”于是他们派一个著名的医生前往运河区，看他能不能把运河区变成一个有益于健康、适宜白人生活的地方。

这个医生发现造成地峡如此有害于健康的罪魁祸首是——你猜是什么呢？——竟然只是小小的蚊子。然而，这种蚊子和我们平时遇到的那种叮一下让人有点痒的蚊子不一样。那里的蚊子是一种完全不同的品种。它们分成两类，一类是城镇蚊子，一类是乡村蚊子。乡村蚊子让人染上疟疾，这已经够厉害的了，但最厉害的是城镇蚊子。它们会让人染上一种叫做“黄热病”的可怕疾病——患这种病的人皮肤变黄，几乎都会死。在这种情况下那名医生说他要找到消灭这种蚊子的方法，让它们不再害死人。于是，他先去追踪蚊子，然后他是这样消灭蚊子的：他用硫黄烧的烟杀死城镇蚊子——波波卡特佩特产的硫黄——他用石油杀死乡村蚊子——也是墨西哥产的石油。然后他清理了沼泽地和其他一些适宜蚊子居住和大量繁殖的地方，这样蚊子就没有地方生存了。通过这些方法他把运河区从世界上最有害于健康的地方变成了世界上最有益于健康的地方之一。

直到完成以上这些工作，美国才去开凿运河。然而他们并没有像法国人开始干的那样把陆地直接挖通，那样的话大西洋和太平洋就会流到一起——那就意味着开凿工作量太大，即使是用炸药也减轻不了。因为炸药会把土炸开，而炸开后的土必须得运走。于是美国人在地峡的最高处挖了一条横越过去的渠道，利用那里原本就有的一条河和一个湖把渠道灌满水。在这个渠道或者叫运河的两端都建起水闸，一端把船从海面上举起，到了另一端再把船放到海里去。这样轮船就可以从一个大洋驶到另一个大洋，但运河里的水大部分都是淡水，因为两个海洋并没有流到一起。北美洲和南美洲没有被分开——它们仍然连在一起，也将永远连在一起，直到造物主把它们分开。

[1] 英语“北美洲”的简称——译者注。

[2] 英语“南美洲”的简称——译者注。

20

Pirate Seas

海盗的海洋

I was once on a train leaving Baltimore when a man asked me where I was going. I told him I was going to Baltimore. He looked at me as if I must have made a mistake and exclaimed, “You are on the wrong train; this train is leaving Baltimore.”

“I know that,” I replied, “but I’m going to Baltimore the long way round, round the World to Baltimore. I’m going west to get east.”

On the other side of the World from us are some islands called “The Indies.” People had always gone to the Indies, far, far away, by traveling toward the east. Columbus thought he could go in just the opposite direction—toward the west—and reach the Indies that way. People said it was foolish to go west to get east, but Columbus believed the World was round, and if it were round he knew he could get to these islands by going west just as well as by going east. So he sailed, and he sailed, and he sailed, always toward the setting sun, and at last he did come to some islands. He thought these islands were the Indies, so he named them the “West Indies.” As a matter of fact, we know, but he didn’t know, that he hadn’t gone half far enough to reach the Indies. He didn’t know that even if he had gone on farther, Central America would have been in the way, anyway.

Living on these islands were men with red skins, painted faces, and feathers in their hair, and Columbus called them Indians. Other people called these Indians “Caribs,” which means “brave,” because they were brave, and the blue sea which surrounded these islands they called the Caribbean Sea—the sea of the Caribs.

Columbus was looking for a new way and he found it, but after Columbus other men came along looking for gold and silver and they found that. Some they found in Mexico and some they found in South America, and some they took away from the Indians who had already found it. They robbed them, that’s all. This gold and silver—treasure—found and stolen, they loaded on ships and started back to Spain.

But many of those ships bearing treasure never reached Spain. Pirates—sea robbers—lay in wait to rob the land robbers. It was better sport to rob robbers than to rob the poor Indians. These pirates were bold and bad and cold and cruel. They wore blood-red sashes round their waists, blood-red handkerchiefs round their necks, and blood-red handkerchiefs round their heads. They hung huge rings in their ears and huge bracelets on their arms, and they were “armed to the teeth”—whatever that means. They hid behind these little islands in the Caribbean Sea, and when they saw a treasure ship coming from afar they hoisted a black flag to their ship’s mast, a flag with a skull and two bones crossed on it, and sailed forth and captured the ship, its treasures, and its crew. They made the crew slaves, or if the pirates didn’t want any more slaves, they made their captives “walk the plank”—that is, walk blindfolded out on a plank set over the ship’s edge. They would reach the end and suddenly step off into the sea and be drowned. Then the pirate would load the treasure he had captured into a huge iron-bound chest, sail back to his little island, and bury the treasure chest in a hole in the sand. He would mark the spot on a map with an X so that he might find it when he wanted it, and so that no one else could find it.

These pirates are gone long years ago, and the ships that sail the blue Caribbean have now no fear of pirates any more, and few of these ships carry anything that pirates would want. But the sea is so blue and the weather so warm and the islands so lovely that many people make voyages to the Pirate Seas just for pleasure. I did once myself.

I left New York when it was snowing and in two days I was on an island called Bermuda, where it was warm and sunny. Easter lilies were growing in the fields, and new potatoes and onions. Farmers were raising them to send to shivering New York so that Americans might have warm-weather flowers and warm-weather vegetables long before warm weather itself came.

Another two days’ sailing south and I was on another island called Nassau, the capital of a group of islands called the Bahamas. In Nassau sponges are gathered from the bottom of the sea and sent back to U. S. for US to USe. Would you believe that the sponges you use were once alive? They were once like jelly with the sponge inside. Men dive down into the sea and tear the live sponges off the rocks where they grow. Then they wash off the jelly-like part and what is left is the sponge.

Another one of the Bahama Islands is the little island on which Columbus first landed—the most famous little island i. t. w. W. A monument marks the spot where he stepped out of his little boat after his long voyage across the ocean, kneeled down in the sand, and thanked God for directing him safely to the New World. He called the island after his Saviour, “Holy Saviour,” which in Spanish is San Salvador.

There are three large islands of the West Indies—tit-tat-to, three in a row. There is also another island a little smaller, and many, many very small islands besides in the Caribbean Sea.

The largest island of all the West Indies—the first one of the tit-tat-to, three in a row islands—is Cuba. Columbus found the Indians in Cuba carrying burning torches in their mouths. They breathed in the smoke and blew it out again in a most strange and amazing fashion, as if they were dragons. It seemed an extraordinary thing for people to do—to breathe in smoke of a burning weed, for that was what it was; yet they seemed to enjoy it. No one across the water had ever seen such a sight before—people breathing fire. But now people all over the World copy the red Indians of Cuba. The weed was called tobacco. Tobacco is now grown in many parts of the World, but the finest tobacco i. t. w. W. for cigars still grows in Cuba, and Havana, the capital of Cuba, ships “Havana” cigars everywhere.

People from Spain went to live in Cuba and Cuba belonged to Spain until not so many years ago, but now Cuba belongs to itself.

Almost all vegetables and fruits in the World have sugar in their juice; they are sweet. Some have a great deal, some have very little. But two vegetables have such sweet juice that they are raised for the sugar that can be made out of their juice. These vegetables are the beet and sugar-cane. You know what a beet looks like. Sugarcane looks something like stalks of corn. Men press the juice out of the cane and boil it to make sugar. In Cuba they grow more sugar-cane than any other place i. t. w. W.

The Island of Haiti—the tat of the tit-tat-to islands—although it is not large, has two little countries on it. Both these countries are republics like the United States, with presidents and senators and representatives chosen by the people, but their presidents are colored and their senators and representatives are also colored. That may seem strange until I tell you that the people on the island are colored too.

When Columbus died he was buried on this island of Haiti. Many years after, men dug up what they thought were Columbus’s bones and sent them back to Spain, where they are kept in a great cathedral. But many people say they were not Columbus’s bones at all that they took back, but some one else’s, and that Columbus’s body still lies in Haiti.

Puerto Rico, the third of the tit-tat-to islands of the West Indies, belongs to the United States. In Puerto Rico they raise tobacco too, but there seems to be some difference in the land, for they can’t seem to raise quite as good tobacco as the people in Cuba do.

Jamaica is a small island south of the tit-tat-to islands. It belongs to England. In Jamaica they grow many of the bananas that we eat. They are picked when they are still green, but by the time they have been shipped to the United States and are put in the fruit shops on sale they are yellow and ripe—sometimes. If you eat them before they are ripe, you may need a little Jamaica ginger, which is good for “tummy aches”—that comes from Jamaica too.

Tobacco and sugar, sponges and early vegetables, bananas and lilies!—pirates would have turned up their noses in disgust if they had captured a ship laden with such a cargo!

【中文阅读】

我有一次坐火车正要离开巴尔的摩，这时一个男子问我到哪去。我告诉他我要去巴尔的摩。他看着我，现出的神情就好像我弄错了，他大声说：“你坐错车了；这辆火车是从巴尔的摩开出的。”

“我知道，”我回答说，“但是我要绕个大圈子到巴尔的摩，绕过整个世界到巴尔的摩去。我要向西走，到东方去。”

在与我们相对的世界的另一面，和我们相对的地方，有一些岛屿叫做“印度群岛”。人们到遥远的印度群岛去总是向东走。哥伦布认为他可以往正相反的方向走——向西走——到达印度群岛。人们说到东方去却向西走是很愚蠢的，但哥伦布认为世界是圆的，而世界如果是圆的，他知道他可以向西走，到这些岛屿去，正如可以向东走去一样。于是他扬帆起航，日日夜夜不停地在海上航行，一直朝着落日的方向，最后他真的到达了一些岛屿。他以为这些岛屿就是印度群岛，于是他把它们叫做“西印度群岛”。事实上，我们知道到印度群岛的路程他还没走到一半，但他自己却不知道。他不知道即使他再走下去，至少中美洲还会挡住他的路。

住在这些岛上的人有着红色的皮肤，脸上涂着油彩，头发上插着羽毛，哥伦布把他们叫做“印第安人”。其他人把这些印第安人叫做“加勒比人”，意思是“勇敢的人”，因为他们很勇敢，而环绕着这些岛屿的蓝色海洋，他们称之为“加勒比海”——加勒比人的海洋。

哥伦布在找一条新的路线，他确实找到了，但是在哥伦布之后其他人跟着来，是寻找金子和银子的，他们也找到了。有些是在墨西哥找到的，有些是在南美洲找到的，还有些是他们从先找到金银的印第安人手里夺来的。他们抢劫了印第安人，就是这么一回事。这些金子和银子——财宝——找到的和窃取的，他们都装在船上，运回西班牙。

但是很多装满金银财宝的轮船永远没有到达西班牙。海盗——海上的强盗——埋伏以待，抢劫那些陆地上的强盗。和抢劫贫穷的印第安人相比，抢劫强盗是一种更有刺激性的游戏。这些海盗胆大心狠，冷酷凶残。他们腰上系着血红的腰带，脖子上围着血红的围巾，头上裹着血红的头巾。他们耳朵上戴着巨大的耳环，胳膊上戴着巨大的手镯，他们“武装到牙齿”——无论这是什么意思。他们隐藏在加勒比海这些小岛的后面，当看到一艘载着财宝的船从远处驶来时，他们就在桅杆上升起一面黑色的旗子，旗上画有一个骷髅头和两根交叉的骨头，然后他们就驶上前去，劫获船只、连同船上的财宝和船员。他们让船员成为奴隶，或者如果海盗不再需要奴隶了，他们就让俘虏去“走跳板”——也就是，蒙住他们的眼睛，强迫他们在突出船舷外的跳板上行走。他们走到尽头，就会突然跌落到海里溺水身亡。然后海盗会把俘获的金银财宝装到一个巨大的铁皮包的箱子里，驶回他们的小岛，把财宝箱埋入沙子里的一个洞里。海盗会在地图上用一个X标出这个地点，以便日后需要的时候可以查找，别人也发现不了。

这些海盗已经消失很多年了，在加勒比海上航行的轮船现在再也不用害怕海盗了，而且也没有什么船装载着海盗们想要的东西。但是这里海水碧蓝，气候温暖，岛上风景优美，因此很多人乘船来到这海盗曾经出没的海洋游玩。我自己也去过一次。

我在大雪纷飞的时候离开了纽约，两天后到了一个叫百慕大的岛上，那里天气温暖，阳光明媚。那里的田野里长着麝香百合、时鲜马铃薯和洋葱。农民们种植这些，是要把它们运到寒气逼人的纽约去，这样在寒冷的季节，美国人就能欣赏到温暖季节的鲜花，吃到温暖季节的蔬菜。

乘船往南又航行两天我就到了另一个叫做拿骚的岛屿，它是巴哈马群岛的首都。当地人从海底采收海绵，然后运到美国供我们使用。你能相信你使用的海绵曾经是活的吗？它们曾经就像是被果冻包裹着。人们潜到海底从岩石上扯下生长在上面的海绵。然后他们把果冻样的那一部分洗掉，剩下的就是海绵了。

巴哈马群岛还有一个小岛，是哥伦布最初登陆的小岛——世界上最著名的小岛。这里有一个纪念碑标示出了哥伦布下船的地点，哥伦布经过漫长的海上航行之后终于看到这个小岛，下船后他跪在沙滩上，感谢上帝指引他安全抵达了新大陆。他以救世主的名字把小岛命名为“神圣的救世主”，西班牙语中就是“圣萨尔瓦多”。

西印度群岛有三个大岛——像画“连城”游戏一样，三个岛连成一排。加勒比海还有一个小一点的岛和很多很多非常小的岛屿。

西印度群岛最大的岛——画“连城”游戏中三个一排的第一个岛——是古巴岛。哥伦布发现古巴岛上的印第安人嘴里叼着燃烧的小火把。他们以一种极为奇怪而又惊人的方式把烟吸进去然后又呼出来，好像是喷烟吐火的龙一样。人把野草燃烧冒出的烟吸进去，似乎在做一件离奇的事，因为那真就是野草；然而他们看起来却是很享受的样子。从大洋对岸来的人以前从来没有见过这种奇观——人吸火。但是现在全世界都有人在仿效古巴红皮肤的印第安人。这种野草叫做烟草。现在世界上很多地方都种植烟草，但是全世界做雪茄用的最优质的烟草还是产自古巴，古巴的首都哈瓦那把“哈瓦那”牌雪茄运送到世界各地。

来自西班牙的人直到几年前才在古巴定居下来。古巴属于西班牙，但是现在古巴是一个独立的国家。

世界上几乎所有的植物和水果的汁液里都含糖，是甜的。有些含有大量的糖分，有些则含量很少。但是有两种植物的汁液含糖量极高，人们种植它们就是为了提取它们汁液中的糖。这两种植物是甜菜和甘蔗。你一定知道甜菜是什么样子的。甘蔗看起来有点像玉米秆。人们榨出甘蔗汁，把它熬成糖。古巴种植的甘蔗比世界上其他任何地方都要多。

海地岛——排在第二的岛——尽管不大，上面却有两个国家。这两个国家都是像美国那样的共和政体，总统、参议员和众议员都由人民选举产生，但是他们的总统都是有色人种，他们的参议员和众议员也是有色人种。你可能觉得这似乎有点奇怪，那么我告诉你，岛上的居民全是有色人种，你还觉得奇怪吗？

哥伦布死后就埋在这个海地岛上。很多年以后，人们挖出了一副骸骨，认为那是哥伦布的遗骨，将其运回了西班牙，存放在一个大教堂里。但是很多人说他们运回的根本就不是哥伦布的遗骨，而是别人的，他们说哥伦布的遗体还在海地。

波多黎各岛，是西印度群岛排在第三的岛，属于美国。波多黎各人也种植烟草，但似乎土壤成分有些不同，因为他们好像种不出像古巴人种的那么好的烟草。

牙买加是三大岛南面的一个小岛。它属于英国。在牙买加，人们种植很多我们吃的香蕉。香蕉刚摘下来时是绿色的，但是被运到美国摆到水果店里出售的时候就变黄变熟了——并不总是这样。如果你吃了不成熟的香蕉，可能需要一点牙买加生姜，这种姜对治疗“肚子痛”很有效——也是产自牙买加的。

烟草和糖，海绵和时鲜蔬菜，香蕉和百合花！——海盗们如果劫夺了一艘装载着这些货物的轮船肯定会对此不屑一顾，气不打一处来。

21

North South America

南美洲北部

SOUTH AMERICA looks like a carrot, a turnip, a top, a funnel, a leaf, a fig, a pear turned upside down, a paddle, a lamb chop, a leg of mutton, an ice-cream cone—but the only thing it really looks like is: South America. The stem is Panama; the hook at the bottom is called Cape Horn.

From the tip top to the tip toe of South America, from Panama to Cape Horn, stretches a long wall of high mountains called the Andes. It is the highest range of mountains in the Western Half Ball, and it is the longest range of mountains i. t. w. W.

Columbus, who discovered America, had only one country named after him. This country is in South America nearest Panama, nearest the stem by which South America seems to hang to Central America. It is called Colombia, spelled with two o’s instead of an “o” and a “u.”

When white men first came to the northern shore of South America they found a land next to Colombia where the Indians lived in houses built on stakes in the water. This reminded them of a city in Italy across the ocean, called Venice, where the houses are built in the water, so they named this new country Little Venice, which in the Spanish language is Venezuela. Off the shore of Venezuela is a peculiar island called Trinidad. On this island is a lake—but the lake has no water in it. Instead of water there is a kind of tar called asphalt. This asphalt is dug up and loaded on to ships and brought to the United States to make roadways.

The three little countries next door to Venezuela are called the three Guianas. They belong to three different countries in Europe. In fact, they are the only countries in South America that do belong to countries outside of South America. The first Guiana belongs to England, the second belongs to Holland, the third belongs to France.

In British Guiana far back in the wilds is a waterfall nearly five times as high as Niagara, yet so far away from everything that hardly any white men have ever seen it or even heard of it. It’s name is Kaieteur. Just for fun ask your father if he knows what Kaieteur is.

The line around the middle of the World, if there were a line—which there isn’t—is like the belt around a very fat man. It is called the Equator. The Spanish for Equator is Ecuador. Ecuador is also the name of a little country in South America that straddles the Equator. We should expect it to be very hot there, for the nearer the Equator one goes the hotter it usually gets; but most of Ecuador is high up in the Andes Mountains, so high up that it is quite cool all the year round. The capital of Ecuador is Quito, pronounced Key-toe. From Quito you can see two of the highest volcanoes in the World. They have names that sound strange to us; both begin with “C.” Chimborazo is the name of the higher, but it no longer smokes or sends forth fire. The other is Cotopaxi, not quite so high but still very much alive, for fires inside have not gone out.

It seems strange that from this far country in the mountains, from Ecuador, something comes which you eat or drink, perhaps every day—chocolate and cocoa. They are both made from beans which grow in a large pod-a pod as big as a melon. These pods grow, not on branches, but right on the trunk of the tree. This tree is called the ca-ca-o tree. Notice how cocoa and cacao are spelled: See-o see-o-a comes from the see-a see-a-o-tree. Cocoa does not come from the cocoanut-tree. The cocoanut-tree is an entirely different tree that bears cocoanuts but not cocoa.

The Indians of Ecuador are very wild and savage. They are called head-hunters. One family or tribe will fight another tribe whenever they want something they haven’t got—wives, perhaps—or simply because they want to fight. When they kill a man they cut off his head and save it for a souvenir, as the American Indians used to cut off a man’s scalp and save it as a souvenir or trophy. The Indian who has the greatest number of heads is considered the greatest fighter. They often fight, not with bows and arrows, but with huge blow-pipes—as long as a man—using clay balls or little darts which have been dipped in poison. With these blow-pipes they can kill men and animals. These savage Indians catch fish for food, not with a line or net, but by putting poison in the streams where the fish are. The poison kills the fish and they float on the top, but it doesn’t spoil them for eating.

The Indians of Ecuador are the most savage Indians now known, but in the country just south of Ecuador, in the country called Peru, once lived the most civilized Indians ever known. They lived not in tents or wigwams or huts, but in palaces, and they were very intelligent and very rich. They were called Incas and their capital was named Cuzco. The Incas had great treasures of gold and silver, and when the Spaniards first came to South America looking for gold or silver they found it in Cuzco already mined. All they had to do was to take it away from the Incas. This was easy because the Spaniards had guns, and the Incas, who had no such thing, were no match for them in a fight. So the Spaniards won and simply helped themselves to the gold, and made the Incas work in the mines for more. However, the joke was on the Spaniards, for many of their ships sailing back to Spain with their stolen treasure were captured by the pirates.

Many of the Spaniards who stayed in Peru married Indian women, so now most of the people in Peru are a mixture of Spanish and Indian.

There is little left of Cuzco, except ruins of the old Inca palaces. The present capital of Peru is Lima, but Lima beans don’t come from there. A medicine that is often given for fever does come from Peru, however. The Indians found that the bark of a certain tree when stewed in water made a kind of tea that was good for fever. When the white man came, he found it was good for fever too. So now the bark of this tree is gathered and sent to other countries to be used in making medicine to cure fevers. The medicine is called quinine.

In the United States loads are usually carried on freight trains or trucks but in the Andes Mountains they are usually carried on the backs of a little animal called a llama. A llama is something like a small camel without a hump.

The little llama carries big loads in the Andes

小小的美洲驼在安第斯山驮着重重的货物

Have you ever heard of a man named Simon Bolivar? Probably not, but in South America every boy and girl knows him as you know George Washington. In fact, he is often called the George Washington of South America. Just as England once owned the thirteen colonies, Spain once owned a great part of South America. Then this man Bolivar, Simon Bolivar, who lived in Venezuela, thought, as a great many others did, that Spain was not treating his country right. Bolivar had been in the United States and had heard how the United States once belonged to England and how George Washington had led the revolution against England until the United States belonged to itself. So Bolivar went back to South America and started a revolution to make his country and other countries of South America independent of Spain. He had a very hard time of it, indeed. Again and again he had to flee for his life, but again and again he returned to South America and at last succeeded in making five countries of South America independent of Spain. After he died one of these countries that he had freed changed its name from High Peru to Bolivia, after him. Bolivia is one of the few countries in the World that do not touch the sea, from which there is no way to get to the sea by boat.

Much of the tin in the World comes from mines in Bolivia. Tin pans and tin cans are not made of pure tin—it would cost too much if they were. They are made of iron and simply plated with tin. Pans and cans made of iron would rust and so be unfit for food, but tin doesn’t rust and that’s why the pans and cans are covered with a thin coating of tin. When this thin tin wears off, the iron rusts easily enough, and that’s why most tin cans you see on the ash pile are rusty; the tin has worn off.

Between Bolivia and Peru there is a very large lake. Its name sounds funny, like a person stuttering. It is Ti ti ca ca. It is the highest lake of its size i. t. w. W. I once built a rowboat in my cellar. When I had finished it I found it was so big I couldn’t get it out of the house. So I had to take it apart, carry it outside, and put it together again. There are steamers on Lake Titicaca, but in order to get them there from where they were built they had to be taken to pieces and carried up the mountains to the lake, piece by piece, and there put together again.

【中文阅读】

南美洲看起来像一只胡萝卜、一个芜菁、一个陀螺、一个漏斗、一片叶子、一个无花果、一个倒置的梨子，还像一个船桨、一块小羊排、一支羊腿，还像一个蛋筒冰淇淋——但它确实只像一个东西：南美洲。地图上叶子梗的那里是巴拿马；底部的钩子是合恩角。

从南美洲的最顶点到最底处，从巴拿马到合恩角，有一条山脉像一道长长的墙贯穿整个南美洲，它叫安第斯山脉。安第斯山脉是西半球最高的山脉，也是全世界最长的山脉。

哥伦布发现了美洲大陆，有一个国家是以他的名字命名的。这个国家位于南美洲，距离巴拿马最近，最靠近南美洲挂到中美洲上的那个“叶梗”。它叫“哥伦比亚”，和“哥伦布”的拼写有点不同，它有两个“o”，而不是一个“o”和一个“u”[1]。

当白人最初到达南美洲北部海岸的时候，他们发现在哥伦比亚附近有一个地方，那里的印第安人住在建在水上的房子里，房下是木桩。这让他们想起了大洋对岸意大利的一个城市，叫威尼斯，那里的房子都是建在水上的，因此他们把这个新的地区叫做“小威尼斯”，在西班牙语中就是“委内瑞拉”。在委内瑞拉海边有一个很特别的小岛，叫做“特立尼达岛”。这个岛上有一个湖——但是湖里没有水，却有一种叫做沥青的焦油。这种沥青从湖里被挖出来，用船运到美国修建公路。

委内瑞拉旁边有三个小国家，都叫做圭亚那。它们属于欧洲三个不同的国家。事实上，它们是南美洲唯一属于南美洲之外国家的地区。第一个圭亚那属于英国，第二个属于荷兰，第三个属于法国。

在英属圭亚那偏远的荒野有一个瀑布，几乎有尼亚加拉瀑布五倍高，然而由于它太偏僻了，几乎没有白人见过，甚至听说过它。它的名字叫“凯厄图尔瀑布”。为了好玩，你可以问问你爸爸，看他知不知道凯厄图尔是什么。

环绕世界中间的那条线，如果有线的话——实际上是没有的——就像系在一个胖乎乎的人身上的一根腰带。那条线叫做赤道。“赤道”在西班牙语中叫“厄瓜多尔”。厄瓜多尔也是南美洲一个小国家的名字，这个国家横跨赤道。我们一般都会认为那里会很热，因为通常越靠近赤道就越热；但厄瓜多尔大部分地区都在安第斯山脉上，由于山很高，那里一年四季都很凉爽。厄瓜多尔的首都是基多，发音就像“钥匙—脚趾头”[2]。在基多能看到世界上两座最高的火山。它们的名字听起来很奇怪；两个都以字母“C”开头。高一点的那座山叫做“钦博腊索山”（Chimborazo），但它已经不再冒烟或喷火了。另一座矮一点，是“科托帕克希火山”（Cotopaxi），但仍然是活火山，因为里面的火还没有熄灭。

厄瓜多尔这个国家在离我们很远的群山里，奇怪的是你可能每天吃的或喝的巧克力和可可粉，就产自这个国家。巧克力和可可粉都是由可可豆做的，可可豆长在很大的豆荚里——像甜瓜那么大的豆荚。这些豆荚不是结在树枝上的，而是直接长在树干上的。这种树叫做可可树。注意看英语“可可粉”和“可可树”是怎么拼写的：“cocoa”（可可粉）来自于“cacao”（可可树）上。可可粉并不是出自于椰子树（cocoanut-tree）的。椰子树是一种完全不同的树，树上会结出椰子而不是可可。

厄瓜多尔的印第安人非常野蛮凶狠。他们被称为“猎人头者”。每当他们想要获得自己没有的某种东西——比如妻子——一个家族或部落就会和另一个部落大打出手，或者纯粹想打架而已。他们杀了一个人，就割下其头颅留作纪念品。就像美国的印第安人过去把敌人的带发头皮割下来作为纪念物或者战利品一样。拥有最多人头的印第安人被认为是最勇猛的战士。他们经常打斗，使用的武器不是弓和箭，而是巨大的吹矢枪——足有一人长——枪内装上浸过毒药的小土球或小飞镖。他们可以用这种吹矢枪杀死敌人或动物。这些未开化的印第安人捕鱼为食，不用线或网，而是把毒药投放到有鱼的小溪里。鱼被毒死后就漂浮到水面上来，但毒药的药性不影响鱼的食用。

厄瓜多尔的印第安人是已知的最野蛮的印第安人，但是就在厄瓜多尔南面一个叫做秘鲁的国家里曾经生活着迄今为止最文明的印第安人。他们不住在帐篷或棚屋或简陋的小屋里，而是住在宫殿里，他们非常聪明，也很富有。他们叫做“印加人”，他们的都城是库斯科。印加人有大量的金银财宝，当西班牙人最初来到南美洲寻找金子或银子的时候，他们发现在库斯科早已有人开采金矿和银矿。他们要做的就是从印加人手中抢走金银财宝。这很容易，因为西班牙人有枪，而印加人没有这种武器，在战斗中根本不是西班牙人的对手。于是西班牙人赢了，也就擅自拿走了这些金子，还强迫印加人在矿里开采更多的金子。然而，被戏弄的反而是西班牙人自己，因为他们的很多船只，载着抢来的财宝，在返回西班牙的途中遭到海盗的抢劫。

很多留在秘鲁的西班牙人和印第安女子结了婚，因此现在的大部分秘鲁人是西班牙人和印第安人的混血后裔。

除了古老印加宫殿的断垣残壁现在已见不到库斯科过去的风貌了。秘鲁现在的首都是利马，但是利马豆并不产自那里。然而有一种经常用来治疗发烧的药物倒是产自秘鲁。当地的印第安人发现把某种树的树皮在水里炖烂，当茶喝，对治疗发烧很有效。白人来到秘鲁后，也发现这种树皮很有效。所以现在这种树的树皮被采集下来，运到其他国家用于生产退烧药。这种药叫做“奎宁”。

在美国，货物通常是用运货列车或卡车来运的，但在安第斯山脉，货物通常是由一种体形较小、叫做美洲驼的动物驮运的。美洲驼有点像骆驼，但没有驼峰。

你听说过一个叫做西蒙 · 玻利瓦尔的人吗？大概没有，但在南美洲，每个男孩女孩都知道他，就像你知道乔治 · 华盛顿一样。实际上，他经常被叫做“南美洲的乔治 · 华盛顿”。就像英国曾经拥有13个殖民地一样，西班牙曾经拥有南美洲的大部分土地。当时这个住在委内瑞拉叫做玻利瓦尔的人，西蒙 · 玻利瓦尔，和许多其他人一样认为西班牙在压迫自己的国家。玻利瓦尔曾经去过美国，听说了美国过去曾是英国的殖民地，而乔治 · 华盛顿又是如何领导了反抗英国的革命斗争，直到美国成为一个独立的国家。于是玻利瓦尔回到南美洲，为使自己的国家和其他南美国家摆脱西班牙的殖民统治，发动了一场革命。当时他过着艰难困苦的生活，一次又一次地被迫逃亡，但是一次又一次地又回到南美洲，最终革命成功了，使五个南美国家摆脱了西班牙的统治，成了独立的国家。玻利瓦尔去世后，为了纪念他，其中一个国家将国名由“高秘鲁”改成了“玻利维亚”，以他的名字而命名。玻利维亚是世界上少数几个内陆国家之一，那里没有坐船可以到达海洋的航线。

世界上很多锡产自于玻利维亚的锡矿。锡盘和锡罐并不是用纯锡做的——纯锡成本太高，而是用铁做的，仅在外面镀了一层锡。铁盘和铁罐很容易生锈，不适合盛放食物，而锡不会生锈，所以铁盘和铁罐外面都涂上了一层锡。这层锡磨掉后，铁就很容易生锈了，那就是为什么你看见灰堆上的罐子大都是生锈的；上面的锡被磨掉了。

在玻利维亚和秘鲁之间有一个很大的湖。它的名字听起来很有趣，就像一个人结结巴巴地说话一样。叫做“的的喀喀湖”。它在世界上和它同等面积的湖泊中海拔最高。我曾经在家里的地下室里做了一个划艇，做完后发现划艇太大，拿不出来，只能把它拆了，拿到外面，重新组装。的的喀喀湖可通航，但为了把轮船从造船厂运到那里，人们不得不把轮船拆掉，把零部件运到山上，重新组装起来放进湖里。

[1] 哥伦布的英文拼写是“Columbus”，哥伦比亚的英文拼写是“Colombia”——译者注。

[2] “基多”的英语拼写为“Quito”，发音类似“key-toe”，即“钥匙—脚趾头”——译者注。

22

Rubber and Coffee Land

橡胶和咖啡之国

MOUNTAINS make rivers. If a continent were flat—absolutely flat and level like a table—there would be no rivers. Rain falling would run off the continent like water poured on a table. The water running off the Andes Mountains makes the greatest river in the World—not the longest, but the biggest. The name of this river also begins with an “A.” It is called the Amazon. On the map the Amazon looks like a vine with many branches. It gets so broad and wide as it goes on that you cannot see across it. The Amazon empties more water into the ocean than any other river i. t. w. W.

You may wonder why, with all the big rivers in the World pouring water into the ocean all the time, the ocean does not fill up and run over as a bathtub would fill up and run over if you left the water running into it all the time. It is because the water in the ocean is always turning into vapor, rising high into the air and making clouds. The clouds rise over the sea, then blow over the land, then turn to rain: the rain falls on the ground, a great part of it is taken up by trees and plants but the rest runs into the rivers, the rivers flow into the ocean and then the same thing goes on over and over again—rivers, ocean; ocean, clouds; clouds, land; land, rivers; rivers, ocean; ocean, clouds, and so on forever and ever. No water is ever lost in the World. It may be in a different place, but there is never any more nor any less water in the World than ever has or ever will be.

All the great rivers in South America flow into the Atlantic Ocean—none flows into the Pacific, because the Andes Mountains lie so close to the Pacific edge there is no room for great rivers on that side.

The Amazon runs through a country by the name of Brazil. Brazil is the biggest country in South America. It is bigger than the whole of our United States! People called the country Brazil after a tree growing there. The brazil-tree is used for making a colored dye. But it would have been more fitting if the country had been named “Rubber” or “Coffee,” for more rubber-trees and coffee-trees grow in Brazil than do brazil-trees.

The land around the Amazon River is called “Selvas”—which means “woods.” It is not only woods but jungles and swamps, and it is very wild, hot, damp, and unhealthful. It is so hot and damp that everything grows big and thick and fast—so big that water lilies grow leaves as big as the top of a dining-room table; so thick that man can hardly make his way through; and as fast as Jack the Giant Killer’s beanstalk.

There are many animals but few men in the Selvas, and the men are mostly Indians. There are many monkeys, the kind organ-grinders use. There are parrots, which sailors catch and teach to speak and bring back home. There are butterflies and moths of great size and beautiful colors that a boy would love to have for his collection. There are huge snakes called boa-constrictors, that look like heavy vines hanging from branches to fool other animals which they catch, coil around, and hug to death, then swallow whole and go to sleep for a week or month while the meal is being digested. There are animals that hang from trees by their toes like a boy on a trapeze, and even sleep upside down; lazy, sleepy animals that never seem to be awake, and move, when they do move, so slothfully they are called “sloths.” There are animals like dragons, called “iguanas.” There are huge bullfrogs whose croaking sounds like the roar of lions. And there are mosquitos, the country mosquitos that give you malaria. You may wonder why any one goes to the Selvas at all. They go a-hunting for animals for museums and zoos, but the chief thing they go hunting for is the juice or sap of a tree that grows wild in the Selvas.

White people found the Amazon Indians playing with balls that bounced and bounded. They had seen nothing of the sort before. These balls, they found out, were made of the sap of a tree. That gave the white man the idea that this sap might be used to make balls for white children and white men to play with—babies’ balls, tennis-balls, golf-balls. Then they found that lumps of it would rub out—so they called it rubber—and that they could make rubber erasers, automobile tires, rubber bands, and rubber boots of it. Soft rubber and hard rubber and pully rubber and springy rubber are all made from the sap of the rubber-tree by treating it in different ways as a cook makes taffy and gum-drops and caramels by cooking sugar in different ways.

Men go through the Selvas and wherever they find a rubber-tree they cut notches in the tree trunk and fasten a cup underneath to catch the tree’s sap, which flows out from the notches like blood out of a cut finger. Then they go round again and empty the cups of rubber sap into a bucket and carry it to their camp. When they have collected enough sap they take a stick, pour some of the sap on it, and dry it over a fire. They do the same thing again and again until there is a big lump of rubber on the stick. These lumps of rubber they pile into canoes and carry down the Amazon River to larger boats that carry the rubber to the United States and to other countries.

But there is something that grows in Brazil that begins with a “C”—that almost every family in the United States has at breakfast each morning. Can you guess what it is? It’s coffee. Coffee doesn’t grow in Brazil wild as the rubber-tree does. In fact, coffee didn’t grow in Brazil at all until some men brought coffee bushes from across the ocean and planted them in Brazil. They planted them on high ground near the shore, not in the Selvas. They found that the high ground and the weather were just exactly right for growing coffee, and now much more coffee grows in Brazil than in the place where coffee came from first, and indeed more than in any other place i. t. w. W.

Coffee grows on a small tree, and the coffee berries look something like cherries. Inside of each cherry-like berry are two seeds. These seeds are coffee, but before coffee can be made into a drink the coffee seeds must be toasted brown and then ground to powder.

One New Year’s Day a long time ago a man was sailing along the coast of Brazil when he came to what seemed to be the mouth of a river. As it was the first day of January he named the place River of January, which in his language was Rio de Janeiro. It turned out to be no river; but the city that grew up at that place is still called Rio de Janeiro, and it is the capital of Brazil. In the harbor of Rio, as it is called for short, there is a huge rock which is called “The Loaf of Sugar,” and as you see Rio from a ship the mountains back of the city look like a “Sleeping Giant,” and that is what they are called.

More coffee is shipped from Rio than from any other place i. t. w. W. , except another place on the coast of Brazil just south of Rio. This other place is called Santos. The cup of coffee your father drinks in the morning probably comes from either Rio or Santos. If coffee and cocoa could talk, and tin cans and asphalt streets and rubber tires, as such things do in fairy-tales, what tales they could tell of their homes and travels!

Coffee from Brazil for Daddy’s breakfast

爸爸早餐喝的巴西咖啡

【中文阅读】

山脉造就了河流。如果大陆是平的——像桌面那样平坦——那就没有河流了。落下的雨水会从大陆上流走，就像倒在桌子上的水一样。从安第斯山脉流下的水形成了世界上最大的河流——不是最长的，而是最宽的。这条河的英语名字也是以“A”开头的。它叫亚马逊河（Amazon）。从地图上看亚马逊河就像一棵有很多分支的葡萄藤。随着河水流向下游，它变得非常宽广，你站在河边，看不到河对岸。亚马逊河是世界上流量最大的河流。

如果你一直往浴缸里放水，浴缸里的水会漫出来。你也许想知道，为什么世界上所有大河的水不断流入到海洋里，而海洋中的水却不会漫出来呢？那是因为海洋里的水一直在蒸发，水蒸气升到空中形成云。云在海洋上升起，随着风来到陆地上空，然后变成雨水落到地面上，大部分雨水被树木和其他植物吸收，但其余的流入河中，河水流入海洋，如此反复循环——河流，海洋；海洋，云；云，陆地；陆地，河流；河流，海洋；海洋，云……永远这样反复循环下去。世界上的水不会有任何丢失。水也许在不同的地方，但是世界上的水始终不会增加也不会减少。

南美洲所有大河的水都流入大西洋——没有一条大河流入太平洋，因为安第斯山脉离太平洋很近，所以在这一侧没有空间形成大的河流。

亚马逊河流经一个叫做巴西的国家。巴西是南美洲最大的国家。国土面积比美国还要大！[1]人们是以长在那里的一种树——叫“巴西木”——给这个国家命名的。巴西木被用来生产一种颜色染料。但是如果把这个国家叫做“橡胶”或者“咖啡”可能会更合适，因为这里的橡胶树和咖啡树比巴西木更多。

亚马逊河附近的地区叫做“热带雨林”——就是“森林”的意思。不仅仅是森林，还包括丛林和沼泽，那里荒无人烟，气候炎热潮湿，有害于人的健康。植物在这样的环境里都长得又大又密又快——大，比如睡莲的叶子长得像餐厅里的桌子面那么大；密，森林茂密得让人几乎难以穿过；快，植物生长极迅速，就像童话故事《巨人杀手杰克》里的仙豆茎长得那样快。

热带雨林里有很多动物，却没有什么人，当地居民大多数是印第安人。那里有很多猴子，是街头手摇风琴师卖艺时唤的那种猴子。那里有鹦鹉，航海的水手捉住它们，教它们说话，然后带回家。那里有体形巨大、色彩斑斓的蝴蝶和飞蛾，孩子见了它们的标本都喜欢收藏。那里还有一种大蟒，叫做王蛇，看起来就像是从树枝上垂下来的粗壮的藤子，可以欺骗其他动物上当，王蛇缠住靠近的动物，然后收缩身体将其挤压死，王蛇把整个动物吞下，在食物被消化的这段时间里，它就睡上一个星期或一个月。那里还有一种动物，它们用脚趾头勾在树上倒悬着，就像小男孩在玩高空秋千一样，它们甚至倒悬着睡觉；它们一副懒散、疲倦的样子，看起来好像永远都没睡醒，即使动一下，也是极缓慢，于是人们把它们叫做“树懒”。那里还有一种像龙的动物，叫做“鬣蜥”。那里还有巨大的牛蛙，呱呱的叫声响如狮吼。那里还有蚊子，能传播疟疾的乡村蚊子。你也许想知道究竟为什么还有人去热带雨林。他们去是为了捕猎野生动物供博物馆和动物园使用，但他们去寻找的最主要的东西是一种树的汁或液，这种树是在热带雨林自然生长的。

白人发现亚马逊的印第安人玩一种蹦蹦跳跳有弹性的球。他们以前从来没有见过这种东西。他们查明这种球是用一种树的汁液做成的。这让白人想到也许这种汁液能用来制作供白人大人、小孩玩的各种球——婴儿球、网球和高尔夫球。后来他们发现这种汁液团还能够擦掉字迹——于是他们把这种树液叫做橡胶——他们还发现能用它制造橡皮擦、汽车轮胎、橡皮筋和橡胶靴。通过不同的处理方法可以将橡胶树汁液制成不同种类的橡胶，如软橡胶、硬橡胶、拉力橡胶和弹性橡胶，就像厨师用不同的烹饪方法可以把食糖做成太妃糖、橡皮软糖和卡拉梅尔糖一样。

人们在热带雨林中穿行，无论在哪里，只要发现橡胶树，他们就在树干上刻一个凹槽，在凹槽下方挂一个杯子，接住树的汁液，汁液从凹槽流淌出来，就像血会从划破的手指流出来一样。过一段时间他们再次经过那里，把杯子里的橡胶汁倒到桶里，带回营地。当他们采集到了足够的橡胶汁后，他们拿一根棍子，浇上一些树汁，在火上烤干。他们会一次又一次地反复这样做，直到棍子上有一大团烤干的橡胶。他们把一团团的橡胶堆放到独木舟上，沿着亚马逊河向下游运送，然后由大船把橡胶运到美国和其他国家。

但是在巴西还盛产一种东西，它的英语名字以“C”开头——几乎每个美国家庭吃早餐时都必备的东西。你能猜到那是什么吗？是咖啡（英语是Coffee）。在巴西，咖啡不像橡胶树那样是天然生长的。实际上，直到有人从大洋对岸带来咖啡树苗，在巴西种植，巴西才有了咖啡。他们把咖啡树种在海岸附近的高地上，而不是种在热带雨林里。他们发现海边的高地和气候正适宜咖啡生长，现在巴西种植的咖啡树已经比它的原产地种的还要多，甚至，比世界上任何其他地方都要多。

咖啡长在一种小树上，咖啡果形似樱桃。在每一个樱桃般的咖啡果里都有两颗种子。这些种子就是咖啡豆，但是咖啡豆必需烘烤成褐色后，磨成粉，才能冲泡成饮料。

在很久以前某个元旦那一天，有个人正沿着巴西海岸航行，突然来到一个看起来像河口的地方。因为那天是一月的第一天，他就把那个地方叫做“一月河”，用他自己的语言说就是“里约热内卢”。后来发现那里根本就没有河流；但在那里发展起来的城市现在仍然叫做“里约热内卢”，是巴西的首都。在里约港（里约就是里约热内卢的简称）有一块巨大的岩石，叫做“糖块”，从船上看里约市，城市后面的山脉看起来就像一个沉睡的巨人，于是人们就把这条山脉叫做“沉睡的巨人”。

从里约运出的咖啡比世界上其他任何地方都要多，除了一个叫做桑托斯的地方，桑托斯在里约市的南边，也在巴西海岸边。你爸爸早晨喝的咖啡也许就来自里约市或者桑托斯。如果咖啡和可可粉、锡罐、沥青马路和橡胶轮胎能像在童话故事里那样都会说话，那么关于它们的家乡和长途游历它们会说出多么有趣的故事啊！

[1] 这里意指不包挌阿拉斯加和夏威夷的美国本土——译者注。

23

Silver Land and Sliver Land

白银之国和棉条之国

WE give babies names when they are born, but sometimes when the babies grow up the names do not fit them. “Charles” means “strong” and “Ruth” means “beautiful,” but when Charles grows up he may not be strong, and Ruth may not be beautiful. You never can tell. When white people came to South America to the land south of Brazil they saw Indians there wearing silver bracelets and silver necklaces, and they supposed there must be a great deal of silver in the land, so they named the country “Silver Land,” which in their language is “Argentina.” But Argentina turned out to have very little silver, yet we still call it Silver Land just the same.

Gauchos wear ponchos

加乌乔牧人穿着南美披风

Although Argentina has little silver, the people there have a great deal of money; in fact, they have more money than any other country in South America. They do not get the money out of the ground, but they make it by selling wheat and meat, so it would have been a more fitting name if they had called Argentina “Wheat Land” or “Meat Land” instead of “Silver Land,” but not nearly so pretty. In Argentina there are enormous farms where they grow wheat and corn, and enormous fields called pampas where they raise cattle and sheep. The men that look after these cattle and sheep we should call “cowboys,” but there they are called “gauchos.” Gauchos wear ponchos. A poncho is a kind of square blanket with a hole in the center through which the gaucho sticks his head. He uses it as a coat by day and as a blanket by night. A gaucho always carries a big knife, which he uses as a sword, as a hatchet, or as a table knife.

Corn feeds the cattle. Cattle makes meat and meat makes money. From the skin of the cattle leather is made, and from the wool of sheep cloth is made, and from both money is made.

Argentina is so much like the United States in a great many ways that it is often called the United States of South America. Both countries are alike in this—that they have hot weather part of the time and cold weather part of the time. But there is this big difference: in Argentina they have winter when the United States is having summer, and summer when the United States is having winter. In Argentina Christmas comes in hot weather and snow and ice in July and August. They have flowers and vegetables and vacations in January and February, and snow and ice and sledding and skating in July.

The capital of Argentina is often called the New York of South America, as it is the largest city of South America, as New York is the largest city of North America. Its name, however, is not New York but “Good Airs,” or, in Spanish, “Buenos Aires.” It is on the Plata River, which is another name that means silver. So we have the city of Good Airs on the Silver River in Silver Land.

In most of the other countries of South America there are many more Indians and Indians mixed with white men than there are white people, but in Argentina most of the people are white. That’s another reason why it is like the United States; but Argentina was settled by people from Spain, not from England, so the people speak Spanish and not English.

Up the Silver River from Argentina, tucked in between the larger countries are two little countries called Uru- and Para- guay. Uruguay and Paraguay are similar to Argentina in many ways. They raise sheep and cattle and gauchos with ponchos. In Paraguay they raise a tree from the leaves of which a kind of tea is made. It is called Paraguay tea or maté. It is the chief drink of the gauchos, and many people in South America drink it instead of real tea. It was thought so good that they tried to sell it to other countries. But other countries didn’t care for it as much as for regular tea or coffee. Grown people are like children: what they like they like; what they think they won’t like they don’t like. Most people in the United States like soda-water, but people in other countries usually do not.

The Andes Mountains separate Argentina from a very long and narrow country on the Pacific shore named Chile. Argentina is called the Silver Land. Chile is so long and thin it is sometimes called the Sliver land. Chile doesn’t mean chilly; it means Land of Snow, for most of Chile is mountains, and the mountains are so high there is snow on their tops all the time. Chile and Argentina were once going to war in spite of the wall of mountains between them, but they made an agreement, as Canada and the United States did, that they would not fight. They set up on top of the Andes Mountains a huge bronze figure of Christ holding a cross—they melted their cannons to make it—and on the base they put words which say something like this: “Sooner shall these mountain crags crumble to dust than Chile and Argentina shall go to war with each other—they have sworn it at the foot of Christ.” They have had no fights since. What a pity such an easy way to stop fighting cannot be used everywhere!

安第斯山脉基督铜像

At the foot of Christ, they have sworn not to fight

在基督脚下两国发誓绝不交战

Chile is so long and so thin and has so many mountains it hardly seems a country worth fighting for, but in spite of what seems to be, Chile makes a lot of money. This may seem still more surprising when I tell you that the northern part of Chile is a desert where it often does not rain for ten years at a time. That doesn’t sound like very good land, but it is one of the richest lands in the World. You would never guess why. Of course, nothing will grow there because it is a desert, and there are no diamonds nor gold. It is on account of something you probably never heard of. This something you never heard of is called Nitrate of Soda. It is a kind of salt that was once in the sea. The reason it is so valuable is because farmers all over the World buy it to put on their fields, as it makes vegetables grow so much better. Strange it doesn’t grow anything where it is found; but that is because there is no rain there and nothing will grow without rain. But it is lucky there is no rain, for if there were rain the Nitrate of Soda would melt. This part of Chile is like a long narrow trough. It was once under the sea, then there was an earthquake, and this part of the bottom of the sea rose up and made land; the water in the trough evaporated and left this rough kind of sea salt called Nitrate of Soda. Iodine comes from there too; and who doesn’t know that stinging brown stuff that your mother puts on cuts?

The Valley of Paradise is in Chile—only it isn’t what you would think Paradise would be. It is the chief seaport of Chile, and it is not very lovely and not very healthful. In Spanish it is called Valparaiso.

The capital of Chile is up in the mountains where it is cool and healthy. It is called Santiago, which means St. James.

Columbus tried to go around the World, but didn’t. The first man whose ship went around the World was named Magellan. Magellan sailed across from the other side of the ocean, as Columbus had done, but he went on until he bumped into America. Then he went along down South America, trying to find a way to get through to the Pacific Ocean. He sailed up the Amazon, thinking he might get through there, but he couldn’t. Then he sailed up La Plata, thinking he might get through there, but he couldn’t. Then when he had nearly reached the tip of South America he at last found a way through to the Pacific. This way through was quite crooked, but we call it a strait and we have named it after him—the Strait of Magellan. He saw many fires on the land at his left, whether they were from volcanoes now no longer burning, or made by the Indians, no one knows. At any rate, he named it Fireland, which in Spanish is Tierra del Fuego. The Indians he saw on the right, which is now the southern part of Argentina, had such big feet he called them the big-feet people, which is “Patagonians.”

For hundreds of years other ships followed this same way through that Magellan had taken, for though some went entirely around the outmost island at the tip of South America—the tip called Cape Horn—it was so stormy that way and so rough and dangerous that most ships used the strait. On this strait a little town grew up—a sort of filling station—just to supply ships with provisions they needed to keep on with their voyage, for there were no other places anywhere near, and it was a long voyage down South America on the Atlantic side and up again on the Pacific side. This little town was called Sandy Point, which in Spanish was Punta Arenas. It is the farthest south city in the whole World. As most ships now go through the Panama Canal, Punta Arenas does less business as a filling station, but a new business is taking the place of filling. They raise sheep on Tierra del Fuego, and the wool is brought to Punta Arenas to be shipped to other parts of the World.

【中文阅读】

孩子出生了，就要取个名字，但有些孩子长大后，名字和人并不相称。“查尔斯”含有“强壮的”意思，“鲁丝”含有“美丽的”意思，但是查尔斯长大后，也许并不强壮，鲁丝也许并不美丽。这种事，谁也拿不准。白人来到南美洲，到了巴西南面一个国家，当时他们看见那里的印第安人都戴着银手镯和银项链，就以为这个国家肯定有很多的银子，于是把这个国家叫做“白银之国”，按他们的语言（西班牙语）就是“阿根廷”。但后来发现阿根廷没有什么银子，然而“白银之国”这个名字仍然沿用至今。

尽管阿根廷没有什么银子，那里的人却很有钱；他们甚至比南美洲其他任何一个国家的人都更有钱。他们不是靠银赚钱，而是靠卖小麦和肉类赚钱的，因此如果人们把阿根廷叫做“小麦之国”或者“肉类之国”而不是“白银之国”可能更合适，只是远没有那么好听了。阿根廷有许多广阔的大农场种植小麦和玉米，还有叫做南美大草原的辽阔田野，人们在那里放牧牛羊。我们把照看这些牛羊的人叫做“牛仔”，但是他们却叫“加乌乔牧人”。加乌乔牧人穿着南美披风。南美披风是一种方形的毛毯，中间开有领口，加乌乔牧人穿时从头部套入。他们白天把它当外套穿，晚上就当毯子盖。加乌乔牧人总是带着一把大刀，这把刀既用作剑，又用作短柄小斧，还能作餐刀使用。

阿根廷人用玉米养牛，牛养大后，牛肉可以卖钱。牛皮制成皮革，羊毛可以织布，都可以卖钱。

阿根廷在很多方面很像美国，所以常被叫做“南美洲的美国”。两个国家在这一点就很相像——一年中都是一段时间天气炎热，一段时间天气寒冷，四季分明。不过，还有一个很大的不同之处：阿根廷冬季的时候美国正是夏季，夏季的时候美国正是冬季。圣诞节时，阿根廷夏日炎炎，而七八月份则冰天雪地。一二月份鲜花盛开，新鲜蔬菜大量上市，人们也开始过暑假，七月份冰雪来了，人们就能滑雪溜冰了。

阿根廷的首都经常被叫做“南美洲的纽约”，因为它是南美洲最大的城市，正如纽约是北美洲最大的城市一样。然而它的名字不是纽约，而是“清新的空气”，或者用西班牙语说就是“布宜诺斯艾利斯”。它位于拉普拉塔河畔，“拉普拉塔”在西班牙语中也是“银子”的意思。因此白银之国有一条白银之河，白银之河河边有座“清新的空气”之城。

在南美洲大多数国家，印第安人以及印第安人与白人的混血人种都比白人多很多，但是在阿根廷大部分人都是白人。这是阿根廷像美国的另一个原因；但是阿根廷曾是西班牙人建立的殖民地，而不是英国人建的，因此阿根廷人说西班牙语，而不是英语。

从阿根廷沿白银之河往上走，有两个小国夹在大国之间，叫做乌拉圭和巴拉圭。乌拉圭和巴拉圭在很多方面和阿根廷都很像。他们都放牧牛羊，都有穿着披风的加乌乔牧人。在巴拉圭，人们种植一种树，树叶可以制成一种茶，叫做巴拉圭茶。那是加乌乔牧人的主要饮料，南美洲许多人都喝巴拉圭茶而不喝真正的茶叶。当地人觉得它非常好喝，曾设法将它卖到其他国家去。但其他国家的人对这种茶不怎么感兴趣，他们还是喜欢普通茶或咖啡。成人和孩子一样：喜欢的就喜欢；觉得不喜欢的就是不喜欢。美国的大部分人喜欢喝苏打水，但是其他国家的人一般都不喜欢。

安第斯山脉把阿根廷和位于太平洋沿岸的一个非常狭长的国家分隔开来，这个国家叫做智利。阿根廷被叫做白银之国。智利又长又细，有时被叫做棉条之国。智利并不是寒冷的意思[1]；“智利”的意思是“白雪之国”，因为智利大部分地区都是山脉，山很高，山顶终年都有积雪。尽管两国之间隔着一道高山之屏，智利和阿根廷曾经差点兵戎相见，但是他们后来达成协议，就像加拿大和美国那样，约定永不交战。他们在安第斯山脉顶峰竖立了巨大的基督铜像，铜像手持一个十字架——他们把大炮熔化造了这尊铜像——底座上写着这样的话：“除非安第斯山脉山崩地裂，碎成灰尘，否则智利和阿根廷绝不交战——两国在基督脚下以此为誓。”两国之间从此以后再没有发生过战争。如此简单的方法就阻止了战争，但却不能用在世界各地，真是可惜！

智利地域这么狭长，又有很多的高山，撕毁不值得为之而战，但尽管不像是个好地方，智利却财源滚滚。如果我告诉你智利北部是个沙漠，往往连续十年不下雨，你可能会更吃惊了。这片土地听起来不怎么样，但它却是世界上最富饶的地区之一。你肯定猜不出为什么。当然，那里什么也不长，因为那里是沙漠，那里也没有钻石或黄金。之所以富饶是因为一种你也许从未听说过的东西。这种你从未听说过的东西叫做硝酸钠。它是一种以前在海里的盐。它之所以值钱是因为世界各地的农民都买硝酸钠，作为肥料施到田里，使蔬菜长得更好。奇怪的是能找到这个东西的地方却什么都不长；不过这是因为那里不下雨，而没有雨水什么都不长。但是幸亏那里不下雨，因为如果有雨水，硝酸钠就溶化了。智利这一地区就像一个又长又窄的槽。它曾经在海底，后来发生了地震，这部分海底隆起形成了陆地；槽里的水蒸发之后留下了这种叫做硝酸钠的粗糙的海盐。那里还产碘；你受了点伤，妈妈就往伤口上涂抹一种让人刺痛的褐色的东西，有谁不知道那是什么呢？

智利有个“天堂之谷”——只是它不是你想象中的那个天堂。它是智利主要的海港，风景不漂亮，气候也不令人舒适。这个地方在西班牙语中叫“瓦尔帕莱索”。

智利的首都在高山之上，气候凉爽宜人，叫做圣地亚哥，意思是“圣雅各”。

哥伦布试图环游世界，却没有成功。第一个乘船环游世界的人叫麦哲伦。像哥伦布一样，麦哲伦从大洋对岸穿越过来，但他一直往前航行，直到碰见美洲。然后他沿南美洲往南走，想找到一条通往太平洋的水道。他沿亚马逊河向上航行，以为从那里可以穿过去，但是穿不过去。后来他又沿拉普拉塔河向上航行，以为可以从那里穿过去，但是又失败了。在他几乎到达南美洲最南端的时候，他终于找到了一个通往太平洋的水道。这个通道弯弯曲曲，但是现在叫做海峡，人们以麦哲伦的名字给它命名——麦哲伦海峡。经过海峡时，他看到左边陆地上有很多大火，没人知道那是现在已不再喷发的火山在当时喷出的火还是印第安人点的火。不管是什么样，他把它命名为“火之地”，在西班牙语中就是“火地岛”。在他的右边，也就是现在的阿根廷南部，他看到那里的印第安人脚非常大，于是把他们叫做“大脚人”，在西班牙语中就是“巴塔哥尼亚人”。

几百年来，其他船只一直沿着麦哲伦走过的这条路线航行，因为尽管有些船绕过南美洲南端最外面的小岛航行——南美洲南端叫合恩角——那里多暴风雨，路途艰险，大多数船还是从麦哲伦海峡走。在这个海峡边兴起了一个小镇——近似于汽车加油站——给过往的船只提供继续航行所需的食物等必需品，因为附近再没有任何其他地方可以这么做了，从南美洲大西洋一侧绕到南美洲太平洋一侧是一段漫长的航程。这个小镇叫“沙点”，在西班牙语中是“彭塔阿雷纳斯”。它是世界上最南边的城市。由于现在大部分轮船从巴拿马运河通过，彭塔阿雷纳斯作为“加油站”的生意就冷清了许多，但是当地兴起了一个新的生意，正在取代原来“加油站”的生意。人们在火地岛养羊，羊毛运到彭塔阿雷纳斯，再从那里运到世界各地。

[1] “智利”的英文“Chile”音同“寒冷”的英文chilly——译者注。

24

The Bridge Across the Ocean

越洋之旅

WHEN you go to Europe you have to take two things with you besides your ticket and your luggage. I wonder if you can guess what they are. You have to take plenty of money, but not of your country, as it wouldn’t be any good, but of the kind used in the country to which you are going; and the second thing you have to have is a passport. A passport is a little book with only one picture in it—your own—and very few pages. The reading is not a story—it gives you permission to land in the country to which you are going. It is like a ticket of admission: Admit only the person whose picture is in the book. They won’t let you go aboard the ship or airplane unless you have a passport, and they won’t let you get off the ship unless you have a passport.

It is about 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from New York, the largest city in the New World, to London, the largest city in the Old World.

Columbus took over a month to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to America.

We can cross in less than a week by ship?

We can cross in less than a day by airplane!

But there is something that crosses the ocean faster than that and does it every day and is always on time. You would never guess what it is. It’s the sun. The sun crosses from London to New York in five hours and does it every day.

The people in London, when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky over their heads, set their clocks at 12 o’clock—midday. Five hours later the sun has reached New York and the people there set their watches at 12 o’clock too, because that’s what 12 o’clock means: “when the sun is highest in the sky.” While the sun has been crossing the ocean all the watches and clocks in London have been ticking along, so it is 5 o’clock in London when it is 12 o’clock here in New York. That is, London clocks are five hours ahead of our clocks.

When you sail for London you have to set your watch ahead each night when you go to bed, so that when you reach London your watch will be five hours ahead of the time you started with. You will then be just right with London time when you reach London. When you sail back you must put your watch back too. If you telephoned to London now at 10 o’clock in the morning and asked them what time it was they would say 3 P. M.

The clocks on board ship look the same as our clocks at home, but they strike differently. Our clocks, as you know, strike once for 1 o’clock, twice for 2 o’clock, and so on, but on board ship a clock strikes two bells for each hour from 1 o’clock to 4 o’clock, when it strikes eight times. It strikes one bell more for the in-between halves of the hour. Then it starts all over again—one stroke at 4:30, two at 5, and so on—never more than eight strokes altogether.

“A watch” on board ship doesn’t mean only a watch that you put in your pocket. It means something else too. A ship doesn’t stop going at night. A ship must keep on going, night as well as day, so the men, the officers and crew who run the ship, take turns at running the ship, as they can’t stay awake all the time, and their turns are called “watches,” because they must be wide awake and watching when it is their “watch.” Some men are running the engines, some are steering the ship, and some are just watching out to see that they do not run into other ships while the others are sleeping.

What is it that crosses the ocean in five hours and does it every day?

什么东西五个小时就越过大洋，而且每天如此？

How can the captain, when he leaves New York, know the way to go to London, when all the ocean in front of him as far as he can see on every side is just broad flat water or rolling waves or thick fog, with no sign-posts to guide him?

Right in front of the steering-wheel is a box in which is a little pointer that, no matter how much the ship rises and falls, or twists and turns, or rears and plunges, always points one way. The box with its pointer is called a compass. You know what a magnet is—a little thing like a small horseshoe that pulls needles and nails to it. Well, near the North Pole there is a spot on the World like a magnet and this spot pulls all the compasses on the World toward it. So that spot on the World that pulls all the compasses toward it is called the Magnet-ic pole, though there is no pole. This Magnetic pole is where the stem would be if the World were an orange or an apple, though there is no stem.

The captain knows from the way the compass points which way he must go to reach England. He doesn’t follow the way the compass points—that would bring him to the Magnetic pole.

When it’s fine weather at sea the passengers have a fine time too. They play games, they dance, they take photographs, they write letters and postcards, they read books, they eat five meals a day, they lie in long steamer chairs wrapped up in rugs, and look out over the ocean or talk or sleep. Now and then porpoises, that look like big fishes, swim along the side or just ahead of the ship, and jump out of the water and dive in again, as if they were running a race with the ship. Occasionally a mountain of ice may be seen floating in the sea, many many times bigger than the ship, called an iceberg. It has broken away from the frozen part of the ocean far up north and floated down. And then at times a whale like a little island may rise out of the water, spout a fountain into the air, then sink out of sight again.

Sometimes, but not often, the sea is so smooth it is like glass, no wind and no waves except those which the ship itself makes. That’s why the Atlantic Ocean is sometimes called “The Big Pond.” But then again the wind blows, clouds rise, rain pours down, the waves rise up higher and higher until the sea is all moving hills and valleys of water, and the ship pitches up and down and rolls and tosses from side to side. It is necessary to put fences on the dining tables to keep the dishes from sliding off, and of course many people are seasick. The ship slides down one water hill and rises up the next water hill, and, big though it is, seems almost to turn over. But it seldom does turn over or sink unless it runs into an iceberg or another ship and smashes a hole in its side.

But it isn’t rough weather that the captain fears most of all. It is a sea fog, especially when he knows there are other ships near, for when there is a fog he cannot see his way at all. It is like groping your way about in the dark at night, only the ship has no arms. The captain slows the ship down till it barely moves. He starts a big, deep horn a-blowing by clock-work, and it blows about once a minute regularly day and night as long as the fog lasts, which may be for several days, while sailors peer over the ship’s side listening and looking. They can hear another ship’s fog-horn some distance away, but often they cannot see another ship only a few feet away. When at last the fog clears off, land may be in sight—England.

We can tell land is near long before we actually see it. How do you suppose? Large white birds called sea-gulls come out to meet the ship, but not as friends come out to welcome you. They are looking for food that they know is dumped overboard from the ship’s kitchen. Just before we do land a man comes out in a small boat to meet the big ship. The big ship doesn’t stop; it lets down over the side a ladder made of rope and the man grabs hold of the rope, kicks the boat away, and climbs aboard. Who do you suppose he is? Why do you suppose they take him aboard? He is the new captain of the ship. He is called the pilot, and it is his job to bring the ship into the harbor. A big ship is so big it can’t sail into the dock itself; it has to have small boats called tug-boats push and pull it. A broad gang-plank is laid like a bridge across from the dock to the deck and the passengers and their baggage go ashore. The people in England speak English, so you can ask questions and understand their answers, though their language sounds strange to us and our language sounds funny to them. They call it “an American accent.” You must show your passport and you must open all your bags and let a man examine everything inside before he will let you go on. So you must have nothing you don’t want him to see. This man is called a customs officer. You may have to pay for some things you have. This that you have to pay is called a “duty.”

【中文阅读】

要去欧洲的话，除了车票和行李之外，你还得带两样东西。我不知道你能不能猜出来是什么。你得带足够钱，但不是你自己国家的钱，因为那将一点儿用都没有，而要带目的地国家使用的钱；你要带的第二样东西是护照。护照是一个小本子，里面只有一张照片——你自己的照片——和很少几页纸。里面的内容不是讲故事——而是准许你去你要去的国家。护照就像一张入场券：只允许本子里照片中的那个人进入。没有护照，他们不会让你上船或登机，没有护照他们也不会让你下船进入另一个国家。

从“新大陆”最大的城市纽约出发，到“旧大陆”最大的城市伦敦，要在大西洋上航行约3000英里。

哥伦布航行了一个多月才从欧洲越过大西洋抵达美洲。

我们现在乘船一周之内就能到。

坐飞机的话，还用不了一天呢！

但是有一样东西越过大西洋比飞机还要快，而且天天越过大西洋，始终准时到达。你绝对猜不出那是什么。是太阳。太阳从伦敦越过大洋到达纽约只需要五个小时，而且每天都是这样。

住在伦敦的人，当太阳到达他们头顶上空最高点时，把时钟设为12点——也就是正午。五个小时后，太阳到达纽约，那里的人也把手表设为12点，因为12点就意味着“当太阳在天空中最高点的时候”。当太阳跨越大洋的时候，伦敦所有的钟表都在滴答滴答走个不停，所以当纽约这里12点的时候，伦敦已是下午5点了。也就是说，伦敦的时钟比我们的快五个小时。

如果你乘船去伦敦，每天晚上睡觉前你必须把手表调快一点，这样当你到达伦敦时，你的手表就会比出发时的时间快了五个小时，这就正好和伦敦的时间一致了。当你坐船返航时，你也必须把手表调回来。如果你在上午10点打电话到伦敦去问他们那里是几点，他们会说是下午3点。

船上的时钟和我们家里的时钟看起来是一样的，但敲钟报时的方式却不一样。你知道，我们家里的钟1点钟敲一次，2点钟敲两次，以此类推，最多敲十二次，但船上的钟从1点到4点每个小时的时间敲两次，也就是1点敲两次，2点敲四次，以此类推，到了4点敲八次。介于中间的半点还要敲一次。过了4点又从头开始——4点半敲一次，5点敲两次，6点敲四次，以此类推，每次报时永远不会超过八次。

船上的“表”并不只表示可以放进口袋里的手表。它还有其他的意思。[1]轮船在夜晚并不停航。轮船必须不分昼夜地持续航行，因此船上的人，全船工作人员轮流开船，因为他们不可能始终保持清醒，他们轮流上岗，就叫“值班”，因为值班时，他们不能有丝毫睡意，必须时刻留意。有人操纵发动机，有人掌舵，还有人就是在别人睡觉时专门密切观察四周以确保不会撞到其他船只。[2]

从纽约前往伦敦的航海途中，前方是一望无际的大海，有时风平浪静，有时波涛滚滚，有时大雾弥漫，没有任何路标指引，船长是如何确定方向（way）的呢？

就在舵轮的前面有一个盒子，里面有一根小指针，无论轮船如何起伏震荡，盘旋摇晃，还是前后颠簸，指针始终指着一个方向。这个有着小指针的盒子叫做罗盘。你知道磁铁是什么——一个像马蹄铁的小东西，可以把针和钉子吸在上面。那么，在北极附近世界上有一个地点就像磁铁一样，它使得世界上所有的罗盘都指向它的方向。因此世界上那个使所有罗盘都指向它的方向的地点叫做磁极，尽管那里并没有一个马蹄形的磁铁。如果世界是个橙子或者苹果的话，这个磁极就是在橙子柄或者苹果柄的位置，尽管上面没有任何柄。

船长通过罗盘指的方向知道要去英国应走哪个方向。他并不是顺着罗盘指针的方向走，那样的话，就会走到磁极去了。

海上天气好的时候，船上的乘客也会度过一段好时光。他们玩游戏、跳舞、拍照、写信、写明信片、看书、一天吃五餐，他们裹着毛毯躺在长长的甲板躺椅上向外眺望大海或者聊天或者睡觉。不时有海豚出现，看起来就像很大的鱼，它们游在船的一侧或是船头，跳出水面又潜入水中，好像在和轮船竞赛一样。偶尔能看到巨大如山的冰块漂浮在海上，比轮船大好多好多倍，叫做冰山。冰山是从北极海洋冰川破裂开的大块漂浮冰。有时还能看到像小岛一样大的鲸鱼浮出水面，向空中喷出一股水柱，然后又沉入水中不见了。

有时，但并不是经常，平静的海面就像一面镜子，风平浪静，只有轮船驶过掀起的一点浪花。这就是为什么大西洋有时被叫做“大池塘”。但是风平浪静之后，又是风起云涌，大雨如注下，波涛汹涌，海浪越升越高直到大海成了一片移动的浪之山，水之谷。轮船随风浪剧烈地上下颠簸，左右摇晃。这时就必须在餐桌边装上小围栏，以免就餐时菜肴滑落下去。当然很多人都会晕船。轮船从一个巨浪上滑下来又升到下一个巨浪上，尽管船很大，但感觉就像要翻船。但轮船很少向一侧翻倒或者下沉，除非是撞上了冰山或者其他船只，造成船侧洞穿。

但船长最担忧的并不是恶劣的天气。他怕的是海上的大雾，尤其是当他知道附近还有其他轮船时，因为一旦出现浓雾，他根本就看不清方向。就像你在夜晚的黑暗中摸索着向前走一样，只是轮船没有胳膊。船长把船开得很慢很慢，几乎要停下来。他鸣响一只又大又深的喇叭，喇叭由发条装置控制，大约每分钟鸣一次，不分昼夜定时响起，直到浓雾散尽。有时大雾会持续好几天，这段时间船员在船舷上认真值守，时而侧耳倾听，时而仔细查看，他们能听到远处船只的雾号，但常常看不见近在咫尺的另一艘船。当大雾最终散去的时候，陆地也许就在眼前——看到英国了。

其实在我们看到陆地之前，早就能知道陆地不远了。你猜想是怎么知道的呢？这时叫做海鸥的白色大鸟飞出来迎接轮船，但并不是作为朋友来迎接你的。它们是在找食物，它们知道船上厨房要向舷外倒好吃的东西。就在着陆前，有一个人坐一艘小船出来靠近大船。大船并不停下来，从船舷放下一个绳子做的梯子，这个人抓住绳子，把小船踢开，爬上大船。你想他是谁？你猜他们为什么要把他拉到船上来呢？他是大船的新船长，叫做领航员，他的工作就是把轮船领进港口。大船很大，不能自己驶进码头；它必须靠几条叫做拖船的小船把它拖拽进去。一块宽宽的跳板被放下，横跨码头和甲板，就像小桥一样，乘客带着行李就上岸了。英国人说英语，所以有问题可以问他们，你也听得懂他们的回答，尽管他们说的话我们听起来怪怪的，而我们说的话他们觉得有点可笑。他们说这是“美国腔”。上岸后，你必须出示护照，打开行李让一个人检查里面的所有东西，然后他才能让你走。因此你不能装任何你不想让他看到的东西在里面。这个人叫做海关官员。你也许要为你带的某些东西付钱。你要付的钱叫做“关税”。

[1] 英语“watch”是多义词，除了表示“表”以外，还有许多其他意思，见下文——译者注。

[2] 这里的“值班”、“留意”在英语中都是一个词“watch”——译者注。

25

The Land of the Angles

盎格鲁人的土地

ENGLAND is an island.

Angles once lived on the island—no, not Angels—but people called Angles.

So it was called Angle-land.

We now spell it Eng-land

But we call it “Ingland.”

There are, however, two other countries on the island—Wales and Scotland—as well as England; so we should call the whole island “Great Britain.” Next door to the island of Great Britain is another is-land. It is Ire-land.

A ship, when it reaches England, cannot land its passengers wherever it chooses. There are only certain places. The shore may be too shallow and the ship would run aground and turn over, or the shore may be too rocky or too high with cliffs. Most people who go to England usually land on the west side at a place called Liverpool—Liver pool: what a peculiar name!—or at Southampton, which we can tell from the name is on the south side of England; or at London, which is on the east side. If they land at London the ship must go up a river spelled Thames but called “Temz.” English people spell many things one way and pronounce them another. The Thames runs right through London, but big ships cannot go up any farther than London Bridge. Have you ever played the game “London Bridge is Falling Down”? Well, London Bridge has fallen down several times, but each time it has been built up again; and the London Bridge that is there now I don’t believe will ever fall.

“London Bridge is Falling Down”

“伦敦铁桥垮下来”

London was a city when Christ was born, but it was then so small and so far off that Christ never heard of it. London is now the largest city i. t. w. W.

New York is tall, London is broad. New York buildings climb to the sky, fifty, seventy, a hundred stories high. London buildings seldom go higher than a few stories, but the city spreads out in every direction, mile after mile. People travel about London chiefly on buses, double-decker ones with seats on top as well as inside, but they also travel about London on trains that run under the ground.

London is the capital of England. The capit-o-1 of England—the building—is, of course, in London and it is on the banks of the Thames. It is called the Houses of Parliament, which means the Houses of Talk. It is the place where people not only talk but make the laws for England. A king rules over England, but the English people send men to Parliament to make their laws. As I had lived in sight of our Capitol in Washington for many years, I thought all capitols had to have domes, just as all cows had horns. It was therefore a shock for me to see that the English Capitol, the Houses of Parliament, had no dome—only square towers with a large clock in one of them, with a huge bell, called “Big Ben,” that strikes the hours.

大本钟

He strikes the hours

它敲响报时

There is, however, another great building in London that does have a dome like our Capitol. But that building is a church and it is called St. Paul’s. Indeed, it is said that the dome of our Capitol at Washington was copied from St. Paul’s, for St. Paul’s was built long before there was a Capitol at Washington, long before there was a Washington, and even long before there was a United States. They once had a great fire in London—they still call it the Great Fire, for it burned up most of the city. That was about three hundred years ago. Then a man with the name of a bird, Wren—Christopher Wren—built up much of the city that had been burned down. He built beautiful churches and other buildings; so people say it was well the old city was burned down, for it gave them the chance to make a beautiful city. St. Paul’s was one of the churches that Wren built.

It has a dome like the Capitol at Washington

它有和华盛顿国会大厦一样的圆屋顶

During World War II thousands of buildings were destroyed by bombs dropped on London by the Germans. Many of Christopher Wren’s churches were among the buildings burned or smashed by the bombs, but he had built so many that there are still some left. The people of London called these terrible bombings the Blitz. Great numbers of people were killed. The Blitz will be remembered, like the Great Fire, for hundreds of years to come, but no one can ever say, as they said about the Great Fire, that it was a good thing for the city. The only good thing about the Blitz was the bravery shown by the people of London.

The king sits on two seats at the same time

国王同时坐在两个座位上

A church that Wren didn’t build, a very old one, is called Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is not only a church; it is also a tomb for famous people. In it are buried the most famous English people who have ever lived and died-kings and queens, great writers, great poets, great musicians, great soldiers. After World War I a soldier who had died on the battlefield in France, but whose name no one knew, was buried in Westminster Abbey to honor all those who had died without name or fame for a great cause. The place is called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In Westminster Abbey is a chair in which all the kings of England sit when they are crowned kings. It is called the Coronation Chair. Underneath the seat of the Coronation Chair is a large stone. Why the stone underneath the chair seat? Well, hundreds of years ago the country North of England named Scotland was separate from England. When the kings of Scotland were crowned they used a large stone for a seat. So when England and Scotland became one country, the people took the stone of Scotland and put it under the Coronation Chair of England, so that the king could sit on both seats while he was crowned king of both countries.

They are called “Beef-Eaters”

他们被叫做“食牛肉的人”

The oldest building in London, built long before the Great Fire, is one which from its name sounds like only part of a building. It is called the “Tower.” In the times long ago the Tower was a prison in which were put many famous people. Even princes and queens were put in this prison, and some of them were put to death. It is now a museum where are kept many interesting curiosities of those days—the steel armor that soldiers and their horses, and even their dogs, wore; the block and ax with which prisoners’ heads were cut off; and wonderful jewels which the kings wore in their crowns—huge diamonds and rubies as big as walnuts. The Queen’s crown is there on a white satin pillow. It is studded with jewels and a huge diamond called the “Koh-i-noor,” which means “mountain of light.” This stone was supposed to bring bad luck to any man who owned it, so a woman now owns it—the Queen. The guards of the Tower are called “Beef- Eaters” and should any one break into the cases in which are the jewels, the doors and gates of the Tower would automatically clang shut and the thief be caught a prisoner.

Did you ever collect stones or stamps, butterflies or coins? Well, grownups have collected treasures and curiosities from all over the World and brought them together in a wonderful museum, and the largest i. t. w. W. It is called the British Museum.

It is said that if all the streets in London were strung out in one line they would reach round the World. No one could ever know the names of all the London streets, not even the London policemen, who are called “Bobbies” and who are supposed to know everything. They may have to look for a street in a little book which they carry in an inside pocket. But every one knows the names of some of the streets—they are either so famous or so funny. There is Threadneedle Street and Cheapside. There is Pall Mall and Piccadilly, where are fine houses, hotels, clubs, and palaces. There is Fleet, Strand, Regent, and Bond Streets, which are shopping streets. There is Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, but there is no “circus” there. A circus is simply a big open space where streets cross, and which we should call a Square or a Circle.

【中文阅读】

英格兰是一个岛。

盎格鲁人曾经住在这个岛上——不，不是天使[1]，而是叫做盎格鲁的人。

因此这个岛叫盎格鲁之地（Angle-land）。

我们现在把它拼写成England（“盎格兰”）。

但是我们叫它“英格兰”（Ingland）。

然而岛上除了英格兰之外还有另外两个国家——威尔士和苏格兰；所以我们应该把整个岛叫做“大不列颠”。大不列颠岛旁边还有一个岛。那是爱尔兰。

轮船到达英国后不能随意靠岸让乘客登陆。只有某些地方才可以。有的海岸边水域可能太浅，轮船会搁浅翻船，有的海岸边岩石太多，还有的海岸可能太高周围都是悬崖。大部分到英国的人通常在西边的一个地方上岸，这个地方叫做利物浦——肝脏池塘[2]：多么奇特的名字！——或者在南安普顿上岸，从名字我们就能知道它在英国的南部；或者在伦敦上岸，伦敦位于英国的东部。如果他们在伦敦上岸，轮船就必须沿一条叫做泰晤士的河向上驶去，“泰晤士”的英语拼写是Thames。英国人有很多单词拼写是一套，发音又是另一套。泰晤士河正好流经伦敦，但大轮船最远只能开到伦敦桥。你有没有玩过“伦敦铁桥垮下来”的游戏？你知道吗？伦敦桥垮塌过好几次，但每次又重建起来；现在的伦敦桥，我想不会再垮塌了。

耶稣诞生的时候伦敦就已经是个城市了，但那时伦敦很小，又很遥远，因此耶稣从来就没有听说过这个地方。现在伦敦是世界上最大的城市。

纽约很高，伦敦很宽。纽约的楼房高耸入云，高达五十层、七十层，还有一百层的。伦敦的楼房大多数只有几层高，但是整个城市向各个方向不断扩展，扩展了1英里又1英里。到伦敦旅游的人主要乘坐公共汽车，公共汽车是那种车里和车顶都有座位的双层公共汽车，但他们也乘坐地铁在伦敦游玩。

伦敦是英国的首都。英国的国会大厦——这栋建筑——当然也在伦敦，位于泰晤士河岸，叫做“议会大厦”，意思就是“谈话大楼”。人们在那里不仅仅谈话，而且还制定英国的法律。英国由国王统治，但英国人派代表到议会去制定法律。由于我在华盛顿住了很多年，天天都能看到我们的国会大厦，我就以为所有的国会大厦都必须有圆屋顶，就像所有的牛都有角一样。因此当我看到英国的国会时真是大吃一惊，他们的议会大厦没有圆屋顶——只有一些方形的塔楼，其中一个塔楼上装着一个大时钟，里面还有一口巨大的钟叫做“大本钟”，它用于报时。

然而，在伦敦另有一栋大楼还真有和我们的国会大厦一样的圆屋顶。但那个楼是一个教堂，叫做圣保罗大教堂。实际上，据说华盛顿的国会大厦的圆屋顶是仿照圣保罗大教堂建的，因为在华盛顿有国会大厦之前很久，在有华盛顿这么个人之前很久，甚至在有美国这么个国家之前很久，圣保罗大教堂就建好了。伦敦曾经发生过一次大火——人们现在仍然称这次大火为“伦敦大火”，因为大火烧掉了大部分城市。那是大约三百年前的事了。后来有个叫雷恩的人——雷恩也是一种鸟的名字[3]——克里斯托弗 · 雷恩——重建起了大部分被烧毁的城市。他建造了很多美丽的教堂和别的建筑；因此人们说旧城被烧毁是一件幸运的事，因为这给了他们一个机会建造一个美丽的城市。圣保罗大教堂是雷恩建造的教堂之一。

在第二次世界大战期间，德国人投放的炸弹摧毁了伦敦成千上万栋楼房。在烧毁和炸掉的建筑物中，就有许多是克里斯托弗 · 雷恩所建造的教堂，因他建造的教堂很多，所以总有一些幸存下来了。伦敦人把德军可怕的轰炸叫做“闪电式空袭”。很多人遇难。这次空袭和“伦敦大火”一样，在以后的几百年里都将被人们记住，但没有人会说空袭对城市像伦敦大火那样有好处。空袭唯一的好处就是它让伦敦人表现出大无畏的精神。

有一个教堂不是雷恩建的，一个很古老的教堂，叫做威斯敏斯特教堂。威斯敏斯特教堂不仅是个教堂；它还是很多名人的墓地。里面安葬着英国历史上最著名的人物——国王和王后、伟大的作家、伟大的诗人、伟大的音乐家、伟大的士兵。在第一次世界大战之后，人们将一名在法国战场上牺牲但无人知道其姓名的士兵安葬在威斯敏斯特大教堂，以此纪念所有那些为了伟大事业而默默无闻牺牲的无名英雄。那个地方叫做无名战士之墓。

威斯敏斯特大教堂里有一把椅子，那是所有英国国王加冕时坐的椅子。人们把它叫做加冕椅。在加冕椅座位的下面有一块大石头。为什么有块大石头在椅子座位下呢？唔，是这样的，在几百年前，英格兰北边的国家苏格兰是独立于英格兰的。当苏格兰的国王加冕时，他们用一块大石头当做座位。因此当英格兰和苏格兰变成一个国家时，人们把苏格兰的石头带到英格兰放在英格兰加冕椅的下面，这样国王被加冕为两个国家的国王时就能坐在两个座位上了。

伦敦有座最古老的建筑物在伦敦大火发生之前很早就建起了，它的名字听起来像某个建筑物的一部分。它叫“伦敦塔”。很久以前，伦敦塔是座监狱，里面关押了很多著名的人士。甚至一些王子和王后也都曾先后被关押在里面，其中有些还被处以死刑。现在伦敦塔是个博物馆，收藏了很多过去的稀奇之物——士兵和他们的战马甚至狗穿的钢盔甲；砍掉囚犯头颅用的垫头木和斧头；国王的王冠上的稀世珠宝——硕大的钻石和胡桃般大的红宝石。女王的王冠就放在一个白色的缎子枕头上。上面镶有很多珠宝和一颗巨大的钻石，这颗钻石叫“科—依—诺尔钻石”，意思是“光之山”。这颗钻石被认为会给每个拥有它的男人带来厄运，所以现在它属于一个女人——女王。伦敦塔的看守被叫做“食牛肉的人”，一旦有人强行打开装珠宝的箱子，伦敦塔的大小门就会咣的一声自动合上，盗犯也就当场被捉，成为囚犯。

你收集过石头或者邮票、蝴蝶或者硬币吗？成年人把从世界各地搜集来的珍宝奇物收藏在一个非同寻常的博物馆里，它是世界上最大的博物馆，叫大英博物馆。

据说如果把伦敦所有的街道连成一条线就能绕世界一周。没有人能把伦敦所有街道的名称都记住，就是伦敦的警察也不能，伦敦的警察常被叫做“博比”[4]，人们认为他们无所不知。他们衣服内侧的口袋装了一本小册子，有的街道只得在小册子里查询才能找到。但是有些街道的名称是人人皆知的——这些街道要么很有名，要么很有趣。比如针线街和便宜街；还有铁圈球场大街和皮卡迪利大街，那里有很多精美的房屋、旅馆、俱乐部和宫殿。还有舰队街、海滨街、摄政街和邦得街，这些都是购物街。还有牛津广场和皮卡迪利广场，那里可没有什么“马戏团”哦[5]。他们的广场其实就是一处大的街道交叉口，我们一般把那叫做大转盘。

[1] 英语中“盎格鲁人”（Angles）与“天使”（Angels）拼写相似——译者注。

[2] 英语中“利物浦”（Liverpool）可分开为“liver”（肝脏）和“pool”（池塘）两个单词——译者注。

[3] 英语“Wren”（雷恩）意思是“鹪鹩”——译者注。

[4] 源自罗伯特 · 皮尔爵士的名字。他于19世纪创建了伦敦警察队伍，“博比”是“罗伯特”的昵称——译者注。

[5] “牛津广场”和“皮卡迪利广场”的英文名为“Oxford Circus”和“Piccadilly Circus”，其中“circus”一词在英语中有“马戏团”的意思——译者注。

26

The Land of the Angles (continued)

盎格鲁人的土地（续）

I ONCE asked an Englishman if he lived in London.

“Why does every American think that every Englishman lives in London?” he replied—and he sounded rather vexed. “There are other places in England besides London.

There is Chester and Manchester,

There is Norwich and Harwich,

There is Oxford and Guildford,

There is Birm ingham and Nottingham,

There is Cambridge and Tunbridge,

There is Northampton and Southampton,

There is Plymouth and Yarmouth and Weymouth…”

And as he gasped for breath I cried, “Please don’t tell me all the ’wiches and ’fords and’mouths in England.”

“Well,” said he, “there are over thirty million people in England who don’t live in London and I am one of them.”

But nearly every Englishman, no matter where he does live, goes to London some time in his life. You can get to London in a day from any place in England, for the island is so small and trains are so fast.

You would be arrested if you drove on the right side of the road

如果你靠马路右侧开车，就会被警察抓起来

Railroads were invented by an Englishman, and some of the fastest trains i. t. w. W. run in England. Their trains look different from ours. They seem much smaller and lighter and the cars are divided into rooms instead of being one long room like ours. Each room has half the seats facing forward and half facing backward, so that half of the people have to ride backward. Some of these rooms are labeled “lst class,” but most are “3rd class.” People pay more to ride in a lst class room than they do in a 3rd class room. The 1st class has cushioned seats and there is more space for each person. The 3rd class has wooden seats without cushions, and more people are put in a room. The English railroad trains run on the left hand side of the road. Most Americans are right-handed, and we say “Keep to the Right,” but most Englishmen are right-handed too, yet they say “Keep to the Left.” You would be arrested in England if you drove or rode on the right hand side as we do here.

Our country roads usually have fences alongside, but in England the country roads usually have hedges. Sometimes the hedges are like those that grew up round Sleeping Beauty’s castle, so thick and so high that you cannot see through them or over them, and the houses behind them are hidden, all except perhaps the roof. Sometimes the roofs are quite different from ours—made of piles of straw, which are called “thatch.” You would hardly think thatch roofs would keep the rain out, but they do; and you would think they would burn up easily, but they don’t. The houses themselves are seldom built of wood, because there is very little wood in England to build them of. Almost all of them are built of stone which comes out of the ground, or brick made out of the ground. In America there is a great deal of wood, but in England there is little wood, for there are very few forests, hardly any big ones, and they are usually kept like a park. The country is so old the trees have nearly all been cut down. The trees that are left are so valuable that people do not often cut them down to use them for building houses. In America a wood house is cheaper than a stone or brick house. In England a stone or brick house is cheaper than one made of wood.

Among the sights which people go to see in England are the churches and cathedrals. Few churches in America are a hundred years old. There are few churches in England that are not a hundred years old, and many of the cathedrals are more nearly a thousand years old. Most of the people in England are Episcopa-lians, so most of the churches in England are Episcopal. In fact, the Episcopal Church is called the Church of England.

Two of the greatest universities in the world are in England. They play each other football, but not baseball. Instead of baseball they play a game called cricket, and they have rowing matches. One of these universities is on River Thames where oxen used to wade across or “ford” the river, and so is called Ox-ford; the other university is by the River Cam where a bridge crosses, so this is called Cam-bridge.

Many of the World’s greatest writers whose stories you read and whose poetry you have learned lived in England, and the greatest English writer i. t. w. W. , William Shakspere, lived there at a place called Stratford-on- Avon.

But the chief business of England is “making things”—as the chief business of New England in America is “making things.” In New England there is neither coal nor iron to make the things with; both have to be brought from somewhere else; but in Old England there is a great deal of both coal and iron. Coal makes the fire to run the machinery and iron makes the things; so in England they make everything that can be made of iron, from huge engines to small penknives. At Sheffield they make a great quantity of table knives and silver-plated ware called “Sheffield.” Look at your own table knives and silver-plated ware and see if any of them have the label “Made in Sheffield” stamped on them.

索尔兹伯里大教堂

It’s the loveliest spire in England

它是英格兰最美丽的尖顶

In England they also make a great deal of cloth—cloth made of wool from the backs of sheep that are raised in England, and cloth made from cotton which is not grown in England but brought there all the way from the United States.

There are farms in England too, but not enough is raised on the farms to feed the English people one day a week. Most of the food has to be brought to them from other countries across the sea. The English eat a great deal of mutton and roast beef. “The Roast Beef of Old England” has been celebrated in song and story. One story is that a certain King of England thought steak from the loin of the beef was so good that he called it “Sir Loin,” as he would a knight or a lord, and that’s why we still call it sirloin steak to-day. It’s a good story but I’m afraid it isn’t a true story.

The King of England is king of many more people than just those who live in Great Britain. Englishmen explored and conquered and settled in far-off places all over the World in times gone by. England owned countries in every continent and at first the laws for all these countries were made in London. Now, however, many of these countries that belonged to England govern themselves and make their own laws. They have become independent countries but they have kept the King of England as their king. This big family of countries all over the World with the same king, the king of England, is called the British Commonwealth of Nations. The country of Canada, that I told you about earlier, is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

【中文阅读】

我曾经问过一个英国人是不是住在伦敦。

“为什么每个美国人都认为所有英国人都住在伦敦呢？”他却这样回答——语气有点生气，“除了伦敦，英国还有很多其他地方啊。

有切斯特和曼彻斯特，

有诺里奇和哈里奇，

有牛津和吉尔福德，

有伯明翰和诺丁汉，

有剑桥和坦布里奇，

有北安普顿和南安普顿，

有普利茅斯、雅茅斯和韦茅斯……”

他停下喘气的时候，我大叫：“请不要把英国所有那些‘里奇’、‘福德’和‘茅斯’都说出来了！”

“好吧，”他说，“英国有三千多万人都不住在伦敦，我就是其中之一。”

但是几乎每个英国人，不管他住在哪里，一生中总会到伦敦去住一段时间。无论从英国哪个地方出发，都可以在一天之内到达伦敦，因为整个岛屿很小，而火车速度又很快。

铁路是英国人发明的，世界上一些跑得最快的火车也在英国。他们的火车看起来和我们的不一样，似乎更小、更轻，他们的车厢被分成一个个隔间，而不像我们的车厢那样，没有任何隔断。每个隔间里设有面对面的座位，因此一半乘客是倒着前进的。有些隔间标着“头等”，但大多数是“三等”。头等车厢隔间的车票要比三等车厢隔间的贵。头等车厢隔间的座位上铺有软垫，每个人的空间也更大些。三等车厢隔间只有木制的座位，没有软垫，每个隔间里的乘客也更多些。英国的火车是靠铁路的左边行驶的。大部分美国人是惯用右手的，我们说“请靠右行”，但大部分英国人也是惯用右手的，可他们却说“请靠左行”。在英国，如果你像在美国一样靠右开车或骑车，就会被警察抓起来。

我们的乡村公路两旁通常设有栅栏，但在英国，乡村公路两旁通常是树篱。有些树篱就像《睡美人》里城堡外的树篱，长得又密又高，无法透过树篱看到后面的东西，也无法从上面望过去，后面的房子整个都被遮掩了，也许最多只能看到屋顶。有时屋顶也和我们的大不相同——是用禾秆摞起来的，叫做“茅草屋顶”。你很难想象茅草屋顶能防雨，但确实可以；你可能以为茅草屋顶很容易烧起来，但是并不会。这些房子本身很少是用木头造的，因为英国木材稀少，不够用来建房子。几乎所有的房屋都是用地下的石头建的，或者是用土做成的砖头建成的。美国有大量的木材，但英国的木材很少，因为英国只有很少的森林，几乎没有大森林，那些小森林通常像公园一样被保留下来。这个国家历史悠久，树木几乎都被砍掉了。剩下的树木于是变得非常宝贵，人们一般不舍得把树木砍倒用于盖房子。在美国，木头房子比石头或者砖头房子便宜。在英国，石头或者砖头房子比木头房子更便宜。

英国有很多值得一看的名胜风景，包括很多教堂和大教堂。美国很少有一百年历史的教堂。但英国几乎没有教堂是不超过一百年的，许多大教堂有一千多年的历史。大部分英国人都是圣公会教徒，所以英国大部分教堂都是圣公会教堂。实际上，英国圣公会被称作英国国教会。

世界上最著名的大学中有两所在英国。这两所大学之间常举行足球赛、板球赛和划船比赛，但没有棒球赛。其中一所大学位于泰晤士河河畔，那里过去是牛群涉水过河的地方，因此就叫“牛津大学”；另一所大学位于剑河河畔，剑河上有一座桥，因此就叫“剑桥大学”。

世界上许多最伟大的作家都生活在英国，你读过他们写的故事，学过他们写的诗歌。世界上最伟大的英国作家威廉 · 莎士比亚就曾住在英国埃文河畔的斯特拉特福小镇上。

但英国最主要的行业是“制造东西”——就像美国的新英格兰最主要的行业是“制造东西”一样。新英格兰既没有煤矿也没有铁矿；制造东西所需的煤和铁都必须从其他地方运过来；但是英国，即老英格兰，则有丰富的煤和铁矿资源。煤炭燃烧，可以开动机器，铁可以制成各种东西；因此在英国，人们生产各种各样铁制品，从巨大的发动机到很小的袖珍折刀。在谢菲尔德，人们生产大量的餐刀和镀银器皿，叫做“谢菲尔德银具”。看看你家里的餐刀和镀银器皿，看上面是否印有“谢菲尔德制造”的标记。

英国还生产大量布料——用英国产的羊毛做成的布，和用棉花做成的布，但棉花却不是英国产的，而是从美国一路运到英国来的。

英国也有农场，但农场种出的粮食还不够英国人一个星期里吃一天的。大部分粮食必须从大洋对岸的其他国家运来。英国人吃很多羊肉和烤牛肉。很多歌曲和故事都赞美过“老英格兰的烤牛肉”。有个故事说英国某个国王觉得用牛腰肉烤出的牛排味道最香，他就把牛腰肉称作“牛腰先生”，就像他称呼一位爵士或勋爵一样，所以现在我们仍然把上好的牛腰肉称作“腰肉先生”。[1]这个故事很好听，但恐怕不是真实的。

英国国王统治的范围远远超过大不列颠岛。在过去，英国人到世界各地去探险，征服了很多遥远的地方，把它们变成英国殖民地。在每一大洲都有英国的殖民地，最初所有这些国家的法律都是由在伦敦的英国人制定的。然而现在其中的许多国家自己管理自己，并制定自己的法律。他们已经成为独立的国家，但仍然把英国的国王当做自己的国王。这个遍布世界各地的有着同一个国王，即英国国王的大家族叫做“英联邦”。我前面介绍过加拿大这个国家，就是英联邦的一个成员国。

[1] 英文中“牛腰肉”（sirloin）是“先生”（sir）和“腰肉”（loin）两词合拼的——译者注。

27

The Englishman’s Neighbors

英格兰人的邻居

HERE is the longest name I know. It has fifty-eight letters. It is LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLLLANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH. It looks as if a child had been playing on a typewriter and had pounded out the letters at random. But it is a real name, the name of a town in Wales—a little country on the same island with England. It means “Church of St. Mary, in a hollow of white hazel, near a rapid whirlpool, and near St. Tysilios Church, which is near a red cave.” People who live there or direct letters there usually call this place simply “Llanfairpwll,” for short—and that’s long enough. I’d rather call it “Gogogoch”! Wales is now a part of England, but once upon a time it was not. The people in Wales spoke a different language—a difficult language with many long names hard to pronounce, with many “ll’s” and “w’s” and “y’s” all mixed together.

An English king at last conquered Wales, and in order to make the people he had conquered satisfied and happy he told them he would give them a ruler who was born in Wales and couldn’t even speak a word of English. The people in Wales were pleased at that, for they thought the king would give them one of their own countrymen to rule over them. But the king’s own son was born in Wales—of course, he was a baby and he couldn’t speak a word of English, nor of any other language either. So the king made him the ruler of Wales and the king called him the Prince of Wales. Ever since then the King of England’s first-born son, the one who will be king when his father dies, has been called the Prince of Wales. Nowadays few people of Wales can speak their own “mother-tongue,” for all the children learn English in the schools. Many people study other languages besides their own, but it isn’t necessary to know Welsh in order to travel in Wales, for every one speaks English even if he speaks Welsh too.

A little town in Wales has the longest name I know

威尔士的一个小镇有着我所知道的最长的名字

The game of golf first started in Scotland, the country north of England, on the same island, and some of the finest golf-courses i. t. w. W. are there. Scotland is the land of the Scots and it once had a separate king. The Scotch men used to wear—and some do to-day—shawls of bright-colored squares, and skirts instead of breeches, and stockings rolled down, leaving their knees bare even in the coldest weather—and they have a great deal of cold weather in Scotland. The Scotch families are called Clans and each Clan has a special design called a plaid in which its shawls and skirts are woven. A great many Scotch names and words are different from English, and yet similar. They call a baby a bairn, and boys and girls they call lads and lassies, and a pretty girl they call a bonnie lassie.

The Scots have a peculiar musical instrument called a bagpipe. It’s a bag made of a pig’s skin and it has a pipe to blow it up as you would a balloon, and there are several horns attached to the bag. The player puts the bag under his arm, keeps blowing it up to keep air in it, and at the same time squeezes out the air with his arms so that it blows the horns, making a peculiar squeaky music like a “dying pig.”

Some of the greatest ships in the World such as those that cross the ocean are made in Scotland, at a place called Glasgow on the River Clyde, on the west side. Glasgow is the second largest city on the island, but the capital of Scotland is on the other side, the east coast. It is called Edinburgh. The Presbyterian Church started in Scotland and most of the people in Scotland are Presbyterians, just as those in England are Episcopalians.

We call white potatoes “Irish” because they raise and eat so many potatoes in Ireland, the island to the west of Great Britain. In fact, Ireland is shaped something like an Irish potato. But they had no potatoes at all in Ireland and no one there had ever seen or heard of a potato before Columbus discovered America. Potatoes were born in South America and were brought over and raised in Ireland.

The island of Ireland is divided into two parts. The small northern part is called Northern Ireland and is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That means the King of England is king of Northern Ireland as well as of England, Scotland, and Wales.

The Irish are great story tellers and fairy-tale tellers, and they say that once upon a time long ago a giant in the north of Ireland built a magic bridge from Ireland all the way across to Scotland; and to prove the story true they show you thousands of stone posts from the shore out into the sea—all there is left of the bridge—that look as if they had been driven down into the sea by a pile driver. These stone posts running out into the sea are called the Giant’s Causeway, which means the Giant’s Bridge.

He makes a squeaky music that sounds like a“dying pig.”

他演奏出一种短促而尖厉的音乐声，听起来像“垂死的猪”在尖叫

Have you a handkerchief in your pocket? Is it made of linen or cotton? If it’s a “party” handkerchief it is probably made of linen and came from Ireland. Linen is made from the fiber of a plant called flax. Flax is much stronger and more silky than cotton, but it costs more. Flax grows especially well in the country around Belfast, which is the capital and chief city of Northern Ireland. In Belfast, they make more linen, and especially fine linen, than anywhere else i. t. w. W.—handkerchiefs, napkins, and table-cloths.

Most of the people of Northern Ireland are Presbyterians like the Scots or Episcopalians like the English, for their ancestors, many years ago, moved to Northern Ireland from Scotland.

The other part of Ireland, the south part, used to belong to England too. But the Irish people there never liked being ruled by the English and so they started a country of their own, with a city named Dublin for its capital. It is often said that the people in Dublin speak better English than even the people in England do. There is another language used in southern Ireland besides English. It is called Irish and is the language spoken long ago by the ancient Irish people before they spoke English. Some of the Irish coins and postage stamps have Irish words on them.

The country that the Irish formed is a republic with a president, and the King of England now is no longer their king, as kings of England used to be.

Farther south than Dublin is another city with the strange name of Cork, and at some distance another place called Kilkenny. The Irish are famous for their quick wit. Once a man named Kenny was drinking a bottle of ginger-ale, when he swallowed a piece of the cork and nearly choked to death. Some one said to him, “That’s not the way to Cork.” “No,” said Kenny, between coughs, “that’s the way to Kilkenny.”

People come from all over the World to kiss the Blarney Stone

世界各地的人都来亲吻布拉尼石

Near Cork is an old ruined castle called Blarney. There is a certain stone high up in the wall of this old castle, and the story goes that if you kiss this stone you will be able to say very pleasant and nice things to people. People go long distances to kiss this Blarney stone, although they can only do it by lying on their backs almost upside down. So when a person says something to us that is very flattering, we reply, “Oh, you must have kissed the Blarney stone.”

The Cross of St. George

圣乔治十字

The Cross of St. Patrick

圣帕特里克十字

The Cross of St. Andrew

使徒安德烈十字

Almost all the people of the Republic of Ireland are Roman Catholics, for their families have lived there since before the time of Christ, and missionaries from Rome taught them Christianity over a thousand years ago.

Ireland is often called the Emerald Isle because an emerald is a very beautiful green stone and Ireland has so much rain the country is very green. That’s why green is the national color. Their flag is green, white, and orange, and a kind of clover, called the shamrock, which grows there, is their national leaf.

You have all heard of St. Patrick, who was supposed to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. Well, the British flag has three crosses worked together like a monogram. One is the cross of St. George of England, the second is the cross of St. Andrew of Scotland, and the third is the cross of St. Patrick.

【中文阅读】

下面是我所知道的最长的名字，共有58个字母，译成汉语有28个字：兰韦尔普尔古因吉尔戈格里惠尔恩德罗布尔兰蒂西利奥戈戈戈赫。

这个名字看起来就像是一个孩子在玩打字机，胡乱地敲出了这些字。但这是一个真的名字，是威尔士一个小镇的名字——威尔士和英格兰位于同一个岛上，以前是独立的国家。小镇名字的意思是“位于长满白榛树山谷中的圣马利亚教堂，附近有一个飞速旋转的漩涡，还有一座靠近红色山洞的圣泰西里奥教堂”。住在小镇的人或者写信到那里的人通常把这个地方简称为“兰韦尔普”，用英文写有12个字母——那也够长的了。我倒愿意叫它“戈戈戈赫”！威尔士现在是英国的一部分，但很久以前并不是。威尔士人说的是另一种语言——一种很难的语言，有很多又长又难念的名词，还有很多字母如“ll’s”、“w’s”、“y’s”，混合在一起，让人困惑。

一位英国国王最终征服了威尔士，为了安抚被征服的人民，他告诉他们他将让一个出生在威尔士，且一句英语也不会说的人当他们的统治者。威尔士人听到后感到十分高兴，因为他们以为国王将让一个威尔士人来统治他们。但是国王自己的儿子在威尔士出生了——当然他是个婴儿，不会说一句英语，也不会说其他任何语言。就这样，国王让自己的儿子成为威尔士的统治者，称他“威尔士亲王”。从那以后，英国国王的长子，也就是王位继承人都被授予“威尔士亲王”这个称号。现在很少有威尔士人会说自己的“母语”，因为所有孩子在学校学的都是英语。很多人除了他们自己的语言之外还学习其他语言，但是到威尔士去旅行没必要懂得威尔士语，因为那里每个人都会说英语，即便他也会说威尔士语。

高尔夫球运动最早起源于苏格兰。苏格兰在英格兰北边，与英格兰同处一个岛，以前是一个独立的国家。苏格兰拥有世界上最好的一些高尔夫球场。苏格兰是苏格兰人的土地，曾经有自己的国王。苏格兰男子过去经常穿着——现在还有人这样穿——颜色鲜艳的方形披风，下身不穿裤子而穿裙子，袜子向下卷起，即使在最寒冷的天气膝盖也是裸露在外——而苏格兰经常有寒冷的天气。苏格兰的家族叫做宗族，各个宗族都穿特定的格子花呢图案的披风和裙子，这种格子花呢叫做彩格呢。苏格兰英语中的很多名称和单词和英语不同，但很相似。他们把“婴儿”称为“小孩”，把“男孩”、“女孩”称为“小伙子”、“小姑娘”。把“漂亮的女孩”称为“好看的姑娘”。

苏格兰人有一种很独特的乐器叫做风笛。风笛的主要部分是一个用猪皮做成的气囊，上面有一根管子，可以向气囊里吹气，让它鼓起来，就像你给气球吹气一样，有几个喇叭连接在气囊上。演奏者把气囊夹在胳膊下，不停地用嘴给它充气，同时用胳膊挤出空气，这样气流就吹响了喇叭，发出一种奇特的短促而尖厉的音乐声，就像“垂死的猪”在尖叫。

世界上一些最大的轮船，比如那些越洋轮船，是在苏格兰一个叫做格拉斯哥的地方造的，格拉斯哥位于克莱德河之滨，在苏格兰的西侧。格拉斯哥是岛上的第二大城市，但苏格兰的首府在苏格兰的另一侧，位于东海岸，叫做爱丁堡。长老会起源于苏格兰，苏格兰大部分人都是长老会教徒，就像英格兰大部分人都是圣公会教徒一样。

我们把白马铃薯叫做“爱尔兰人”，因为爱尔兰人种植很多马铃薯，也吃掉很多马铃薯，爱尔兰是位于大不列颠岛以西的一个岛屿。实际上，爱尔兰的形状看起来就像一个爱尔兰马铃薯。但在哥伦布发现美洲大陆以前，爱尔兰根本没有马铃薯，爱尔兰人也从来没有看过或听说过马铃薯。马铃薯原产于南美洲，后来被带到爱尔兰，当地人才开始种植马铃薯。

爱尔兰岛分为两部分。北部较小的那一部分叫做北爱尔兰，它是大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国的一部分。那意味着英国国王不仅管辖着英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士，也管辖着北爱尔兰。

爱尔兰人很会讲故事，也很会编童话，他们说很久以前，爱尔兰北部有个巨人，建造了一座有魔力的大桥，从爱尔兰一直通到苏格兰；为了证明故事是真实的，他们会指给你看从海岸一直延伸到大海里的数千根岩柱——大桥现在只剩下这些了——岩柱看起来就好像是打桩机打到海里去的。这些延伸到海里的岩柱被叫做“巨人堤道”，就是“巨人桥”的意思。

你口袋里有手帕吗？是亚麻的还是棉的呢？如果是块“宴会”手帕，很可能就是爱尔兰产的亚麻手帕。亚麻布是用一种叫做亚麻的植物的纤维做成的。亚麻比棉更结实、更柔软光洁，但也更贵。贝尔法斯特四周乡村的亚麻长得尤其好，贝尔法斯特是北爱尔兰的首府也是它最重要的城市。贝尔法斯特的亚麻布产量是世界上最高的，尤其是优质亚麻布——亚麻织品有手帕、餐巾和桌布。

北爱尔兰的大部分人像苏格兰人一样，是长老会教徒；或者像英格兰人一样，是圣公会教徒，因为他们的祖先是在很多年以前从苏格兰移居到了北爱尔兰的。

爱尔兰的另一部分，也就是南部，以前也属于英国。但是那里的爱尔兰人从来都不愿意接受英国人的统治，于是他们就成立了自己的国家，把一个叫做都柏林的城市定为首都。人们常说都柏林人说英语比英格兰人说得还纯正。除了英语之外在南爱尔兰，人们还说另一种语言，叫爱尔兰语，是古代爱尔兰人很久以前说的语言，那时，他们还不说英语。爱尔兰一些硬币和邮票上就印有爱尔兰语文字。

爱尔兰人成立的国家是共和国，国家元首是总统，英国国王统治爱尔兰的日子已一去不复返了。

从都柏林再往南有个城市，名字很奇怪，叫科克，不远处还有一个地方叫基尔肯尼。爱尔兰人以头脑机敏而出名。一次一个名叫肯尼的人正在喝一瓶姜味汽水，突然吞下了一片软木塞，几乎窒息而死。有人对他说，“那可不是去科克的路。”“是啊，”肯尼一边咳嗽一边说，“那是去基尔肯尼的路。”[1]

在科克附近有一座古老的城堡，只剩下断壁残垣，叫做布拉尼。在这个古老城堡的高墙上有这么一块石头，相传吻到这块石头后，即口齿伶俐，善于奉承。人们千里迢迢来到这里亲吻布拉尼石，尽管他们向后仰着，几乎头朝下才能吻到这块石头。因此当有人对我们说了奉承话的时候，我们会回答说：“哦，你肯定吻过布拉尼石。”因此，“布拉尼石”常常译为“巧言石”。

爱尔兰共和国几乎所有人都是天主教徒，因为他们的家族自从耶稣诞生之前就居住在那里，罗马来的传教士在一千多年以前就把基督教传给了他们。

爱尔兰常被叫做“绿宝石岛”，因为绿宝石是一种非常漂亮的绿色宝石，而爱尔兰雨水充沛，绿野遍地。这就是为什么绿色是爱尔兰的民族代表色。爱尔兰国旗是由绿色、白色和橙色组成的，那里生长的一种红花草，叫做三叶草，是爱尔兰的国花。

你们都听说过圣帕特里克，据说是他把蛇驱逐出爱尔兰。英国的国旗是由三个十字交织在一起的，就像交织字母。一个十字代表英格兰的主保圣人圣乔治，第二个代表苏格兰的主保圣人使徒安德烈，第三个代表爱尔兰的主保圣人圣帕特里克。

[1] 英语中“科克”（Cork）是“软木塞”的意思；英语中“基尔肯尼”（Kilkenny）的读音近似“杀死肯尼”——译者注。

28

Parlez-vous Français?

你讲法语吗？

I KNOW a boy who has never been to school and who has never had a French lesson in his life, but who can speak French fluently. He’s no brighter than you are, either. How do you explain that? It’s because he was born in France. He is a French boy. But there was a time when every one who was anybody, no matter in what country he was born, could speak French. The English kings and nobles and educated people all spoke French; they spoke English only to their servants, who were not supposed to know anything better.

France is only two dozen miles from England—twenty-four miles—but there is water between the two countries and no bridge. The water between England and France is called the English Channel. It might just as well have been called the French Channel, for it doesn’t belong to either England or France. The finest swimmers in the World, both men and women, have come from all over the World just to try to swim across the English Channel. But only a very few have been able to do it. A boat takes only about an hour to cross and an airplane takes even less time.

When you cross over to France you usually leave a place on the English side called Dover and land at a place on the French side called Calais, because this is the shortest distance. It’s short, but often so very rough that every one is seasick—then it seems very long. Some day perhaps a tunnel will be made underneath the English Channel. People usually speak of this as the Calais-Dover route, and there is an old catch question, “What is the shortest route from England to France?” One usually answers “Calais- Dover,” but that is wrong, for the shortest way to France is “Dover-Calais.” Some people cross a longer way, landing at other places on the French side. Havre is one of these places. Havre is at the mouth of a river spelled “Seine,” but called “Sane.”

When you land in France you see French flags flying; they are red, white, and blue, the same colors as our own flag, but their flags have only three stripes and the stripes are up and down, not from side to side, and the colors are backward—blue, white, red, instead of red, white, blue. The street signs and signs on the buildings are in a different language, the people are talking a different language, and of course the money is different too. It is called “francs.”

You have probably heard some one say, “You look like your father or mother,” but they don’t say that your father or mother looks like you. Well, up the River Seine is the capital and largest city of France, spelled “Paris,” but called “Paree” by the French people. Some call it the most beautiful city i. t. w. W.. People often say some other very beautiful city looks “like Paris,” but they never say Paris looks like any other city.

Here are some of the “sights” of Paris

这是巴黎的一些“名胜”

London is up a river too, but it is only a short way and quite large ships can get up to London. But Paris is a long distance up the Seine, and the river is too shallow and too narrow for large steamships to go up so far, although smaller boats can do so. The Seine runs straight through Paris, or rather I should say it runs crooked through Paris, for it curves as it passes through.

On a small island in the river is a great church—a cathedral, built to the Virgin Mary, whom the French call Notre Dame, which means Our Lady. Notre Dame was built many hundreds of years ago of stone and stained glass, with two towers in front and a thin spire in the center “like a finger pointing to heaven.” Long props made of stone hold up the roof. They are called flying buttresses, and if these props were taken away the roof would tumble down. Around on the edge of the roof of Notre Dame are perched strange animals made of stone. They are hideous creatures, different from any real animals you have ever seen or heard of, part bird, part beast, part devil. They are called “gargoyles,” and they were made as hideous as possible and put there on the edge of the roof because it was thought they would scare away evil spirits from the church.

There is another famous church in Paris built to that other Mary in the Bible known as Mary Magdalene. This church to Mary Magdalene is called simply “The Madeleine,” which is the French for Magdalene. It is a much newer church than Notre Dame but it is much older-looking, It is built like the old temples they used to build before Christ was born—before they had any churches. The Madeleine has stone columns all around the outside, but it has no windows, no towers, no flying buttresses, no spire, no dome.

Once upon a time France had kings and queens and princes and princesses, and along the Seine are many beautiful palaces in which they lived. Now, however, France has no more kings and queens or princes. It has a President as we have, for France is a republic as we are. So the old palaces are now used for museums or art galleries or libraries. One of the greatest of these palaces is the Louvre, and in the Louvre are many famous pictures and statues.

A photograph is never worth much—even though it may be a good likeness and the person famous. But a painting, even though not a good likeness and the person unknown, may be worth a fortune. One of the great pictures in the Louvre is the painting of a smiling woman called Mona Lisa. It is one of the most valuable paintings i. t. w. W. , but it was once upon a time stolen right off the wall in the Louvre where it was hanging. It was a foolish thing to steal, for the thief could not sell it nor even show it to any one. All the World looked for the picture, but it was a long time before it was found in another country and put back again in the Louvre, where it is once more.

Before Christ was born people believed there were many gods who were like good and bad fairies, and statues were made of them as they were supposed to look. Two of the greatest statues i. t. w. W. are in the Louvre. One is a marble figure of the goddess Venus. Venus was the goddess of Love, and this statue of her was made more than 2,000 years ago, but was found not many years ago on an island called Melos, so it is called the Venus of Melos. The other figure, like an angel with outspread wings, is called “Victory.” Victory too was made before Christ was born. Venus has lost her arms and Victory has lost her head, but, in spite of that, both figures are more beautiful than most real people who have both arms and head.

The Capitol of France has neither a dome like our Capitol nor towers like the English Capitol. There is, however, a building in Paris with a dome something like that of our Capitol and St. Paul’s in London, but it is neither a church nor a Capitol. It is the tomb of France’s two greatest soldiers. One was named Napoleon, and he lived at the same time as our George Washington. He was at one time emperor before France had presidents. His bones are in a large marble chest under this dome. The other soldier is General Foch—the leader of the armies in World War I.

The tallest tower in the World is in Paris near the banks of the Seine. It is called the Eiffel Tower and it is about a thousand feet high. It is made of iron and stands on four tall iron legs. You can look between its legs and see whole buildings as if the tower were a giant straddling them.

【中文阅读】

我认识一个小男孩，他从没有上过学，也从没有上过一堂法语课，却可以说一口流利的法语。他也并不比你聪明。你说是怎么回事呢？那是因为他出生在法国，是个法国男孩。但曾经有一段时期，凡是有身份的人，不管他出生在哪个国家，都会说法语。英国的国王、贵族和受过教育的人全都说法语；他们只有跟仆人说话时才说英语，因为仆人只配说英语。

法国距离英国只有24英里，但是中间隔着大海，海上没有桥。英国和法国之间的这片海域叫做英吉利海峡，其实叫做法兰西海峡也无妨，因为这个海峡既不属于英国，也不属于法国。世界上体格最强的游泳好手，男女都有，从世界各地来到这里，都试图游过英吉利海峡。但是成功者寥寥可数。坐船大约一个小时就可以渡过海峡，坐飞机时间就更短了。

从英国去法国，通常是从英国一个叫做多佛尔的地方出发，然后在法国一个叫做加来的地方上岸，因为这条路线最短。行程虽短，却经常波涛汹涌，一路颠簸，人人都晕船——于是行程也就显得漫长了。也许将来有一天英吉利海峡下面会挖通海底隧道。人们通常把这条路线叫做加来—多佛线，这里有一个古老的引人上当的问题：“从英国到法国最短的路线是什么？”人们通常会回答说“加来—多佛线”，但那就错了，因为“去”法国最短的路线应是“多佛—加来”。有人选择长一点的路线，在法国的其他地方上岸。阿弗尔就是其中之一。阿弗尔位于一条河的河口，它叫塞纳河，英语拼写为“Seine”。

到了法国，你就看到法国国旗在各处飘扬；法国国旗有红、白和蓝三种颜色，和美国国旗一样，但是他们的国旗只有三个简单的竖条并列在一起，三个竖条的颜色顺序从左到右是——蓝、白、红，而不是红、白、蓝。街道的标牌和建筑物的招牌上写着法语，不是英语，人们说着法语，也不是英语，当然用的钱也和我们不一样，叫做“法郎”。

你也许听人说过：“你长得像你爸爸（或妈妈）。”但他们不会说你爸爸或妈妈长得像你。塞纳河上游有法国的首都，也是法国最大的城市，拼写是“Paris”，但法国人叫它“巴黎”。有人说巴黎是世界上最美丽的城市。人们常说其他某个美丽的城市看起来“就像巴黎”，但他们从不说巴黎像其他城市。

伦敦也位于一条河的上游，但离海很近，大型船只都可以驶到伦敦。但巴黎在塞纳河上游很远的地方，河水很浅，河道狭窄，大轮船根本驶不到那么远的地方，不过小船倒可以。塞纳河直接流经巴黎，确切地说塞纳河是弯弯曲曲地流经巴黎，因为在这段流程，河道是弯曲的。

在塞纳河的一个小岛上有座大教堂，是为供奉圣母玛丽亚而建的，法国人称她“诺特拉戴姆”，意思是“我们的女士”。巴黎圣母院建于好几百年前，是用石头和彩色玻璃建造的，教堂前面有两个塔，教堂中央有一个细长的塔尖顶，就像“一根指向天空的手指”。长长的石柱支撑起屋顶。这些柱子叫做扶拱垛，如果柱子被拿走，屋顶就会倒塌。在巴黎圣母院屋顶边缘的四周“栖息”着奇怪的石头动物。它们都是些很丑陋的动物，跟你见过或听说过的任何普通动物都不一样，像鸟，像兽，又像魔鬼。这些东西叫做“怪兽状滴水嘴”，它们的样子被造得尽可能丑陋可怕，放在屋顶的边缘，因为据信它们能把恶鬼从教堂吓跑。

巴黎还有一个著名的教堂是为《圣经》里另外一个玛莉亚而建的，这个玛莉亚叫做“抹大拉的玛莉亚”。这个为抹大拉的玛莉亚而建的教堂被简称为“玛德琳教堂”，法语中用“玛德琳”表示“抹大拉”。这个教堂比巴黎圣母院建得晚，但看起来更古老。建筑风格像基督诞生以前人们建的那种寺庙——那时还没有教堂。玛德琳教堂四周有石柱，但是没有窗户，没有塔，没有扶拱垛，没有尖顶，也没有圆屋顶。

法国从前有国王、王后、王子和公主，塞纳河畔有很多美丽的宫殿供他们居住。然而法国现在再没有国王、王后或王子了。法国和美国一样有总统为国家元首，因为法国和美国一样是个共和国。因此以前那些宫殿现在成了博物馆、美术馆或者图书馆。这些宫殿中最大的一个是卢浮宫，里面收藏了很多著名的绘画和雕像。

一张照片从不会值很多钱——即使拍得很逼真，拍的人也是名人。但是，一幅画，即使画得不太像，画的人也不出名，却可能价值连城。卢浮宫著名绘画中有一幅是一个微笑的女人的肖像画，叫做蒙娜丽莎。它是世界上最值钱的绘画之一，但是这幅画曾经被人直接从卢浮宫的墙上取下，偷走了。偷这幅画真是愚蠢，因为窃贼不敢卖这幅画，甚至不敢展示给别人看。全世界都在寻找这幅画，但过了很长时间以后人们才在另外一个国家找到了这幅画，让它重新回到卢浮宫，卢浮宫再一次收藏了这幅画。

在基督诞生之前，人们相信世界上有很多神，这些神有的像善良的仙子，有的像邪恶的精灵，人们按照自己的想象，雕刻了很多神像。世界上两座最著名的雕像就存放在卢浮宫。一座是女神维纳斯的大理石雕像。维纳斯是爱神，她的这座雕像完成于两千多年前，但是不久前才在一个叫做米洛斯岛的地方被人发现，于是就叫做“米洛斯的维纳斯”。另一座雕像似一个张开翅膀的天使，叫做“胜利女神”。胜利女神像也完成于基督诞生前。维纳斯雕像失去了双臂，胜利女神雕像失去了头，但尽管如此，这两个雕像还是比大多数并不残缺的真人要美。

法国的国会大厦既没有像美国国会大厦那样的圆顶，也没有英国国会大厦那样的塔楼。然而巴黎有一个建筑物有圆顶，有点像美国国会大厦和伦敦圣保罗大教堂那样的圆顶，但它既不是教堂也不是国会大厦。它是法国两个最伟大士兵的陵墓。一位名叫拿破仑，他和美国的乔治 · 华盛顿生活在同一时期。在法国有总统之前他曾有一个时期是法国的皇帝。他的遗骸放在圆顶下一个很大的大理石箱子里。另一位士兵是福煦将军——他是第一次世界大战中军队的首领。

世界上最高的塔位于巴黎塞纳河畔，叫埃菲尔铁塔，大约有1000英尺高。整个塔都是铁造的，立在四只长长的铁腿上。你可以从它的腿之间望过去，看到整座建筑，就好像铁塔是个跨立在它们之上的巨人。

29

Parlez-vous Français? (continued)

你讲法语吗？（续）

THERE are two French words which I know you know, even if you don’ speak French. One is “Boulevard” and the other is “Avenue.” You have probably always thought they were English words, but they are both French words. Paris has many Boulevards and one of the finest Avenues in the World. This Avenue is lined with trees and runs directly toward the setting sun, and was thought beautiful enough to be a street in Paradise, so it was called the Champs-Elysées, which means “The Fields of Paradise.”

In London a square is called a Circus, but in Paris it is called a Place, as if spelled “Plass.” The most beautiful Place in Paris is the Place de la Concorde. In the center of this Place is a monument made of one single tall stone standing on end. It is called Cleopatra’s Needle. The Place de la Concorde is at one end of the Champs-Elysées and at the other end is a beautiful arch like a huge gateway across the avenue. It is called “L’Arc de Triomphe,” which it is easy to guess means The Arch of Triumph. No automobile nor carriage may pass through this Arch of Triumph, however, for underneath it in the pavement is the tomb of the French Unknown Soldier, and from this tomb a flame flickers day and night—a flame to be kept burning forever to the memory of the brave Frenchmen who died in the World Wars.

Underneath the Arch of Triumph is the tomb of the French Unknown Soldier

凯旋门下面是法国无名战士的陵墓

The French people love beautiful things. They love beautiful pictures and beautiful sculpture and beautiful buildings, and they know how to make them; so young men and women from our country and from other countries go to Paris to learn from the French how to make beautiful things—to become painters and sculptors and architects.

But the French love beauty in everyday things as well—in such everyday things as hats and clothes and cooking and manners. French hats and French clothes and French cooking and French manners are famous. Strange to say, the most famous French dressmakers are men. Also, strange to say, the most famous French cooks are men too. We call them “chefs.” Our dressmakers go to Paris to study and copy the fashion in clothes and the style in hats, and we get French chefs for our finest hotels and restaurants. Perhaps you have noticed that the bill of fare in many of our restaurants is printed in French. That is because our cooks copy not only the way the French cook but the names of the dishes they cook. The French can make delicious soup out of a piece of bread and a bone. In America soup is just soup, but in France soup is called potage or consommé instead of soup—it sounds better, and anything that sounds better you expect will taste better, too, and it usually does.

The most famous French cooks are men

最有名的法国厨师都是男的

When we eat our meals we almost always do so indoors, where we can see no one else and no one else can see us. But the French often eat outof- doors, on the sidewalk or overlooking the sidewalk, where they can see every one and every one can see them, and that’s where many of their most famous restaurants are placed.

The French drink a great deal of wine with their meals, much as we drink milk or coffee or tea, and there are many great farms in different parts of France where they raise grapes from which they make the wine. These farms are vineyards—called “vinyards.”

Cloth is made out of several things—linen, cotton, wool, and silk; linen, cotton, and wool are chiefly for use, but silk is chiefly for beauty. In Ireland cloth is made out of linen, in England cloth is made out of cotton and wool, but in France cloth is made out of silk for beauty’s sake. Linen and cotton are made from plants, wool is made from sheep, but silk is made from a little caterpillar. We call this caterpillar a silkworm, but he is not really a worm at all. A worm is born, lives, and dies always a worm, but a caterpillar turns into a beautiful moth or butterfly if let alone. Most caterpillars, however, we try to kill, for they eat the leaves of trees and other green things. But silkworms are so valuable that people feed them leaves and raise them as our farmers raise chickens. The silk caterpillar likes a special kind of leaf—the leaves of the mulberry-tree. So in the valley of a river in France called the Rhône the French people grow mulberry-trees—not for the mulberries but for the leaves, which they gather and feed to the silkworms.

After the silk caterpillar has eaten, he spins a fine thread of silk almost a quarter of a mile long out of his own body, as a spider spins a spider web out of his own body. The silk caterpillar winds himself up in this thread as he spins it round and round and round until he is completely covered up and looks in his cover of silk thread something like a peanut. Then he goes to sleep inside, and if he waked up he would come out a moth; but they don’t let him wake up. They boil him while he is asleep, till he is soft, and then they unwind the thread which he has wound round himself and use it to make silk cloth, silk stockings, silk ribbons, and all the silk things that women love. On the River Rhône is the greatest place in Europe for making silk. It is called Lyons.

The River Rhône flows south into a gulf called the Gulf of Lyons, which is a part of the Mediterranean Sea. The chief city on the Gulf of Lyons is Marseilles. It is the next largest city to Paris, but it was a city long before there was any Paris, for it was a port for ships that sailed the sea long, long ago, and it still is one of the great ports for ships. It is near, but not quite at, the mouth of the Rhône.

Another thing that women love is perfume—sweet perfume! The French are famous for making perfume from flowers and from sweet grasses and even from weeds. French perfume is very expensive, because it often takes a whole field of flowers to make but a very few bottles of perfume. A dollar for a thimbleful! It always seemed wonderful to me that both flowers and their perfume come out of the ground—that the beautiful colors and sweet perfume are both made from mud!

French farmers raise other things, of course, besides grapes and silkworms and flowers for perfume. They raise many of the same things that our own farmers raise. Most of the people in France are farmers, but they don’t live in farm-houses on their farms; they live in houses in a village and walk out and back to their farms, which often are a long way off.

Ladies go to Paris to buy hats and clothes

女士们到巴黎去购买帽子和服装

When I was five years old I was given a penny bank, “to save for my old age.” When, at the age of twelve, I had a hundred dollars, I felt like a millionaire. The French are very saving. Even a man who earns very little saves some of that little, so that even poor people have money saved up for their old age when they can no longer work.

A girl saves her money so that when she marries she will have enough to buy furniture and perhaps a house or even more. This is called her “dot.” Sometimes her father and mother give it to her, and sometimes the girl earns it herself; sometimes her “dot” is only a few hundred dollars, sometimes it is thousands of dollars, but seldom can a girl marry who hasn’t some “dot.” “And they lived happily ever afterward.”

【中文阅读】

即使你不会说法语，但我知道有两个法语单词你肯定是认识的。一个是“Boulevard”（林荫大道），另一个是“Avenue”（大街）。你也许一直认为它们是英语单词，但两个都是法语单词。巴黎有很多林荫大道，还有一个世界上最优美的大街。大街两旁树木林立，直通向太阳落山的方向，人们认为这条街美丽得足以成为天堂里的街道，于是就叫它“香榭丽舍大街”，意思就是“天堂里的田园”。

在伦敦，广场叫做“Circus”（环形广场），但在巴黎它叫做“Place”（广场），念作“普拉斯”。巴黎最美丽的广场是协和广场。广场中央有一座纪念碑，由一整块高高的石头竖立而成。它叫克娄巴特拉方尖碑。协和广场位于香榭丽舍大街的一端，另一端是一个美丽的拱门，像个横跨在大街之上的巨大出入口叫做“凯旋门”，顾名思义很容易就知道它的意思是“胜利之门”。然而任何汽车或马车都不能从这个凯旋门通过，因为凯旋门下的路面下是法国无名战士的陵墓，墓地上不分昼夜燃烧着一束火焰——要让这束火焰永远燃烧下去。以此纪念在世界大战中牺牲的英勇的法国士兵。

法国人喜欢美的东西。他们喜欢美的绘画、美的雕塑和美的建筑，他们在这方面非常在行。因此美国和其他国家的年轻人都来到巴黎向法国人学习艺术创作——成为画家、雕刻家和建筑师。

但是法国人的爱美之心也表现在日常生活的各个方面——比如帽子、服装、烹调和礼仪这些方面。法国人的帽子、法国人的服装、法国人烹饪的美食和法国人的风度都闻名于世。说来很怪，法国最有名的服装设计师都是男的。同样说来奇怪的是，法国最有名的厨师也都是男的。我们称他们“大厨”。我们的服装设计师到巴黎学习和仿效他们服装的式样和帽子的风格，我们最好的酒店和餐馆也请来法国大厨。也许你已经注意到我们很多餐馆的菜单上面印的都是法语。那是因为我们的厨师不但学会法国人烹饪的方法，还照搬了他们的菜名。法国人用一块面包和一根骨头就能做出美味的汤。在美国，汤就是汤，但在法国汤叫做“浓汤”或者“清炖肉汤”，这些名字比“汤”就好听些，凡是名字更好听的食物你就会期待它味道更好，多数情况下也确实如此。

我们就餐几乎总在室内，我们看不到别人，别人也看不到我们。但法国人经常在户外就餐，要么就在人行道上，要么在俯瞰人行道的地方，就餐的人能看到周围的人，周围的人也能看到他们，法国许多最著名的餐馆正是位于这样的地方。

法国人吃饭时喝很多葡萄酒，就像我们喝牛奶、咖啡或茶一样，在法国各地有很多种植葡萄的大农场，人们用葡萄酿造葡萄酒。这些农场叫做葡萄园。

布可以用好几种材料制成——亚麻、棉花、羊毛和蚕丝；亚麻、棉花和羊毛做的布比较实用，但蚕丝做的布主要适用于装饰。在爱尔兰布是用亚麻做的，在英国布是用棉花和羊毛做的，但在法国，为了美观的目的，布是用蚕丝做的。亚麻和棉花都从植物中获得，羊毛来自绵羊，但蚕丝取自一种小毛虫。我们把这种小毛虫叫做蚕，但它并不是真正的虫子。虫子从出生、长大到死始终是个虫子，但是如果让毛虫自然生长，它就会蜕变成一只美丽的飞蛾或者蝴蝶。然而，我们会设法把大多数的毛虫都消灭掉，因为它们吃树叶和其他绿色植物。但是蚕非常宝贵，人们喂树叶给它们吃，照料它们，就像农民养鸡一样。蚕幼虫喜欢一种特殊的树叶——桑树叶。法国一条河，叫罗讷河，在罗讷河山谷，法国人专门种植桑树——不是为了桑葚而是为了桑叶，他们用采摘来的桑叶养蚕。

当蚕幼虫吃了桑叶后，就像蜘蛛从自己体内吐出丝，织网一样，从自己的体内吐出一根很细的丝线，几乎有四分之一英里那么长。蚕幼虫一圈一圈又一圈吐丝的时候，也就把它自己缠绕在丝线里面，直到自己完全被裹住，形成的蚕茧看起来有点像个花生。然后它就在里面开始睡觉了，一觉醒过来，它就会变成一只蛾子，破茧而出；但人们不让它醒过来，在它还在熟睡的时候就把茧放到水里煮，直到变软，然后把缠绕在它身上的丝线解开，用蚕丝做成丝绸、丝袜、丝带以及所有女人喜欢的丝制品。在罗讷河上有一个欧洲最大的丝绸产地，叫做里昂。

罗讷河往南流入一个海湾，叫做里昂湾，它是地中海的一部分。里昂湾最重要的城市是马赛。马赛是仅次于巴黎的法国第二大的城市，但是历史比巴黎悠久，因为在很久很久以前它就是航海船只停泊的一个港口，现在仍然是港口之一。它靠近罗讷河河口，但并不正位于河口。

女人喜欢的另一个东西是香水——芬芳的香水！法国人以制造香水而闻名于世，他们用鲜花、香草、甚至野草制造香水。法国香水非常昂贵，因为生产很少几瓶香水往往就需要一整块田的鲜花。一美元只能买到一点点香水！在我看来，花和用花制出来的香水都来自于土地似乎太神奇了——美丽的颜色和芬芳的香水都产自于泥土！

当然，除了葡萄、蚕和用来制香水的鲜花之外，法国农民还种养其他东西。美国农民种植的很多东西，他们也同样种植。法国大部分人都是农民，但他们不住在农场的农舍里；他们住在乡村的房屋里，每天往返于家和农场之间，农场离家往往很远。

我5岁时得到一个储钱罐，用来“存钱养老”。到了12岁时，已经存了100美元，我觉得自己就像个百万富翁。法国人非常节俭，即使挣得很少，也要存起一部分，因此即使是穷人也把钱存入银行为将来老了不再能工作时做准备。

法国女孩也存钱，到结婚时，可用来买家具、房子甚至更多的东西。就是法国人所说的“嫁妆”。有时父母会给女儿一份嫁妆，有时是女孩自己挣钱置办；有时她的“嫁妆”只是几百美元，有时是几千，但很少有女孩子出嫁时是没有“嫁妆”的。带着这份嫁妆结婚，“从此以后过上了幸福的生活”。

30

The Land Below the Sea

低于海平面的国家

BELLS and Battle-fields don’t seem to go together, but north of France is a land of Bells and Battle-fields, called Belgium.

The bells are in the towers of churches, of town halls, and of other buildings. The bells in Belgium strike the hour, but they do more than that—they play a tune every hour or oftener. And on Sundays and holidays a bell-ringer, seated at a keyboard as at an organ, plays all sorts of hymns and tunes on the bells, so that every one in the town can enjoy the music without leaving his own home. The music is broadcast without a radio. Some of the bell sets have as many as fifty bells of different sizes and sounds—little bells that make high notes, and big bells, as big as a man, that make deep, low notes. The bells themselves don’t move; the bell clapper moves instead. The clappers are fastened by wire to keys like those of a piano or organ, and as the player touches the keys the clappers strike the side of the bell. When a bell concert is being given, all noises in the streets near-by are forbidden—no honking of horns nor loud shouting allowed—so that nothing will spoil the music for those who are listening.

Bells and Battle-fields! Belgium has been the battle-field of Europe—not battles fought by the Belgians themselves, but by other countries of Europe. In the two World Wars Belgium was a chief battle-ground of the French and German soldiers, and thousands of buildings were wrecked and an immense amount of damage done. A little over a hundred years ago a great French General named Napoleon, who I told you was buried in Paris, fought one of the greatest battles in history at a place in Belgium called Waterloo. Napoleon was beaten at Waterloo, and beaten so badly that we now use the word “Waterloo”to describe almost any big defeat, whether it is a defeat of an army in battle or of a team in a game. We say “A tennis champion has his Waterloo” or “A football team has its Waterloo.”

B. B. B. The capital of Belgium also begins with a “B.”It is Brussels. Perhaps you have heard of Brussels lace, Brussels carpets, or Brussels sprouts. They all come from Brussels.

Another city of Belgium beginning with a “B” is Bruges. Bruges has many streets of water with bridges crossing them, and boats instead of carts, although there are paved streets also. See how many things in Belgium begin with a “B:”

Belgium

Bells

Battle-fields

Brussels

Bruges

Bridges

Boats

Belgium is hilly on the side near France, but on the opposite side it is very low. On this low side it joins the land of the Dutch people, which is called Holland. Holland means “hollow land,” and it is so named because in many places it is even lower than the sea. Banks or walls called dikes had to be built to hold the water back, and windmills with big sprawling wings had to be built inside the dikes to pump the water out and keep it out. Water won’t run off the ground in Holland, for there is no low place for it to run to; it would have to run uphill. So it has to be pumped off.

The dikes that hold back the sea have to be very big and very strong to stand the pounding of the waves against them, for the slightest break or hole in the dike would soon burst open and the water would flood the country, and cover houses and drown the people, so they have men to watch the dikes all the time to mend any broken places as soon as they are made.

But long, long ago—about seven hundred years ago—there was a terrible storm, and the North Sea did break through and it drowned thousands upon thousands of people and the villages and houses in which they lived. Ships now sail and fish now swim where these drowned villages lie, and this inland water is called the South Sea, which in Dutch is the Zuyder Zee. But the Dutch people are planning to build dikes and shut off the North Sea once again and pump the water out. This will make dry land where the Zuyder Zee now is; so some day, not many years from now, there will be no Zuyder Zee, no South Sea, and where fish now swim and ships now sail will be houses and farms.

Windmills with big sprawling wings were built to pump the water off the land

建起伸着大翅膀的风车把水抽出去

Where we have roads and streets, in Holland they have canals. In the summer, boats sail on the canals and in the winter the people skate on them. Children skate to school and men skate to work. What fun!

In Holland they don’t have many horses; they use dogs to haul and bicycles to carry. Dogs eat less than horses, they don’t have to have stables, and bicycles don’t have to have garages. Dogs can be trained like horses to haul small carts, large enough to carry milk cans. Sometimes, however, when a cat comes along, there is trouble.

Though there are few horses in Holland, there are many cows. They have black and white cows called Holsteins. Holstein cows give a great deal of milk, more milk than any other kind of cow. The milk is used for making cheese, for which Holland is famous. The cheese is made in big pieces and then varnished so that it will keep a long time. They have markets in which nothing but cheese is sold—cheese markets.

Sometimes when a cat comes along there is trouble

有时候猫出现了，这就有麻烦了

The Dutch keep their houses very clean. The kitchen is usually the living-room and dining-room too. They scrub and scrub and scrub, outside as well as inside, even the sidewalks, and in some towns even the street. The cow sheds are often part of the house and are kept just as clean as the houses, with white curtains at the windows, and hooks to hold up the tails of the cows while they are being milked. People wear wooden shoes, because Holland is such a damp country, and they take them off and leave them at the door, as we do overshoes, before entering the house. In some places in Holland the men wear trousers as big as pillow-cases and the girls wear very big skirts and white bonnets. In the large cities, however, the people dress about the same as we do.

Dam means a dike, and as there are so many dikes in Holland there are many towns’ and cities’ names ending in “dam.” Amsterdam and Rotterdam are the two largest cities.

Amsterdam is a city of diamonds. The diamonds are not found in Holland but are brought there from Africa. When they are taken out of the diamond mines in Africa they don’t look like diamonds but look like pebbles, and you would never guess they could be made into anything beautiful. But at Amsterdam they are made into the beautiful sparkling jewels that we know. A diamond is the hardest thing in the World. You cannot cut it with a steel tool nor grind it on a grindstone; you cannot scratch it with sandpaper nor make a mark on it with a file. The only thing that will cut a diamond or scratch a diamond is another diamond. So in Amsterdam they chip one diamond with another diamond and polish it into a many sided jewel with diamond dust.

【中文阅读】

钟和战场似乎并不匹配，但是在法国北面有一个与钟和战场有不解之缘的国家，叫做比利时。

比利时教堂、市政厅和其他建筑物的塔楼上都有大钟。大钟整点敲响，但大钟不仅仅报时——每小时（有时不到一小时）还鸣奏一段曲子。到了星期天或者节假日，鸣钟人坐在一个键盘前，就像坐在一架风琴前那样，通过键盘，他在大钟上敲出各种乐曲，于是镇里每个人足不出户就能享受到美妙的音乐。音乐不是通过电台播出的。一组钟有时有多达五十个大小和声音都不同的钟——小钟发高音，大钟——有的高如一人，则发深沉的低音。钟本身并不动；动的是钟锤。钟锤由金属线条定在类似钢琴或风琴上的键上，当演奏者弹奏键盘的时候，钟锤就会敲击钟壁。当钟声音乐会举行时，附近街道禁止发出任何噪音——禁止汽车鸣喇叭，也不准人们大声喧哗——这样那些倾听音乐的人就不会受到任何干扰了。

钟和战场！比利时曾是欧洲的战场——不是比利时人自己打仗，而是其他欧洲国家打仗。两次世界大战期间，比利时是法军和德军交战的主战场，成千上万的建筑物毁于战火中，造成了重大的损害。在一百多年前，有位伟大的叫拿破仑的法国将军，就是我在前面说过的那位埋葬在巴黎的士兵，他在比利时一个叫滑铁卢的地方打了历史上最著名的战役之一。拿破仑在滑铁卢被击败了，败得很惨，所以我们现在用“滑铁卢”这个词来描写几乎任何一次惨败，不管那是军队在战争中的失败还是球队在比赛中的失败。我们说“一位网球冠军遭遇了他的滑铁卢”或者“一个足球队遭遇了它的滑铁卢”，都表示在比赛中惨败。

这里有B.B.B。除了比利时（Belgium）的，比利时首都的英语名字也是以“B”开头的。它是布鲁塞尔（Brussels）。也许你听说过布鲁塞尔花边、布鲁塞尔地毯或布鲁塞尔汤菜。这些东西都产自布鲁塞尔。

比利时还有一个以“B”开头的城市是布鲁日（Bruges）。布鲁日城里有很多水道，各种桥横跨其上，水道里走的是船而不是车，不过那里也有路面铺过的街道。看看比利时有多少东西是以“B”开头的吧：

Belgium（比利时）

Bells（钟）

Battle-fields（战场）

Brussels（布鲁塞尔）

Bruges（布鲁日）

Bridges（桥）

Boats（船）

比利时靠近法国的那一地区是丘陵地带，但相对的另一地区地势很低。这一地区与荷兰人的国家接壤，这个国家就叫荷兰。“荷兰”的意思是“凹地”，之所以这样命名是因为那里很多地方甚至低于海平面。人们不得不修建很多叫做堤坝的岸和墙挡住水，还必须在堤坝里建起伸着大翅膀的风车把水抽出去，不让水进来。在荷兰，水不会从地面流掉，因为那里根本没有低的地方可让水流去；水要流也只得往上流。所以人们只好把水抽掉。

用来挡住海水的堤坝必须又高又大，才能经受住海浪的击打，因为堤坝上最小的裂缝或裂口都会很快造成溃决，整个国家就会洪水泛滥，海水会淹没房屋，淹死人，因此他们有专人一直在看守堤坝，一有裂缝就马上修补。

但是很久很久以前——大约700年前——发生过一次特大风暴，北海海水决堤，成千上万的人被淹死，他们居住的村庄和房屋都被淹没。真是沧海桑田！那些被淹没的村庄上现在是轮船往来，鱼儿游动，这一块内陆水域叫做南海，按照荷兰语就是须德海。但是荷兰人正在计划建起堤坝，再次隔断北海，把海水抽出去。这将把现在须德海所在的地方变成陆地；所以有一天，也许不要过很多年，须德海将不复存在，南海也不复存在，在现在鱼儿游动、轮船往来的地方将建造起房屋和农田。

我们有马路和街道，而荷兰则有运河。夏天船儿在运河上行驶，冬天人们在运河上溜冰。孩子们溜着冰去上学，大人们溜着冰去上班。真好玩！

荷兰没有多少马；他们用狗拖运东西，用自行车搬运东西。狗比马吃得少，也不需要马厩，自行车不需要车库。狗可以像马一样经过训练来拉二轮运货车，这些运货车足以装得下一个个牛奶罐。然而，有时候猫出现了，这就有麻烦了。

荷兰几乎没有马，却有很多奶牛。他们的奶牛是黑白色的，叫做黑白花牛。黑白花牛产奶量很高，超过其他任何一种奶牛。牛奶可用来制作奶酪，荷兰的奶酪很有名。奶酪被做成一大块一大块的，然后涂上一层薄蜡，这样就能保存很长时间。他们还有专卖奶酪的市场——奶酪市场。

荷兰人把房子保持得特别干净。厨房通常也兼做客厅和餐厅。他们在屋内屋外一遍又一遍不厌其烦地擦洗，甚至包括人行道，有些镇上的人甚至把街道也擦洗干净。奶牛棚通常就是房子的一部分，也和房子一样打扫得很干净，窗户上挂着白色的窗帘，还有专门的挂钩，挤奶的时候用来挂奶牛尾巴。那里的人穿木头做的鞋子，因为荷兰非常潮湿，进屋前他们把木头鞋子脱在门口，就像我们进屋前脱掉罩靴一样。在荷兰一些地方，男人穿和枕套一样大的裤子，女孩穿很大的裙子，戴白色的帽子。然而，在大城市，人们的穿着和我们差不多。

在荷兰，“丹”的意思就是堤坝，由于荷兰有很多堤坝，很多城镇的名字都以“丹”结尾。阿姆斯特丹和鹿特丹是最大的两个城市。

阿姆斯特丹是个钻石之城。钻石并不产于荷兰，而是从非洲运来的。当它们从非洲钻石矿里刚开采出来时，看起来并不像钻石，而是像鹅卵石，你绝对想不到这些石头能被做成美丽的钻石。但是在阿姆斯特丹，这些矿石被制作成我们熟悉的闪闪发光的美丽宝石。钻石是世界上最硬的物质。钢做的工具切割不了它，砂轮也磨不动它；砂纸擦不动它，锉刀也不能在它上面留下任何痕迹。唯一能够切割或打磨钻石的东西就是另一块钻石。因此在阿姆斯特丹人们用一块钻石去凿另一块钻石，把它打磨成一块多面的宝石，刚成型的宝石浑身落满了钻石粉末。

A CHILD’S GEOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD

31

Castles in Spain

西班牙城堡

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY I used to plan the kind of home I would have when I grew up and had plenty of money. It was to have a gymnasium in the attic, a zoo for pets in the cellar, a museum of curiosities in the parlor, and a soda-water fountain in the dining-room. My mother used to say that was my Castle in Spain, and when I asked her what a Castle in Spain was, she said, “Any wonderful home—in your mind.”

But Spain is a real place, a real country, and there are real castles there even now.

The map of Europe is like a puzzle-picture. If you turn it around or look at it sideways you will see a little old woman with a big head, a hump-back, and a long leg kicking a football into the sea. The head is called Spain, and the cap that Spain is wearing on the front of her head is called Portugal. Where the head joins France there is a collar of mountains called the Pyrenees.

西班牙地图看起来像个老太太

At one time Spain not only looked like the head of Europe, she really was the head of Europe, for she owned a great part of Europe. Then there came a time just after Columbus discovered America when Spain was the head not only of Europe but of all the World. She then owned a great part of North America and all of South America, except Brazil. So she was the greatest country i. t. w. W.. Now, however, Spain doesn’t even own all of Spain. On the map Spain seems to be rubbing her nose against the nose of Africa, as some savages rub noses when they meet. This nose of Spain is called Gibraltar, but Gibraltar does not belong to Spain; it belongs to England.

Gibraltar looks like a nose on the map, but if you were in a boat out on the Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar would look like a long, high rock. Between it and Africa there is a narrow strip of water called the Strait of Gibraltar. It is only about thirteen miles across. It is about half as wide as the Strait of Dover, but powerful currents are pulling and pushing in and out from the Atlantic Ocean, and only recently has any one been able to swim across it. Inside of the Rock of Gibraltar, England has cut hallways and rooms and windows with long-distance guns in them, and placed her soldiers there to watch out over the water, and in time of war to fire on any one England does not want to pass through the water-gate.

Long years ago most all of the World that people knew was chiefly around the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Sailors at that time thought it dangerous to go outside this gate, the Strait of Gibraltar, into the great ocean, and—so the story goes—they set up Pillars on each side of the Strait like gate-posts. They called them the Pillars of Hercules, and they put up a sign to warn sailors that it was dangerous to go beyond these Pillars. The sign said “Non Plus Ultra,” which meant “Nothing More Beyond.” It was supposed that not far outside the Pillars of Her-cules the ocean came to an edge where you would tumble off down, down, down to bottomless nothing. Columbus did not believe any such foolishness; he was not afraid. He sailed from Spain, starting from a place outside the Pillars of Hercules called Palos. He sailed on and on and on until, as you know, he came to America.

Hidden in this rock is a huge fort with soldiers and big guns

岩石里面隐藏着一个堡垒，里面有拿着长枪的士兵

Just before Columbus sailed from Spain there were people living there called Moors, who had come across from Africa and made their home in Spain. The Moors were different from other people in Europe. They did not believe in Christ; they were not Christians. They believed in a man named Mohammed and a god whom they called Allah. The Moors built beautiful palaces, but they were different from Christian palaces. The Moorish princes lived in one of these palaces on a hill in the city of Granada, which is not far from Gibraltar. The palace in Granada was called the Alhambra.

She wears a tall comb in her hair and a veil over her head and shoulders

她在头发上别一把高高的梳子，面纱覆盖了头和肩

The Christians in Spain didn’t like the Moors, so they fought them, and at last the Christians drove the Moors out of Spain, drove them across the Strait of Gibraltar back into Africa whence they had come. The Spanish Queen received Columbus in the Alhambra and bade him good-by before he started out for the New World, but no one now lives there. It is still there on the hill at Granada and Spain keeps it as it once was, so that people may visit it. The walls, instead of being plastered or painted, are covered with colored tiles. The doorways, instead of being square, are shaped like a horseshoe, and its court-yards have splashing fountains and walled-in pools where the Moorish princesses used to bathe instead of in bathtubs.

A city in Spain called Seville has a great Cathedral, the second largest church in the World. It was built, of course, after the Moors had been driven out of Spain, as it is a Christian church, built where there once was a Moorish church. In this Cathedral are buried what are supposed to be the ashes of Columbus, though we think, as I told you before, that they are not his ashes at all, but the ashes of his son, and that his real ashes are in Haiti.

Moorish women used to wear veils over their faces. It was thought immodest for them to go out on the street with their faces uncovered. The Spanish women often wear veils too, but they wear them over their heads instead of hats, and some of the veils made of lace are very beautiful and very costly. They also wear very big and high combs in their hair and bright-colored silk shawls over their shoulders, and in summer carry beautiful fans, for it gets very warm in Seville—so warm that during the middle of the day no one goes out-of-doors who doesn’t have to. In our country young children take naps during the day, but in Spain grown-ups take naps too, after their midday meal, only they call a nap by the very pretty name “siesta.”

【中文阅读】

我小时候常常会想如果长大后我很有钱，我要住什么样子的房子呢？我的房屋阁楼上要有健身房，地下室要有宠物住的动物园，客厅里要有装满各种珍奇的博物馆，餐厅里要有一个苏打水喷泉。我妈妈常说那是我的“西班牙城堡”[1]，当我问她西班牙城堡是什么时，她说：“你幻想中的任何奇妙的房屋。”

但西班牙是个真实的地方，真实的国家，那里甚至现在还有真正的城堡。

欧洲地图就像一幅智力拼图。如果你把它转过来或者从侧面看过去，你会看到一个小老太太，头大大的，背驼驼的，一条长长的腿正把一个足球踢倒海里去。她的头叫做西班牙，西班牙头上戴的帽子叫做葡萄牙。头和法国相接的地方是一条山脉形成的衣领，叫做比利牛斯山脉。

西班牙不仅在地图上看起来像欧洲的头，而且曾经有一个时期真的是欧洲的首领，因为她拥有一大片欧洲的土地。就在哥伦布发现美洲之后一段时间，西班牙不仅是欧洲的首领，还是全世界的首领。西班牙当时拥有北美洲大部分土地和除巴西之外的所有南美洲土地。因此它是世界上最大的国家。然而现在西班牙甚至不拥有西班牙的全部领土。在地图上，西班牙看起来正在和非洲蹭鼻子，就像有些人在见面时会互相蹭蹭鼻子那样。西班牙的这个鼻子叫做直布罗陀，但直布罗陀不属于西班牙；它属于英国。

直布罗陀在地图上看起来像个鼻子，但是当你坐船在地中海行驶的时候，直布罗陀看起来就像一块又长又高的岩石。在它和非洲之间有一条狭窄的水域，叫做直布罗陀海峡。它大约只有13英里宽，宽度大约是多佛海峡的一半，但来自大西洋的强劲海流涌进涌出，波涛汹涌，直到最近才有人能游泳横渡海峡。在直布罗陀山里，英国人开凿了过道、房间和窗户，窗口放置了远程步枪，还安插士兵在那里监视海面，在战争时期任何人未经英国人同意而经过水闸，英国士兵就要开枪射击。

很多年以前，地中海地区的人认为地中海差不多就是整个世界。那时候的水手认为走出直布罗陀海峡这道大门进入大洋会很危险，而且——传闻如此——他们在海峡两岸竖起了柱子，就像门柱一样。他们把那叫做“赫拉克勒斯之墩”，他们还挂上告示牌警告水手如果越出石柱就很危险。告示牌上写到“Non Plus Ultra”，意思就是“禁止再往外行”。人们认为在赫拉克勒斯之墩之外不远就到了大海的边缘，人到这里会坠落下去，落啊落啊落入无底深渊。哥伦布根本不相信这种愚蠢的想法；他无所畏惧。他从西班牙出发，从赫拉克勒斯之墩外一个叫做帕洛斯的地方起航。他在海上一直航行，没有退缩，最后，如你所知，他到达了美洲。

就在哥伦布从西班牙出发前，摩尔人居住在西班牙，他们从对岸的非洲来到西班牙安家落户。摩尔人和欧洲的其他人不同。他们不信仰基督，不是基督徒。他们信奉一个叫做穆罕默德的人和一个叫做安拉的神。摩尔人建造了美丽的宫殿，但是和基督徒的宫殿不一样。摩尔王子就住在格拉纳达城山上其中一个宫殿里，离直布罗陀不远。格拉纳达的宫殿叫做爱尔汗布拉宫。

西班牙的基督徒不喜欢摩尔人，于是和他们交战，最终基督徒把摩尔人赶出了西班牙，赶过了直布罗陀海峡，赶回到他们的老家，非洲。西班牙王后在爱尔汗布拉宫接见了哥伦布，并在他起航去寻找新大陆之前为他送行，但现在没有人住在爱尔汗布拉宫。它仍然在格拉纳达的山上，西班牙人现在还维持着宫殿的原貌，让游客去参观。那里的墙壁不是粉刷或油漆的，而是贴着彩色的砖块。门不是方形的，而是马蹄形的，庭院里有水花飞溅的喷泉和有围墙的水池，过去摩尔公主就是在这里沐浴而不是在浴缸里。

西班牙有一个叫做塞维利亚的城市，那里有一个大教堂，是世界第二大教堂，当然是在摩尔人被赶出西班牙之后才建造的，因为这是一个基督教教堂，就建在原来是一个摩尔人教堂的地方。这个教堂里埋葬着据说是哥伦布的骨灰，不过，我们认为那根本不是哥伦布的骨灰，而是他儿子的骨灰。哥伦布的骨灰其实在海地，这些我在前面都介绍过。

过去摩尔妇女脸上常戴着面纱。如果她们不把脸遮住就外出上街，会被看做是有伤风化。西班牙女子现在也经常戴面纱，但是她们不是遮脸而是戴在头上当帽子用，有些装饰面纱非常漂亮，也很昂贵。她们还在头发上别一把又大又高的梳子，肩上批着色彩鲜艳的丝绸披巾，夏天会拿着漂亮的扇子，因为塞维利亚到夏天就很热了——非常热，所以中午人们尽量不到室外去。在我国小孩子白天要小睡一会，但在西班牙成年人吃过午饭后也打个盹，只是他们给打盹起了个好听的名字叫“午后小睡”。

[1] 英语中“castles in Spain”的字面意思是西班牙城堡，也有“空中楼阁”、“白日梦”的意思——译者注。

32

Castles in Spain (continued)

西班牙城堡（续）

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY I once climbed over a fence into a field, and before I knew it a bull was dashing toward me. I barely had time to scramble back over the fence again—a narrow escape; I didn’t see any fun in it at all. But in Spain on Sundays and holidays great crowds of people go to an outdoor theater called the bull-ring to see men fight bulls.

The people sit on seats outside a fence that shuts in a sandy field, and from that safe place they watch the bull-fights. A gate is opened into the field and a big, wild bull rushes in. A man called a bull-fighter goes to meet him with a red cloak in his hand and waves it in the face of the bull. This makes the bull mad, so with lowered horns he charges the red cloak. The bull-fighter jumps to one side just as the bull reaches him, and the angry bull, unable to turn quickly, passes him by. The bull-fighter teases the bull in this way again and again. After worrying him in various ways, as a cat plays with a mouse, the bull-fighter kills the bull with a thrust of a long sword. It seems to us very cruel, but in Spain they say we kill bulls for meat and do not give any one the fun of seeing them killed.

The bull-fighter teases the bull with a red cloak

斗牛士用一个红色斗篷逗弄公牛

A bull-fighter has to be very brave and very skilful, and his foot must not slip on the sandy ground, or he cannot dodge the bull and he will be killed. Almost every city and town in Spain has a bull-ring, as almost every city in the United States has a baseball field or a stadium, for bull-fighting is a national sport, as baseball or football is our national sport. Even boys play bull-fighting, one making believe he is the bull and the other the bull-fighter.

Every country seems to have certain games they like to play best. In Spain the girls do not jump rope, but they dance instead, and keep time by clicking little clappers on their fingers, often singing as they do so. The clappers look like big chestnuts and so are called castanets, which means chestnuts. They dance in twos and fours on the sidewalk, in the parks and squares, wherever our children would jump rope or play hop-scotch. Even in the great Cathedral of Seville the choir boys dance with castanets in front of the altar at certain church festivals. It is the only place in the World where any one dances in church.

Spanish houses have no front yard nor back yard nor side yard, but an inside yard with the rooms all around it. This inside yard is called a patio and it is often a living-room and dining-room for all who live in the house.

As you ride through Spain on a train you can see from the car window a very peculiar looking tree—different from any tree that grows in our country. This is the cork-tree. The little and big corks we use for bottle stoppers don’t grow on trees as cherries or peaches do. They are made from the bark of a kind of oak. The bark is cut off from the tree in large pieces and cut up into big and little corks. The tree then grows another coat of bark, but it takes nine years to grow a thick enough bark to be cut again. So every cork you use is nearly as old as you are, or older.

Instead of jumping rope they dance with castanets

她们不跳绳而是手持响板跳舞

Cork-trees live to a great age, much longer than people do. But another tree you see in Spain grows to be still older. It is the olive-tree, which bears a fruit that looks something like green cherries. It is said that olive-trees have been known to live and bear fruit for a thousand years! Olives have been used as food since Bible times and long before that, and yet many people have to learn to like them. Olives are also pressed to make olive oil, which we use in salad dressing, for no other kind of oil is quite as good for food. In Spain they often use it instead of butter, and it is also made into a very pure soap called Castile soap, which you may have used.

Winners of games long ago used to be crowned with a wreath made of olive leaves, and in time of war, messengers bringing peace used to carry an olive branch. In certain parts of Spain you can ride all day long on a train and see olive-trees, olive-trees, olive-trees, from morning to night, till you wonder what the people can do with so many. They use a great many olives themselves, for olives are often bread and butter, meat and vegetables to Spaniards, but they send millions of bottles of olives and olive oil all over the World to other countries that have none.

One of those cities that says it is like Paris is the capital of Spain. It is near the center of the country. It is called Madrid. Old Madrid had narrow streets and small houses. New Madrid has broad boulevards and big buildings, and if you did not hear the people speaking Spanish you might think you were in Paris or even in New York. In old Spain men used to say all the time “Manyana,” which means “to-morrow,” for they put off everything they could until to-morrow. New Spain says “Do it now.” When you are in Madrid and say you live in America, they think you mean South America, and that of course you speak Spanish, for to a Spaniard “America” means South America. A Spaniard who has made his fortune in South America comes “home to Madrid” to live on what he has made, for a house in Madrid is his “Castle in Spain.”

Sometimes two brothers have families and live in the same house, but usually they get along better if they live in separate houses. Portugal and Spain are like two brothers. They speak a language that is alike and the people are alike in other ways, but they have never been able to get along together, though they tried it once for a little while. In both countries they like dancing and music. In both countries they raise cork and olives. In both countries they like bull-fights—though in Portugal they do not kill the bull, and they wrap the points of his horns so that he can’t kill.

【中文阅读】

我小的时候有一次爬过篱笆，跑到一块田里。还没等我反应过来，就有一头公牛向我冲过来。我赶紧从篱笆上爬回去——差一点就被公牛顶到；我可没觉得那有什么好玩的。但在西班牙，每逢星期天和节假日，人们成群结队到一个叫做斗牛场的露天剧场去观看斗牛。

斗牛场中间有一块沙地，四周围着栅栏，人们坐在栅栏外的座位上，可以安全地观看斗牛表演。通向中间场地的门打开后一头高大凶猛的公牛就冲了进来。一个叫做斗牛士的人手拿红色斗篷出来迎接它，并在它的面前挥舞斗篷。这个动作激怒了公牛，于是它低下头，头角向着斗篷。斗牛士在公牛就要顶到他那一瞬间跳到一旁，愤怒的公牛不能迅速转身就从他的身边擦身而过。斗牛士就用这种方式一次又一次地逗弄公牛。像猫戏弄老鼠那样用各种方法折磨它之后，用一把长剑刺死公牛。在我们看来这似乎很残忍，但西班牙人说我们杀牛吃肉却不让人有看牛被杀的乐趣。

斗牛士必须非常的勇敢，也要很有技巧，他的脚在沙地上不能打滑，否则就无法躲开公牛，死在牛角下。西班牙几乎每个城镇都有斗牛场，就像美国几乎每个城市都有棒球场或体育场一样，因为斗牛是西班牙一项全民娱乐，就像棒球或橄榄球是美国的全民娱乐一样。甚至小男孩都玩斗牛游戏，一个假扮牛，另一个假扮斗牛士。

每个国家似乎都有某些人们最喜欢的运动。在西班牙，女孩们不跳绳，她们跳舞，一边跳舞一边按节拍用手指上的响板敲出“咔哒、咔哒”的声音，还常伴着唱歌。这种响板看起来就像大栗子，所以在西班牙语中“响板”（castanet）就是栗子的意思。她们两人一对或四人一组在人行道、公园里或广场上跳舞，凡是在我们的孩子跳绳或玩“跳房子”游戏的地方，她们都会去跳舞。甚至在塞维利亚大教堂，在某些宗教节日里唱诗班的男孩也会在圣坛前手持响板跳舞。那是世界上唯一能在教堂里跳舞的地方。

西班牙的房屋没有前院、没有后院，也没有侧院，但有个四周都是房间的内院。这个内院叫做“天井”，通常作为住房的客厅和餐厅。

当你乘火车在西班牙旅行时，你可能会看到车窗外有一种样子很奇特的树——和美国的任何一种树都不一样。这种树叫做栓皮槠。我们用作瓶塞的大大小小的软木塞子并不是像樱桃或桃子那样长在树上的，而是用栓皮槠这种橡树的树皮做的。大块的树皮从树上割下来切成大大小小的软木塞。剥过皮的树然后会长出新一层树皮，但是新一层树皮要长9年，才能达到足够的厚度，被再次剥下来。所以你用的每一个软木塞的年龄和你差不多大，有的也许比你还大。

栓皮槠树龄很长，比人的寿命要长得多。但在西班牙你还能看到一种树，树龄更长。那就是橄榄树，它的果实看起来有点像绿色的樱桃。据说有人见过树龄达一千年的橄榄树，而且还能结果实！早在《圣经》时代以前橄榄就被用作食物了，但很多人必须经过一段时间才能习惯它的味道。橄榄还可以经过压榨做成橄榄油，就是我们在沙拉调料中用的橄榄油，因为那是最佳的食用油。西班牙人常用橄榄油不用黄油，橄榄油还能用来生产一种非常纯正的肥皂，叫做“卡斯蒂利亚肥皂”，你也许就用过。

古代，比赛获胜者都给戴上橄榄枝做成的花环，在战争期间，带来和平消息的信使携带着一枝橄榄枝。在西班牙有些地方，你坐了一整天火车，从早到晚看到的都是橄榄树，橄榄树，橄榄树，这时你不禁会想人们有这么多的橄榄树能做什么呢。他们自己使用大量的橄榄，因为对西班牙人来说橄榄就意味着面包和黄油、肉和蔬菜，但他们还把无数瓶橄榄和橄榄油出口到世界各地不产橄榄的国家。

很多城市的居民都说自己的城市像巴黎，西班牙首都就是其中一个城市。它差不多位于这个国家的中心。叫做马德里。旧马德里的街道狭窄，房屋矮小。新马德里有宽敞的林荫大道和高大的楼房，如果不是听到有人说西班牙语的话，你也许会觉得自己是在巴黎或者甚至在纽约。在以前的西班牙，人们总是说“Manyana”，意思就是“明天吧”，因为他们总是把所有能拖的事情都拖到明天再说。现在西班牙人会说“现在就做”。如果在马德里你说自己住在美国，他们认为你是说南美洲[1]，并且认为你肯定会说西班牙语，因为对西班牙人来说，“美国”就意味着“南美洲”。一个在南美洲发了财的西班牙人衣锦还乡回到马德里，靠自己挣的那笔钱就生活在马德里了，因为马德里的房子才是他的“西班牙城堡”——他心目中最奇妙的房子。

有时两兄弟都成家后仍然住在同一个房屋里，但如果他们分开住的话通常会相处得更好。葡萄牙和西班牙就像两兄弟。他们说的语言很相似，在生活习惯等方面也很相似，但他们始终合不来，尽管偶尔他们也努力和好过。两个国家的人都喜欢舞蹈和音乐，都种植栓皮槠和橄榄树，都喜欢斗牛——不过在葡萄牙他们不杀死公牛，而是把牛的尖角包起来，这样斗牛士就不会丧命了。

[1] 英语“America”（美国）一词也可表示：“美洲”、“北美洲”、“南美洲”——译者注。

33

The Land in the Sky

天空之国

THE lowest country in Europe is Holland.

The highest country in Europe is the land of the Swiss people, called Switzerland.

There is hardly a hill in the whole of Holland. The country is as flat as a ball-field.

There is hardly a hill in the whole of Switzerland. The hills are all mountains—the highest mountains in western Europe—mountains so high that there is snow on their tops all the year round, in summer as well as winter. They are called the Alps.

But you can’t have a hole in a doughnut without the doughnut, and so you can’t have a mountain without a valley. The mountain tops in Switzerland are white, but the valleys are green, and cows with tinkling bells graze over the fields. The melting snow from the mountain tops makes beautiful waterfalls and babbling, tinkling brooks in the valleys.

Have you ever seen the snow on the roof of a house suddenly slide off and fall to the ground? That is called an avalanche. But suppose the roof of the house were a mile long like the side of a mountain, and suddenly the snow covering it slipped and fell into the valley beneath. That is an avalanche such as they have in Switzerland; and sometimes avalanches bury people and houses and even whole villages beneath.

Some long and wide valleys are filled with snow that has turned to ice. The ice filling these long valleys, like a river frozen to the bottom, is called a glacier, and the biggest of these glaciers have names just as rivers have.

Most rivers start from springs, but in Switzerland they usually start from the melting ice under a glacier. One of these big glaciers in Switzerland is called the Rhône Glacier. From under the end of the Rhône Glacier, as from an ice cave, flows a cold stream of melting ice. This stream grows larger and larger as it flows on down the valley and is joined by other streams of melted snow and ice. It is then called the Rhône River. It runs on until it reaches a big, broad valley, which it fills and forms a lake—the largest lake in Switzerland—called Lake Geneva.

The Rhône flows out again on the other side of Lake Geneva, down through France past Lyons and the mulberry-trees and silkworm farms and silk manufactories I told you about, and at last empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

Another river with the same name as the Rhône, all except one letter, is the Rhine. It, too, starts from underneath a glacier, but flows north between France and Germany, through Holland, and empties into the North Sea.

There are many people in the World who think it great sport to climb mountains—the higher the mountain and the more difficult and the more dangerous it is, the more they like to climb it. Now the highest mountain in the Alps is Mont Blanc, which means White Mountain. Part of it is in Switzerland, but the top is in France. Every summer many people climb Mont Blanc and other mountains in the Alps. These mountain-climbers use long poles with spikes on the ends to catch on the ice, and they wear heavy shoes with hobnails; and they take along guides who know the way to go and the way to climb, and they are tied together so that if one slips over a ledge the others may pull him back. But every summer people lose their lives in such mountain-climbing. They slip and fall and are dashed to their death or they are covered by an avalanche and buried alive under the falling pile of snow.

Men risk their lives climbing to the top

人们冒着生命危险爬到山顶

Probably the hardest of all Swiss mountains to climb is a mountain that looks like a huge horn. It is called the “Matterhorn.” Only the most skilled and the most daring ever attempt to climb it, though the only thing you can do after you have risked your life to reach the top is to admire the view. The reason most people climb it, however, is simply so they can say “I’ve done it.”

So many people go to Switzerland to see the giant snow-covered mountains, even if they do not climb them, that the Swiss people have built hotels wherever there is a fine view of a mountain, or a waterfall, or some other wonderful or beautiful sight. There are thousands of such hotels all through Switzerland, so that the chief business of the Swiss people seems to be hotel-keeping, and they keep them very well indeed. In fact, it is said they are the finest hotel-keepers in the World. They are famous for other things too: Swiss milk chocolate, which you have probably eaten; Swiss cheese with big holes in it, which you may have eaten; Swiss watches; Swiss wood-carving, and cuckoo-clocks and cowbells and music boxes.

Most countries have an army and a navy as we have police and a watch-dog to keep out burglars. But Switzerland is one of the few countries in the World that has no seashore. So she can’t have a navy, and she doesn’t have to have much of an army either, because the mountains are like great walls to keep out the enemy. Switzerland kept out of both World Wars, although every country around her was fighting.

Switzerland is completely surrounded by other countries. On one side is France, on the other Germany, and on another Italy. So the Swiss have no language of their own. On the side nearest Italy they speak Italian, on the side nearest Germany they speak German and on the side nearest France they speak French. In fact, many Swiss people speak all three languages.

To get into Switzerland or out of Switzerland, or from one part of Switzerland to another, you don’t have to climb the mountains. You can go over the low places between the high mountains, but many of these low places are a mile or more high, so they are not so very low at that. These low places are called passes. One of these passes is named the Simplon; and Napoleon, the French general I told you about, once crossed the Simplon Pass with his army into Italy. But you can now go under and through the mountains, for in many places long tunnels have been built.

One of the longest tunnels is St. Gothard. The men who built it started to dig from both sides of the mountain, and the two holes they dug exactly met in the middle. Some people said it was wonderful that two tunnels, each miles long, dug from opposite sides of a mountain, should meet. The men replied, “Not at all. It would have been wonderful if the tunnels hadn’t met. We are not moles digging blindly. We had figured it out beforehand and we knew where we were digging.”

But the longest tunnel in the World is under the Simplon Pass. At one end of this tunnel is Switzerland and at the other end is Italy. It is over twelve miles long. I have been under the pass riding in a train through this tunnel and I have been over the top of the pass carried by my own two legs. It takes sixteen minutes to go through the tunnel. It took me part of two days to climb over.

Near the top of the Simplon Pass is a house called a hospice where I once spent the night. It is a house where certain priests, called monks, live, and the reason the hospice was built there and the reason the monks live there is to provide a shelter for travelers and a place where they may rest safely in case they should be caught in a storm.

He won’t hurt you. He is a good friend

他不会伤害你。他是个好朋友

Few people now cross the pass, for it is so easy and so quick and so safe to go through the tunnel; but before the tunnel was made underneath there was no other way for people to go from Italy to Switzerland but over the top of the pass, and many people were traveling that way all the time. Snow-storms and blizzards were likely to happen almost any time, summer or winter, and often travelers would be lost and frozen to death. These good monks living in the hospice were the life-savers of the mountain pass. They had built little huts along the mountain pathway and they had large, strong, intelligent dogs called St. Bernards who were trained to go forth from the hospice when there was a storm, and search for travelers who might have been overcome, lost their way, or fallen in the snow. A dog would carry, strapped to his neck, a barrel filled with bread and wine. His sense of smell was so strong he could find a man even though buried in the snow, shake him back to his senses, and drag him to the nearest hut, to wait for food and drink until the storm should stop. The Simplon Hospice is one of the few places in the World where any one, whether he be rich man or poor man, saint or sinner, will be housed for the night, fed, and taken care of for nothing, without question and without charge.

Do you know the story of William Tell? Well, Switzerland has many lakes, but the most beautiful one is called the Lake of Light—Lake Lucerne—and on the shore of Lake Lucerne is a little church marking the spot where William Tell is supposed to have shot the apple off of his young son’s head.

【中文阅读】

欧洲地势最低的国家是荷兰。

欧洲地势最高的国家是瑞士。

荷兰几乎连一座小山都没有。整个国家就像球场一样平坦。

瑞士也是几乎连一座小山都没有。那里的山全都是高山——西欧最高的山脉——这些高山山顶一年四季白雪皑皑。这些山叫阿尔卑斯山脉。

但要做炸面圈就得有炸面圈中间的洞，因此有山的地方肯定就有山谷。瑞士山脉的山顶都是白色的，但山谷是绿色的，奶牛戴着叮当响的铃儿在田野里吃草。融化的雪水从山顶流下，形成了美丽的瀑布和潺潺的溪流。

你见过屋顶的积雪突然滑下来，整个掉到地面上吗？这样的现象叫雪崩。想象一下，如果屋顶有1英里长，像山坡一样，覆盖在上面的雪突然全部滑下来落到下面的山谷里。瑞士就会发生这样的雪崩；有时雪崩会把山谷里的人和房屋甚至整个村庄都埋进去。

有些又长又宽的山谷里满是已经冻成冰的积雪，就像一条河从河面到河床全部结成了冰，这些山谷里的冰叫做冰川，其中一些最大的冰川像河流一样也有名字。

大多数河流发源于泉水，而瑞士的河流通常源于冰川底部融化的冰水。瑞士最大的冰川之一叫“罗讷冰川”。就像从一个冰洞里流出水一样，从罗讷冰川的尽头的下面流出一股融化的冰水形成小溪。这条小溪顺着山谷向下流淌，其他冰雪融化的小溪与它汇合在一起形成一条越来越宽的河。这条河于是就叫做“罗讷河”。罗讷河不断向前流，最后流入一个又大又宽的山谷，河水注满山谷形成一个湖——瑞士最大的湖——叫做“日内瓦湖”。

罗讷河从日内瓦湖的另一侧又流出去，奔腾而下，穿过法国，流经里昂，我在前面说过里昂的丝绸业，罗讷河流过那些桑树林、养蚕农场和丝绸工厂，最后流入地中海。

还有一条河流的名字和罗讷河（Rhone）很像，除了一个字母不一样之外其余都一样，叫做莱茵河（Rhine）。它也是发源于冰川的底部，但是往北从法国和德国之间流过去，再穿过荷兰，最后流入北海。

世界上有很多人都认为爬山是一种很好的运动——山峰越高，越难攀登，越有危险，他们就越喜欢爬。现在阿尔卑斯山脉最高的山峰是勃朗峰，意思是白色的山。勃朗峰有一部分位于瑞士，但顶峰位于法国。每年夏天都有很多人去攀登勃朗峰和阿尔卑斯山脉的其他山峰。这些登山者使用一种末端带尖钉的可以抓住冰面的杆子，还穿着沉重的带平头钉的鞋子；他们还请熟悉路线的导游带路，他们用绳子拴在一起，这样如果有人滑下岩架其他人就可以把他拉回来。但是每年夏天都有人在登山时丧命。有人滑倒，跌落下去被摔死，有人遭遇雪崩被活埋在掉下来的雪堆里。

也许瑞士所有高山之中最难攀登的是一座看起来像个大尖角的山，叫做“马特洪恩山”。只有登山技术极为熟练又极富冒险精神的人才敢尝试去攀登这座山，尽管冒着生命危险爬到顶峰，也只不过欣赏一下那壮丽的风景。然而大多数人之所以去攀登这座山，只是为了最终能说“我做到了”。

很多人去瑞士并不是为了爬山，而是去观赏白雪皑皑的山峰。所以凡是有美丽风景的地方瑞士人都建造了宾馆，供游客观赏高山、瀑布或者其他奇妙的美景。瑞士各地有几千家这样的宾馆，因此瑞士人最重要的生意看来就是宾馆经营，他们也确实把宾馆经营得很好。甚至，有人说瑞士人是世界上最善于经营宾馆的老板。他们还有其他东西也很有名：瑞士牛奶巧克力，你大概吃过吧；瑞士奶酪，中间有个挺大的洞，你可能也吃过；还有瑞士手表、瑞士木雕、布谷鸟自鸣钟、牛颈铃和八音盒等产品。

大多数国家都有陆军或海军，就像我们会有警察和监察人员一样，防止窃贼闯入。但瑞士是世界上少数几个没有海岸线的国家之一，所以没有海军，其实也不需要有多少陆军，因为那里的高山就像巨大的城墙一样把敌人挡在外面。两次世界大战瑞士都没有卷入，尽管周围每个国家都在打仗。

瑞士被其他国家整个环绕起来。一边是法国，另一边是德国，还有一边是意大利。因此瑞士人没有自己的语言，和意大利交界的地方说意大利语，和德国交界的地方说德语，和法国交界的地方就说法语。甚至，很多瑞士人三种语言都会说。

进入瑞士或者从瑞士出来，或者从瑞士的一个地区到另一个地区去，并不用翻山越岭。你可以从高山之间低凹的地方越过，但是很多这些低凹的地方起码也不低于1英里，因此地势并不是很低。这些低凹的地方叫做山口。其中有一个山口叫做辛普朗山口；拿破仑，我介绍过的那个法国将军，曾经率领他的军队穿过辛普朗山口进入意大利。但现在你可以从高山下面或者中间穿过去，因为很多地方都建了长长的隧道。

最长的隧道中有一个圣哥大隧道。当时建隧道的工人分别从山的两旁同时挖掘，他们凿的两个隧道口正好在中间相会。有些人说两边的隧道都有数英里长，从山的相对的两旁分开挖，最后竟能会合在一起真是太神奇了。建隧道的工人说：“一点也不神奇。如果两边隧道没有会合那才神奇呢！我们又不是鼹鼠，盲目挖地道。我们预先已经计算好一切，我们知道往哪挖。”

但是世界上最长的隧道是在辛普朗山口下面。隧道的一头是瑞士，另一头是意大利，全长超过12英里。我曾经坐着火车在山口下的隧道里穿过，也曾徒步从山口上走过去。坐火车过隧道只需要16分钟。我自己翻越过去断断续续走了两天的时间。

在辛普朗山口顶部附近有一个房子，叫做旅客招待所，我在那住过一晚。这是某些叫做修道士的教士们住的地方，旅客招待所之所以建在那里，修道士之所以住在那里就是为了让旅客有一个避难所，万一遇到暴风雪他们可以进去避一避。

现在没有什么人从山口上过了，因为从隧道穿过去实在是方便、快捷、安全；但在隧道建成之前，要从意大利到瑞士去，除了从山口翻过，没有任何路可走，很多人经常要走这条道。无论夏天还是冬天，雪暴和暴风雨随时都有可能发生，经常会有旅客走失而被冻死。旅客招待所里的善良的修道士就是山口的救命者。他们沿山路旁建了一些小棚屋，还养了高大、强壮又聪明的狗，叫做圣伯纳犬，它们受过训练，遇到暴风雪时，它们就从旅客招待所出发去搜寻那些有可能晕倒、迷路或陷入雪中的旅客。圣伯纳犬的颈部系着一个小桶，里面装着面包和酒。它的嗅觉非常敏锐，即使是深埋在雪中的人它也能发现，把他摇醒，然后把他拖到最近的棚屋，在那等待食物和饮料，直到暴风雪停止。辛普朗山口的旅客招待所是世界上少数几个这样的地方之一：任何人，无论富人还是穷人，无论圣人还是罪人，都可以在那获得食宿，得到照料，没有任何盘问，也不要支付任何费用。

你知道威廉 · 退尔的故事吗？瑞士有很多湖，但是最美丽的一个湖叫做光之湖——卢塞恩湖——在卢塞恩湖岸边有座小教堂，这座教堂所在地据说是威廉 · 退尔从他小儿子头顶上射掉苹果的地方。[1]

[1] 威廉 · 退尔是14世纪时的瑞士民间英雄，他反抗统治瑞士的奥地利人。有一个有名的故事，说有一次奥地利总督命令退尔用弩弓将放在他儿子头顶上的一只苹果射下来。凭着自己高超的技巧，他成功地将苹果射落，后来还杀了总督。这一壮举鼓舞了瑞士人民为争取独立而斗争——译者注。

34

The Boot Top

靴子顶端

YOU’VE heard of the “old woman who lived in a shoe, who had so many children she didn’t know what to do.” Well, there is a boot in which live not only many children but millions of children and millions of men and women too. It is called Italy. It is the largest boot in the World and yet it is not large enough to hold all its children, so a great many of them have come over to America. The very first one of them to come over was Christopher Columbus, over four hundred years ago. He sailed from Spain, but he was born in Italy and lived in a city at the top of the boot, called Genoa. A part of his house is still standing in Genoa, and there is a statue of him just outside the railroad station. Ships still sail from Genoa to America, but they know where they are going now and Columbus didn’t.

On the other side of the boot top is another city. It is not near the water, nor by the water, nor on the water, but in the water. It is built on many little islands, and the streets are water with bridges across them. This city is called Venice. The water streets are called canals, and the main street, which would be a broad avenue if it were paved, is called the Grand Canal. Instead of automobiles or carriages, the people have to use boats. These boats are painted black and in the center there is a little cabin like a closed automobile. In the very front there is a queer thing with teeth which looks something like a big comb standing on end. These boats are called gondolas, and a man called a gondolier stands back of the little cabin and rows the gondola with one long oar. There are no “stop” and “go” signs at the canal crossings, so the gondoliers, as they come to a crossing, call out a funny “ooh,” and if there is a gondolier coming from the cross canal he calls back so that they will not run into each other. There are no honking horns, no rumbling wheels—Venice is almost silent except for singing and music.

Long ago where Venice now is there were many little islands but no city. Some people, called Veneti, were troubled by a wild tribe from the north. So they moved to these islands to get away from these annoying tribes. The Veneti cut posts made of cedar wood, which does not easily rot, and drove them down into the water, and on top of these posts they built their houses. The Veneti lived chiefly on fish, which they caught in large numbers, because all they had to do was to drop a line or net out of the front door. In fact, they caught so many fish they could not eat them all. So they gathered salt by drying seawater and salted the fish so that they would keep.

As the Veneti lived on the water they had to be good sailors, and they were. So they sailed to all corners of the Mediterranean Sea, selling their salt fish and selling salt too, and bringing back in payment silk gowns and rugs and jewels. Then people from all over Europe came to Venice to buy these things which the Veneti had brought back in exchange for this fish and salt, and Venice became the greatest shopping-place, the greatest market, in Europe. So the Venetians, as the Veneti came to be called, kept on getting richer and richer. They built beautiful palaces along the canals, and as they believed a certain saint had brought good luck to them and their city, they built a beautiful church to him. This saint was St. Mark. They found his bones and buried them in this church underneath the altar. St. Mark’s Church is different-looking from any of the churches I have told you about so far. It has five domes, one on each side and one big dome in the center, but these domes are not like those of St. Paul’s or the Capitol—they are shaped like an onion.

威尼斯圣马可

They built this church to St. Mark because they believed he brought them good luck

人们为圣马可建了这个教堂，因为他们认为是他给他们带来了好运

Pictures are usually painted with paint, and you have probably never seen colored pictures made without paint. But the inside of St. Mark’s, and the outside too, is covered with hundreds of pictures, not made with paint but out of bits of colored stone and gold and colored glass. Such pictures are called mosaics. They will not fade nor peel off, nor wash off, as painted pictures might do.

As you might have a dog for a pet, St. Mark was supposed to have had a lion for a companion, so on top of a column, out in front of his church, the Venetians put a bronze statue of a lion with wings. Over the door of the church there are four horses. They are not live horses, yet they have traveled far. They were made about the time of Christ, out of bronze, and they have been carried away by one ruler and another from one place to another, and finally back again to Venice.

The largest piece of land in Venice is a paved square in front of St. Mark’s. In this square there are flocks of pigeons, and they are so tame they will alight on your hand or shoulder to be fed. People have pictures taken of themselves with pigeons on their head and shoulders and at their feet. Once upon a time Venice was saved from an enemy by a message brought by a carrier-pigeon, and ever since then Venetians treat pigeons as sacred, and they would arrest and punish any one who harmed a pigeon. Did you know that a pigeon discovered America? Yes, that’s a fact, for in Italian “Columbus” means “pigeon.” So his real name is Christopher Pigeon.

Venice is now only a city, but it used to be like a little country all by itself. It made its own money and it had its own ruler, who was called a Doge (dozhe), which means Duke. A Doge ruled like a president and lived in a palace like a king, and punished people who had done wrong, like a judge. Just across the water street from the Doge’s palace was the prison, and connecting his palace with the prison was a covered bridge. When a man was sent to prison by the Doge he crossed over this bridge, sighing and groaning, so it came to be called the “Bridge of Sighs.”

Theaters are sometimes named “The Rialto,” but The Rialto is not a theater. It is a bridge in Venice over the Grand Canal. It has shops along its sides. Venice was the shopping-place of Europe, and the Rialto was the department store of Venice, where every kind of thing was sold. There is a play written by William Shakspere, the English author, called “The Merchant of Venice.” The story is about a man who had a shop on the Rialto.

The Venetians made their living in the first place out of two commonplace things right at hand—fish and salt. That was the start of their fortune. There was also a great deal of another commonplace thing right at hand too—this was sand. Sand seems to have very little value, but the Venetians found out that they could make glass out of sand by melting it in a furnace with something else. They found out too that they could blow this melted glass as one blows soap-bubbles, and by blowing the glass in this way into different shapes they made wonderfully beautiful bottles, vases, beads, and drinking- glasses. The glass-blowers became as famous as any artist who could make beautiful paintings or beautiful music, and the glass-blowers made fortunes besides, for people everywhere sought their work and paid high prices for it. They were the most important people in Venice. A specially fine glass-blower was as important as the Doge himself—one glass-blower was made a Doge—and some of their daughters even married princes.

Feeding The Pigeons（喂鸽子）

Venice is now no longer a country by itself. It is now only one city in Italy, but people go from all over the World to see St. Mark’s and the Doge’s palace, to bathe at its wonderful beach nearby called the Lido, to ride in gondolas on its canals, and listen to musicians who on warm moonlight nights sing and play on stringed instruments. Venice is one of the places in the World where every girl thinks she would like to spend her honeymoon when she is married.

An American girl once sent a postal card home: “Here I am in Venice. It is wonderfully beautiful—the golden palaces, the gorgeous sunsets, the enchanting music. I am sitting in a gondola on the Grand Canal and drinking it all in!” We speak of a person “thirsting” for knowledge or beauty, but one would have to be very thirsty to drink in the Grand Canal.

The “Boot” lies in the Mediterranean Sea, but the part of the sea that borders Venice is called The Adriatic. Venice is so beautiful it is known as the “Queen of the Adriatic.” Fame and fortune made from fish and salt and ships and sand!

【中文阅读】

你听说过这样一首童谣吧，“有位妇人住在鞋子里，孩子太多了，不知怎么办”。告诉你，还真有这样一只靴子，那里不仅住着很多孩子，而且住着无数大人和小孩。这只靴子叫意大利，是世界上最大的靴子，然而还是装不下它所有的孩子，所以他们当中很多人就来到了美洲。他们中最先过来的是克里斯托弗 · 哥伦布，那是四百多年前的事。他从西班牙起航，但他生于意大利，住在靴子顶部一个叫做热那亚的城市。他的部分故居还在热那亚，现在依然完好。在热那亚火车站外面还竖立着他的雕像。现在仍然有轮船从热那亚航行到美洲大陆，这些轮船都有确定的航线，而哥伦布当时却不知道自己航行的前方是何处。

在靴子顶部的另一侧还有一个城市。它不在水的附近，不在水边，不在水上，而是在水里。整个城市建在很多小岛上，它的街道就是水道，有很多小桥横跨在上面。这个城市叫做“威尼斯”。这些水道叫做运河，其中最大的水道叫做“大运河”，这条水道如果铺成路面，就会是条宽敞的林荫大道。人们出行不是开汽车或坐马车，而是靠坐船。这些船被漆成黑色，中间有个小船舱，像封闭的小汽车。船头有个有着许多齿的奇怪东西，看起来就像个大梳子竖在那里。这种船叫做“凤尾船”，凤尾船船夫站在小船舱后面，用一支长长的船桨划动船。在运河交叉点没有“停”或“行”的交通标志，所以当船到达一个交叉点时，船夫就会“嗬”地喊一声，喊声挺滑稽的。如果此时有船夫从横贯的运河过来，他也会“嗬”地回应一声。这样他们的船就不会相撞了。那里没有嘀嘀的喇叭声，也没有隆隆的车轮声——威尼斯除了歌声和音乐之外几乎是宁静无声的。

很久以前，在现在威尼斯的地方有很多小岛，但没有城市。一个叫做威尼西亚的民族，受到北方一个野蛮部落的不断侵扰，于是来到这些小岛上，避开这些讨厌的部落。威尼西亚人把不易腐烂的雪松木削成木桩，把木桩敲进水底，然后在木桩上建起房屋。威尼西亚人的主食是鱼，他们能捕到大量的鱼，因为他们只要从房屋前门向水中丢下一根钓鱼线或者撒下一张渔网，就能逮住鱼。甚至，他们捕的鱼多得吃不完。他们就蒸发海水获得盐，用盐腌鱼，鱼就能保存下去了。

由于威尼西亚人住在水上，他们就必须擅长海上航行，实际上也确实如此。他们航行到地中海的每个角落，把咸鱼和盐卖掉，换回丝绸外袍、小毛毯和珠宝。然后欧洲各地的人都到威尼斯购买威尼西亚人用鱼和盐换来的这些好东西，威尼斯因此就发展为欧洲最大的商场和最大的市场。威尼西亚人也被称为威尼斯人了，他们变得越来越富有。他们在运河沿岸建造了一些美丽的宫殿。威尼斯人认为有个圣人给他们和他们的城市带来了好运气，于是就建了一个教堂纪念他。这位圣人叫圣马可。他们找到了他的遗骨，并把遗骨埋在这个教堂里的祭坛下。圣马可教堂的外观和我以前介绍过的任何一个教堂都不一样。它有五座圆顶，四边各有一座，中间是一座大圆顶，但是这些圆顶和圣保罗大教堂或国会大厦的圆顶不一样——它们的形状像洋葱头。

画通常是用颜料画的，你也许从未见过不是用颜料画的彩色画。但是在圣马可教堂里面和外面布满了许许多多画，都不是用颜料画的，而是用彩色石头、黄金和彩色玻璃一小片一小片镶嵌而成的。这种画叫做“马赛克”。不会像颜料画那样褪色或脱落，也不会被水洗掉。

就像你可能会养条小狗做宠物那样，据推断圣马可也养了个狮子做伴，于是在圣马可教堂前的圆柱上威尼斯人放了一头长翅膀的狮子青铜雕像。在教堂门的上方有四匹马。它们不是活马，但却走过了很远的路。这四匹马大约是在耶稣在世时用青铜制作的，被一个又一个统治者从一个地方带到另一个地方，最终又回到了威尼斯。

威尼斯最大的一块空地是圣马可教堂前一个铺了砖石的广场。广场上有成群的鸽子，它们非常温顺，总是飞落到你的手上或肩上等你喂食。人们把鸽子在他们头上、肩上和脚边的情景拍摄下来。很久以前，一只信鸽送来了重要的情报，才使威尼斯免受敌人的袭击，保全下来，从此以后威尼斯人把鸽子奉为神圣之物，任何人伤害鸽子，都会被拘捕并受到惩罚。你知道“一只鸽子发现了美洲”这一说法吗？是的，那是真的，因为在意大利语中，“哥伦布”就是“鸽子”的意思。所以他真正的名字是克里斯托弗 · 鸽子。

威尼斯现在只是一个城市，但过去就像一个独立的小国家，自己造货币，也有自己的统治者，叫做总督，就是君主的意思。总督像总统一样统治国家，像国王一样住在宫殿里，像法官一样惩罚做坏事的人。总督府的水道对面就是监狱，连接总督府和监狱的是一座有篷的桥。被总督判刑送到监狱去的犯人跨过这座桥，总是一边叹息一边呻吟，因此这座桥后来就被叫做“叹息桥”。

城市的剧院区有时被叫做“里阿尔托”，但“里阿尔托”并不是剧院，而是威尼斯大运河上的一座桥，两边有商店。如果说威尼斯是欧洲的商场，那么里阿尔托则是威尼斯的百货商店，里面有各种各样的商品。英国作家莎士比亚写过一部戏剧叫做《威尼斯商人》，故事讲的就是一个在里阿尔托开店的人。

威尼斯人最初用身边两样很普通的东西谋生——鱼和盐，从此开始发迹。他们周围还有一样很普通的东西——那就是大量的沙子。沙子似乎很不值钱，但威尼斯人发现把沙子和另一种东西一起放到火炉里熔化就能制成玻璃。他们还发现可以像吹肥皂泡那样去吹熔化的玻璃。把玻璃吹成各种不同的形状，他们就制造出非常美丽的瓶子、花瓶、珠子和酒杯。吹玻璃工匠变得和那些能画出美丽的画或演奏出美妙音乐的艺术家们一样，成了名人，而且还发了财，因为各地的人都寻求他们的作品并出高价购买。他们是威尼斯最重要的人。一位出类拔萃的吹玻璃工匠和总督本人一样重要——有位吹玻璃工匠还当过总督——有些工匠的女儿甚至嫁给了王子。

威尼斯现在不再是一个独立的国家，只是意大利的一个城市，但世界各地的人都去参观圣马可大教堂和总督的宫殿，到附近一个风光美丽叫做“丽都”的海滩浴场去享受一下，乘坐凤尾船在运河上游玩，在月色溶溶、暖洋洋的夜晚聆听音乐家一边唱歌一边弹琴。威尼斯是世界上每个女孩希望将来能去度蜜月的地方之一。

一个美国女孩曾经给家里寄了一张明信片，上面写道：“我现在到了威尼斯。这里太美了——金色的宫殿、绚丽的落日、迷人的音乐。我正坐在大运河上的凤尾船上，陶醉于这里的一切！”我们常说一个人“渴望”获得知识或者美丽，但是说一个人非常想陶醉于大运河，也只能用“渴望”一词。

“靴子”位于地中海，但威尼斯周围那部分海叫做亚得里亚海。威尼斯非常美丽，被称为“亚得里亚海女王”。她的名声和财富来源于鱼、盐、船和沙子！

35

The Gates of Paradise and the Dome of Heaven

天堂之门和天国的穹顶

Down the length of Italy like the back of a sea monster is a ridge of mountains called the Apennines. To get from one side of Italy to the other side you have to go over, under, or through these Apennine Mountains, and trains do all three; over, under, through, winding in and out of one tunnel after another. There are forty-five tunnels in going just from Venice to a city across the Apennines called Florence.

Florence is a girl’s name meaning “flowering,” but Florence is also the name of this city. As the train comes into Florence it curves around the city and you see above the housetops, near the center of the city, a large dome that looks like the hub of a wheel about which the train is turning. Next to the dome is a big, square tower. Both the tower and the dome were built before Columbus was born. The dome looks like the dome of St. Paul’s in London, but, as a matter of fact, this dome is not like St. Paul’s. The dome of St. Paul’s is like it, and so is the dome of the Capitol in Washington like it, and so are all the other domes of that kind in the World like it, for this dome in Florence was the first one of that kind ever built and all others are copies.

Little domes and flat domes had been built before, but when the people of Florence were building a cathedral they wanted a different kind of dome on it, a dome that would be bigger and better than any other dome i. t. w. W. They wanted a dome so big that no one knew how to build it. Now a dome is built out of pieces of stone, and the stones have to cover a space beneath without falling, just like a bridge or an arch. No cement is strong enough to stick stones together so that they will not fall when placed across an open space, but if the stones can be held up by some wooden framework until every stone is in place, the wooden framework underneath can then be taken away and the stones will not fall, for all the stones push downward at the same time, and as all push downward together they get wedged in so tight that none can fall through. It is like a jam of people all trying at once to get through a door: they get so wedged in that none can go through.

But the dome on the Cathedral of Florence was to be so big no one knew how to hold it up while it was being built. It would have taken a whole forest of trees to build a big enough framework underneath. Some one said, “Let’s pile up a mountain of dirt and put pennies all through the dirt, then build the dome on top of this mountain. After the dome has been built people will cart away the dirt in order to get the money out of the dirt and that will leave the dome standing alone.” But this very foolish scheme was never tried.

At last two artists who were rivals said they knew a way to build the dome, but neither one would tell how he would do it. One artist was named Brunelleschi. As Brunelleschi is such a long name, I’m going to call him Mr. B. for short. The other artist was named Ghiberti, and I shall call him Mr. G. Mr. B. got the job and Mr. G. was made his helper. Mr. G. didn’t like to be only a helper, so he went about saying that Mr. B. did not really know how to build the dome at all, and would never finish it.

Mr. B. was the only one who knew how to build this “Dome of Heaven”

布先生是唯一知道如何建造这个“天国之顶”的人

Mr. B. and his men went on with the work for some time, until the sides of the dome reached the place where the stones had to be built over the center to cover the vast space beneath. This was the hard part, for the sides of the dome had to meet in the middle with nothing underneath to hold them up. Mr. G. kept on with his talking against Mr. B. , and even made fun of him, until Mr. B. , tired of being nagged in this way, made believe he was sick and stopped work. Time went on and Mr. B. staid home—still sick—and the dome stood unfinished. Mr. G. said, “Oh, Mr. B. isn’t really sick; he is only making believe he is sick—as a school-boy sometimes does—because he doesn’t know how to go on.” So the people of Florence went to Mr. B. ’s house and begged him to go on with the dome.

“I’m sick,” said Mr. B. “Mr. G. knows so much about building a dome, let him go on with it.”

So the people went back to Mr. G. and told him to go ahead. Then Ghiberti tried, but he was able to go only a little way and couldn’t go any farther.

So then the people went back to Brunelleschi again.

“If you’ll make that Ghiberti keep still and not say another word,” said Mr. B. , “I will go on as I started,” and he did, finishing the first and one of the most beautiful domes of its kind i. t. w. W. , and no one to this day knows exactly how he did it.

Although Ghiberti was such a poor “sport,” he was, however, a great sculptor. Right across the street from the cathedral with the dome which Brunelleschi built is a low, six-sided building called a baptistery, because they baptized children there. The doors of this baptistery are made of bronze, and on these doors Ghiberti made bronze figures and scenes of some of the Bible stories. One of these pictures in bronze shows Abraham about to sacrifice his son on the altar as he was told to do by God.

“They are fit to be the gates to Paradise!” said another great Florentine artist when he saw these doors. The artist who said this was named Michelangelo, and he lived in Italy at the same time as Columbus. Columbus was never at home; he was away from Italy almost all his life, discovering new countries. But Michelangelo never left Italy; he stayed at home. He spent his whole life there making beautiful drawings, paintings, sculptures, and buildings, for an artist in those days did every kind of artistic work, from making necklaces to churches, as well as painting and sculpture.

佛罗伦萨老桥

The shops on the Old Bridge sell souvenirs

老桥上的商店里出售纪念品

One day Michelangelo found a block of marble which some one had thrown away because it had a crack in it. Michelangelo said that he saw in this block of marble the figure of young David, so he set to work with his chisel and cut the figure of the young shepherd boy out of the marble. In Florence there are two huge copies of this statue several times bigger than a man, and in thousands of other places in the World there are small copies in plaster, and you may have one of these copies in your own home.

Many of these beautiful works of art are kept in buildings that used to be palaces. The palaces in Florence look more like prisons than palaces.

They were built that way, not to keep people in, but to keep people out. In olden times rich families lived in these palaces, and they were not good neighbors, for one family frequently quarreled or fought with another, so the palaces had to be strong as forts.

There are no water streets in Florence like those in Venice, but through Florence flows a river called the Arno, and across it are several bridges. On one of these bridges, called the Ponte Vecchio, which means the Old Bridge, are shops as on the Rialto in Venice. Most of the shops sell ornaments and souvenirs made out of silver, mosaic, leather, and tortoiseshell, for this is the kind of art work that present-day Florentines make to sell to the thousands of travelers that visit the city.

Towers are built to stand erect—straight up and down—as boys and girls are. But not far from Florence is a city named Pisa, which has a very peculiar tower that leans to one side. It is called the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tower was built to stand straight, but the foundation has sunk on one side, so that the tower slants over as if it were going to fall. It has stood that way for hundreds of years, but is gradually leaning more and more, and if it cannot be stopped, some day it will fall.

比萨斜塔

Some day it may fall

有一天它可能会倒下

You remember I told you that marble was made from the bones of sea animals; but all marble is not alike—some is so coarse you can even see the bones in the stone. But near Pisa are stone mines called quarries, from which are cut blocks of stone of a very fine and smooth kind of marble called from the name of the place, Carrara. Ever since the time of Christ men have been cutting out blocks of marble from these quarries, and people send all the way to Carrara from this country and other countries when they want especially fine marble for a building or a mantel or a piece of sculpture.

【中文阅读】

有一条山脉的山脊从北向南纵贯整个意大利，就像海怪的脊背，这条山脉就是亚平宁山脉。从意大利的一边横穿到另一边，你就得从这条亚平宁山脉上面翻过去，或者从底下钻过去，或者从中间穿过去，而这三者火车都可以做到；在山脉上面、底下、中间，火车从一个又一个隧道钻进去又钻出来，蜿蜒而行。从威尼斯穿过亚平宁山脉到一个叫做佛罗伦萨的城市，就要经过45个隧道。

“佛罗伦萨”是一个女孩的名字，意思是“鲜花盛开”，但佛罗伦萨也是这个城市的名字。火车驶进佛罗伦萨，绕着城市转弯，这时你从火车向外眺望，在城市一大片屋顶之上，在靠近市中心的地方，能看到一个巨大的圆顶，看起来就像个轮毂，火车正绕着这个轮毂在转。圆顶旁边是一个高大的方形塔楼。塔楼和圆屋顶都是在哥伦布出生之前建造的。圆顶看上去像伦敦圣保罗大教堂的圆顶，但实际上我们只能反过来说圣保罗大教堂的圆顶像它，华盛顿的国会大厦也像它，世界上所有这类圆顶都像它，因为佛罗伦萨的这个圆顶是最先建造的，所有其他的这类圆顶都是仿照它建造的。

人们以前建造的都是小的圆顶和平的圆顶，但后来佛罗伦萨人在建造一个大教堂时，他们想在上面建一个与众不同的圆顶，要比世界上其他任何一个圆顶都更大更好。他们想造这么大一个圆顶，以至于没有人知道该怎么建。现在圆顶都是用一块一块的石头建成的，石头盖住下方的空间而且不会落下来，就像桥梁或拱门一样。任何水泥都没有那么强的力量能把石头粘在一起，放在一个空间上，而不落下去，但是如果石头能先被某种木质结构支撑着，直到每一块石头都各就各位，然后下面的木质结构就可以拿走，石头也不会落下来，因为所有的石头都同时往下挤，这时所有石头向下的合力让石头紧紧挤压在一起，变得严丝合缝，没有一块石头会从中掉下来。就像一大群人都要同时过一个门：他们就挤在一起了，谁也动不了，结果一个人也过不去。

但是佛罗伦萨大教堂的圆顶真是太大了，当时没有人知道在建造的时候该如何把它撑起来。要砍掉整片森林的树木才能在下面造一个足够大的木结构。有人说：“我们用土来堆座山吧，在土里放满硬币，然后就在这个土山上建起圆顶。圆顶建好后人们为了得到土里面的钱会把土用车运走，这样就只剩下圆顶立在那里了。”但是从来没有人尝试过这个愚蠢的计划。

最后有两个互相为对手的艺术家都说自己知道该怎样建造这个圆顶，但哪一个都不愿说该怎么建。一个艺术家叫布鲁内莱斯基。布鲁内莱斯基这个名字实在太长了，我就简称他“布先生”。另一个艺术家叫吉贝尔蒂，我就叫他“吉先生”。布先生接到了这个任务，而吉先生被任命为布先生的助手。吉先生当然不乐意自己仅仅充当助手，于是他开始对人说布先生根本不知道怎么建圆顶，他永远都建不成圆顶。

布先生带着自己的工人干了一段时间，直到圆顶的四周都已建好，只等着用石头把中间这个巨大的空间盖住。这是很难的部分，因为圆顶的四周要在中间合拢在一起而下面却没有任何东西把它托起来。吉先生还在说布先生的坏话，甚至还取笑他，直到布先生厌烦了他这样不断的指责，就装病，停工了。时间一天天过去了，布先生还待在家里——仍然病着——圆顶就那样一直没有完工。吉先生说：“哦，布先生根本没有病；他是在装病——就像上学的孩子有时会装病一样——因为他不知道该怎么继续下去了。”于是佛罗伦萨人到布先生家去请求他继续建造圆顶。

“我病了，”布先生说，“吉先生很擅长建造圆顶，让他继续建下去吧。”

于是人们回到吉先生那里让他去干。吉贝尔蒂就开始尝试，但他只让工程进展了一点点就再也干不下去了。

于是人们又回到布鲁内莱斯基那里，去恳求他。

“如果你们能让那个吉贝尔蒂保持安静，不再唠叨，”布先生说，“那我就会像当初那样继续干下去。”他说到做到，终于完成了世界上第一个圆顶，也是世界上同类圆顶中最漂亮的，迄今为止没有人知道他到底是怎样做到的。

尽管在这次“比赛”中吉贝尔蒂显得心胸狭隘，没有气度，但他却是个了不起的雕刻家。就在布鲁内莱斯基建造的圆顶的大教堂的街对面，有一座低矮的六面建筑，叫个洗礼堂，因为人们在这里给孩子行洗礼。这个洗礼堂的门是用青铜做的，在这些门上吉贝尔蒂雕刻了一些青铜人像和《圣经》故事中的一些场景。在其中一幅青铜画里，亚伯拉罕按照上帝的旨意正准备把自己的儿子供放到祭坛上。

“它们真的很适合做天堂的大门！”佛罗伦萨另一位艺术家看到这些门时说。说这话的艺术家叫做米开朗基罗，他和哥伦布是同一时代的意大利人。哥伦布从来都不在家；他几乎一生都不在意大利，而在外面发现新国家。但米开朗基罗从来没有离开过意大利；他始终待在家里。他一辈子的时间都用来创作美丽的素描、油画、雕像和建筑，因为那个时代的艺术家不但绘画雕刻，还做各类艺术品：小到一根项链，大到一座教堂。

一天米开朗基罗看见了一块大理石，那是别人丢弃的，因为上面有道裂缝。米开朗基罗说他在这块大理石里看到了年轻大卫的人影，于是他拿起凿子劲头十足地动起手来，把这块大理石雕刻成那个年轻牧羊人的人像。在佛罗伦萨有两座巨大的大卫雕像的仿制品，比真人大好几倍，在世界上许许多多地方都有小型的大卫石膏雕像仿制品，你家里也许就有这样一个仿制品。

这些美丽的艺术品，其中很多都存放在原本是宫殿的建筑物里。佛罗伦萨的宫殿看起来更像是监狱。之所以建成那样，不是为了留住人，而是为了不让人进来。在以往，富裕的家族都住在这些宫殿里，他们不能和睦相处，经常互相争吵和打斗，所以宫殿必须建得像堡垒一样坚固。

佛罗伦萨没有威尼斯那样的水道，但有一条河流经佛罗伦萨，叫做阿尔诺河，河上有几座桥。其中一座桥叫做“Ponte Vecchio”，意思就是“老桥”，桥上有很多商店，就像威尼斯的里阿尔托桥一样。大部分商店里出售用银、马赛克、皮革和龟甲做成的装饰品和纪念品。因为这就是当今的佛罗伦萨人做的艺术品，只为了赚成千上万游客的钞票。

塔建成后都是竖立的——从上到下都是垂直的——就像男孩子、女孩子挺直的身体。但离佛罗伦萨不远有个叫比萨的城市，那里有一座很奇特的塔，它是朝一边倾斜的。它叫比萨斜塔。这个塔建成时也是竖立的，但是塔的基座往一侧沉陷，于是塔就往一边倾斜，好像要倒下来。几百年来它就那样矗立在那了，但一直在慢慢地向下倾斜，如果不能阻止，有一天它将会倒下。

你记得我介绍过大理石是由海洋动物的骨头变来的；但不是所有的大理石都是一样的——有的很粗糙，你甚至可以看到里面的骨头。但在比萨附近有一些石矿，叫做露天矿场，从那里开采出一块块质地细密光滑的大理石，这种大理石是以产地的名字而命名的，叫卡拉拉。从基督时代起人们就从这里的露天矿场开采大理石，当意大利各地和世界各国的人们需要优质的大理石用于楼房或壁炉饰面或一件雕刻作品，他们就会派人前来采购。

36

The Dead and Alive City

死亡而又活着的城市

Two thousand years ago you could start out on any road anywhere, and if you kept on going far enough you would at last come to a great city in Italy called Rome, for at that time “all roads led to Rome.” Rome was then the largest, the richest, the most beautiful, the most important city in the World. It was the capital of the World.

Rome was built on seven hills, and seven was supposed to be a lucky number. Through Rome runs a river called Tiber, whose waters the Romans thought were ruled over by a god called Father Tiber, to whom they prayed to save them from drowning and shipwreck.

The old Rome of that time is now dead, mostly in ruins, but there is a saying that Rome will live forever—that it is “Eternal”—and though old Rome is in ruins, there is a new Rome. The new Rome, however, is no longer the capital of the World. It is now only the capital of Italy.

Rome is still the capital, however, of all Roman Catholics in the World, and the head of all the Roman Catholic churches in the World lives there. He is called the Pope, which means “Papa.”

St. Peter is supposed to have been crucified and his bones buried in Rome. It is said that on this spot a religious service has been held every single day since the time of St. Peter to the present—that is, for about 1,900 years. At first these services had to be held in secret at night, for most of the Romans did not believe in Christ, and any one who did was likely, if caught, to be thrown into prison or even put to death. But over this same spot, many hundreds of years later, was built the largest church in the World. It is called St. Peter’s.

On the top of St. Peter’s is an immense dome copied after Brunelleschi’s dome in Florence, but much larger. It was built by that great artist Michelangelo, who, I told you, was an architect as well as sculptor and painter. St. Peter’s is so large that on the roof is a village of small houses, a village in which live the caretakers of the church.

The front door of St. Peter’s is never closed night or day, but just to the right of that door is another door of bronze that is never opened except every twenty-five years. It is called the Holy Door and it is walled up with stone. At the end of every twenty-five years this wall has to be taken down in order to open the door.

St. Peter’s is so large that thirty services can be carried on at one time without one interfering with another. Inside the church everything is huge, to match the building. The statues of angels are the size of giants and the doves are the size of eagles. There is a bronze statue of St. Peter himself seated on a throne. This is one of the few statues there of natural size. Good Catholics from all over the World, when they come to St. Peter’s, kiss the statue’s bronze foot. So many millions have kissed it that they have kissed away all his toes.

At Easter and at other celebrations the inside walls of St. Peter’s are hung with crimson silk, thousands of candles burn, choir boys chant and altar boys swing smoke of burning incense to the high roof, while hundreds of priests in gorgeous robes and cardinals in red caps and red gowns and the Pope himself, the head of all the Catholics in the World, in glistening white, move in stately procession down the main aisle to the high altar, over the spot where, 1,900 years before, St. Peter himself was crucified and a Christian would have been afraid to show himself for fear of being killed.

圣彼得教堂

St. Peter’s is the largest church in the World

圣彼得教堂是世界上最大的教堂

The Pope lives next door to St. Peter’s in an immense house called the Vatican. Your house may have a dozen rooms, or perhaps even a score, but it is said that the Vatican contains more than a thousand rooms. There are so many rooms that probably no one has ever counted them all. Many of the large rooms are filled with famous pictures and sculpture. They are art museums which people may visit. One room is the Pope’s private chapel. It is called the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted pictures on the ceiling and walls of this chapel. In order to see the pictures on the ceiling comfortably you have to lie flat on your back or look at them in a mirror held in your hand.

Before the time of St. Peter, when people believed in many gods, another church was built in Rome “To All the Gods.” This building is still standing. It is called the Pantheon, which means “All Gods.” The Pantheon too has a dome, but it is not like St. Peter’s. The dome of St. Peter’s is like a giant cup turned upside down. The dome of the Pantheon is like a giant saucer turned upside down. There are no windows at all in the Pantheon, but there is a large hole in the top of the saucer called an “eye” which looks toward heaven, and through this eye the sun shines and the rain falls. It is so high above the floor, however, that the rain scarcely wets the floor beneath, but evaporates before reaching it.

提图斯凯旋门

It was built to honor Titus because he destroyed Jerusalem

人们修建凯旋门向提图斯表示敬意，因为他摧毁了耶路撒冷

Most of the buildings in Rome that were built about the time of Christ are in ruins, but the Pantheon is still almost the same as it was when first built. Around and about the very old buildings the dust and dirt and rubbish of the city had collected for two thousand years and had gradually piled higher and higher until the ruins were twenty feet or more lower than the present city, so that it has been necessary to dig them out.

In those days long ago there was a great market-place in Rome called the Forum. Around the Forum were beautiful palaces, court-houses, temples, and arches. The arches were built so that generals, when they returned from the wars they had fought and won, might ride in triumph through them. One of these arches is called the Arch of Titus. Titus was a Roman Emperor who destroyed the capital city of the Jews called Jerusalem and this arch was built to celebrate the event. Another arch is the Arch of Constantine. Constantine was the first Emperor of Rome to believe in Christ. That was not until three hundred years after Christ had died.

The ghost of a lion that used to kill Christians in the Colosseum

竞技场里杀死基督徒的一头狮子的鬼魂

The old Romans had a peculiar idea of fun. They liked to watch fights between men and wild animals such as lions and tigers, and they liked to see the men and animals kill each other. Sometimes the men were prisoners who had been captured in battle, sometimes they were just Christians whom the Roman Emperors wanted to put to death. So a great stadium was built where the Romans could sit in safety and watch these fights as we watch football or baseball games. This stadium is called the Colosseum and, though it is partly in ruins, most of it is still standing and you can still see the dens where the wild animals were kept before they were let loose into the arena.

Inside of the roman catacombs

罗马地下墓窟的内部情景

As the Christians were afraid to worship above ground where the Romans would see them, they hid in secret cellar-like places where they could worship as they pleased. Just outside of Rome, underneath the ground, are miles upon miles of these cellar-like rooms where they worshiped and where they were buried when they died. They are called Catacombs. Millions of the Christians were buried in the Catacombs.

【中文阅读】

两千年前，如果你从地球上的任意一个地方的任意一条路出发，只要你不停地行走，最终你会来到意大利一个叫罗马的伟大的城市，因为那个时候“条条大路通罗马”。那时，罗马是世界上面积最大、最富有、最漂亮、最重要的城市。罗马是世界的首都。

罗马建立在七座小山之上，“七”被认为是一个幸运数字。一条叫台伯的河流穿过罗马城。罗马人认为是一位名叫“台伯老人”的神掌管着这片河水。罗马人向这位神祷告，祈求他保佑罗马人不会溺水而死或遭遇船难。

那个时候的古罗马城现在已不复存在，多半已是废墟。但是，人们又常说，罗马永远活着——也就是说，罗马是“永恒的”。尽管古罗马已是一片废墟，但现在有一个新罗马。然而，新罗马不再是世界的首都，现在只是意大利的首都。

但是，罗马仍然是全世界天主教的中心，全世界所有天主教会的领袖就住在罗马，他被尊称为“教皇”，就是“父亲”的意思。

人们认为圣彼得被钉死在十字架上之后，他的遗骨就埋在罗马。据说，从圣彼得时代到现在大约1900年的时间，在这个地方，每天都会举行宗教仪式。起初，这些宗教仪式不得不在晚上秘密进行，因为大多数罗马人不信仰基督。如果有人信仰基督，一旦被发现，就会被扔进监狱，甚至被处死。但是，许多世纪以后，就是在这个地方，修建了世界上最大的教堂——圣彼得教堂。

圣彼得教堂的顶部是巨大的圆屋顶，仿照意大利佛罗伦萨的建筑师布鲁内莱斯基设计的圆屋顶，但要比它大得多。圣彼得教堂的圆屋顶，是由那位伟大的艺术家米开朗基罗建造的。我曾跟你们说过，米开朗基罗不仅是个雕刻家和画家，还是建筑家。圣彼得教堂如此之大，以至于在它的顶部有一个由很多房屋组成的居民村，里面住着教堂的管理人员。

无论是白天还是夜晚，圣彼得教堂的前门从来都是敞开的，但是，就在这扇门的右侧有一扇青铜门，每隔25年才会打开一次，其余时间从不打开。它被称为“神圣之门”，并用石头筑墙将它围了起来。在每个第25年的年末，为了打开这扇门，人们不得不拆除这堵石墙。

圣彼得教堂大得可以一次同时举行三十个宗教礼拜仪式而不会彼此干扰。为了与这个巨型建筑物相配，教堂内每一件东西都是巨大的，天使的雕像如巨人一般大，鸽子如老鹰一般大。这儿有一座圣彼得坐在宝座上的青铜雕像。这是这儿仅有的几个真人般大小的雕像之一。世界各地虔诚的天主教徒来到圣彼得大教堂，亲吻雕像的铜脚，来膜拜的天主教徒是如此之多，以至于雕像的所有脚趾头都被吻没了。

在复活节以及其他庆祝活动的时候，圣彼得教堂的内墙上都会挂上深红色的丝绸，点上数千只蜡烛，唱诗班的男孩子们吟唱赞美诗，祭坛的侍者摆动燃烧的香使烟飘向高高的穹顶。与此同时，数百位牧师穿着华丽的袍子，红衣主教头戴红色帽子、身穿红色长袍，还有全世界天主教徒的领袖——教皇，穿着闪闪发光的白色长袍，他们组成庄严的队伍，沿着主通道走向高高的祭坛。就在祭坛下方这个地点，1900年前，圣彼得被钉死在十字架上，当时的基督徒担心被害都不敢在这儿露面。

教皇住在紧邻圣彼得教堂的一个巨大无比的被称之为“梵蒂冈”的房子里。你家的房子也许有十二间房间，或甚至二十间。但据说梵蒂冈有一千多间。有这么多的房子，以至于很可能没人数过。很多大房间里装满了雕像和名画。这些房间都是艺术博物馆，人们可以去参观。有一个房间是教皇的私人教堂，被称之为“西斯廷礼拜堂”，这个礼拜堂的穹顶上和墙壁上都是米开朗基罗绘的画。为了能很舒服地看穹顶上的画，你得仰面躺下来，或手上拿着一面镜子来看才行。

在圣彼得时代之前，人们信仰的神有很多，于是就在罗马建立了另一个教堂“献给一切诸神”。这座建筑物至今依然屹立在那儿，被称之为“万神庙”。“万神”表示“所有的神”。万神庙也有一个圆顶，但是与圣彼得的不一样。圣彼得的圆顶就像一个巨大的杯子倒扣着，而万神庙的圆顶则像一个巨大的茶碟倒扣着。万神庙里没有一扇窗户，但是在“茶碟”的顶部有一个巨大的孔，这个孔朝向天，被称之为“眼睛”。阳光可以穿过这个孔照射进来，雨水也可以通过这个孔滴进来。然而，由于它高耸于地面之上，雨水几乎不能打湿下面的地面，因为雨滴还没有落到地面就已经蒸发了。

修建于基督时期的罗马建筑物，现在多数都成废墟了，但是，万神庙却依然如刚刚修建时一样。在古老建筑物的四周，积聚了两千年的城市尘土和垃圾越堆越高，直到废墟比现在的城市至少低20英尺，所以现在有必要把它们挖出来。

在很久以前的罗马，有一个超级大的市场，叫“广场”。在广场四周，是美丽的皇宫、宫廷建筑群、庙宇和拱门。修建这些拱门，是为了让那些打仗得胜归来的将军们可以骑着马耀武扬威地穿过拱门。其中有一扇拱门叫“提图斯凯旋门”。提图斯是一位罗马皇帝，他摧毁了犹太人的首都耶路撒冷，于是就修建了这座拱门来庆祝这件事。还有一个拱门叫“君士坦丁大帝凯旋门”。君士坦丁是第一位信仰基督的罗马皇帝，那是基督死后三百年的事了。

古罗马人有一种特别的取乐方式。他们喜欢观看人与诸如狮子、老虎之类的野兽进行搏斗，观看人与动物互相残杀。有时候这些人是从战场上俘获的俘虏，有时候是罗马皇帝想要处死的基督徒。于是就修建了一座巨大的“体育场”，罗马人可以很安全地坐在里面观看人兽搏斗，就像我们观看足球或棒球比赛一样。这个“体育场”叫做“竞技场”。尽管有些部分已成为废墟，但是大部分还矗立在那儿，你依然可以看见当年野兽被放进竞技场之前关押它们的兽穴。

由于基督徒们不敢在地面上敬拜神，担心被罗马人看见，于是他们就偷偷躲在像地窖一样的房间里按自己的愿望敬拜神。所以，就在罗马城外，在地面以下，这种像地窖一样的房子排起来有几十英里长，基督徒们在这儿敬拜神，他们死了也埋在这里。这儿被称作“地下墓窟”，成百上千万的基督徒埋葬在这里。

37

A Pile of Ashes a Mile High

一英里高的一堆灰

A PILE of ashes is not usually very beautiful, and if it is in your back yard it is usually very ugly. But in Italy there is a pile of ashes which every one thinks beautiful, though it is nearly a mile high and though it is in the back yard of a city called Naples. It is on the beautiful Bay of Naples, and people have built their homes and hotels around the bay so as to get a view of this pile of ashes, which is called Mount Vesuvius, though it’s not really a mountain at all.

In olden days when grown-up people believed in fairy-tales they said that a lame blacksmith lived down under the ground, that he kept a huge furnace burning there to heat the iron with which he worked. His name they said was Vulcan, and the smoke and flame that came out of the ground and the ashes that piled up above the ground were from his fires. So we call these mountains of ashes, through the top of which fire and smoke pour forth, volcanoes, after Vulcan.

There are volcanoes in many places in the World, but Vesuvius is the best known of all. We now know that volcanoes are huge fiery furnaces beneath the ground, but we also know that no man nor fairy nor god is down there keeping them burning. Some volcanoes in other parts of the World have burned out, but the fires of Vesuvius have not. Vesuvius is always smoking and burning. We can see smoke or steam coming out of its top in the day and we can see the firelight come out of its top at night, but usually it does no more damage than a huge smoking chimney would. But every now and then the fires start burning fiercely and rock and ashes are shot up into the air, and pieces of rock are blown to such fine powder that they float in the air like dust. This dust may float for months in the air and for thousands of miles to other countries far off from the volcano from which it comes. Strange to say, it is this dust from volcanoes that often makes the sunsets such brilliant colors.

维苏威火山和那不勒斯海湾

Near the Bay of Naples is a pile of ashes almost a mile high

那不勒斯附近，约1英里高的一堆灰

The fire in volcanoes is hotter than any fire we can make. We can make a fire so hot that it will melt copper and iron, but we can’t make a fire so hot that it will melt rock. A volcano fire melts rock as easily as if it were butter. The rock that the volcano melts flows over the top like a pot boiling over and runs down the sides in streams that gradually harden into rock as they cool off. This rock is called lava, and as there is plenty of lava around Naples the people there use blocks of lava to pave their streets.

Some years ago I was in Naples after Vesuvius had been firing up. The streets of Naples were filled with what looked like gray snow. The gray snow was dust that had fallen from the volcano, but it would not melt like snow and had to be carted away and dumped into the Bay of Naples. I wanted to see what the inside of a volcano looked like. There had been a railway almost to the top, but it had been wrecked. So I climbed from the bottom to the top, though it took half a day to do so, for at each step my feet sank deep into the ashes. I looked over the edge, down into the fiery mouth of the volcano. Every now and then pieces of rock would shoot high into the air and, looking up, I would dodge those that fell near-by. Entirely, too many were falling around me, so I started back down the side of the volcano. I didn’t walk down, I jumped, for each step I took was like jumping off a house, and at each step I fell, only I didn’t hurt myself when I fell, for I sank into the ashes up to my knees, up to my waist, up to my neck. It was great fun, like jumping into a pile of hay, only it was oh, so dirty! It took me half a day to go up—it took me about ten minutes to come down—but hours to wash off the ashes when I was down, and my clothes were utterly ruined.

It got too hot for me at the top so I jumped down the side

火山口太热了，于是我跳着下山了

Some birds build their nests on the tops of chimneys, but it seems strange that people should build their homes at the foot of a volcano that may blow up and destroy them at any time. Yet long, long ago people built a city at the foot of Vesuvius, nearer even than Naples. It was called Pompeii. All of a sudden one day Vesuvius began to burn and boil and then blew up. Before any one in Pompeii knew what was going to happen, before any one had time to move from the spot where he was working or playing, Vesuvius had poured down on this little city its deadly fire and smoke and gas, and every one was killed where he stood and buried deep in dust and ashes. There the city and its people lay buried for almost two thousand years. Not so very long ago the city was dug out, its houses and temples and theaters were uncovered, and travelers can now visit the ruins, walk through the streets, and go into the houses and shops where once upon a time people went about their daily tasks and pleasures without a thought that the end of the World was coming to them in the twinkling of an eye.

No one knows when Vesuvius may do the same thing again, but the people in Naples never seem to think of such a thing; they don’t worry; they go about the streets singing happily; in fact, it’s one of the few cities in the World where people sing on the streets.

We may hear people whistling on the street in this country, but seldom, if ever, do we hear them sing on the streets. Singing may not be a sign of happiness at all, but people in Naples sing and sing, especially at night. Taxi drivers sing, ragged street urchins sing, beggars sing, and they sing songs you hear at concerts or in the opera. One of the greatest singers that ever lived, who now is dead, but whom you can still hear singing on the phonograph, was once a street urchin in Naples. Then he came to America. His name was Caruso.

The Italian language is the language of singing, the language of music. Some one has said you can’t help singing if you speak Italian. Even the sheet music we use in this country is usually written in Italian and the directions for playing are given in Italian. In Italian almost every word ends in a vowel, that is, in a, e, i, o, or u. Piano and ’cello, soprano and alto are Italian words. Even Naples ends in a vowel, for in Italian it is called Napoli.

The name “Goat” is neither pretty nor musical and it wouldn’t sound well in a song, but across the Bay of Naples is an island the name of which in English is goat; but in Italian it is “Capri,” and songs are sung about “Bella Capri”—the beautiful Capri—the beautiful Goat Island.

In the rocky shore of Capri there is a sea cave which you can only enter in a rowboat through a low opening. The opening is so low you have to duck your head, and if the waves are high you can’t go through at all. The cave is called the Blue Grotto, for inside this rocky cave the water is such a beautiful clear blue that it seems almost as if your boat were floating on sky instead of on water. What makes it so blue? If you dip some of the water up in a bottle to take home as a souvenir—as I have known people to do—the water is just as colorless as the water in your own bathtub.

【中文阅读】

一堆灰，通常是不美的。如果它在你家后院里，通常会觉得它很丑。但是在意大利有一堆灰，尽管它几乎有一英里高，尽管位于一座叫那不勒斯的城市的后院里，人们却觉得它很美。它坐落在优美的那不勒斯海湾，人们在海湾周围建起住宅和宾馆，为的就是能看到这堆灰。人们称之为维苏威火山，尽管它并不是一座真正的山。

从前，在成年人还相信神话故事的时候，传说有一个跛脚的铁匠住在地底下，他让一个大熔炉在那里不停地燃烧，把他工作用的铁烧熟。据说他的名字叫法尔坎（古罗马神话中火和冶炼的神）。那些从地下喷出的烟和火焰，以及堆积在地上的灰烬就来自他的大熔炉。所以我们以“法尔坎”（Vulcan）之名，把那些不断喷出火和烟的山称作火山（volcanoes）。

世界上很多地方都有火山，但是维苏威火山是最出名的。我们现在知道，火山只是地下炽热的巨大火炉；我们也知道，地下并没有人也没有神仙使火炉一直燃烧。世界上其他地方的一些火山已经燃烧殆尽，不再喷发了，但维苏威火山还没有烧尽。维苏威火山始终在冒烟和燃烧，白天可以看见烟或蒸汽从山顶喷出，晚上可以看到山顶冒出的火光。但就像一个巨大的冒着烟的烟囱一样，通常不会造成损害。然而会不时地有火焰从中猛烈喷出，岩石和灰尘被冲上天空，那些岩石被冲成了非常细小的粉末，可以像灰尘一样飘浮在空中。这些尘埃也许会在空中漂浮几个月，甚至会飘到离火山几千英里之外的其他国家去。说也奇怪，正是这些来自火山的尘埃常常使日落有着如此灿烂的色彩。

火山里的火要比我们人类点燃的任何火都要热。我们生的火的热量可以熔化铜和铁，但是无法熔化岩石。火山火可以像熔化黄油那样轻而易举地熔化岩石。那些被熔化了的岩石，就像因沸腾而溢出水壶的开水，小溪般从山顶四周流下，最终冷却下来逐渐变成岩石。这种岩石被称作火山岩。由于那不勒斯周围有大量火山岩，那儿的人们就用大块的火山岩铺街道。

几年前，我在维苏威火山喷发后不久来到那不勒斯。道路上盖满了像灰色的雪一样的东西。那些灰色的雪就是从火山上落下的火山灰，但不会像雪那样融化，需要被大车运走，倒进那不勒斯海湾。我想看一看火山里面是什么样的。曾经有一条几乎通到山顶的铁路，但被毁了。于是，我从山下攀上山顶，这花费了我半天的时间。因为每走一步我的脚都会陷进厚厚的灰中。我从火山口的边缘，朝烈火炎炎的火山口向下看。不时有石块射向空中，我向上看以躲避那些落在周围的岩石碎块。确实有不少岩石落在我周围，于是我决定往回走，不是步行，而是跳跃，每跳一步都像是从房子上跳下来，每跳一步，我都会摔倒，不过没有受伤，因为我陷入了灰尘中，我的膝盖、腰，甚至脖子都陷进灰里。这实在是太有趣了，就像跳进了草堆里，只不过，噢，好脏啊。我花了半天的时间爬上山顶，而下山仅用了十分钟，但下山后我花了好几个小时来洗掉身上的灰尘，我的衣服全毁了。

一些鸟类会把巢建在烟囱顶部，但是，如果有人将家园建在一座随时会喷发并可能将他们家园毁灭的火山旁边，就有些奇怪了。然而，在很久以前，人们在维苏威火山脚下建起了一座城市，比那不勒斯离火山还要近，它叫庞贝。突然有一天，维苏威火山开始燃烧，沸腾，然后爆发了。对将要发生的事，庞贝城中还无人来得及知道，也无人有时间从他们工作或游戏的场所逃离，维苏威火山就将它致命的火焰、烟尘和气体倾泻到这座小城之上，每个人就在他所站立的地方死去并被深埋进火山灰中。这座城和城里的人就被埋在那里长达两千年之久。前不久，这座城市被挖了出来，那些房屋、庙宇和剧院得以重见天日。游客可以参观这些废墟，在街道上行走，还进入那些房子和商店。很久以前，就在这些地方，人们忙于日常工作并享受生活，从未想到世界末日在眨眼之间就降临到他们身上。

没有人知道维苏威火山会在哪一天再次制造这样的悲剧，但是那不勒斯人似乎从不考虑这件事，他们并不担心，他们高兴地唱着歌在大街上走着。事实上，世界上人们在街上唱歌的城市很少，那不勒斯是其中之一。

在美国，也许会听到有人在街上吹口哨，但是我们几乎听不到有人在街上唱歌。歌唱也许并不代表着快乐，但生活在那不勒斯的人们不停地唱着，尤其是在晚上。出租车司机在唱，路边衣衫褴褛的顽童在唱，乞丐也在唱。他们唱着那些你会在音乐会或歌剧中听到的歌曲。有一位已逝的大歌唱家，他曾是世界上最伟大的歌唱家之一，他的歌声你现在还可以从留声机中听到，他曾经就是那不勒斯街头的一个顽童。后来他去了美国，他的名字叫卡鲁索。

意大利语是歌唱的语言，是音乐的语言。有人说过，当你说意大利语的时候，你会情不自禁地唱起来。在美国，乐谱常常用意大利语来谱写，演奏说明也是用意大利语。意大利语中的每一个单词几乎都是以元音结尾的，也就是以a,e,i,o,u结尾。比如piano（钢琴），cello（大提琴），soprano（女高音）和alto（女低音）都是意大利语。甚至那不勒斯这个词也是以元音结尾的，因为它在意大利语中叫做Napoli。

“山羊”（Goat）这个单词并不美妙，也不悦耳。但在那不勒斯海湾对面有一座岛屿，它的英文名字叫“goat”（山羊），但在意大利语中它叫“Capri”（卡布里）。有一首歌叫《美丽的卡布里》——美丽的卡布里——美丽的山羊岛。

在卡布里岛布满岩石的岸边，有一个海上的洞穴，你只能从一个低矮的洞口乘划艇进入。那个洞口实在是太小了，你不得不低下头才能进去，并且，如果海浪高一点，你根本就无法通过。这个洞穴被称作“蓝洞”，因为在这个岩石构成的洞穴中，海水的蓝色是那样的美丽明净，你似乎觉得自己的小船好像是在天空中漂浮而不是在水上。是什么使它如此的蓝呢？如果你用瓶子在这里装点带回家作纪念品——就像我所知道的，人们通常都会这样做——瓶里的水就会像你家浴缸里的水一样，是无色的。

38

Wars and Fairy-Tales

战争和童话故事

Though Italian is the language of music, the people of Germany are quite as musical as the Italians. But their music is very different from the music of the Italians. Some of their music is warlike, big and loud, and yet some of it is gentle and sweet, and the most famous cradle songs and Christmas carols have been written by Germans. “Silent Night, Holy Night” is one. Musical plays are called operas. Some of the greatest operas in the World have been composed by Germans.

Cradle songs and Christmas carols don’t seem to go well with fighting. But the Germans, besides being very musical, have also been very warlike. You have all heard of the two terrible World Wars, World War I and World War II. Most of the countries of the World took part in these two wars. In each war Germany fought almost all the other countries in the World and, even with almost all the rest of the World against her, she nearly won both times.

After World War II the countries that had beaten Germany divided Germany up to keep her from starting any more wars. Russia took Eastern Germany. The United States, Great Britain, and France ruled Western Germany. So there came to be two Germanies, West Germany and East Germany.

Some of the World’s best fairy-tales come from Germany

世界上最好的一些童话故事是来自德国的

Which do you like better, fairy-tales or true stories? Some of the World’s best fairy-tales have been made in Germany. Stories, poems, songs, and operas have been written about fairy people and real people who once lived on the hills and in the caves by the side of a river in Germany called the Rhine. The Rhine starts from a glacier in the Swiss Alps and runs north along the west side of Germany and through Holland.

On both sides of the Rhine are steep hills and rocks and on top of these hills are castles built many years ago. The men who built these castles were called robber barons, and they built their castles on these hills so that they could rob and would be safe from their enemies. The poor people, who lived down in the valleys, had to give part of the things they raised to the barons; if they did not do so, the barons would swoop down on them with their men and take what they wanted and destroy the people’s homes. The people knew it was useless to attack the barons because of their strong castles. Most of these castles are now in ruins, because it is too hard to get to them and to keep them in repair, and no longer can any one treat the poor people the way the barons did.

Cologne is a kind of strong perfume. It is named for a city on the Rhine called Cologne. Cologne means colony, for it was once a colony of Rome. The house in which I live took seven months to build, but there is a Cathedral in Cologne that took seven hundred years to build!—the longest time of any building in the World.

Robbers once lived in these castles

强盗们曾经居住在这些城堡里

It took seven hundred years to build Cologne Cathedral

建造科隆大教堂花了七百年时间

Cologne is a city famous for its Cathedral but the most famous German city is Berlin Before World War II Berlin was one of the finest and cleanest cities in the world. It had broad tree-lined avenues, great handsome stone buildings, parks and statues. It was also the capital of Germany. But by the time World War II was over, much of Berlin was a wreck. Many of its finest buildings were in ruins, destroyed by bombs dropped from airplanes during the war. Berlin is in Eastern Germany, the part of Germany ruled by the Russians after the War, but the United States, Great Britain, and France as well as Russia govern Berlin. The Russians had fought on our side during World War II, but after the War was over they became very unfriendly to the United States and Great Britain. They even said that the countries ruling Western Germany could not use the railroad or auto roads to Berlin. The people of Berlin had to be fed, so the United States and Great Britain flew tons and tons of food and coal into the city by airplanes day after day for a year and a half. Finally the Russians realized they could not keep out the Americans and British and opened the railroad again. This carrying of supplies to Berlin was called the Berlin Airlift because the supplies were lifted through the air from Western Germany to Berlin.

Sticking up off the map of Germany like a thumb is a little country called Denmark. On one side of it is the North Sea; on the other side is another sea called the Baltic. Germany fronts on the North Sea and on the Baltic Sea too, but this little thumb of land does not belong to Germany. The Germans had to go all around this country in order to get from the cities on the North Sea to the cities on the Baltic Sea, so they cut off the thumb by digging a canal across the bottom of it. It is called the Kiel Canal.

【中文阅读】

尽管意大利语是音乐的语言，德国这个民族像意大利人一样喜爱音乐。但德国音乐与意大利音乐截然不同，有些德国音乐让人联想到战争场面，气势宏大，声音响亮，而有些则柔和甜美。最著名的摇篮曲和圣诞颂歌都是德国人谱写的，《平安夜》就是其中之一。音乐剧被称为歌剧，世界上最伟大的一些歌剧也是由德国人创作的。

摇篮曲和圣诞颂歌似乎很难与战争联系起来。但是，德国人，除了喜爱音乐之外，还非常好战。你们都听说过两次可怕的世界大战，第一次世界大战和第二次世界大战。世界上的大多数国家都参加了这两次大战。在每次大战中，德国几乎与其他所有参战国开战，甚至全世界没有参战的国家都把德国看成敌人。德国差一点赢了两次大战。

第二次世界大战之后，那些打败德国的国家将德国分而治之，防止它再挑起战争。俄罗斯占领了德国东部，美国、英国和法国统治了德国西部，这样就出现了两个德国——东德和西德。

童话故事和真实故事，哪一个你更喜欢？世界上最好的一些童话故事就是在德国创作的。德国人写了许多故事、诗歌、歌曲和歌剧，描述童话里的人物，也描述了曾经生活在德国莱茵河畔的山上和洞穴里的真实的人物。莱茵河发源于瑞士阿尔卑斯山脉的冰川，沿着德国西侧向北流淌，流经荷兰。

莱茵河两岸都是陡峭的山坡和岩石，在这些山顶上有很久以前建造的城堡。修建这些城堡的人被称为强盗贵族。他们在山上修建城堡既便于抢劫，又能避开敌人的攻击。住在山谷里的穷人不得不将自己种植的一部分东西送给这些强盗贵族。否则，这些强盗贵族就会率众从山上冲向他们，任意抢夺东西，再毁掉他们的房子。穷人们知道反击这些贵族是没用的，因为他们有坚固的城堡。现在，这些城堡大部分已经成为废墟，因为很难再到城堡对它们进行维修，此外，也不再有人能像那些强盗贵族那样虐待穷人了。

科隆香水是一种气味浓烈的香水，它是以莱茵河畔的一座叫科隆的城市来命名的。“科隆”的意思是“殖民地”，因为它曾是古罗马的殖民地。我居住的房子花了七个月的时间修建好，但是在科隆，有一个大教堂却花了七百年的时间才完工——是世界上建造时间最长的建筑物。

科隆是以大教堂而闻名的城市，而德国最著名的城市是柏林。第二次世界大战之前，柏林是世界上最美丽、最干净的城市之一。有宽阔的、绿树成荫的街道，漂亮的石头房屋、公园，还有雕像。柏林也是德国的首都。但是到第二次世界大战结束的时候，柏林的大部分地方都被毁了。多数最漂亮的建筑物被战时飞机投下的炸弹炸毁了，成了一片废墟。柏林位于德国东部，而德国的这部分战后由俄罗斯统治。但是，美国、英国，还有法国和俄罗斯一起掌管柏林。“二战”期间，俄罗斯是站在美国一方的，可战争结束后，俄罗斯对美国和英国非常不友好。他们甚至说，统治德国西部的国家不可以使用通往柏林的铁路和公路。但是柏林人极需要生活援助，于是，美国和英国不得不每天用飞机将成吨成吨的食物和煤空运到柏林，这种情况维持了一年半的时间。最后俄罗斯意识到很难将美国人和英国人挡在柏林城外，就重新开放了通往柏林的铁路。这种提供生活物资的方式被称作“柏林空运”，因为物资是通过飞机从德国西部运到柏林的。

伸出德国地图像拇指一样的小国家是丹麦。在丹麦的一边是北海，另一边是波罗的海。德国也面向北海和波罗的海，但拇指般小的这块地并不属于德国。德国人从北海岸边的城市到波罗的海的海滨城市去，不得不绕过丹麦这个国家，为此他们就将大拇指切断，在它的底部挖了一条运河。人们称之为基尔运河。

39

The Great Danes

伟大的丹麦人

WHEN anything annoyed my uncle he used to cry out, “Skagerrack and Kattegat!” It sounded terrible, for I didn’t know then that Skagerrack and Kattegat were merely the names of the narrow waterway around Denmark from the North Sea into the Baltic Sea and that Kattegat simply meant “the cat’s throat” and Skagerrack meant “Skager throat.”

There are two chief pieces to Denmark. One piece is the thumb-like land called Jutland, because a people called the Jutes used to live there. The other piece is a little island right alongside of Jutland called Zealand. You don’t have to be a good guesser to know that Zealand means “Sea Land.” On this island is Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Copenhagen means “Merchants’ Harbor,” because merchants with their ships used to stop there on the way from the North Sea to the Baltic. But there are not as many ships now as there used to be, for instead of going through the Skagerrack and Kattegat, many ships take the short cut through the Kiel Canal. Copenhagen is the only big city that Denmark has—there are no other large cities.

You probably have heard of a “Great Dane,” a kind of big dog that comes from Denmark. But the people in Denmark are called Danes, and there is one great Dane whom you probably know and whose stories you have probably read. He wrote “The Little Match Girl” and “The Ugly Duckling.” The man who wrote those fairy-tales lived in Copenhagen. His name is Hans Christian Andersen. The Danes like the name “Christian.” Ten of their kings have been named Christian.

But over a thousand years ago the Danes were not Christians, and many were pirates who sailed the seas and robbed other lands. They are now, of course, no longer pirates; but they are still great sailors. In some towns almost every person is either a sailor, a ship-builder, or connected with shipping in some way.

The Danes who stay at home are chiefly engaged in the butter and egg business. They raise cows to make butter and chickens to lay eggs and they send butter and eggs to other countries that haven’t enough. Danish eggs have the date when they are laid stamped on them, so that every one may know how fresh or how old they are. Danish butter is so good and brings such high prices that the Danes send most of it away, and they themselves usually eat an imitation butter made out of fat or grease.

Denmark is one of the healthiest countries in the World. People live longer there than in almost any other country; so the moral of this is, if you want to live long, go to Denmark.

Denmark, though such a little country, used to own two islands that were perhaps ten times as big as itself. These two islands are far away from Denmark in the cold north; one is a little island called Iceland and the other is a big island called Greenland. Greenland still belongs to Denmark, but Iceland no longer does. Most people cannot see why Denmark should want either island, for Iceland is full of volcanoes and many hot springs—which seems strange, for ice and fire do not seem to go together—and Greenland is chiefly ice. I think it would be more exact if Greenland were called Iceland and Iceland were called Volcano Land. I used to know a boy who was very fat, but all his friends called him “Skinny.” That is like calling this ice-covered land Greenland, so I think it was called Greenland for a joke. Only along one edge of Greenland do we find any land at all showing. The ice in Greenland is about a quarter of a mile thick, covering the land, and where the ice comes down to the water’s edge big chunks often as big as a church break off and float away in the sea. They are then called icebergs, which means ice mountains.

There are Eskimos living in Greenland. You may well wonder what the Eskimos in Greenland live on, for they can’t raise any of the vege-tables we have to eat. They live chiefly on fish out of the sea and animals and birds. There are millions of birds called “auks” which fly so low and so thick over the land that the Eskimos catch them with a net as you would catch butterflies. They can catch enough to last them for many months, and as all out-of-doors is a refrigerator the birds that are caught can be kept on ice without having the ice man call every day. Eskimos use the auk’s soft feathers to line their clothes to keep themselves warm and comfortable, for the thermometer sometimes goes to seventy de-grees below zero. Another bird, the eider-duck, has still softer feathers. They are called “down.” Eider-down is one of the softest and lightest things imaginable and makes the best filling for bed quilts, as it is both light and warm. Eskimos eat the eider-duck’s eggs, too, and they gather thousands of them at a time.

Instead of beef, the Eskimo eats the flesh of an animal called the musk-ox. The musk-ox has hooklike horns and a shaggy long-haired coat to keep himself warm in the terrible cold. His coat makes him look big, but when he is killed and the coat removed, there is only a poor little lean animal left inside.

There is another animal which the Eskimo hunts. It lives both in the water and on the land and has tusks like an elephant. It is called a walrus. It is also caught for meat, but chiefly for its ivory tusks, which are two big teeth that hang far down out of its mouth.

What the Eskimo likes best to eat, however, is not lean meat but fat. A big, greasy strip of fat to him is as delicious as a banana to us. Fat food keeps people warm, and nature in its wonderful way makes fat taste good to the Eskimo because it makes him warm. People in warm countries don’t like fat food because it would make them warm when they want to be cool.

One of the most valuable furs that ladies wear is made from the coat of the seal, another animal that lives both in the water and on the ice. The Eskimo uses the sealskin to make his tents in which he lives in the summertime. The winds are so terribly strong in parts of Greenland that a tent has to be anchored down by heavy stones to keep it from blowing away. In the wintertime, however, the Eskimo makes his hut of blocks of stone—if he can find any; but if he can’t, he cuts blocks of snow and makes a bowl-shaped house of that instead. Of course, his house is hardly large enough to stand up in and has only one room and no windows, so that he has to light it inside with a fire built right on the ground, or by a lamp made out of a hollowed stone with a wick soaked in the grease or fat of the animals he has killed.

The only tame animals the Eskimo has are the Eskimo dogs, which look very much like wolves and may be cousins of the wolves. The Eskimo uses dogs hooked up to his sled, instead of a horse and carriage or automobile. Four or eight or more dogs are harnessed together and make a team. Almost all of our dogs love water; they will run and jump into a pool or into a river if given half a chance. But the Eskimo dog is afraid of water, and though he can swim he will not go into it unless he is whipped into it, and not even then if he can run away. The Eskimo, however, is not afraid of the water even when blocks of ice are floating in it. He has a canoe called a kayak which is completely covered, all except a place in the center where he sits and paddles. It is water tight, so that even when upset no water can get in. The Eskimos are experts at paddling, and they have water sports in which an Eskimo upsets his kayak on purpose and rolls over and over in the water just to show off.

eskimo in his kayak（爱斯基摩人和海豹皮船）

【中文阅读】

我叔叔烦恼时，他常常大声叫喊：“斯卡格拉克和卡特加特！”听起来可怕极了，因为那时我不知道“斯卡格拉克和卡特加特”指的是环绕丹麦的从北海到波罗的海的狭窄水道。“卡特加特”的意思是“猫的咽喉”；“斯卡格拉克”的意思是“斯卡格的咽喉”。

丹麦主要由两部分组成。一部分是拇指般的日德兰半岛（Jutland），一个名叫朱特（Jutes）的民族曾经居住的地方。另一部分是紧邻日德兰半岛的叫雪兰（Zealand）的小岛。你一定猜不出，“雪兰”的意思是“海上的陆地（Sea Land）”。丹麦的首都哥本哈根就在这座小岛上。哥本哈根的意思是“商人的海港”，因为从北海到波罗的海的商人们常常将商船停靠在这里。但是现在这里不像以前那样有很多的船了，因为许多船都不再走“斯卡格拉克和卡特加特”，而抄近路改走基尔运河。哥本哈根是丹麦仅有的大城市——丹麦再没有比它更大的城市了。

你可能听说过“大丹狗”（Great Dane），一种来自丹麦的大狗。丹麦人也叫“Dane”，有一个伟大的丹麦人你很可能知道，而且，他写的故事，《卖火柴的小女孩》和《丑小鸭》，你也很可能读过。写这些童话故事的人就住在哥本哈根，他的名字叫汉斯 · 克里斯蒂安 · 安徒生。丹麦人喜欢“克里斯蒂安”这个名字（它是“基督徒”的意思），曾有十个丹麦国王都叫克里斯蒂安。

但在一千多年前，丹麦人并不信仰基督，他们当中许多人都是航行在大海上并到其他国家抢劫的海盗。当然，他们现在不再是海盗了，但他们仍然是很优秀的水手。在一些小镇上，几乎每个人都是水手，或制造船只，或从事其他与船有关的职业。

那些待在家里的丹麦人主要从事黄油和鸡蛋生意。他们养牛来获得黄油，养鸡来获得鸡蛋，然后把黄油和鸡蛋卖给那些缺乏这些东西的国家。丹麦的鸡蛋上都印有这个蛋生下来的日期，所以每个人都可以知道这个蛋是多么的新鲜，或是多么的不新鲜。丹麦的黄油由于品质好而价格高，所以大部分都被丹麦人卖了，他们自己通常吃的是由脂肪或油脂制成的仿乳酪。

丹麦是世界上最健康的国家之一，生活在那里的人几乎比其他任何国家的人都要长寿。所以从某种意义上来说，如果想长寿，就去丹麦吧。

丹麦尽管很小，但它曾经拥有两个比现在大十倍的岛屿。这两个岛屿在远离丹麦的寒冷的北方，一个是被称为“冰岛”的小岛，另一个是被称作“格陵兰岛”的大岛。格陵兰岛现在仍属于丹麦，但冰岛却不再属于丹麦了。大多数人都不明白丹麦为什么想要这两个岛屿中的任何一座岛，因为冰岛满是火山，还有许多温泉——这似乎很奇怪，因为冰和火似乎不能在一起——而格陵兰岛则主要是冰。我认为，把格陵兰岛叫做“冰岛”，把冰岛叫做“火山岛”会更准确一些。我曾经认识一个小男孩，很胖，但他所有的朋友都叫他“皮包骨”。这很像人们把冰雪覆盖着的格陵兰岛叫做“绿色的大陆”（Greenland），所以我认为将其称为“格陵兰”是在开玩笑。我们只能在格陵兰岛大陆边缘的一侧看到完全裸露的土地。格陵兰岛上的冰大约有1/4英里那么厚，而且常常有像教堂那么大的大冰块掉到水里，并漂流到海里，它们被称作冰山，意思是“冰的山”。

格陵兰岛上生活着爱斯基摩人。你也许很好奇，格陵兰岛上的爱斯基摩人靠什么为生，因为他们无法种植我们所吃的任何一种蔬菜。爱斯基摩人主要以海里的鱼、动物和鸟类为食。那里有一种叫“海雀”的海鸟，非常多，成百上千万，它们成群成群地飞得很低。爱斯基摩人就用网捕捉它们，就像你用网捕捉蝴蝶一样。他们可以抓到足够多的鸟来维持好几个月的生活，而且户外就是冰箱，捕捉到的鸟可以放在冰上贮存，而不用让卖冰的人每天都来。爱斯基摩人用海雀柔软的羽毛做衣服的衬里来保暖，穿起来也很舒适，因为气温有时候会达到零下70多度。另外一种鸟，绒鸭，有更柔软的、叫做“绒”的羽毛，鸭绒是你可以想象的最软和最轻的东西之一，是棉被的最佳填充物，因为它既轻又保暖。爱斯基摩人也吃绒鸭的蛋，他们一次可以搜集到上千只蛋。

爱斯基摩人吃的是一种叫麝牛的肉，而不是我们吃的那种牛肉。麝牛长着钩子状的角，长长的粗浓蓬松的体毛可以在极度寒冷的时候为它们抵御寒冷。它的皮毛让它看起来体格很庞大，但是，当它被杀死，剥了皮之后，看起来却是一只又瘦又小、非常可怜的动物。

爱斯基摩人还猎食另外一种动物，这种动物既生活在水里也生活在陆地上，还像大象一样长有一对长牙。人们称之为“海象”。爱斯基摩人捕捉海象不仅是为了它的肉，更是为了它白色的牙——两只露在嘴外面的长长的大獠牙。

爱斯基摩人最爱吃的不是瘦肉而是肥肉。对他们来说，一长条油腻的肥肉，就像香蕉对于我们来说一样，是绝对的美味。富含脂肪的食物可以帮助人们保持温暖。大自然以她神奇的方式让肥肉变为爱斯基摩人的美食，因为肥肉可以使他们感到温暖。生活在气候温暖的国家的人则不喜欢肥肉，因为肥肉使他们在需要凉爽的时候感到浑身发热。

女士们穿的最有价值的皮毛之一是海豹的皮毛。海豹是另一种既生活在水里也生活在冰上的动物。爱斯基摩人用海豹皮来制作他们夏季居住用的帐篷。在格陵兰岛，有些地方会刮剧烈的大风，所以你得用很重的石头来固定帐篷以免它被风刮跑了。然而，在冬季，如果能找到石头的话，爱斯基摩人会用石头来建造小屋。如果找不到石头，他们就切下坚硬的雪块来建造一座碗状的房子。当然，房子几乎不足一人高，并且只有一个房间，还没有窗户，所以爱斯基摩人不得不在地面上点火来照明，或者用一盏油灯，这个油灯是用空心的石头做的，灯芯是在他所杀死的动物的油脂或脂肪中浸泡过的。

爱斯基摩人所饲养的唯一温顺的动物是爱斯基摩犬，他们看起来非常像狼，也许就是狼的表亲。爱斯基摩人将爱斯基摩犬，而不是马，拴到雪橇上，就成了他们的马车或汽车。四只、八只或更多的爱斯基摩犬套在一起，组成一队。几乎所有的狗都喜欢水，如果有一点点的机会，就会跳进水池里或河里嬉戏。但是爱斯基摩犬却怕水，尽管会游泳，也不会跳进水里，除非你用鞭子赶它；如果它们能逃脱的话，就不会下到水里。爱斯基摩人不怕水，即使有大块大块的冰漂浮在水里的时候，他们也不怕。爱斯基摩人有一种被称作“海豹皮船”的独木舟，除了在它的中心部位留一块位置供人坐下和划桨外，其余部分完全密封，并且是防水的，所以即使打翻了，水也进不去。爱斯基摩人是划桨的专家，他们有自己的水上运动项目——故意将皮船打翻后在水中翻滚，只是为了炫耀他们的划桨技能。

40

Fish, Fiords, Falls, and Forests

鱼儿、峡湾、瀑布和森林

HAVE you a good imagination? I mean, when there are clouds in the sky, can you see giants or galloping horses or rabbits with long ears or other things? Then look at the map on page 260 and tell me what it looks like:

Turn it on the side. Do you see what I see? A WHALE, with his mouth open, ready to swallow little Denmark. Skagerrack and Kattegat are the whale’s throat.

My geography calls this whale the “Scandinavian Peninsula”—that’s a big name, but then a whale is a big animal. The geography calls the back of the whale Norway, and it calls the other side Sweden. Norway plus Sweden equals Scandinavian Peninsula.

Perhaps the reason I thought of a whale was because there are so many real whales in the sea near Norway. Now a whale is the largest fish there is, you know, only it isn’t a fish. Fish lay eggs as chickens and birds do, only much smaller and many more, but a whale mother doesn’t lay eggs. She has babies as a cat has kittens. Besides, a whale has to have air to breathe and must come up to the top of the water as you would have to do if you were swimming under the water. A fish wouldn’t do that, for he couldn’t do that, so you see a whale is not a fish.

The whale eats little fish called herring, lots of them at one gulp, bones and all. There are millions, billions, trillions of herring in the sea, and millions, billions, trillions more than that. They live together in enormous crowds called “schools,” but one school of herring has more pupils than all the schools in the World; so, although the whales eat some herring, there are plenty of herring left for us to eat. The Norwegian people catch herring in nets, then they salt, smoke, or dry them to make sure they will keep almost forever without spoiling. Then they send these dried herring all over the World to be sold. I had a herring for breakfast this morning which may have been swimming round Norway years and years ago—it has been kept all that time.

I also ate a thousand eggs for breakfast this morning. That sounds impossible, but it’s really so—only they were not hen’s eggs, but herring eggs, for the mother herring carries her eggs inside of her—thousands of them. The herring’s eggs we call “roe.”

斯堪的纳维亚半岛看上去就像一头鲸

The seashore of Norway is not smooth and level like a bathing beach. There are mountains all along the edge right in the water and the sea fills the valleys between these mountains. These valleys filled with water are called “fiords.”

Norway is so far north we would expect the water in these fiords to be very cold in the winter; and we know what happens when water gets very cold—it freezes and turns to ice. But, strange to say, the water in these fiords does not freeze. The reason it doesn’t freeze is because the sun shines down on the water in the Gulf of Mexico, several thousand miles off. You may wonder what the Gulf of Mexico several thousand miles off has to do with Norway. Well, the boiler way off in my cellar heats the water in the pipes and that heats the radiator in the farthest room in my house. In the same way the sun heats the water in the Gulf as if it were a big boiler and from this Gulf a warm stream of water, called the Gulf Stream, flows as if it were a river in the ocean, all the way across the ocean from the Gulf of Mexico to the shore of Norway and warms the fiords. In the warm water of the fiords the herring schools have a fine recess until a whale or a fisherman comes along.

The northest city in the World is in Norway and the name of this city ends in est, too. It is Hammerfest. The Gulf Stream seems to end at Hammerfest and it dumps on the shore sticks of wood, some of which have floated like toy boats in a river all the way from the Gulf of Mexico. The people gather this “driftwood” and use it to make fires. Ordinary wood burns with a yellow flame, but wood that has drifted for a long time in the sea-water gets filled with salt from the water and when dried and burned gives off flames colored blue and green and purple, so that driftwood makes especially beautiful fires in open fireplaces.

You have probably tasted cod-liver oil—and hated it—but you were told it was very good for you, and it is. The cod is a much bigger fish than the herring, but of course not nearly as big as the whale. One of the playgrounds of the cod is near Norway, round some islands called “The Lofodens.” Fishermen catch shiploads of cod, press the oil out of their livers, and bottle it for your good health. The bones of the cod they have no use for, so they take them out—and this is quite a job, for there are a great many—and then they dry the flesh of the cod to make food. Here is a sentence that sounds funny unless you put in a period where it belongs, and then it makes perfect sense: “A codfish was swimming round the Lofoden Islands a month after all its bones had been taken out.” Where would you put the period to make sense?

【中文阅读】

你的想象力丰富吗？我是指，当天上有云朵时，你能看出是巨人？飞奔的骏马？耳朵长长的兔子？或是看见其他东西？请看下面的地图，然后告诉我它看起来像什么？

把地图转个方向，有没有看出我所看到的东西？一头鲸，张着大嘴，正要吞下小小的丹麦，“斯卡格拉克和卡特加特”就是它的咽喉。

在我的地理知识里，这条鲸叫“斯堪的纳维亚半岛”——这个名字够大的，不过鲸鱼也是大动物哦。从地理位置上看，“鲸”的背是挪威，另一边是瑞典。挪威加上瑞典等于斯堪的纳维亚半岛。

我之所以觉得它像一头鲸，也许是因为在挪威附近的海域真的有许多鲸。鲸现在是世界上最大的鱼，不过，你要知道，它并不是鱼类。鱼类，像鸡和鸟一样也会下蛋，只不过下的蛋小得多而又多得多，但鲸妈妈不会下蛋，鲸妈妈像猫妈妈生小猫一样生自己的小宝宝。而且，鲸还一定得浮出水面来呼吸空气，就像你游泳时不得不做的那样。而鱼是不会那样做的，因为鱼也做不到，所以，你就知道鲸不是鱼。

鲸吃一种叫“鲱鱼”的小鱼，鲸一口能吞下很多鲱鱼，连骨头带肉全吃掉。海洋里有亿万条数也数不过来的鲱鱼。通常一大群鲱鱼生活在一起，这一大群在英语里叫“school”[1]，但是一个“学校”的鲱鱼比全世界所有学校的学生加起来的总数还要多，所以，尽管鲸吃掉了一些鲱鱼，还是留下了足够多的鲱鱼让我们享用。挪威人用网打捞鲱鱼，然后，用盐腌制、用烟熏制、或晒干风干，用各种方法保存鲱鱼，确保长期不变质，他们再将鲱鱼干出口到世界各地。今天早餐我还吃了一条，说不定这条鲱鱼好多年前就在挪威附近海域游来游去——它一直被保存了到现在。

今天的早餐，我还吃了一千只蛋。听起来你会觉得这是不可能的，但确实如此——不过不是鸡蛋，而是鲱鱼的“蛋”，因为鲱鱼妈妈肚子里有很多蛋——有成千上万只，我们称鲱鱼的蛋为“鱼卵”。

挪威的海岸不像一般海滩那样平整，不能做浴场，岸边的山直接矗立水中，所以山谷里满是海水，这些充满了海水的山谷我们称之为“峡湾”。

挪威地处遥远的北方，我们常常猜想这些峡湾里的海水在冬季一定非常寒冷；而且我们还知道，当水很冷的时候会发生什么事情——水会凝固，结成冰。但是，奇怪的是，这些峡湾里的水却不会结冰。不结冰的原因是因为阳光照射在几千英里之外的墨西哥湾的海水中。你也许感到很惊讶，几千英里之外的墨西哥湾和挪威有什么关系呢？让我打个比方吧，虽然我家的锅炉装在地窖，但烧了锅炉就加热了管道中的水，即使离地窖最远的房间也能有暖气。同样道理，太阳照射在墨西哥湾中的海水上，海水升温，墨西哥湾就像只大锅炉，加热了海湾里的水，形成一股暖流，叫做“湾流”，就像是海洋里的一条河，从墨西哥湾出发，穿过大洋，一直来到挪威海岸，温暖了峡湾。峡湾温暖的水域就成了大群鲱鱼的安乐窝，直到鲸或渔民的到来。

世界上最北方（northest）的城市就在挪威，而且城市的名字也是以“est”结尾，叫“哈墨弗斯特（Hammerfest）”。墨西哥湾流抵达挪威的地点就在哈墨弗斯特。湾流将一些木头枝条推到岸上，这些木头枝条有的就像是小河里的玩具船一样一路从墨西哥湾漂流到这儿。挪威人将这些漂流木收集起来烧火用。普通木头燃烧会发出黄色的火焰，而这些在海水中漂流了很长时间的木头因吸收了海水中的盐，干燥后燃烧会发出蓝色的、绿色的和紫色的火焰，所以，漂流木在敞开的壁炉里可以燃起美丽的火焰。

你很可能尝过鱼肝油，那种味道你肯定不喜欢——但是，别人会告诉你，鱼肝油有益你的健康。也确实如此。鳕鱼是一种比鲱鱼大得多的鱼，但是决不会和鲸那样大。鳕鱼活动场所之一就在挪威的罗佛敦群岛周围。为了你们的健康，渔夫捕捞整船整船的鳕鱼，从鳕鱼的肝脏提取鱼肝油装在瓶子里。鳕鱼的骨头没有什么用，所以他们把鱼骨全部剔除——这不是件容易的事，因为骨头太多了——然后将鳕鱼肉晒干或风干制成鱼肉干当食物。这儿有一个句子，非常有趣。不过，你得在适当的位置加上一个句号，这个句子才能讲得通。“一条鳕鱼在罗佛敦群岛游啊游一个月后它所有的骨头都被剔除了。”你会在哪儿加一个句号使这个句子有意义呢？

[1] School这个词既有“鱼群”也有“学校”的意思——译者注。

41

Fish, Fiords, Falls, and Forests (continued)

鱼儿、峡湾、瀑布和森林（续）

THE “fishiest” city in the World is in Norway on a fiord. The city and the fiord are both called Bergen. The fishermen from the Lofoden Is-lands and the fiords bring their catches to Bergen—boatloads of big fish and little fish, thick fish and thin fish, white fish and black fish—to sell and to ship everywhere.

Bergen is also another “est” besides the “fishiest.” It is the wettest city in Europe. People carry umbrellas or raincoats all the time, for you scarcely ever see the sun, and when it is not raining it is getting ready to. It takes a lot of rain, if caught in a bucket, to make as much as an inch deep of water. Perhaps you have seen it rain so hard that the streets were flooded and at the crossings the rain has been over your shoe tops, but probably it has rained less than an inch in any one spot, such as in a bucket. Of course, when rain runs off the roof and pours down on to the street the water has run together from a large space, but very few cities have a rainfall of more than a few feet in a whole year. Bergen however has a rainfall of six feet in a year. This is enough rain to drown every man, woman, and child in the city if it all came down at once, but fortunately it does not.

As nearly every family in America has an automobile, nearly every family in Norway has a boat. The Norwegians always have been famous sailors.

Long, long ago the Norwegian sailors were called Vikings, which, however, does not mean Vi-“kings,” but “Vik”-ings, and that means “fiordmen.” One of the greatest of these Vikings was a man named Leif, son of Eric, called Leif Ericson. Leif Ericson lived about a thousand years ago. He and his men sailed across the ocean and landed in America five hundred years before Columbus discovered America, but he didn’t think much of the country, and when he went back to Norway he said little about it.

In later times there have been famous sailors and discoverers too in Norway. Men up there live so near the top of the earth that they have tried to go all the way to the top, to the point where if you stood still you would turn exactly around on the spot where you stood once every twenty-four hours. That point is the North Pole. Such men have risked their lives—and many have lost them—in trying to reach the poles. Two famous Scandinavian explorers, Nansen and Amundsen, tried—they didn’t lose their lives, but they didn’t reach the North Pole, either. An American named Peary was the first man to reach the North Pole. Amundsen, however, tried to reach the South Pole and he succeeded. He was the first man to reach the South Pole. Since then airplanes, and a Norse airship too, have crossed the North Pole, but they didn’t stop there. Later Amundsen started for the North Pole in an airplane and was never heard from again.

Peary was the first man to reach the North Pole

皮里是第一位到达北极的人

You have overshoes to wear when you go out in the snow, but every one in Norway and Sweden has a pair of long wooden runners called “skis,” which he straps to his shoes when he goes out. With these on his feet he coasts over the top of the snow, making a sled of himself—sliding down slopes and pushing himself along on level ground with a pole, as if it were a cane.

He makes a sled of himself

他自制滑雪板

Have you ever seen a white blackbird? No one has. Have you ever seen white coal? They have a lot of it in Norway and Sweden. On the tops of the mountains there are vast fields of snow and ice like frosting on a huge cake, but as this snow and ice sinks down to the valleys it melts and the water falls in streams like rain running off a roof down a waterspout. This water falling is used in Norway and Sweden to turn wheels and the wheels turning are used to run sawmills and machinery, just the same as if the wheels were turned by steam-engines run with coal fires. Norway and Sweden have no black coal, but the waterfalls do much the same thing; they run machines, and so people speak of their waterfalls as “white coal.”

But white coal won’t do one thing that black coal will do—it won’t heat. In the northern part of Sweden there are iron mines. This iron is particularly good for making tools that have to have sharp edges, like knives and razors. But there is no black coal to melt the iron out of the ore, so they ship most of the ore to England, where there is plenty of coal, and there the English make fine cutlery from it.

Perhaps you have seen pictures of pine-trees in the snow or covered with snow. Anyway, pine-trees and snow seem to go together, and a great part of Norway and Sweden is covered with forests chiefly of pine-trees. Pine-trees—tall, straight ones—make fine masts for ships, flag and telegraph poles, and lumber for building. They also make fine match-sticks, and millions of match-sticks can be made out of a single tree. If you will look on a box of matches that you may find at your home, you will probably see the words “Made in Sweden” printed on it. The smaller trees the Swedes grind up into pulp, which is used to make paper, for almost all paper nowadays—whether it is newspaper, wrapping-paper, or the paper you write on—is made of wood-pulp rolled thin. So the people in Sweden cut down trees, saw them up into logs, slide them into the streams, and float them down to the sea, and there they ship them all over the World. But they take good care to plant little trees for every large tree cut down, so that there will always be more trees.

【中文阅读】

世界上“最有鱼味”的城市就在挪威的一个峡湾里，这个城市和这个峡湾都叫卑尔根。来自罗佛敦群岛和峡湾的渔民将他们捕捞的鱼——整船的鱼，有大鱼和小鱼、有肥厚的鱼和瘦薄的鱼、有白鱼和黑鱼——运到卑尔根来卖，再用船运到世界各地。

卑尔根除了最有鱼味之外，还有一个“之最”。卑尔根是欧洲最潮湿的城市。当地人总是随身携带雨伞或雨衣，因为你几乎看不到太阳。即使现在没下雨，但说不定什么时候说下就下。一般雨天如果用桶接雨水的话，则需要相当大的雨量，桶里才会有大约1英寸的雨水。也许你注意到，下暴雨时这里的街道都会被淹；在十字路口，积水会漫过你的鞋面。但是，很可能平均在任何一个地点，雨水都不会超过1英寸深，就像用桶接水一样。当然，当雨水从屋顶倾泻到街道上时，雨水是从一个很大的空间汇流到一起的。但是，世界上很少有哪个城市的年降水量达到几英尺以上，而卑尔根的年降水量达到6英尺。幸而这么多的雨水不是一次降下的，否则城里所有的男人、女人、小孩都会被淹死。

差不多美国每个家庭都有汽车，同样，差不多挪威的每个家庭都有船。从古到今，挪威人因善于航海而闻名于世。

很久以前，挪威水手被称为“维金族人”，“维金”是“峡湾人”的意思。其中最伟大的一个峡湾人是一个名叫莱弗的人，他是埃里克[1]的儿子，全名是莱弗 · 埃里克松。莱弗 · 埃里克松生活在一千年前，他和他手下的人早在哥伦布发现美洲前五百年就航海穿过大洋来到美洲大陆，但是，他并不看重这个地方。回到挪威之后，他很少向人提起这个地方。

后来，挪威还出现了很多著名的航海探险家。生活在挪威的人因为非常靠近地球的顶部，所以他们总想要北上到达地球的顶端，也就是到达一个点，在这个点上，如果你站着一动不动，每隔24小时，你会在原地自转了一圈，这一点就是北极。曾有人冒着生命危险——确实很多人为此失去了生命——试图到达北极和南极。有两位著名的斯堪的纳维亚探险者，南森和阿蒙森，尝试了——他们没有失去生命，但也没能到达北极。一位叫皮里的美国人是第一位到达北极的人，不过阿蒙森却成功到达南极。阿蒙森是第一位到达南极的人。从那时起，还有一些飞机和挪威的一艘飞船飞越过北极，但都没有在那儿停留。后来，阿蒙森开飞机向北极出发，之后就再也没有他的任何消息了。

雪天外出时，你会穿上套鞋，但在挪威和瑞典每个人都会有一双长长的、木制的滑行器，叫“滑雪板”。他们外出时就会用带子将滑雪板绑在鞋子上。有了滑雪板，他们就能在雪上滑行，就好像把自己变成了一个雪橇——滑下斜坡，在平坦的地面上就用手杖样的杆子撑着自己不断向前滑行。

你见过白色的黑鸟吗？没有人见过。你见过白色的煤吗？在挪威和瑞典就很多。山顶有大片大片雪和冰，就像一块巨大的蛋糕上撒满了糖霜。但是，当这些雪和冰下沉到山谷里的时候，就融化了，水川流不息地向下落形成瀑布，就像雨水从屋顶流进排水管一样。挪威和瑞典就利用这些瀑布驱动轮子，转动的轮子又带动大型锯木机和机器，就像烧煤来发动蒸汽机，再用蒸汽机来转动轮子一样。挪威和瑞典没有黑色的煤，但是，瀑布发挥了同样的作用，于是，人们就把瀑布说成“白色的煤”。

但是，有一件事，白色的煤做不到，而黑色的煤却能做到，那就是产生热量。瑞典的北部有铁矿，这儿产的铁品质好，特别适合用来制作有锋利刀刃的工具，如各种刀具和剃刀。但是，没有黑色的煤就不能将铁从铁矿里提炼出来，于是瑞典人就用船将大部分铁矿石运到煤炭资源丰富的英国。在英国人们用提炼出来的铁制造出精美的刀具。

也许，你见过雪地里松树的图片，或是被雪覆盖着的松树的图片。不管怎样，松树和雪似乎总在一起。挪威和瑞典的大部分国土都被森林覆盖着，主要是松树林。松树，长得又高又直，可制成优质的桅杆、旗杆、电线杆和建筑木材；松树还可制成优质的火柴梗，一棵树就可生产出数百万根火柴梗。看看家里的火柴盒，你也许发现上面印着“瑞典制造”。瑞典人把小一点的树木磨碎成浆，用来造纸——现在几乎所有的纸——不论是报纸、包装纸，还是你用来书写的纸——都是树浆制成的。所以，瑞典人将树砍下，锯成圆木，让其滑进小溪，再顺流而下，漂到海里，再用船运到世界各地。但是瑞典人砍伐每一棵大树的同时，还会种上小树苗，细心照料，这样就会有源源不断的木材了。

[1] 埃里克是著名的航海探险家——译者注。

42

Where the Sun Shines All Night

极昼之地

IN “Through the Looking-Glass” the story of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” starts this way:

The sun was shining on the sea,

Shining with all his might: …

And this was odd, because it was

The middle of the night.

Sun shining at midnight! You probably think this can’t be true and is only a joke, but it is true up at the top of Norway and Sweden. At the top of Norway is a great rock sticking out into the Arctic Ocean. It is called the North Cape, and although there is no town there, people make long journeys from other lands to the North Cape to see the sun shining on the sea in the middle of the night.

You have always been told that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and probably you have never seen it do anything else; but the boys and girls in the north of Norway and Sweden know differently, for up there the sun doesn’t rise in the east and set in the west. It goes completely round the house low down in the sky near the ground and keeps on going round and round this way every day for six months and in that time never sets—is never out of sight—there is always daylight for six months. But the sun gradually gets closer and closer to the ground as it goes round the sky and then at last sinks out of sight below the edge of the World, and there it stays out of sight for another six months and for six months it is night.

How can such a thing be? Isn’t it the same sun we see here?

Yes, of course it’s the same sun; there’s only one sun. But we are living on the side of the World and we can’t see the sun when it goes round to the other side of the World. If, however, we climb up the side of the World to the top where the North Cape is, we can see the sun go all the way round. It is as if you lived on the side of a hill and some one went round the hill and came back on the other side. You could see him go off one way and come back the other way, but you couldn’t see him when he was on the other side. If, however, you went to the top of the hill you could see him all the way round.

The land at the top of the World is often called “The Land of the Midnight Sun,” because the sun shines at midnight. It might just as well be called “The Land of the 10-o’clock-at-night Sun,” for the sun shines at every hour of the night as well as every hour of the day. And it also might be called “The Land of the Midday Night,” for when the sun is going round out of sight below the edge of the World it is dark every hour of the day as well as of the night.

拉普人和驯鹿

It’s Santa Claus Land

圣诞老人之地

This “Land of the Midnight Sun” is the land of the Reindeer—Santa Claus Land. In this land of snow and ice very little grows except moss, and the Reindeer is the only animal that can live on moss. The people that live there are called Lapps. They look something like Eskimos, and both look like the Chinese, so we think they probably were Chinese long, long ago. The Lapps and the Reindeer live together in the same hut—the Reindeer is like a horse, a cow, a sheep, and a dog all in one. The Lapp harnesses the Reindeer to his sled, he gets milk from her, he kills her and eats the meat, and then he uses her skin to make himself and his family fur coats and tents.

But the people who live in the rest of Norway and Sweden are the same kind of people as you and I, only some of them are much smarter and better educated. I know a Swede who speaks twelve languages, I know of a Swede who invented a way of separating cream from milk without skimming it, and I know of two Swedish boys who invented a machine for making ice with heat.

Sweden and Norway used to be one country with one king, but now they are separate countries and each has a separate king and a separate capital.

In the geography your grandfather used, the capital of Norway was named Christiania, but the name was changed. You will find it on the map way down the throat of the whale. It is now called Oslo. The capital of Sweden begins with an “S,” as Sweden does. It is Stockholm. Both Oslo and Stockholm are on the water, but they are not touched by the Gulf Stream, so the water in their harbors is frozen over nearly all winter and ships cannot go and come at that time. Stockholm is often called the Venice of the North, because like Venice it has many streets of water.

Mary and John are our commonest names. The Scandinavians like some names for their children better than others. Ole is one name they like especially well. Hans is another, and Eric and Peter are others. We sometimes make a family name by adding “son” to John to make Johnson. The Scandinavians add “son” or “sen” to their names to make family names, as Ericson, Oleson, Hansen, Petersen, Nansen, Amundsen. If you were in Wisconsin or Minnesota and looked in the telephone book you would find thousands of such names. That is because many, many Swedes and Norwegians have come to our country and settled in that part of our country which is most like their country.

Many common Norse words look like English words misspelled:

lamp is lampe

house is hus

cow is ko

They haven’t copied us, we have copied them, for long ago Norse sailors settled in England, and after thousands of years we still use some Norse words changed very little.

Long years ago the men of Scandinavia were fierce fighters, who drank a strong liquor called “mead” and used the skulls of their enemies for cups. They believed in fairy-tale gods and goddesses. Thor, they believed, was a god who made the thunder and lightning. Tiu was the god of war. So they named some of the days of the week after their gods; Tiu’s day, Thor’s day, Woden’s day, Fria’s day. Strange to say, four of the seven days of our week are still named after these Scandinavian gods, for those wild people who believed in those gods are the great-great-grandfathers of many of us. Tuesday is Tiu’s day, Thursday is Thor’s day, Friday is Fria’s day and Wednesday is Woden’s day—that’s why we still have a “d” in Wednesday which we might forget in spelling, as we do not sound it now. Most people have forgotten that our week-days are named after heathen gods, but some think that we should not use such heathen names, so they use numbers instead of names for the days of the week, as in Bible times.

Dynamite, you know, is something used to blow up things. It was invented by a man who lived in Sweden some years ago. When he died he left a lot of money and said that the interest from this money was to be given every year to the men or women who, no matter in what country they lived, had done the most for the World during that year. So each year judges go over all the things that have been done and choose those men or women who have done the most for the good of the World and give them the money. This man was named Nobel and the money is known as the Nobel Prize. Two of our Presidents—Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson—won the Nobel Prize for Peace and so did an American Negro, Ralph Bunche. You yourself could win the Nobel Prize if you ever did something big enough and fine enough. Do you think you ever will?

【中文阅读】

在《镜中奇缘》这部童话小说里，“海象与木匠”故事的开头是这样的：

太阳照射在海面上，

阳光灿烂……

这很奇怪，因为

现在是午夜。

午夜太阳还在照射！你很可能认为，这不是真的，只不过是个玩笑吧。但是，在挪威和瑞典的最北端真的就是这样的。在挪威的最北端，有一块巨大的岩石伸出去，伸进北冰洋，叫做“北角”。尽管那儿没有城镇，人们还是从世界各地长途跋涉来到北角，观看午夜太阳照射海面的情景。

别人总是告诉你，太阳从东边升起，在西边落下。而且你很可能从来没有见过与此不同的情况。但是，挪威和瑞典北部的孩子们所知道的就和我们不一样，因为在那儿，太阳并不是东升西落。太阳完全是围着房子转，始终低低地挂在空中，离地面很近，就这样日复一日，在天空持续转六个月。在这段时间里没有日落——太阳总是在你视力范围之内——连续六个月都是白天。但是，随着太阳在空中转动，它离地面越来越近，最后，终于落下去，离开你的视野，落在世界边缘以下。这样，连续六个月你看不到太阳，连续六个月都是黑夜。

怎么会发生这样的事呢？难道那边的太阳和我们天天看到的太阳不是同一个吗？

是的，当然是同一个太阳，只有一个太阳。但是，我们生活在世界的这一边，当太阳转到世界的另一边的时候，我们就看不见它了。然而，如果我们往北来到北角所在的地球顶点，我们就会看到太阳始终都在那里转动。这就好像是你住在山的这边，看见有个人绕过这座山再从另一边回来。你可以看见他从这边离开，也可以看见他从另一边回来；可是当他在山的背面的时候，你就看不见他了。但是，如果你来到山顶，你就总是都能看到他。

世界之巅常常被称作“午夜太阳之地”，因为午夜时分太阳依然在天空；也不妨叫做“夜晚10点太阳之地”，因为太阳在晚上的每个小时都在照着，如同白天；也不妨叫做“正午夜晚之地”，因为当太阳转到世界边缘之下看不见的时候，白天的每个小时都像夜晚一样黑暗。

“正午夜晚之地”是驯鹿之地——圣诞老人之地。在这冰雪覆盖的大地上，除了苔藓，其他植物无法生长，而驯鹿是唯一以苔藓为食的动物。生活在那儿的人被称作拉普人。他们看起来有点像爱斯基摩人，而这两种人看起来都像中国人。所以，我们认为，很久以前，他们的祖先很可能就是中国人。拉普人和驯鹿生活在同一屋檐下——拉普人生活中处处依靠驯鹿，驯鹿的作用像马、像母牛、像羊、又像狗。拉普人靠驯鹿拉雪橇，喝驯鹿的奶水，吃驯鹿的肉，并用驯鹿的皮为自己和家人做皮衣和帐篷。

但是，生活在挪威和瑞典其他地方的人和我们[1]没有任何区别，只不过他们有一些人比我们更聪明，接受过更好的教育。我认识一个瑞典人，他会说12种语言；我听说有一个瑞典人发明了一种给牛奶脱脂的方法，这种方法免去了撇奶油的过程；我还听说有两个瑞典男孩发明了一种能通过加热做出冰块的机器。

瑞典和挪威曾经是一个国家，由一个国王统治，但现在，它们是两个独立的国家，各自有自己的国王和自己的首都。

在你祖父使用的地理书上，挪威的首都叫克里斯丁亚娜，但后来这个名字改了，你会在地图上“鲸”的喉咙深处找到它，现在叫奥斯陆。像瑞典（Sweden）这个单词一样，瑞典首都也是以“S”开头的，叫斯德哥尔摩（Stockholm）。奥斯陆和斯德哥尔摩都是海滨城市，但是湾流不经过这两座城市，所以几乎整个冬季，海港里的海水全部结成冰，船只无法进出。斯德哥尔摩常被称作“北方的威尼斯”，因为像威尼斯一样，斯德哥尔摩市内河道纵横。

玛丽和约翰是美国人最常用的名字。斯堪的纳维亚人给自己的孩子取名也偏爱某些名字。他们特别喜欢的一个名字是“奥利”，另一个是“汉斯”，还有“埃里克”和“彼得”。有时，我们会在名字后面加上一个“逊”构成新名字，如“约翰”变成“约翰逊”。斯堪的纳维亚人会在名字后面加上“森”，构成新名字，如埃里克森、奥里森、汉森、彼得森、南森、阿姆德森等。如果你在威斯康星州或明尼苏达州翻看电话簿的话，你会看到数千个这样的名字。这是因为很多瑞典人和挪威人来到美国，定居在这两个州，因为这里的环境很像他们的祖国。

许多挪威的常见词语看起来就像是拼错了的英语单词，如，“lamp”（灯），挪威语写作“lampe”，“house”（房子），挪威语拼作“hus”，“cow”（母牛）挪威语是“ko”。他们没有模仿我们，而是我们模仿他们，因为很久以前，挪威的水手在英格兰定居下来。几千年之后，我们仍然在沿用一些挪威语的词汇，这些词汇几乎没有什么改变。

很久以前，斯堪的纳维亚人是非常残暴的好斗者，他们喝一种叫“蜂蜜酒”的烈性酒，把敌人的头骨当酒杯用。他们信奉神话中的各种神。他们相信，托尔是掌管雷电的神，蒂乌是战神，所以，他们就用这些神的名字来命名一周中的某些天：“蒂乌的日子”（Tiu’s day），“托尔的日子”（Thor’s day），“沃登的日子”（Woden’s day），“弗里亚的日子”（Fria’s day）。奇怪的是，我们一周7天仍然有4天是按照斯堪的纳维亚人信奉的神的名字来命名的，因为信奉这些神的野蛮人是我们当中很多人的曾—曾—祖父。星期二是战神蒂乌的日子，星期四是雷神托尔的日子，星期五是和平之神弗里亚的日子，星期三是主神沃登的日子——这就是为什么仍然在星期三中有“d”原因，这个“d”我们常常忘了将它拼出来，因为现在这个“d”不发音了。大多数人已经忘了一周中的日子都是根据异教徒的神来命名的，但有些人认为我们不应该使用异教信仰的名字，所以他们不用名字而用数字来表示一周中的这些日子，在《圣经》时代就是这样。

达纳炸药（又称黄色炸药）是用来炸毁东西用的。这种炸药是多年前住在瑞典的一个人发明的。他去世的时候留下了大笔的钱，他在遗言中交代，每年这笔钱的利息用来奖励那些在那一年里对世界作出最大贡献的人，不管来自哪个国家。所以，评奖委员每年都要仔细审核当年世界上的重大成就，然后挑选出对人类利益贡献最大的人，并授予他们奖金。留下这笔钱的那个人名叫“诺贝尔”，这些奖金就被称为“诺贝尔奖”。美国有两位总统——西奥多 · 罗斯福和伍德罗 · 威尔逊——都获得过诺贝尔和平奖，还有一位美国黑人，拉尔夫 · 本奇，也获得过诺贝尔和平奖。如果你做过什么贡献，只要极大，极卓越，就有可能获得诺贝尔奖。你觉得你将来有这个可能吗？

[1] 这里指欧美的白人——译者注。

43

The Bear

熊

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY the story I liked best was one about wolves in Russia. Some Russians in a sleigh were driving across the snow, when they were attacked by a pack of hungry wolves. The men whipped up their horses, but the wolves drew nearer and nearer. When the wolves were just about to spring upon the sleigh the men threw out food, which the wolves stopped a moment to devour, allowing the sleigh to get ahead. But the wolves caught up and again food was thrown out and again and again, till there was no food left. See if you can guess the end of the story, or make up an ending of your own.

Naturally, I used to think of Russia as a land of wolves, though for some reason people call Russia “The Bear.”

Russia is a huge country—it is the largest country in Europe—it is as large as all the other countries of Europe put together, and in the far north there are wolves, snow, and sleighs. But there is also a middle Russia which is not so cold and a southern Russia which is quite warm.

In the north of Russia it is so cold that even in summer when the snow has gone and the ground has thawed out on top, the ground underneath remains frozen stiff, and, though grass and even flowers grow above, the ground below remains hard and icy. These frozen lands are called “tundras,” and there are thousands of miles of such tundras across the north of Russia.

At the top of Russia is a sea called “White” and at the bottom of Russia a sea called “Black.” The White Sea, I suppose, is called “White” because it is frozen over most of the year and covered with snow—and yet, during a few months of the summer when the ice in it has melted, great ships sail into the White Sea, bringing in loads of all sorts of goods to the one great port on this sea—a city called Archangel—a name that makes one think of heaven.

You may wonder why people live in such faroff places, why they don’t move to other places that are more comfortable. But people live where they can make a living, and cities usually start with a few houses and more and more houses are built until there is a city. But there is a great city farther south than Archangel which was built all at once—to order. It was built by a man named Peter, who was one of the rulers of Russia. They were called “czars.” Peter wanted to live by the water so that he could sail ships, just as you might like to go to the seashore to sail boats, so he built a city by the sea, with streets, shops, houses, and palaces, and then, as he was a czar who could make people do what he wanted, he made people come and live in this city. Peter had been named for St. Peter, so he called his city St. Petersburg, which meant St. Peter’s City. That was two hundred years ago.

When Russia was fighting in World War I the people of St. Petersburg said that they wanted a real Russian name for their city, for “burg” was the German name for city, and they were fighting the Germans, so they called it Petrograd, which was the Russian name for Peter’s City. But the people got tired of the war and all of a sudden they said they would not fight any more; they had a revolution, killed the czar and set up a government of their own. They wanted the city of Petrograd called for the leader of the revolution, a man named Lenin, so they changed the name of the city again to Leningrad, which meant Lenin’s City.

Russia, but it was so cold there they moved the capital to a city still farther south near the center of Russia that had been the capital before. This city is called Moscow.

The revolutionists took the palaces and homes of the wealthy and turned them into hospitals and public buildings. They took the land of the rich and lent it out to farmers and workers. These revolutionists were known as Communists. The provinces and districts of Russia combined as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which is governed from the capital at Moscow.

In Moscow there is a big walled-in place with houses and palaces and churches called the Kremlin. It is from the Kremlin that Russia is ruled, so the Kremlin is really the capitol, though it is not just one building like our Capitol in Washington. The churches in the Kremlin are not used as churches now for after the Revolution the Communists turned them into museums and government buildings just as they did the palaces of the wealthy.

Near the walls of the Kremlin is a great open paved space called Red Square. On one side of Red Square is a flat-topped building which is the tomb of Lenin. The Russians have the largest army i. t. w. W. and they often have parades of soldiers which pass through Red Square past the chief Russian rulers who stand on top of Lenin’s tomb to see the soldiers march by.

The square is called Red Square because red is the color of revolution and the people who govern Russia adopted it as their color. Russia’s flag is red and the Communists themselves are often called Reds. The Communists are not Christians. They don’t believe in any religion.

There are still some Christians in Russia, but the Communists have done many things to make it hard to be a Christian there.

One thing the Communists believe is that all countries must sooner or later be made Communist countries. Communists have seized many of the small countries that are next to Russia. Communists even try to overthrow the governments of countries that do not like Communism and want nothing to do with it. There are a few Communists in England, in France, in the United States—in fact in almost all countries, and these Communists plot and scheme against these countries all the time. A person doesn’t have to be a Russian to be a Communist, but the chief Communists are Russians.

In a Communist country the people must do whatever the Communist rulers tell them. People can be put in prison, or sent to work as slaves in the mines, or even killed by the Communist police without a trial. When they are taken away by the police their families may never hear from them again. Almost no people from other countries are allowed to visit Communist countries, especially the chief Communist country of Russia. “VISITORS NOT WANTED. KEEP OUT” would be a good sign to paste on the map of Russia.

Russia is more than twice as big as any other country i. t. w. W. It’s hard for us to understand why Russia wants to take over more and more countries when it is already so big. But it does. The Russian Communists would like Moscow to be the capital of the whole World, not just the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Russian people love music and they love their land of Russia. Some of the best music in the whole World has been written by Russians. Whenever a group of Russians are working together they are apt to sing. Russian soldiers sing on the march, workers in the fields sing together as they work, sailors sing on their ships. Even those poor people who are kept like slaves in prison camps sing, though their songs are not gay but sad.

【中文阅读】

我小时候最喜欢的故事，是关于俄罗斯狼群的。一些俄罗斯人，驾驶着雪橇，穿过雪地，突然遭到一群饿狼的袭击。雪橇上的人用鞭子抽打马，促马快跑，但是狼群还是越逼越近。正当狼群就要扑向雪橇之际，雪橇上的人扔出一些食物，狼群就停下去吞食，这让雪橇可以继续向前跑。但是狼群很快就追上来了，于是又扔出食物，狼群再次赶上来了，再扔，直到食物全部扔完。你猜结果会是怎样呢？或者你自己为这个故事编一个结尾。

听了这样的故事，我一直想当然地认为俄罗斯就是狼的故乡，不过现在由于某种原因俄罗斯被称为“熊”。

俄罗斯国土辽阔——它是欧洲最大的国家——面积相当于欧洲其他所有国家加在一起那么大。在遥远的俄罗斯北部，有狼群，有雪原，还有雪橇。但是，俄罗斯的中部没有那么冷，南部还相当的温暖。

俄罗斯北部非常寒冷，即使在夏季，雪已经没有了，地面表层也解冻了，但是地下仍然是冻得结结实实；尽管地面长着绿草，甚至还开着鲜花，地下还是又硬又结了冰。这些结冰的土地被称为“冻原”。在俄罗斯北部有数千英里这样的冻原。

在俄罗斯的上方有一片海，叫“白海”，在它的下方，也有一片海，叫“黑海”。我猜测，白海之所以被称为“白海”是因为一年大部分时间它都结着冰，被雪覆盖着；然而，在夏季的几个月里，冰融化了，许多大船也能驶进白海，载着各种各样的货物抵达白海主要的一个大港口——一座叫阿尔汉格尔斯克的城市——这个名字让人想到天堂[1]。

你也许很好奇，为什么人们要居住在如此偏远的地方？为什么不搬到环境更舒适一点的地方呢？但是人们一般都住在可以生存的地方，这个地方最初只有几栋房子，房子越建越多就发展成了城市。然而，在阿尔汉格尔斯克南边较远的一座大城市，却是遵照命令一次就建起来的。命令建城的人是一个名叫“彼得”的俄罗斯统治者。俄罗斯的统治者都被称作“沙皇”。彼得想住在海边，这样他能随时驾船航海，就像你很想去海边驾船一样。于是他就在海边建造了一座城市，城里有街道，有商店，有房屋，还有宫殿。此时，因为他是沙皇，他想怎么做，民众就得怎么做。他下令其他地方的人搬到这个城市居住。彼得的名字是根据圣彼得的名字取的，于是他将这座城市命名为“圣彼得堡”，意思是“圣彼得的城市”。这是200年前的事了。

俄罗斯参加第一次世界大战的时候，圣彼得堡的人民说他们想为自己的城市取一个真正的俄罗斯的名字，因为“堡”是德国人用来表示“城市”的，而他们当时又在和德国人打仗，所以他们把“圣彼得堡”改名为“彼得格勒”，彼得格勒在俄语中也是“圣彼得的城市”的意思。后来，人们厌倦了战争，突然就决定不再继续打下去了。他们发动了一场革命，处死了沙皇，建立了自己的政府。他们想用这场革命的领袖——列宁——的名字来称呼“彼得格勒”这座城市，于是，他们又将城市的名字改为“列宁格勒”，意思是“列宁的城市”。这样，圣彼得堡、彼得格勒、列宁格勒都曾是俄罗斯首都的名字，但是这儿气候寒冷，于是人们将首都迁到更南边的一个城市，靠近俄罗斯的中心，那儿以前也曾是首都。这个城市叫莫斯科。

革命者占领了富人的宫殿和房子，将它们建成医院和公共建筑；他们还夺取了富人的土地，租给农民和工人。这些革命者就是众所周知的共产党人。俄罗斯的所有省份和地区联合起来成立了苏维埃社会主义共和国联盟，由首都莫斯科统辖。

在莫斯科，有一处围着围墙的宽阔区域，里面有房子、宫殿和教堂，这个地方叫做克里姆林宫。事实上，俄罗斯的统治中心就是克里姆林宫，所以克里姆林宫才是真正的“国会大厦”，不过它与美国华盛顿的国会大厦只有一座建筑物不同，它有一大片建筑物。克里姆林宫里的教堂不再作为教堂使用，因为革命后共产党人将教堂改建成博物馆和政府大楼，就像他们改建富人的宫殿一样。

在克里姆林宫附近，有一个宽阔的广场叫做“红场”。在红场的一侧有一座平顶建筑，是列宁的陵墓。俄罗斯有世界上最庞大的军队，经常在红场举行阅兵仪式，俄罗斯的主要统治者就站在列宁墓顶的平台上检阅军队。

这个广场被称为红场，因为红色是革命的颜色，而且，俄罗斯的统治者指定红色作为自己的颜色。苏联的国旗是红色的，共产党人也常常被称作是“赤色分子”，他们不是基督徒，也不信仰任何宗教。

俄罗斯人热爱音乐，也热爱自己的国家。全世界有部分最经典的音乐就是俄罗斯人创作的。每当一群俄罗斯人在一起工作，他们就情不自禁唱起来。士兵行军中唱歌，工人工作时唱歌，水手在船上唱歌，甚至那些像奴隶一样被关押在监狱里的不幸的人也唱歌，不过他们的歌声不是欢快的，而是悲伤的。

[1] 城市英文名Archangel是“大天使”的意思——译者注。

44

The Bread-Basket

装面包的篮子——粮仓

IN the north of Russia the ground is white with snow.

In the south of Russia the ground is black—almost as black as coal—because the soil is so rich, probably the richest in the World. So this part of Russia is called the Black Earth Land. In parts of our country the rich soil usually goes down only a few inches before there is rock or clay, on which nothing will grow, but in Russia the rich soil is so deep that you could dig down in some places three or four times your height before striking rock or clay in which nothing grows. In America many farms wear out, because there is such a thin layer of the rich soil that it is soon used up. This is the case on many farms in New England that were in use two hundred years ago but are now used up, and so little will grow on them that the farmers move away and leave their farms, for they are no longer any good. In Russia, however, the rich soil never seems to wear out. Their farms are thousands of years old and still there is enough of this soil to grow food.

In the Black Earth Land they raise great quantities of wheat and, as bread is made from wheat, this part of Russia is often called the Bread-Basket. There is one thing the farmers raise that may seem strange—that is, sunflowers—acres and acres of them. But they do not raise them for their flowers; they raise them for their seeds. They eat sunflower seeds as we eat peanuts; but the chief thing they do with them is to press the oil out of the seeds, for this oil is good for salad, for making soap and other things.

The largest lake in the World is in the corner of Russia next to the Black Sea. Rivers run into it but none run out of it, and so the lake is salt. It is called the Caspian Sea, for it is like a little ocean.

As the March Hare in “Alice in Wonderland” said, “You can draw water out of a water-well, so I should think you could draw treacle out of a treacle-well,” and in the same way you get oil from an oil-well. At the city of Baku on the side of the Caspian Sea there are so many oil-wells and so much oil that it seems to get into everything. You see it, smell it, feel it, and taste it. As there are no rivers flowing out of the Caspian Sea, no ships can get to the ocean from Baku, so a way had to be found to carry the oil to a place where ships could come and get it. The nearest place where a ship could come was over seven hundred miles away, a place called Batum on the Black Sea, so they laid a huge pipe seven hundred miles long to carry the oil from Baku to Batum, where it is put into boats called oil tankers and carried away.

The highest mountains and the longest river in Europe are both in Russia. The mountains are the Caucasus, on the southern edge of Russia, between the Black and the Caspian Seas. They are higher than the ALps.

Most rivers we say “run,” but the longest river in Europe is also the slowest. It is the Volga. It moves so slowly it is hard to tell whether it is going or coming. It “walks” into the Caspian Sea. In the Volga River big fish are caught called sturgeon. The sturgeon’s eggs are called caviar, and caviar is considered a great delicacy, though one usually has to learn to like it. Caviar is probably the most expensive food there is—a very little costs so much: a pound of caviar costs almost a hundred times as much as a pound of beefsteak—perhaps that is one reason why people like it.

The most precious metal in the World is not silver, not gold, but a metal called platinum. Platinum looks something like silver, but there is so little of it that it costs more than gold. On the eastern edge of Russia, which is also the eastern edge of Europe, there is a range of mountains called the Ural Mountains; they are not very high, in fact they are not much more than hills. In these mountains platinum is found.

There is a peculiar kind of rock found in Russia. The rock is like bundles of silky threads, which can be made into a kind of cloth. It is called asbestos. As asbestos cloth is made from rock it will not burn. A king long ago had a table-cloth made of asbestos. People didn’t know about asbestos at that time, so the king used to amaze his dinner guests by throwing the table-cloth into the fire after dinner was over, then after a while taking it out unburned. We use asbestos to cover hot pipes, for firemen’s suits, and for roofs of houses, as it will not burn, no matter how hot it is heated. Asbestos is also found in parts of the United States and Canada.

【中文阅读】

俄罗斯北部，土地白雪皑皑。

俄罗斯南部，土地是黑色的——几乎和煤一样黑——因为这儿的土壤非常肥沃，可能是世界上最肥沃的土地，所以俄罗斯的这片土地被称为黑土地。在美国有些地区，肥沃的土壤往往只有几英寸厚，下面就是任何植物都无法生长的岩石或者黏土了。但在俄罗斯，肥沃的土层很厚很厚，有些地方你要是不断地向下挖，挖到有你身高的三四倍才会碰到什么都不能生长的岩石和黏土层。在美国，许多农场渐渐废弃了，因为那里肥沃的土壤层太薄，很快就被耗尽了。这就是新英格兰很多农场的现状，这些农场种了两百年了，现在土地已经非常贫瘠，根本种不了庄稼，所以当地农民只能搬走，离开农场，因为这些农场不再有任何用处了。然而在俄罗斯，肥沃的土壤似乎永远都不会耗尽。那里的农田已经种了几千年了，仍有足够肥沃的土壤种植谷物。

俄罗斯人在黑土地上大量种植小麦，因为面包是由小麦做的，所以俄罗斯的这个地区又常常被比喻“面包篮”。农民们还种植一种似乎很奇怪的农作物——向日葵——成亩成亩的向日葵。但是他们种植向日葵并不是为了向日葵花，而是为了获取它们的种子。他们吃向日葵的种子——葵花籽——就像我们吃花生一样。但是对他们来说，向日葵种子的主要用途是榨油，因为这种油很适合用来拌沙拉，还可以用于生产肥皂和其他东西。

世界上最大的湖泊就靠近俄罗斯边疆，在黑海附近。很多河流汇入湖中但是没有河流流出，所以这个湖是咸水湖，它被称作“里海”，因为它像一个小小的海洋。

《艾丽丝漫游奇境记》中的三月兔说，“你可以从水井中打水，所以我认为你可以从糖浆井中打糖浆。”同样，你可以从油井中打石油。在里海边的巴库城有很多很多油田，出产大量的石油，似乎什么东西都沾上了石油。你随处可以看到它、闻到它、摸到它、尝到它。由于没有河流从里海流出，船只不能从巴库到达海洋，所以必须想个法子，将石油送到可以装船再运走的地方。船只可以到达的最近的地方，是在700多英里以外的、黑海边上一个叫“巴统”的地方，于是人们铺设了一条长达700多英里的巨型管道，将石油从巴库输送到巴统，然后石油被装进油船运到各地。

欧洲最高的山脉和最长的河流都在俄罗斯。最高的山脉是位于俄罗斯南部边界、在黑海和里海之间的高加索山脉，比阿尔卑斯山脉还要高。

我们说大多数河流是“流动”的。但是欧洲最长的河流却是水流最慢的河流，它就是伏尔加河。伏尔加河的水流非常缓慢，你甚至很难区分河水是朝哪个方向流的。它像是“缓步”汇入了里海。在伏尔加河人们常常捕捉一种叫鲟鱼的大鱼。鲟鱼的卵可以做成鱼子酱，鱼子酱被认为是一种美味佳肴，不过要习惯它的味道得有一个过程。鱼子酱可能是世界上最贵的食物了——一点点鱼子酱就要花很多钱：一磅鱼子酱的价格几乎是一磅牛排的一百倍——也许这是人们喜欢它的一个原因。

世界上最珍贵的金属不是白银也不是黄金，而是一种叫做白金的金属。白金看起来有点像银，但是全世界白金储量很少，所以它比黄金还贵。在俄罗斯边疆，也是欧洲的东部边界，有一条山脉叫乌拉尔山脉。乌拉尔山脉比较低矮，甚至比丘陵也高不了多少，就是在这些山脉中人们发现了白金。

在俄罗斯，人们发现了一种特别的岩石。这种岩石就像一束束的丝线，可以做成一种布料。这种岩石叫石棉。因为石棉布是用岩石做成的，所以不会燃烧。很久以前，一个国王有一块用石棉做的桌布。人们那时并不了解石棉，所以国王常常用完餐后将桌布扔进火中，一会儿又从火中拿出来，而桌布一点没烧坏，国王的客人看了感到惊奇不已。石棉被用来包裹热管道、也可用作消防员制服和屋顶的材料，因为不管它被加热到多高的温度都不会燃烧。在美国和加拿大的一些地区，也发现了石棉。

45

The Iron Curtain Countries

铁幕国家

THERE are thousands of cities and towns in the World that neither you nor I have ever heard of, yet millions of people call these cities and towns home. These same people probably have never heard of the town or city where you yourself live.

Between Russia and the rest of Europe are nine little countries, some of them not very important, but all of them most important to the people who live in them; and yet many people may live their whole lives and perhaps never hear of some of these places—unless they collect postage stamps. Six of these countries end in “ia” and two end in “land.”

The two countries next to Russia that aren’t run by Communists are Finland and Austria. Finland is the largest of these in-between countries. It lies between Russia and the Scandinavian Peninsula. Finland means Marsh Land, for it is a land of marshes and lakes. It is like Norway and Sweden in some ways—it has fiords and it makes paper and matches. It is a republic with a president.

The other “land” country is Po-land, which means Flat Land. It is almost as large as Finland. Poland has much farm land and there are iron and coal mines. Many famous musicians have been Poles.

Are you a good speller? How would you spell a cough or a sneeze? South of Poland is a long thin country with a name which sounds funny to us—something between a cough and a sneeze—Czechoslovakia. I have a set of china dishes that has stamped on the bottom MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, for there they used to make a great deal of china, and glassware too.

There used to be a country called Austria-Hungary. Now there are two countries—Austria and Hungary. Through Austria and Hungary runs a famous river—almost as famous as the Rhine. It is called the Danube; and, like the Rhine, the Danube has castles overlooking it, castles in which once lived robber barons. Fairy-tales and poems and music have been written about the Danube too. One of the most famous waltzes ever written is called “The Blue Danube.” The Blue Danube runs into the Black Sea. The capital of Austria is Vienna. Vienna used to be famous for its restaurants and cooking. Perhaps you have eaten Vienna rolls or been to a Vienna restaurant, even if you have never been to Austria, for we have Vienna rolls and restaurants in the United States too.

The name Hungary makes you think of food, or rather lack of food, but the name doesn’t mean hungry. It means Land of the Huns. In fact, Hungary should not be hungry, for a great deal of wheat for making bread is raised there. Have you ever eaten a kind of hash called Hungarian goulash? It is very highly seasoned with pepper and spices, and some restaurants in our country serve it. In some of these restaurants orchestras play Hungarian music. It is a kind of music such as the Gypsies dance to—slow and sweet, then fast and furious, with a hop, skip, and jump time. In Hungary many of the people are, strange to say, related to the Chinese way back. They are called Magyars.

She will tell your fortune

她会给你算命

Have you ever had your palm read or your fortune told? Gypsies are people who wander over the country doing that for a living. Most of the Gypsies come from a country next to Hungary and bordering on the Black Sea called Romania—nowadays frequently spelled Rumania. It is supposed that long ago people from Rome settled in that country and called it Romania from Rome. The language of Romania is still something like the Roman or Italian.

Bulgaria is an Iron Curtain country next to the Black Sea. It has forests and mountains as well as farm land. In the forests live bears, wild-cats, and wild boars. The ibex, a kind of wild goat, lives there too. And in the mountains there is a goat-like antelope called the chamois. We get our name for chamois or “shammy” cloths, used for washing automobiles, from this animal. Once chamois cloths were really soft leather from the skin of the chamois, but now we make the cloths from other materials.

An important business of the Bulgarians is perfumery. They raise fields of roses from which they make a very fine and expensive perfume called “attar of roses.” It takes a whole roomful of rose petals to make only a tiny bottle of attar of roses, so you can see why attar of roses is expensive.

Albania is a little country where most of the people raise farm crops or cattle and sheep. In parts of Albania the men wear skirts that reach to their knees and stick out all around like a dancer’s. The skirts that the men wear in Scotland are made of dark-colored cloths but the skirts worn by Albanian men are white.

Jugoslavia is a country just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It has many forests. It also has copper mines. In fact more copper is mined in Jugoslavia than in any other European country.

When I hear the name of a place or a person, some one thing usually pops into my head, though that thing may not be at all important.

If I hear “George Washington,” the first thing that pops into my head is “cherry-tree.”

If I hear “New York,” the first thing I think of is “sky-scrapers.”

So when I hear “Finland,” I think of marshes.

When I hear “Poland,” I think of music.

When I hear “Austria,” I think of Vienna rolls.

When I hear “Hungary,” I think of the Blue Danube.

When I hear “Romania,” I think of Gypsies.

When I hear “Bulgaria,” I think of chamois and perfumes.

When I hear “Albania,” I think of men with skirts.

When I hear “Czechoslovakia,” I think of china and glass.

When I hear “Jugoslavia,” I think of copper.

【中文阅读】

世界上有成千上万座城镇你我都没有听说过，但有千百万的人称它们为“家乡”，同样，他们很可能也没有听说过你所居住的城市。

在苏联和欧洲其他部分之间有九个小国家，其中有些并不是非常重要的国家，但对于居住在这些国家的人来说，它们都是至关重要的。然而，许多人也许活了一辈子也没有听说过这些地方——除非是喜欢集邮的人。这些国家的英文国名有六个是以“ia”结尾的，两个以“land”结尾。

紧邻苏联的两个国家是芬兰和奥地利。芬兰是所有夹在中间的国家中面积最大的，位于苏联和斯堪的纳维亚半岛之间。“芬兰”意思是“沼泽地”，因为在这片土地上有很多沼泽和湖泊。在某些方面，芬兰与挪威和瑞典很像——有峡湾，生产纸和火柴。芬兰也是共和政体，有一位总统。

另一个国名以“land”结尾的国家是波兰，“波兰”意思是“平地”，国土面积几乎与芬兰一样大，有很多的农田，有铁矿和煤矿。很多著名的音乐家都是波兰人。

你善于拼写吗？你是如何拼写“cough”（咳嗽）和“sneeze”（打喷嚏）这两个单词的？在波兰的南边，有一个狭长的国家，它的名字听起来很有趣——介乎cough和sneeze之间——捷克斯洛伐克。我有一套瓷盘，底部印着“捷克斯洛伐克制造”，因为捷克斯洛伐克以前大量生产瓷器和玻璃器皿。

曾经有一个国家，叫做奥匈帝国。现在是两个国家——奥地利和匈牙利。有一条著名的河——几乎与莱茵河齐名——流经奥地利和匈牙利，叫多瑙河；而且，像莱茵河一样，多瑙河两岸也有高耸的城堡，这些城堡曾经住着强盗贵族。也有童话故事、诗歌和音乐描写多瑙河，迄今为止最有名的华尔兹舞曲之一就是“蓝色的多瑙河”。“蓝色的”多瑙河流进“黑色的”海——黑海。奥地利的首都是维也纳，维也纳曾经以餐馆和烹饪闻名于世。即使没有去过奥地利，你也许品尝过维也纳面包卷或去过维也纳餐馆。因为在美国就有维也纳面包卷，还有维也纳风味的餐馆。

“匈牙利”这个名字会让你想到食物，确切点说，想到缺乏食物[1]，但是这个名字并不是“饥饿”的意思，它的意思是“匈奴人之乡”。事实上，匈牙利应该不会缺乏食物，因为匈牙利大量种植小麦，这些小麦很适合做面包。你吃过一种名叫“匈牙利红烩牛肉”的碎杂烩吗？它的味道很浓，因为里面放了很多胡椒和调料。美国有些餐馆就有这道菜。一些这样的餐馆里还有管弦乐队演奏匈牙利音乐，这种音乐类似吉卜赛舞蹈的伴奏曲——随着舞步节拍的变化（有单脚小跳、双脚交替跳和双脚大跳），乐曲时而舒缓柔和，时而快速激烈。说来也怪，在匈牙利，有很多人又与很久以前的中国人有亲缘关系，这些人叫做“马札尔人”。

你让人看过手相或算过命吗？吉卜赛人在匈牙利各地流浪以看手相和算命为生。大多数吉卜赛人来自匈牙利的邻国“罗马尼亚”，英文现在常拼作Rumania。罗马尼亚与黑海毗连。据说很久以前，罗马人来到这里定居，按照“罗马”把这个国家称为罗马尼亚。现在的罗马尼亚语言还有点像罗马语或意大利语。

保加利亚是黑海边的一个国家，它有很多森林、山脉和农田。森林里有熊、野猫和野猪出没。巨角塔尔羊——一种野山羊，也生活在那儿。在山区还生活一种形似山羊的小羚羊，名叫岩羚羊。我们擦拭汽车用的岩羚羊布，其名正是取自这种动物。岩羚羊布一度是用真岩羚羊皮制成的非常柔软的皮革。但是现在我们采用其他材料制成仿岩羚羊布。

保加利亚一项重要的产业就是香水调制业。他们在大片田地里种植玫瑰花，用玫瑰花生产一种精致、昂贵的香水叫“玫瑰油”。生产一小瓶玫瑰油需要整整一屋子的玫瑰花瓣，这样你就明白为什么玫瑰油这么贵了吧。

阿尔巴尼亚是一个小国，大部分人种植庄稼或饲养牛羊。在阿尔巴利亚一些地方，男人穿齐膝的裙子，裙摆像舞裙一样向外张开。苏格兰男人穿的裙子布料是深颜色的，而阿尔巴利亚男人穿的短裙则是白色的。

隔着亚得里亚海与意大利遥遥相望的国家是南斯拉夫。南斯拉夫有丰富的森林和铜矿资源。事实上，南斯拉夫铜矿产量比其他任何一个欧洲国家的都要多。

当我听到一个地名或人名，就会立刻联想到某个东西，尽管那个东西也许一点都不重要。

听到“乔治 · 华盛顿”，首先出现在我脑海的是樱桃树。

听到“纽约”，我马上想到摩天大楼。

听到“芬兰”，我想到沼泽地。

听到“波兰”，我想到音乐。

听到“奥地利”，我想到维也纳面包卷。

听到“匈牙利”，我想到蓝色多瑙河。

听到“罗马尼亚”，我想到吉卜赛人。

听到“保加利亚”，我想到岩羚羊和香水。

听到“阿尔巴尼亚”，我想到穿短裙的男人。

听到“捷克斯洛伐克”，我想到瓷器和玻璃。

听到“南斯拉夫”，我想到铜。

[1] hungry也有“饥饿”的意思——译者注。

46

The Land of the Gods

众神之国

THE first book I ever read was Æsop’s Fables. Æsop was a slave who lived in a little country called Greece. Æsop the slave wrote such famous fables that his master set him free. The book I read was in English, but the Fables were first written in Greek.

Greece is so small that if I pointed to it on the map down at the corner of Europe it would be entirely covered by the tip of my finger. But small as it is, it was at one time the greatest country, its people were the greatest people, and its language the greatest language in the World. When the rest of the people in Europe were ignorant savages the people in Greece were writing the greatest books, building the most beautiful buildings, making the most beautiful statues, and teaching the most famous schools that have ever been. There is one Book that was first written in Greek but is now printed in over eight hundred languages, and more people have read it than any other book in the World. It’s the Bible—the New Testament part.

But the people of Greece didn’t at first believe in the Bible or Christ. They didn’t believe in only one god but in many gods, who they said lived above the clouds on the top of a mountain called Olympus. The mountain is still there, but if you should climb to the top you wouldn’t find any gods. When the sun shone the Greeks said that the god Apollo was driving his golden chariot across the sky. When the rain fell they said another god, Jupiter, was watering the earth, and when the lightning flashed they said he was angry and throwing thunderbolts. They believed that there was a god of love and that there was a god of war and that there was a god of almost everything in the World.

Greece is in two chief parts, like a tiny North and South America, which were once joined by a thin stem of land called the Isthmus of Corinth, only four miles across. In the northern part was, is, and probably always will be a great city called Athens. The people in Athens thought that one goddess in particular looked after their city. She was the goddess of wisdom called Athene Parthenos, so they named their city Athens, after her first name; and on the top of a high hill they built the most beautiful temple in the World to her and called it the Parthenon, after her last name. Inside of this temple they placed a huge statue of her, made of gold and ivory. The statue has now disappeared, nobody knows where, and the building itself was blown up in a war and is now in ruins. The beautiful sculptures on this temple were taken down and carried away to London and are now in the British Museum. So if you want to see what beautiful statues the Greeks once made, don’t go to Athens—go to London. On the side of the hill on which is the Parthenon and all through the city of Athens are other temples to their many gods. These temples had no domes nor spires like Christian churches, but columns around the outside.

帕特农神庙——雅典

The most beautiful temple in the World is now in ruins

世界上最漂亮的神庙如今已成废墟

The marble for these buildings and statues they got from a hill near Athens called Mount Pentelicus. Some one has said the reason the Greeks long ago made such beautiful statues and buildings was because they had such beautiful marble to work with; but there is still beautiful marble on Mount Pentelicus, and yet no one seems able to make such beautiful things of it any more.

People long ago used to go to a place called an oracle to have their fortunes told. At Delphi not far from Athens was one of the most famous oracles. There was a crack in the ground from which gas was always escaping. Over this crack in the ground sat a goddess called a Sibyl and over the goddess a little temple was built. The escaping gas put the goddess to sleep, just as the gas a doctor or dentist uses puts people to sleep so they won’t feel any pain; then the goddess began to talk in her sleep and would mumble answers to the questions asked her. People came from all over the World to hear what the oracle had to tell them. The Delphic Oracle, like the statue of Athene, has now gone—no one knows when, nor how, nor where.

Did you know that you could speak Greek? Well, when you say “music,” “museum,” or “amusements” you are speaking Greek, for all three words are named from nine beautiful goddesses called “Muses,” who used to live near a spring at Delphi. This spring was named Castalia, and it was supposed that those who drank from the spring would be able to write music and poetry. The Castalian spring is still there, and sheep and goats as well as men drink its cool waters, but now it does no more than quench the thirst of men and beasts.

Long before the time of Christ, athletic meets used to be held in Greece once every four years. These were called Olympic Games, and champions in running and jumping and other sports from all over Greece used to compete for a prize, which was a simple crown made of laurel leaves. There is a huge stadium in Athens where such games and races were held, but it had fallen to ruins. Not so many years ago a Greek who had made a fortune and wanted to do something splendid for his home city repaired and recovered the old stadium with marble, and again the Olympic Games were held there.

Near Athens there is another hill called Mount Hymettus, where was found a very delicious kind of honey. It is said to taste like flowers and it was supposed to be the food the gods lived upon—they called it “ambrosia.” You can still get the same honey in the restaurants in Athens, but there are no more gods to feed on it.

Greece of to-day is famous for—what do you suppose? For poetry? No. For music? No. For sculpture? No. For beautiful buildings? No. My geography says it is famous for “currants.” Currants are little dried grapes that are used in cakes and puddings. Currants are named from Corinth, the stem that joins north and south Greece, or rather, I should say, the stem that used to join them, for the Greeks have cut a canal four miles long straight through the isthmus so that boats can now sail across Corinth without going all the way around Greece.

There is a lunch-room downtown kept by a young Greek who has come to America to make his fortune. He calls it the Delphi Restaurant. Last week I went in for luncheon, and just for fun I asked him if he had any ambrosia. “No,” said he, “we have corned beef and cabbage to-day.”

【中文阅读】

我读过的最早一本书是《伊索寓言》。伊索曾经是一个奴隶，生活在一个叫“希腊”的小国。身为奴隶，伊索却写了很多著名的寓言故事，于是他的主人就给了他自由。我读的那本书是英译本，但是《伊索寓言》最初是用希腊文写的。

希腊是个很小的国家，在地图上，它位于欧洲下方一个角落里，如果我用手指着它，指尖就会把它完全盖住。但是，尽管很小，这个国家曾经有一个时期却是世界上最伟大的国家，希腊人民是世界上最伟大的民族，希腊语是世界上最伟大的语言。当其他欧洲人还是愚昧无知的野蛮人的时候，希腊人正在创作世界上最伟大的著作，建造最漂亮的建筑，制作最美丽的雕像，创办迄今为止最著名的学校。有一本书最初是用希腊文写的，现在这本书以800多种语言出版发行，是世界上拥有读者最多的一本书，这本书就是圣经——《新约》部分。

然而，希腊人最初并不信奉《圣经》或基督。他们不相信只有一个神，而是相信有很多神。根据他们的说法，这些神居住在一座名叫“奥林匹斯山”山顶的云上。奥林匹斯山依然屹立在那儿，但是，如果你爬上山顶，就会发现根本没有神。当太阳照耀大地的时候，希腊人说太阳神阿波罗正驾着他的金色双轮战车驶过天空；下雨时，他们说是另一位神，主神朱庇特，正在给地球浇水，当闪电划过天空的时候，他们说是因为他愤怒了而正在轰击雷霆。希腊人相信有掌管爱情的神，有主管战争的神，还有主宰世界万物的神。

希腊国土，主要由两部分组成，像微型版的南北美洲。这两部分曾经由被称为“科林斯地峡”的一条狭长陆地相连接，只有4英里宽。在希腊的北部，有一个过去是、现在是、很可能将来也是伟大的城市——雅典。雅典人认为有一位女神特别眷顾他们的城市，她就是智慧女神，叫雅典娜 · 帕特农，所以就以她的名字来命名他们的城市——雅典；而且，他们还在一座高山上，为了纪念她建造了世界上最美丽的神庙并以她的姓命名为“帕特农神庙”。在神庙内，他们放置了一座她的巨像，是用金子和象牙制作的。但是，现在雕像不在了，没有人知道它在哪里。神庙在一次战争中被炸毁了，现在是一片废墟。后来，神庙上的一些雕刻品被拆下来，运到了伦敦，现在存放在大英博物馆里。所以，如果你想看希腊人刻的美丽雕像，不要去雅典，去伦敦吧。在帕特农神庙的那座山的山坡上，以及整个雅典城，还有纪念众神的其他神庙，这些神庙不同于基督教的教堂，没有圆屋顶，也没有尖塔，但是外侧有圆柱环绕。

建造这些建筑物以及雕像所需的大理石，希腊人是从雅典附近一座名叫“潘泰列克斯山”的山上取来的。有人曾说，希腊人很久以前就能创造出如此美丽的雕像和建筑物是因为有如此美丽的大理石供他们使用。然而，现在潘泰列克斯山上仍然有美丽的大理石，但是似乎再也没有人能用大理石创造出如此美丽的东西了。

很久以前，人们常去一个叫“神谕”的地方算命。在离雅典不远的德尔斐有一个最有名的神谕所。那儿地面有一条裂缝，不断向外冒气。在裂缝的上方坐着一位叫“西比尔”的女神，女神的上方建了一座小神庙。从裂缝中冒出的气体让女神入睡，就像医生或牙医用麻醉让病人入睡而不会感到任何疼痛一样。女神在睡眠状态中开始说话，用含糊不清的声音回答人们向她提出的问题。人们从世界各地来到这里聆听神谕。像雅典娜雕像一样，德尔斐神谕所也消失了——没有人知道它是何时何地以什么方式消失的。

你知道吗，你说的英语中就含有希腊语？当你说“music”（音乐）、“museum”（博物馆）或“amusement”（娱乐）的时候，你就在说希腊语，因为这三个单词源于九位美丽女神的名字，她们叫“缪斯”（Muses），她们曾住在德尔斐一处清泉附近，清泉名叫“卡斯塔利亚”。据说那些喝了泉水的人，都有创作诗歌和歌曲的灵感。卡斯塔利亚泉现在还在那儿，人和绵羊、山羊都喝里面清凉的泉水，但是，泉水现在也只是给人和动物解解渴而已。

在耶稣诞生前很久，希腊每四年举行一次体育大会，叫做“奥林匹克运动会”。来自希腊各地的跑步、跳远以及其他项目的冠军都来争夺一个奖品，奖品是一个用月桂树叶编的简单花冠。雅典有一个巨大的体育场专门用来举办这样的比赛，但是后来变成了废墟。没多少年前，一位发了财并想为自己的家乡做点贡献的希腊人用大理石修复了古老的体育馆，这样，奥林匹克运动会就又在那儿举行了。

在雅典附近，还有一座山，叫海麦搭斯山，人们在那儿发现了一种非常美味的蜂蜜。据说尝起来像花的味道，是过去传说中众神赖以生存的食物——叫做“神馔”。你在雅典的餐馆里可以品尝到同样的蜂蜜，只是再没有神仙以此为食了。

现在的希腊是以什么著称呢？你猜一猜。诗歌？不是。音乐？不是。雕刻？不是。美丽的建筑？也不是。我的地理学书告诉我，希腊是以“加仑子”著称的。加仑子是无核小葡萄，做蛋糕和布丁可以放一些加仑子。加仑子的名字来自科林斯，也就是连接南北希腊的那条狭长的地带，更确切地说，是过去连接南北希腊的狭长的地带，因为希腊人已经挖了一条4英里长的运河，笔直地贯穿这条地峡，现在船只可以穿过科林斯而不用走远路绕过整个希腊。

我们这里市中心有一家快餐店，是一位想来美国发财的希腊年轻人经营的，他把小快餐店叫做“德尔斐餐馆”。上周，我去那儿吃午餐。只是为了逗乐，我问他有没有“神馔”——什么好吃的？他回答说，“没有，今天只有咸牛肉和卷心菜。”

47

The Land of the New Moon

新月之国

EVERY place is east of some other place. America is east of China. Europe is east of America. But the only place called “THE East,” with a capital THE, is the land east of Europe. This land east of Europe is the continent of Asia. It’s the biggest continent of all.

Long years ago in fairy-tale days a god in Asia was in love with a beautiful girl whose name was Europa. Now a god was not supposed to love a human being, so the god turned himself into a snow-white bull and, persuading Europa to get on his back, he ran away with her. At last the bull came to a strait of water and swam across it with Europa still on his back. On the opposite side of the strait where the bull landed with Europa on his back was a great new continent, and to-day we call this continent Europe—after Europa.

People who do not believe in fairy-tales say, however, that Europe is a name that simply means The Land Where the Sun Goes Down, and they say that Asia, the land from which Europa and the bull came, means The Land Where the Sun Gets Up.

The god changed himself into a white bull and ran away with Europa

这个神化身为一头雪白的公牛，带着欧罗巴逃走了

The strait across which the bull carried Europa we still call Bull-Carry Strait, for in the Greek language “bull-carry” is Bosporus, and Bosporus is the name on the map.

People built a city where Europa landed, and about a thousand years afterward a Roman Emperor named Constantine, who was the first Christian emperor, moved his capital from Rome to this city and it was called after him, Constantinople.

After another thousand years Constantinople was captured from the Christians by some people from Asia called Turks, who had a ruler called the Sultan. Most of the people in Europe are Christians, but the Turks are not Christians. They do not believe in Christ. They believe in a god whom they called Allah and a man named Mohammed who they say was Allah’s messenger on earth. So we call the people who believe in Mohammed Mohammedans or Moslems.

One dark night many years ago an army was approaching Constantinople, but it was so dark the people in the city did not see it and did not know they were about to be attacked. Suddenly the moon shone out from behind a cloud. By the light of the moon the watchmen saw the enemy, sounded the alarm, and the city was saved. Ever since then the Turks have used the new moon on their churches as we do a cross and a new moon and a star on their flag, as these had brought good luck. A new moon is called a “crescent.” The Turks have a society, the same society as our Red Cross; but as a cross is a Christian sign, they don’t use it, so they call their society the Red Crescent.

One of the largest churches in the World was built in Constantinople before the Turks came. It was called the church of Holy Wisdom, which in Greek is Santa Sophia. Perhaps you may know a girl named Sophie. Well, she may be wise or she may not, but her name means wise. When the Turks captured the Christian city of Constantinople they changed Santa Sophia and all the other churches in the city to Mohammedan churches, which are called mosques, and they tore down the crosses on top of the churches and put up in the place of each a crescent. There are now over eight hundred mosques in the city. Finally not very many years ago they changed Constantinople’s name to Istanbul.

They turned the church into a mosque

他们把教堂改成了清真寺

You might think it would be better if I hadn’t told you the old name of Istanbul. Then you would have one less long name to remember. But Constantinople was the name of the city for a much longer time than Istanbul has been. Even now Constantinople is a better-known name than Istanbul. I won’t, however, tell you what the city was called before it became Constantinople. Two names are enough to learn about any city. So if you want to know Istanbul’s earliest name you’ll have to ask some one or find it in some other book.

The Turks also built, close to each mosque, one or more candle-shaped towers, called minarets. About midway of a minaret is a balcony, and five times a day a priest appears on this balcony and calls the people of the city to prayer. This is done instead of ringing church bells as they do in Christian churches, for Mohammedans do not use bells, even in their own homes. When they want to call a servant they clap their hands. The first call to prayer is about five o’clock in the morning—sort of an alarm clock—when the priest says, “Come to prayer. Prayer is better than Sleep.”

Not many people get up at that time to pray, however. When he calls out, a very good Mohammedan goes into the nearest mosque to pray, or he gets down on his knees and bows his head till it touches the ground. Whenever he goes into a mosque he must first wash his face, hands, and feet, so almost every mosque has a pool or fountain, sometimes on the steps, sometimes in the courtyard, where the people can wash before they enter. For this reason also there are a great many fountains throughout Istanbul. They are not for drinking—they are not for beauty; they are for washing. The mosques are for men only. Women used to be allowed in little hidden cells in the mosque, where they could not be seen, for women and children were supposed neither to be seen nor heard. The Mohammedans’ Sunday is our Friday. The Mohammedan goes to the mosque every day if he can, but always on Friday.

Turkish writing has been changed

土耳其改变了文字

An inlet from the Bosporus cuts into Istanbul in the shape of a horn. It is called the Golden Horn, and across the entrance a great chain used to be stretched to keep out ships which the Sultan did not wish to enter. Across the Golden Horn is a bridge called Galata. I have told you of some of the most famous bridges in the World: Brooklyn Bridge, London Bridge, the Rialto and the Ponte Veechio. Galata bridge is one of the oldest and most famous bridges of the World. All day and all night people of every nationality, every color, every dress, and every language pass in an unending stream. Every one on one side seems to want to get to the other side, which makes me think of the old riddle, “Why does a chicken cross the road?”

Turkish writing looks something like shorthand and is very hard to read and to write. But because it is so difficult and so different from the letters of Europe, Turkey began to use an alphabet like ours, and every one under forty years of age is now required to learn the new writing.

土耳其男女的穿戴

Turkish styles have been changed too

土耳其人的生活方式也改变了

In fact, Turkey has been made over into a new Turkey. The old ruler of Turkey, the Sultan, ruled alone and whatever he said had to be done whether it was right or wrong. Turkey now has a ruler who rules not alone but with others chosen by the people to rule with him. The women used to think it immodest to go out on the street with their faces uncovered, so they wore veils. Now, however, they wear hats and dresses as Christian women do. The Turks used to have many wives, and every house had a separate apartment, called the harem, where all the wives lived together.

You may wonder why the bird we eat at Thanksgiving and Christmas is called a turkey. Turkey was first brought to our country from Mexico, but people thought it had come from Turkey, so they called it a Turkey bird.

【中文阅读】

每一个地方都在另一个地方的东边。美国在中国的东边，欧洲在美国的东边。但是，唯一被称为“东方”的地方，是欧洲东边那片陆地。那片陆地就是亚洲大陆，是所有大陆中最大的。

有一个童话故事说，很久以前，一位亚洲的神爱上了一位美丽的姑娘，姑娘名叫“欧罗巴”。神是不可以与凡人相爱的，于是，这个神化身为一头雪白的公牛。公牛说服欧罗巴骑在自己的背上，带着她跑走了。最后，公牛来到一处海峡，公牛背着欧罗巴游过海峡，登上了海峡的对岸，来到一片新的大陆。今天我们用“欧罗巴”命名这个大陆，称之为“欧罗巴洲”，即欧洲。

然而，不相信童话故事的人说，欧洲只是个名字，意思仅指“太阳落下的地方”，而且，他们还说，亚洲，就是欧罗巴和公牛原来所在的地方，意思是“太阳升起的地方”。

公牛驮着欧罗巴游过的海峡，我们称之为“牛涉水海峡”，在希腊语中“牛涉水”是“博斯普鲁斯”，地图上写的就是“博斯普鲁斯海峡”。

人们在欧罗巴上岸的地方建立了一座城市。大约一千年之后，一位名叫“君士坦丁”的罗马皇帝——也是第一位罗马基督教皇帝——将首都从罗马搬到这座城市，这座城市就以他的名字被称为“君士坦丁堡”。

又过了一千年，来自亚洲的一个叫做“土耳其”的民族从基督徒的手中夺得了君士坦丁堡，他们的统治者叫做“苏丹王”。欧洲的大多数人都是基督徒，但土耳其人不是基督徒，也不信仰基督，他们信奉一个他们称之为“安拉”的神和一个名叫“穆罕默德”的人，他们认为穆罕默德是安拉在人间的使者。于是，我们就称信奉穆罕默德的人为“穆罕默德的信徒”，或“穆斯林”。

很多年前，一个漆黑的夜晚，一支敌军正在接近君士坦丁堡。但是由于天太黑了，城里的人没有看到这支部队，更没有意识到他们即将遭到进攻。突然月亮从云后现出来了，借着月光巡夜人看见了敌人，发出警报，城市得救了。从那以后，土耳其人将新月标志安装在他们的教堂上，就像我们在教堂上安装十字架一样，他们还在国旗上印上一弯新月和一颗星星，因为新月和星星曾给他们带来好运。新月也被称作“月牙”。土耳其人也有一个类乎“红十字会”的协会。但是，由于“十字”是基督教的标志，他们不用“十字”，而称他们的协会为“红新月会”。

世界上最大的教堂之一，在土耳其人到来之前就建在君士坦丁堡。它被称作“圣哲教堂”，希腊语称作“圣索菲娅教堂”。你也许认识一个名叫索菲（“索菲娅”的昵称）的女孩。她也许很聪明，也许不聪明，但是她的名字是“聪明”的意思。当土耳其人占领了君士坦丁堡这座基督教城市后，他们把圣索菲娅大教堂和城里的其他教堂都改成了伊斯兰教的教堂，叫做“清真寺”，他们拆掉教堂顶上的十字架，安装上新月标志。现在这座城市有八百多座清真寺。最后，就在没多少年前，他们把“君士坦丁堡”这个名字改成了“伊斯坦布尔”。

你也许认为，如果我不告诉你伊斯坦布尔以前的名字会更好些。那样你只需要记一个短一点的名字了[1]。但是作为城市的名字，“君士坦丁堡”存在的时间比“伊斯坦布尔”长得多了。甚至现在，君士坦丁堡这个名字也要比伊斯坦布尔知名得多。然而，我不会再告诉你，在被称作君士坦丁堡之前，这座城市叫什么。两个名字足以让你了解一座城市。所以，如果你想知道伊斯坦布尔最早的名字，你就得去问别人或在其他书中查找。

土耳其人还在每座清真寺旁建造至少一座形似蜡烛的塔楼，叫做宣礼塔。在塔的中层有一个阳台，宣礼员每天五次出现在阳台上，呼唤城里的信徒参加祈祷，而不是像基督教教堂用钟声来提醒基督徒做祷告，因为伊斯兰教徒不用钟，甚至在自己家里也不用，需要召唤仆人时，他们就拍拍掌。第一次呼唤祈祷大约是在早上五点——有点像闹钟的作用——这时宣礼员就会说：“来祈祷吧，祈祷比睡觉更有益。”

然而，并没有很多人那么早起身去祈祷，当宣礼员呼唤时，特别虔诚的伊斯兰教徒就会到最近的清真寺去祷告，或者双膝跪地，低下头礼拜直到头触到地面。伊斯兰教教徒无论何时进入一座清真寺，都必须先洗脸、洗手、洗脚，所以几乎每座清真寺的台阶上或者院子里都有水池或喷泉，让人们进寺前可以清洗自己。也正是这个原因，伊斯坦布尔有很多喷泉。它们不是用来饮用的——也不是用来美化环境的，它们是用来洗濯的。清真寺只允许男人进入。女人过去只被允许待在清真寺中隐蔽的小房间里，待在那儿她们不会被别人看见，因为女人和孩子不应该出现在清真寺。伊斯兰教徒的星期天是我们的星期五。只要有时间，伊斯兰教徒每天都去清真寺，但他们在星期五总是去清真寺。

有一个牛角形状的小水湾，从博斯普鲁斯海切入到伊斯坦布尔，叫做“金角湾”。过去在入口处拉了一条很大的链子拦住那些苏丹王禁止进入的船只。现在一座叫“加拉塔桥”的大桥横跨金角湾。我已经将世界上最有名的一些桥告诉你了：布鲁克林桥、伦敦桥、里阿尔托桥和维奇奥桥。加拉塔桥是世界上最古老和最著名的大桥之一。日日夜夜，各种国籍、各种肤色、各种穿着和说各种语言的人从桥上走过，人来人往川流不息。似乎在桥一边的每个人都想到桥另一边去。看到此情此景，我想起一个古老的谜语，“为什么小鸡要过马路？”

土耳其文字看起来有点像速记，非常难认，也难写。因为它很难学，与欧洲语言的字母文字又差别很大，土耳其开始使用一种类似英语字母的文字符号。土耳其要求所有40岁以下的人都要学习这种新的文字。

事实上，土耳其已经改变成一个全新的土耳其了。土耳其以前的统治者，苏丹王，独自一人统治土耳其，因此拥有至高无上的权力，凡是他说的话，无论对错，人们都得执行。土耳其现在也有一位元首，但不是一个人统治，而是与土耳其人推选出来的其他人一起统治。土耳其女人从前认为自己外出上街不遮住脸，是不正派的，所以她们都戴面纱。然而，现在，她们像基督教国家的女人一样穿着打扮了。土耳其男人以前可以娶好几个妻子，每户房屋里有独立的房间叫“哈来姆”，专门给妻子住。

你也许很好奇，为什么我们在感恩节和圣诞节的时候吃的火鸡叫“土耳其”？火鸡最初是从墨西哥传入美国的，但是人们认为它产自土耳其，所以就把它叫做“土耳其鸟”。

[1] “伊斯坦布尔”的英文字母比“君士坦丁堡”的英文名字短一点——译者注。

48

The Ship of the Desert

沙漠之舟

THERE are a few camels in Istanbul, but camels don’t belong in Europe. They have to be carried across the Bosporus from Asia, for a camel is said to be the only animal that cannot swim and cannot learn to swim. Most animals, like dogs, swim naturally; they don’t have to learn. The camel may not be able to swim, but he can cross deserts, which no other animal can do as well.

The camel is an animal of the desert, and when we see camels we know there must be deserts somewhere near. The camel loves heat and dryness, the sun and sand. Men and most animals, when it is hot, like the cool shade when they rest, but a camel when he rests lies down in the hot sun. He is often called “the ship of the desert,” for he is the only “boat” that can carry passengers across the sea of sands. His feet are made like cushions so that they do not sink into the sand. A camel has several pouches inside of his body in which to store up water, as in tanks, for in crossing desert lands he may have to go days at a time without a drink, so he fills up these tanks inside of him.

The camel in Asia has one hump and is called a Dromedary. There are other camels that have two humps. The hump is not a broken back, as it looks—it is made of fat, and when the camel can get no outside food, the fat in his hump helps to feed him as the food in his stomach feeds him.

The camel “follows the leader,” almost as in the game, for wherever the leader goes he goes—so when a number of camels are used to carry loads long distances they are tied head to tail in a line, like a train of cars hitched together, often with a donkey at the head of the train like a locomotive to lead them. The donkey has sense, but a camel has little sense; that’s why the donkey is made the leader. Such a train of camels is called a caravan. The camel looks very superior—as if no one were as good as he—but he is really a stupid animal with a very small brain. He has, however, an even temper—always mean, ugly, and nasty. He grunts as he walks slowly along on his stilt-like legs. He is trained to kneel and a load is then put on his back, and he will carry great loads with his driver on top of that. If too big a load is put on his back, when kneeling, the camel will not get up at all; but once he gets up he never gives up, no matter how heavy the load. You can then pile anything on him until it crushes him to the ground. When he has all the load he can carry, one straw more may be enough to break his back. So when you give some one too much work to do, people say, “It’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

“It’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back”

“那是压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草”

The camel carries loads for his master, but the camel does more than that. The mother camel gives him milk, and sometimes young camels are used for food. The camel’s hair is woven to make blankets and clothes and tents. In our country the best paint brushes are made of camel’s hair.

【中文阅读】

伊斯坦布尔有一些骆驼，但欧洲不产骆驼。骆驼只能通过博斯普鲁斯海峡从亚洲用船运来。据说骆驼是唯一不会游泳也学不会游泳的动物。大多数动物，比如狗，天生就会游泳，它们不需要学。骆驼虽不会游泳，但它能穿过沙漠，这是其他任何动物都做不到的。

骆驼是沙漠里的一种动物。如果看见骆驼，我们就知道附近某个地方一定有沙漠。骆驼喜欢高温和干燥，阳光和沙子。天气炎热时，人类和大多数动物喜欢在荫凉处休息，但是，骆驼却躺在炎热的阳光下休息。骆驼常被称作“沙漠之舟”，因为它是唯一能载着乘客穿越“沙海”的“船”。骆驼的脚长得像垫子一样，所以不会陷进沙里。骆驼的体内长有几只可以储水的袋囊，就像水箱一样，因为穿越沙漠时骆驼也许会一连几天都没有水喝，所以它就得将体内的水箱充满。

亚洲骆驼有一个驼峰，叫做“单峰骆驼”，也有长着两个驼峰的骆驼。驼峰看起来像是断了的脊背，其实不然，驼峰里全是脂肪。当骆驼找不到食物吃的时候，驼峰里的脂肪就可以向身体输送营养，就像胃里的食物向身体输送营养一样。

骆驼具有模仿“领头人”的习性，差不多就像我们在“学样”游戏里做的那样——领头人去哪儿，骆驼就去哪儿——所以当一群骆驼长距离运送货物时，它们就会被头尾相连地系在一起接成一条线，像多节车厢挂在一起的一列火车。在骆驼队的最前面通常有一头驴子来充当领队，就像火车有车头一样。驴子感觉很灵敏而骆驼感觉非常迟钝，这就是为什么用驴来领队的原因。这样的驼队被称为商队。骆驼看上去非常高傲——好像谁也比不上它——实际上骆驼的大脑很小，是一种很笨的动物。然而，它性情平和——总是那样小气、丑陋、邋遢。骆驼一边迈动那高跷般的腿慢慢行走，一边嘴里发出咕哝声。骆驼经过训练会跪在地上，让人把货物放在它的背上。骆驼能运载很多货物，且驾驭者就坐在货物的上面。如果一次装载太多的货物，跪在地上的骆驼就根本站不起来，但是一旦站了起来，无论货物有多重，它都决不会倒下。这时你可以往它背上堆放任何东西，除非把它压倒在地。当骆驼负载了它所能承载的最大重量时，再加一根稻草也许都会压垮它。所以，当你让别人做太多的工作时，人们会说，“那是压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草。”

骆驼除了为主人运载货物，还有其他用途。母骆驼能产奶供主人喝，有时小骆驼可供食用，骆驼毛可以织成毯子、衣服和帐篷。我们国家最好的画笔就是用骆驼毛制成的。

49

A “Once-Was” Country

昔日辉煌的小亚细亚

WE call a small boy a “minor” until he grows up. The corner of Asia on the other side of the Bosporus is only a small part of Asia, so we call it Asia Minor. Asia Minor does not touch Europe, although it comes so close to it in two places that a giant could stride across. One of these crossings is the Bosporus; it is only about half a mile wide. The other crossing, called the Dardanelles, is only about a mile wide at the narrowest point. People have swum across the Dardanelles, and floating bridges have been made here by tying boats together, but there are now no bridges from Asia to Europe, and men and animals have to be carried across in boats if they want to get from Asia to Europe or from Europe to Asia.

Asia Minor is a “Once-was” country. It once was the richest part of the whole World.

Croesus, who once was the richest man in the World, lived in Asia Minor.

Helen, who once was the most beautiful woman in the World, was stolen away from her home in Greece and brought to a place called Troy in Asia Minor. Here the Trojan War was fought on her account.

Homer, one of the greatest story poets who ever lived, was said to have been born in Asia Minor.

St. Paul—the Apostle—was born in a little town in Asia Minor, a town called Tarsus, where he made tents for soldiers.

You have probably heard of the Seven Wonders of the World. They were supposed to be the seven most wonderful things made by the hand of man in Ancient Times. Three of the Seven Wonders were in Asia Minor:

The Temple built to the Goddess Diana was one of these wonders. This Temple was at Ephesus in Asia Minor, and silversmiths made little copies of this wonderful temple to sell as souvenirs to visitors. St. Paul preached against Diana, for whom the Temple was built, because she was a heathen goddess. The silversmiths at Ephesus who made a living out of their souvenirs of the Temple were afraid St. Paul would hurt their business, so they tried to mob him. Nothing is now left of this wonderful Temple of Diana except the floor, and the silver souvenirs have all disappeared; but the letters which St. Paul wrote to men at Ephesus are still read by millions of people, for they are in the Bible.

The greatest tomb in the World was in Asia Minor. It was built by a woman named Mrs. Mausolus, for her husband, Mr. Mausolus. This was another Wonder of which little is left. And yet nowadays we call a very handsome tomb a “Mausoleum” after this tomb of Mausolus.

There is a little island off Asia Minor, called Rhodes. A huge brass statue of the Sun God was built there. It was called The Colossus of Rhodes, for Colossus means huge. It was as tall as a ten story house. This was a third Wonder, but an earthquake upset the statue and its pieces were sold to a junk dealer.

Almost all of the old glory of Asia Minor has gone. We can see the ruins of the wonderful old buildings, but most of the houses now, except those in a few big cities, are made of mud with one door and no windows, and grass often grows in the mud on the roofs.

An earthquake upset the statue into the sea

一次地震把铜像倾倒海里了

Asia Minor now belongs to Turkey—in fact, it is about all there is left of Turkey except Istanbul, although before World War I, Turkey owned much more land.

You have probably seen Angora cats—beautiful cats with long hair and bushy tails. They come from Angora, the capital of new Turkey. In the country round Angora is raised a peculiar kind of goat which has long silky hair. The hair from this Angora goat is used to make lovely rugs and shawls which can be bought here in America. Mohair suits which men wear in hot summer weather because they are so thin and cool are made of Angora goats’ hair—if genuine.

In Asia Minor is a very crooked river that flows lazily along to the sea, turning this way and that way as if it had no particular place to go. Its name is the “Meander.” So when a boy goes lazily along to school, turning this way and that, or when he goes along on an errand and does not go straight there but wanders along as the Meander goes to the sea, we say he “meanders.” Girls sometimes “meander” too.

Figs grow in the valley of the Meander River and dates grow in many parts of Asia. Figs and dates are brought on camel back across to a beautiful city called Smyrna on the Mediterranean Sea, and from there are shipped to us in America. You can probably get at your corner grocery store a package of Smyrna figs or “Dromedary Dates” that have been picked far away in Asia, carried by caravan to Smyrna, and shipped here. Another thing sent us from Smyrna is sponges. Sponges grow in the sea near Asia Minor. Naked men dive for the sponges and pull them off the rocks, where they grow on the bottom of the sea. They gather as many as they can at a time, as long as they can hold their breath.

【中文阅读】

在一个小男孩长大成人之前，我们都称之为“小”。在博斯普鲁斯海峡的另一边是亚洲的一个角落，这个角落是亚洲很小一块地方，我们称之为“小亚细亚”。小亚细亚与欧洲并不相连，不过有两处离欧洲很近，如果有个巨人，一步就能跨过去。其中一处就是博斯普鲁斯海峡，只有半英里宽，另一处是达达尼尔海峡，最窄处只有一英里宽。有些人曾成功游过达达尼尔海峡。人们在这儿将船拴在一起建成一些浮桥，但是目前在亚洲和欧洲之间还没有桥梁，人和动物也只得乘船来往于两边。

小亚细亚很久以前是一个国家，曾是全世界最富庶的地方。

克罗伊斯国王，曾经是世界上最富有的人，就居住在小亚细亚。

海伦，曾经是世界上最美丽的女人，被人从希腊的故乡偷走，带到小亚细亚一个叫特洛伊的地方。因为海伦的缘故发生了特洛伊之战。

荷马，是迄今为止最伟大的叙事诗诗人之一，据说就出生于小亚细亚。

圣保罗——那个传福音的使徒——出生在小亚细亚一个叫“塔尔苏斯”的小镇。在这个小镇，保罗曾以为士兵制作帐篷为生。

你可能听说过世界七大奇观，它们被认为是古代人工建造的世界上七个最奇妙的景观，七个当中就有三个在小亚细亚。

为女神狄安娜建造的神庙就是这七大奇观之一。这座神庙在小亚细亚的以弗所。当地银匠仿照这个神庙制成小型复制品当做纪念品卖给游客。使徒保罗讲道公开反对狄安娜，因为她是异教徒信仰的女神。以制售神庙纪念品为生的以弗所的银匠们担心保罗会影响自己的生意，于是他们就设法围着保罗起哄。现在，除了光秃秃的地面，那个令人惊叹的狄安娜神庙已荡然无存，那些银制纪念品也无影无踪了；而保罗在以弗所写给众人的书信仍有千千万万的人在阅读，因为这些书信都收录在《圣经》里。

全世界最宏伟的陵墓在小亚细亚，它是由一位名叫摩索拉斯夫人的妇女为她的丈夫摩索拉斯先生修建的。摩索拉斯陵墓是另一个世界奇观，现在也无迹可寻了。然而，现在凡是较为堂皇的陵墓我们都以这个陵墓的名字来称呼。

离小亚细亚不远有一座小岛，名叫“罗得岛”。那儿建有一座巨大的太阳神铜像，被称为“罗得岛巨像”，它有十层楼那么高，也是一大奇观。但是，一次地震使铜像倾倒了，铜像碎片后来卖给了废品旧货商。

小亚细亚昔日的辉煌几乎都逝去了，我们现在能看到的只是那些古代宏伟建筑的遗迹。现在的小亚细亚地区，除了少数大城市，大多数的房屋，都是用泥土建的，只有一扇门，没有窗户，屋顶上的泥土里常常长出绿草。

现在，小亚细亚地区属于土耳其——事实上，除了伊斯坦布尔，土耳其国土差不多就是以前的小亚细亚。尽管第一次世界大战之前，土耳其拥有多得多的土地。

你很可能见过安哥拉猫——安哥拉猫很漂亮，有长长的毛和毛茸茸的尾巴，它们产自新土耳其的首都安哥拉。安哥拉的周边地区饲养一种奇特的山羊，羊毛又长又柔软，可以用来制作精美的小地毯和披肩，在美国也可以买到。男人在炎热的夏季穿的马海毛衣服，就是由安哥拉山羊毛制成的，因为这种衣服——如果真是这种羊毛制成的，就又薄又凉爽。

在小亚细亚，有一条弯弯曲曲的河流，慢悠悠地流向大海，一会儿向这边转个弯，一会儿向那边转个弯，好像漫无目的地游荡，这条河流的名字叫“曲流河”。于是，当一个小男孩懒洋洋地去上学，一会儿这儿逛逛，一会儿又那儿逛逛，或者，让他跑腿时，不是直接去办事而是到处溜达像曲流河流向大海那样，我们就说他在“曲流”，女孩有时也“曲流”[1]。

曲流河流域生长无花果，亚洲许多地方生长海枣。无花果和海枣都是由骆驼运到地中海沿岸的一座名叫士麦那（现在叫伊兹密尔）的美丽的城市，再从那儿装船运到美国。在美国，你可以在街头杂货店买到一袋“士麦那牌”无花果或一袋“单峰骆驼牌”海枣。这些无花果和海枣都产于遥远的亚洲，由商队运到士麦那，再用船运到美国。另一种从士麦那运到美国的东西是海绵，海绵生长在小亚细亚附近的海里。光着身子的男人潜入海底，从海底的岩石上采摘海绵。只要能屏住呼吸，他们就一次采集尽可能多的海绵。

[1] 曲流“meander”一词在英语中用作动词，表示“闲逛”——译者注。

50

A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey

丰饶之国

IN Sunday school I used to hear of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and other places in the Bible, but I had no idea then that there were any such places with people living in them to-day. But there are. We call the land where these places are Bible Land, because so much is told about them in the Bible. Bible Land is at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea. The northern part of Bible Land is called Syria, the southern part is called the Holy Land, or Palestine.

There are a great many cities in Syria and Palestine that were alive when Christ was born and are still living, and there are a great many places that are now dead—nothing left of them but ruins. But there is a city mentioned in the Bible that was a thousand years old when Christ was born and yet is still very much alive. It is the oldest city i. t. w. W. Its name is Damascus.

The main street in Damascus was called “Straight,” because it was not quite as crooked as its other streets. On both sides of Straight Street are shops, for Damascus was once the greatest shopping city in the East; the shops are called bazaars. Some of the bazaars are not big enough to hold a piano. One department store in New York would hold all the bazaars in Damascus many times over. In these bazaars the people of Damascus used to sell only things they made themselves. They sold gold and silver jewelry, rugs, shawls, swords, and silks, and they made everything by hand, for there was no machinery. Now there is machinery to make all these things, but it is not in Damascus. Many of these things are now made by machinery in England and sent to Damascus to be sold. Often a traveler buys something in a Damascus bazaar only to find on it later the tell-tale words “Made in Birmingham.”

A white picture painted on white paper or a red picture on red paper would not show, but in Damascus they used to make a beautiful kind of cloth with designs of the same color as the cloth woven into it by hand. This kind of cloth is called damask, after Damascus. White damask has white designs on it and red damask has red designs, and they do show. You probably have in your own home linen damask table-cloths and napkins or silk coverings on chairs, but the damask that we buy now is made by machinery and does not come from Damascus.

The people in Damascus also used to make a kind of jewelry of iron, with gold designs laid in the iron. This was called Damascene work. Damascene work was much used in decorating swords, and they used to make wonderful swords and knives with edges so sharp they could cut through a bar of iron, so they say. These were called Damascus blades. Soldiers no longer use swords except for show or ornament. Wars are now fought at long distance and soldiers seldom get close enough to use swords.

South of Syria is Palestine, which is also called the Holy Land. On my map there is no room to print the names of even a very few of the places you know. They would run out into the Mediterranean on one side and into the desert on the other, and would be so crowded together that they would cover the little country completely.

You see how small the Holy Land really is. There is a town at the top of the Holy Land with a name like a boy’s—Dan. Down at the bottom of the Holy Land is another town called Beersheba; so people often say “from Dan to Beersheba,” meaning from top to bottom or from one end of something to the other. Between these two towns the distance is only one hundred and fifty miles and the distance across Palestine is only about fifty miles, so that it would be possible now in one day to go in an automobile up and down and across Palestine.

There are two lakes in Palestine; one is in the north and one is in the south, but both are called Seas. The one in the north is called the Sea of Galilee. The one in the south is known as the Dead Sea, for nothing can live in it nor grow around it.

The Sea of Galilee is where Christ walked on the water and where the miraculous number of fish were caught. Many of Christ’s close friends were fishermen, and He asked them to help Him teach others, saying He would make them “fishers of men.” So a club of Galilee fishermen was started and they used a drawing of a fish as the sign of their society, for, strangely enough, the first two letters of the Greek word for fish were Christ’s initials. As in Bible times, they still have sudden storms on the Sea of Galilee and a great many fish are still caught there.

The Christians used a fish as the sign of their society

基督徒用鱼作为社团的标志

Running from the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea is a zigzag river called the Jordan. It was in the Jordan River that John the Baptist baptized Christ, and people go from all over the World to see the spot where this took place, and some to be baptized there themselves. There is always a clergyman on hand, ready and waiting, to baptize those who come. Many people fill a bottle with some of the muddy water and take it home to use as “holy water,” or in order to baptize their children with water from the same river in which Christ was baptized. The Jordan is very muddy, because it flows very swiftly and washes the mud from the banks and bottom. It empties its yellow water into the Dead Sea, but the Dead Sea, strange to say, is as blue as the Mediterranean.

Lot’s wife disobeyed the Lord and looked back

罗德的妻子不听从上帝的命令，回头看了一眼

The Dead Sea is in the bottom of a very deep valley, so low that no water can run out of it, as water cannot run uphill. You might think the Dead Sea would fill up and overflow, but it does not, for the air is so hot and dry that the water in the Dead Sea evaporates as fast as it runs into it. But the river is always bringing in salt, and as salt does not evaporate, the Dead Sea, like Great Salt Lake, is getting saltier all the time. It is saltier than Great Salt Lake, it is ten times saltier than the ocean, and of course no one Could drown in it. People don’t bathe in the Dead Sea, however, because the water is so salty that if it splashes into one’s eyes or touches any scratches or broken skin it stings like iodine put on a cut. There is so much salt around the Dead Sea that nothing will grow there, and even salt-water fish cannot live in the water. We think that the two most wicked cities in the World, Sodom and Gomorrah, were by the Dead Sea. The Bible says they were so wicked that the Lord destroyed them. There is nothing now left of them but desert, with a crust of salt over all. You remember, the Lord told Lot to take his family and flee from Sodom before he destroyed it, and ordered him and his family not to look back. Lot’s wife disobeyed and she was turned to a pillar of salt. And a guide will point out a mound of salt that he says is Lot’s wife!

【中文阅读】

我小时候在主日学校常听到“伯利恒”、“耶路撒冷”以及其他一些在《圣经》里出现的地名。但那时我并不知道世界上真有这些地方，而且今天还有人居住在那里，但是，确实如此。我们现在把这些地方称为“《圣经》之地”，是因为在《圣经》里有很多关于这些地方的故事。“《圣经》之地”位于地中海东侧，其北部叫做叙利亚，南部叫做“圣地”或巴勒斯坦。

在叙利亚和巴勒斯坦有许多城市，在基督诞生之时充满了活力，现在这些城市仍充满活力；也有许多地方，现在死气沉沉了——只剩下一片废墟。但是，有一座在《圣经》里提到的城市，到基督诞生时，它已经有一千年的历史了，然而，现在仍然生机勃勃，它是世界上最古老的城市，名字叫大马士革。

大马士革的主要街道被称作“直街”，因为它不像其他街道那样弯曲。直街两侧的商店铺面鳞次栉比，因为大马士革曾经是东方最大的购物城市，这些商店叫做“街市”，有些街市很小，连一架钢琴都放不进去。纽约市的一家百货商店是大马士革所有街市的好几倍大。在这些街市里，大马士革人只卖他们自己做的东西。他们卖金银首饰、小地毯、披巾、刀剑，还有丝绸衣服，每件东西都是手工制作，因为那个时候还没有机器。现在机器可以生产出所有这些东西，但不是在大马士革生产的。现在这些东西中的许多都是在英国用机器生产的，然后再运到大马士革出售。游客常常在大马士革街市上买一件纪念品，后来却发现上面有“伯明翰制造”的标志。

如果在白纸上用白色颜料画画，或者在红纸上用红色颜料画画，上面的画就显现不出来。但是在大马士革，人们过去生产一种精美的布料，上面的图案是手工织入的，和布的颜色一样。这种布就是以产地“大马士革”命名的，叫做“大马士革花缎”，简称“织花布”。白色的织花布上有白色的图案，红色的有红色的图案，所有图案清晰可见。很可能你家里就有亚麻织花桌布和餐巾、或丝质织花椅套，但是，我们现在所买的织花布都是机器生产的，产地也不是大马士革。

大马士革人过去还生产一种铁质的饰品，上面镶有金色的图案，这种饰品叫做“大马士革工艺品”，主要用来装饰剑。大马士革人过去打造出精美刀剑，非常锋利，据说能削断铁块。这些剑被称作“大马士革剑”。除非为了炫耀或装饰，士兵们不再使用剑了。现在的战争都是远距离作战，士兵们很难有机会可以近身用剑搏斗。

叙利亚的南边是巴勒斯坦，巴勒斯坦也被称为“圣地”。在我的地图上，已经没有空间印上哪怕是很少几个你所熟悉的地名，如果印上地名，这些地名就会一边冲进地中海，另一端伸进沙漠，整个地图密密麻麻布满文字，会把这个小国家完全遮盖。

你可以看出这“圣地”是多么小了吧。“圣地”的顶端有一个小镇，镇的名字像一个男孩子的名字——但；“圣地”的底端还有一个城镇，名叫别示巴。于是人们常常说“从但到别示巴”，意思就是“从上到下”或“从一端到另一端”。这两个城镇相距仅150英里，巴勒斯坦城东西相距大约只有50英里，所以，现在如果乘汽车，一天之内就能够从北到南，从东到西，走遍整个巴勒斯坦。

巴勒斯坦有两个湖，一个在北部，另一个在南部，但是两个都称作“海”。北部的叫加利利海，南部的叫死海，因为死海中没有生物可以生存，在死海的周围也不长任何生物。

加利利海是基督水上行走过的地方，这里盛产鱼。基督的好朋友中很多都是渔夫，基督请他们帮他布道，并说他要使他们“得人如得鱼”。于是加利利海的渔夫组成一个社团，用一幅“鱼”的画作为社团的标志。奇怪的是，希腊语“鱼”的单词的头两个字母是基督姓名的首字母。就像《圣经》时代一样，现在加利利海仍然会突然发生暴风雨，那里的渔夫仍然能捕捉到很多很多的鱼。

有一条蜿蜒曲折的河从加利利海流进死海，这条河叫做约旦河。就是在约旦河，施洗者约翰给耶稣施洗。人们从世界各地来到这里，参观耶稣受洗的地方，有些人自己来这里受洗。总有一位牧师在近旁，随时准备着为前来的人施洗。很多人还用瓶子装上一些约旦河浑浊的河水，带回家，当做“圣水”使用，或者准备用耶稣受洗的那条河的河水给自己的孩子施洗。约旦河水非常浑浊，这是因为约旦河流速太快，把两岸和河底的泥沙冲走了。约旦河浑浊的水流进死海，但说来也怪，死海和地中海一样蓝。

死海位于一个很深的山谷底部，由于地势很低所以没有水能流出死海，因为水是不会朝上坡流的。你也许会认为，死海总有一天会装满水，然后漫出来，但是不会，因为这儿的空气炎热干燥，死海里的水蒸发的速度和水流进的速度一样快。但是，含有盐分的河水不断流入，而盐是不会蒸发的，所以，死海，就像大盐湖一样，一直以来不断在变得越来越咸，比海水要咸十倍，所以理所当然没有人会淹死在死海里。不过，人们不在死海里游泳，因为水太咸了，如果溅到眼睛里、或者触到擦伤或破损的皮肤，会产生刺痛，就像在伤口处擦了碘酒的感觉。由于死海里盐分过高，那里什么生物也不能生长，甚至连海鱼都不能在水里存活。我们认为，世界上两个最邪恶的城，所多玛和蛾摩拉都位于死海边。《圣经》说，这两座城市太邪恶了，所以上帝将它们毁灭了。现在这两座城市什么也没有留下，只有沙漠，上面还覆盖着一层盐。你记得吗，上帝在毁灭所多玛之前，告诉罗德带着自己的家人逃离所多玛，还要求他和他的家人不可以回头看。罗德的妻子不听从上帝的命令，回头看了一眼，立刻被变成了一根盐柱。旅游者到了那里，导游会指着一堆盐说，“这就是罗德的妻子。”

51

The “Exact Spots”

“确切地点”

THERE are three most famous places in Palestine. The first is the place where Christ was born, the second is the place where Christ lived, and the third is the place where Christ died.

Christ was born in Bethlehem, which is a dirty little village, not at all like the heavenly place with angels hovering over it that you see in pictures and on Christmas cards. Christ’s father and mother were traveling and happened to stop in Bethlehem over night when Christ was born. A church was built over the place where Christ was supposed to have been born, and a silver star is in the floor to mark “the exact spot.” The fact is that no one knows “the exact spot,” but we do know that the church over the supposed spot is the oldest church in the World.

Though Christ was born in Bethlehem, He spent most of His early life in another town in Palestine called Nazareth, for Nazareth was His home town and there His father, Joseph, lived and worked. Joseph was a carpenter, and in Nazareth guides point out Joseph’s carpenter shop, the work-bench where Christ worked with the saw and hammer and other tools He used. They also point out the kitchen where Christ’s mother, Mary, cooked the meals for the family. But just as we cannot believe what the guides tell us about the “exact spot” in Bethlehem, so we cannot believe what they tell us about most of the “exact spots” in Nazareth. There is, however, one exact spot which we can believe. That is a well where they say Mary went to get water, and this may actually be the same well, for there never has been any other place in Nazareth where one could get water. There was no such thing as running water in each house.

The women of Nazareth still draw water from this well to-day

今天拿撒勒的妇女们仍然从这口井打水

The last most important place in Palestine is the city where Christ died—Jerusalem. Christians call it their Holy City. But, strangely enough, the Mohammedans call it their Holy City too, and it was once the capital of the Jews. Mohammed lived about six hundred years later than Christ, and Mohammedans believe some of the same things about Mohammed that Christians believe about Christ. Mohammed was supposed to have died in Jerusalem and to have ascended into Heaven from there. The Moslems captured Jerusalem and kept hold of it for more than a thousand years. During that long time the Christians have tried time and again to get Jerusalem away from the Moslems. Time and time again the Christians from all over Europe formed armies and marched on Jerusalem, trying to take it away from the Moslems, but they were usually beaten; and though they have held the city for a time, the Moslems have always recaptured it, until at last in World War I the English captured Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has probably been destroyed and built up again more times than any other city in the World. King David built Jerusalem about a thousand years before Christ was born. Then Solomon built his magnificent temple there, but not very long afterward Jerusalem was captured and destroyed. Every once in a while Jerusalem has been captured and destroyed and then built up again, so that they say there are really eight Jerusalems, one on top of the remains of the other. That is one reason why it is impossible to know “the exact spots” where so many things mentioned in the Bible took place.

Underneath the dome is a huge rock on which oxen used to be sacrificed

圆顶下面是一块巨大的用作牛祭的岩石

Men say they have found in Jerusalem the tomb of Adam, the first man. They have also found the tomb of Christ—His sepulcher—and right near Christ’s tomb they have found in the rock a hole which they say is where the cross was put when Christ was crucified. Over these places they have built a church, called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There is one thing, however, that they could not put under this Church of the Holy Sepulcher—that is, the place from which Christ ascended into Heaven, for that spot is on a hill just outside of Jerusalem, called the Mount of Olives.

The Moslems say Mohammed ascended into Heaven too, and not very far from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the place. Over this place the Moslems have built a building called the Mosque of Omar, though it really is not a mosque at all and was not built by Omar. It is much more beautiful than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, however, and, indeed, some even say it is one of the most beautiful buildings in the World. It is built over the spot where the wonderful temple of Solomon stood. It is made of beautiful marble and tile and has a bowl-shaped dome.

Underneath the Mosque of Omar is a huge rock on which oxen used to be sacrificed. On this same rock Abraham, so they say, was about to kill his son as he was ordered to do by the Lord, who wanted to test him, when an angel sent by the Lord stopped his hand. From this same rock Mohammed ascended to Heaven—so they say. The stone tried to follow him, but the archangel Gabriel held it back; and finger prints of archangels are shown you to prove the story true.

犹太人的哭墙

Part of the Temple of Solomon is still standing. It is a piece of the foundation wall. Ever since the temple was destroyed Jews have gone there to weep and to pray that their country, which the ancient Romans took from them, would be restored to them. It is called the Wailing Wall. Jews lived in many countries but there was no Jewish country that they could call their own. After World War II, however, the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into two parts. One part, they said, should be for Jews and would be the country that Jews for two thousand years had prayed to have. The other part, the United Nations said, should be for the many Arab Mohammedans who lived in Palestine. So at last the Jews had a country of their own. They named it Israel. Israel is the part of Palestine on the east next to the Mediterranean Sea. The western part of Palestine became part of the Arab country of Jordan. Jerusalem, which is the holy city for both Mohammedans and Jews, was divided also. The western and newer part of Jerusalem belongs to Israel and the eastern and older part belongs to the Mohammedans.

Israel is a republic. Though some of the oldest cities in the World are in Israel, the Jews made one of the newest cities in the World the capital of the new country, the city of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv has modern buildings and wide straight streets and it is very clean and neat, much different from the old cities with their narrow, dirty streets. Many Jews from other countries have gone to live in Israel. They are welcome there, for Israel is the home land of the Jews.

【中文阅读】

在巴勒斯坦，有三个最有名的地方。第一个是耶稣出生的地方，第二个是耶稣生活的地方，第三是耶稣去世的地方。

耶稣出生在伯利恒，那是一个又小又脏的村庄，完全不像我们在图画或圣诞卡片中看到的那种情景：天堂般的样子，还有天使在空中飞来飞去。耶稣的父母外出旅行，途中在伯利恒过夜，就在那天晚上，耶稣出生了。人们在据说是耶稣出生的地方修建了一座教堂，地板上现在有一颗银制的星星标明“耶稣出生的确切地点”。事实上，没有人知道哪里是“确切地点”，但有一点我们可以肯定，那个建在所谓“耶稣出生地”的教堂是世界上最古老的教堂。

耶稣虽然出生在伯利恒，但是他童年的大部分时光是在巴勒斯坦的另一个城镇度过的。这个城镇名叫拿撒勒，因为拿撒勒是耶稣的家乡，是他父亲约瑟生活和工作的地方。约瑟是一个木匠，所以，在拿撒勒，导游会给旅游者指出约瑟的木匠店，还有一个工作台，那是耶稣拿着锯子、锤子以及其他工具干活的地方。导游还会指出耶稣母亲玛莉亚为全家烧饭的厨房。但是，在拿撒勒，导游所说的那些“确切地点”，大多数我们都不全相信，就像在伯利恒我们不相信导游说的“确切地点”一样。然而有一处“确切地点”，我们可以相信，那是一口井，据说那就是玛莉亚打水的井，而这很可能真是那井，因为在拿撒勒没有其他地方可以打到水。那时每户人家里也没有自来水这样的东西。

巴勒斯坦最后一个最重要的地方是耶稣去世的城市——耶路撒冷，基督徒称它为自己的“圣城”，但奇怪的是，伊斯兰教徒也称它为自己的“圣城”，而且它曾经是犹太人的首都。穆罕默德生活在耶稣诞生后大约600年的时候，而且伊斯兰教徒相信关于穆罕默德的事情和基督徒相信耶稣的事情是相同的。伊斯兰教徒认为穆罕默德在耶路撒冷去世，然后从那里升入天堂。穆斯林攻占了耶路撒冷，控制耶路撒冷长达一千多年。在那么漫长的时间里，基督徒试图一次又一次从穆斯林手中把耶路撒冷夺回来。来自欧洲各地的基督徒组成了军队，向耶路撒冷进军，企图夺回耶路撒冷，但是通常都被穆斯林打败。尽管他们也曾一度占领耶路撒冷，但穆斯林总是又把耶路撒冷夺回来。一直到第一次世界大战的时候，英国人占领了耶路撒冷。

耶路撒冷不断被摧毁又不断被重建的次数，超过了世界上任何一座城市。在耶稣出生前约1000年，大卫王建造了耶路撒冷，后来所罗门王将他壮观的圣殿修在耶路撒冷，但是不久以后，耶路撒冷就被别人占领、摧毁了。每隔一段时间，耶路撒冷就被占领、摧毁，又重建，所以人们说，实际上有八个耶路撒冷，每一个都建立在前一个的废墟之上。之所以说不可能知道《圣经》中那么多故事发生的“确切地点”，以上所说就是一个原因。

据说人们在耶路撒冷找到了亚当——世界上第一个男人——的墓，他们还找到了耶稣的墓——圣墓——而且就在耶稣墓旁边，他们还在岩石上发现了一个孔，人们说这是当年耶稣被钉死时放十字架的地方。他们建造了一所教堂，覆盖住这些地方，叫做“圣墓教堂”。但是，有一样东西，他们不能放在圣墓教堂的下面，那就是——耶稣升入天堂的地方，因为这个地方是在耶路撒冷城外的一座被称为“橄榄山”的小山上。

穆斯林说穆罕默德也升入了天堂，地点就在离圣墓教堂不远的地方。在这个地点上面，穆斯林建造了一座叫做“奥玛清真寺”的建筑。不过它并不是真正的清真寺，而且也不是奥玛建的。但是这座建筑物比圣墓教堂漂亮多了，其实，有些人甚至说它是世界上最漂亮的建筑物之一。它就建在当年所罗门圣殿所在的地方，用美丽的大理石和花砖建成，有一个碗形的圆顶。

在奥玛清真寺的下面，是一块巨大的岩石。过去人们把牛作为祭品，放在这块岩石上。穆斯林说，就是在这同一块岩石上，亚伯拉罕遵照上帝的要求正要举刀杀子，这时，上帝派来一名天使阻止了他——上帝是在考验亚伯拉罕。穆斯林还说，就是在这同一块岩石上，穆罕默德升上了天堂，岩石想要跟随穆罕默德一起升上天堂，但是天使长加百列阻止了它。现在有人会指给你看天使长的指纹来证实故事的真实性。

所罗门圣殿现在尚存部分遗迹，那是一段残存的基础墙。自从圣殿被摧毁之后，犹太人常来此哭泣并为被古罗马占领的国家会回归他们而祈祷，这段墙被称为“哭墙”。许多国家都有犹太人生活，但是却没有一个国家可以称得上是犹太人自己的国家。然而，第二次世界大战之后，联合国投票决定将巴勒斯坦分为两个部分。他们说，其中一部分应该属于犹太人，将成为犹太人祈祷了两千年希望拥有的那个国家；另一部分，联合国说，应该属于住在巴勒斯坦的众多阿拉伯伊斯兰教徒。这样，最终，犹太人有了自己的国家，他们把这个国家命名为以色列。以色列是巴勒斯坦西部那片地区，濒临地中海。巴勒斯坦东部那片地区成为阿拉伯国家约旦的一部分。作为伊斯兰教徒和犹太人的圣城，耶路撒冷也被一分为二，西部新城区属于以色列，东部老城区属于伊斯兰教徒。

以色列是一个共和国。尽管世界上一些最古老的城市在以色列，犹太人却让世界上最新的城市之一——特拉维夫城——作为新国家的首都。特拉维夫有很多现代建筑和宽阔笔直的街道，城市干净整齐，与那些街道狭窄肮脏的老城市截然不同。许多犹太人从其他国家到以色列定居，他们在那儿很受欢迎，因为以色列就是犹太人自己的家园。

52

The Garden of Eden

伊甸园

OF course, you have heard of the Garden of Eden, haven’t you? When-I-was-a-boy I thought that when I was old enough to travel I should like to go and see it for myself. I should like to see whether or not the angels with fiery swords were still there. So I asked my Sunday school teacher where the Garden of Eden was. “It’s in the Bible,” said she. That didn’t help me much. But grown-up people have been looking for the Garden of Eden for a great many years and some say they have found it, or rather that they have found the place where it once was, for it does not look like a garden now, much less like a Paradise.

If you were in Damascus and asked a man on the street, “How do you get to the Garden of Eden?” he might think you were crazy, or maybe he might say, “I’m a stranger here myself.” But if he did know the way, he would point to the east and say, “You cross the desert and keep going straight ahead toward the rising sun. In about a month, if you are going by camel, or in a couple of days, if you are going by automobile, you will come to a muddy river. This river is called the Euphrates. Cross the Euphrates and go on a short distance and you will come to a second muddy river. This second muddy river is called the Tigris. These two rivers flow into each other, and near the place where the two rivers join, there you’ll find the Garden of Eden. You can’t miss it.”

伊甸园

Some say they have found the Garden of Eden

有些人说他们找到了伊甸园

There is no garden there now and you may wonder how there ever could have been a garden there, for most of it is now mud, and, when there has been no rain for a long time, just baked mud ground, which looks as little like a Garden of Eden as you could possibly imagine. Nevertheless, people think this is where the Garden of Eden once was. They even point out an old apple-tree that once bore some apples and say, “That’s the original tree.” They think the Great Flood took place between these rivers. They think that Noah lived down there somewhere, that he built his ark down there, and that the Flood came and flooded all this valley between the two rivers, and when the Flood was over, the Ark was left high and dry on the top of Mount Ararat, a mountain way up above where the rivers rise. This valley between the two rivers was called Mesopotamia, because “Meso” means “between” and “potamia” means “rivers.” But it is now called Iraq, and that is the name you will see on the map.

On the Tigris River, high up, there used to be a big city called Nineveh, and on the Euphrates, farther down toward where the two rivers meet, there used to be another big city called Babylon. I say “used to be,” for although these two cities were the largest cities in the World before Christ was born, they have almost completely disappeared.

Have you ever built on the beach or in a sand pile a town of houses and streets and then some big bully has come along, tramped on it, stamped on it, and kicked it to pieces? Well, Nineveh and Babylon look as if some giant had come along and stamped all over them and kicked them all to pieces, for about all there is to be seen of them now are piles of dirt. Men have been digging in the piles for many years and they have found buried under the dirt some of the things the people of these cities once had in their homes and shops and schools and palaces, for these cities had some of the finest houses and palaces ever built. The walls and gardens of Babylon were once one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but practically nothing is now left of them.

Though Nineveh and Babylon are gone—their names are not even on the map—there are to-day two big cities on the Tigris that are very much alive, with people living in them. One of these cities is just across the river from where Nineveh used to be. It is called Mosul. You know what muslin is, don’t you? Well, muslin was first made in Mosul, so this kind of cloth was called “Mosulin,” which became muslin.

Not many years ago people discovered oil in the country round Mosul, enough oil to run all the automobiles in the World. The difficulty was to get the oil to the automobiles. Pipe lines were built from the oil wells to the Mediterranean Sea miles away. The oil is pumped through the pipes and then is loaded on ships. The ships are really floating tanks and so are called tankers. The tankers carry the oil to America and to Europe.

Mosul is a Moslem town. On the great mosque there is a minaret that leans, something like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. People say that Mohammed was once passing this minaret and it bowed to him and was never able to get entirely straight again—it’s still leaning.

巴格达的大街

Puzzle: Find Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves

猜谜：找一找阿里巴巴和四十大盗

Have you ever read the stories of Ali Baba and Sindbad the Sailor? Down the Tigris River below Mosul is another big city called Bagdad. The people you see there on the streets look like the people you see in the pictures in the “Arabian Nights.” Bagdad in summer is one of the hottest places you can imagine. It is sometimes 125°, and you know that 100° is about as hot as we can stand. The streets used to be like narrow alleys, dirty and smelly. But after World War I, England ruled over Iraq and Bagdad and the English made great changes. They built a wide street right through the city and called it New Street. They put in electric lights and ice factories which Bagdad had never had before. Then they had the people vote for a king, and Iraq has been a kingdom ever since. It is still under the protection of England, however, and a few Englishmen stay there to help train the army of Iraq.

【中文阅读】

你肯定听说过伊甸园，对不对？小时候，我就想，长大了，能去旅游了，我要去伊甸园亲眼看看。我想看看手执能发出火焰的剑的天使是不是还在那儿。于是，我问主日学校的老师伊甸园在哪里，她说，“在《圣经》里。”这个答案对我并没有多大帮助。但是，很多年以来，大人们一直在寻找伊甸园，而且，有些人说找到了；更确切地说，找到了伊甸园曾经的那个地方，因为那里现在看上去一点都不像一个花园，更不用说像天堂了。

如果你在大马士革，问大街上的一个人，“到伊甸园怎么走？”对方也许会认为你疯了，或者，也许会这样回答你，“我是外地人，对这里不熟悉。”但是，如果他确实知道去伊甸园的路，他会指着东边说，“穿过沙漠，朝着太阳升起的方向，一直向前走。骑骆驼大概要走一个月；开车大概几天就到了。你会来到一条浑浊的河边，这条河叫幼发拉底河。穿过幼发拉底河，再走一会。你就会来到第二条浑浊的河边，这条河叫底格里斯河。这两条河彼此交汇，离交汇处不远，就是你要找的伊甸园，错不了。”

那里现在根本没有花园。你也许还会感到奇怪，那儿过去怎么可能有花园呢？因为那里大部分是泥浆。如果长时间不下雨，就只有被太阳晒成硬邦邦的地面，看起来一点也不像你想象中的伊甸园。虽然如此，人们仍然认为这就是伊甸园曾经所在的地方。他们甚至还指出一棵曾经结过几个苹果的老苹果树，说，“那就是原来的那棵树。”他们认为，《圣经》所说的那场灭世大洪水就发生在这两条河流之间；诺亚就住在那里的某个地方，造好了他的方舟，洪水来了，淹没了两河流域；洪水退后，方舟搁浅在阿勒山山顶上了，这座山高耸在高涨的河水之上。两河流域叫做“美索不达米亚”，“美索”是“在……之间”的意思，而“不达米亚”是“河流”的意思，所以“美索不达米亚”就是“河流之间”的意思。但是现在那里叫“伊拉克”，是你在地图上可以看到的名字。

底格里斯河上游的岸边曾有一座叫“尼尼微”的大城市；而在幼发拉底河下游的岸边，快到两河交汇的地方，也曾有过一座叫“巴比伦”的大城市。我说“曾有过”，是因为这两个城市现在几乎完全消失了，尽管在耶稣出生之前它们都是世界上最大的城市。

你有没有在沙滩上或沙堆上建过一个小镇，有房子，有街道，这时出现了一个大坏蛋，他欺负你，对着你的小镇，又是跺、又是踩、又是踢，把它毁得粉碎？尼尼微和巴比伦看上去就好像有个巨人来了，把两个城市整个踩踏一遍，然后又将它们踢得粉碎，因为在那儿你所看到的这两个城市遗迹不过是一些泥土堆。多年来，人们一直在这些土堆里挖掘，发现了一些深埋在泥土下的东西。这些东西都曾在以前城里人家里、商店里、学校里和宫殿里，这两个城市曾拥有世界上最漂亮的房子和宫殿。巴比伦的城墙和花园曾经是世界七大奇观之一，但是现在却几乎什么也没有留下。

尽管尼尼微和巴比伦已经不存在了——连它们的名字在地图上也找不到，但是现在，在底格里斯河河边，有两座生气勃勃的大城市，很多人居住在里面。其中一个城市就与尼尼微曾经所在的地方隔河相望，叫做“摩苏尔”。你知道，细平布是什么，对吧？细平布最初就是在摩苏尔生产出来的，所以这种布起先以产地命名为“摩苏尔布”，后来叫做“细平布”。

不久前，人们在摩苏尔附近发现了大量的石油，足以满足全世界汽车的需求。问题是如何将石油运走，提供给汽车。人们在油井和数英里之外的地中海之间铺设了输油管道。石油被泵抽出来，通过管道装到船上。这些船实际上就是漂浮的油箱，所以它们被称作“油轮”。油轮将石油运到美洲和欧洲。

摩苏尔是一个穆斯林城市。在大清真寺上有一个倾斜的宣礼塔，有点像比萨斜塔。据说，穆罕默德曾经经过这个宣礼塔，宣礼塔向他鞠了个躬，就再也挺不直了——它现在还是倾斜的。

你读过《阿里巴巴》和《水手辛巴达》的故事吗？沿底格里斯河向下走，在摩苏尔下方还有另一个大城市，叫巴格达。你在巴格达街道上遇见的人看起来就像《一千零一夜》书里图画中的人。夏日的巴格达是你能想象到的最热的地方，有时，气温高达华氏125度，你知道，华氏100度是我们能忍受的最高温度。过去巴格达的街道像狭窄的小巷，又脏又臭；但是第一次世界大战之后，英国统治了伊拉克和巴格达。英国人让这里产生了很大的变化，他们修建了一条宽阔的大街，称为“新街”，它正好穿过这个城市，还引进了巴格达人未见过的电灯和制冰厂。然后，英国人让巴格达人投票选举了一位国王，从此之后，伊拉克就是一个王国了。不过，伊拉克现在还受英国保护，有些英国人待在那儿帮助训练伊拉克军队。

53

The Land of Bedtime Stories

产生《一千零一夜》的国家

HAVE you ever been thirsty—really thirsty? Very few people in our country ever have. Have you ever gone for more than one whole day without a drink of water? Some people have gone without food for days and even weeks, but no one ever has gone without water for as long as a week. Suppose that you lived in a country where there is not a single river nor lake in the whole land, where it seldom, if ever, rains, where there is practically no water to drink and even less for washing—a country that is almost surrounded by water, but water you can’t drink because it is salt—a country that is a desert except for a little fringe around the edge and damp spots here and there. That country is Arabia, the home of the Arab people. How can any one live there? The answer is that people can only live along the edges or in those few spots where there is water. These spots are called oases. Dates are bread and butter, meat and dessert to an Arab. Dates grow on palm-trees, so the Arabs plant palm-trees in deep holes in order that their roots may be far down where the ground is a little damp. The well-to-do Arab has a camel, because that is the only animal that can stand hardships such as lack of food and water for any length of time; also, he has a few goats or sheep and a horse. The Arab horses are small but they are swift runners. Some say they are the finest in the World, and many of our race-horses have come from Arab stock.

阿拉伯马、绵羊和山羊

The Arabs are very much like all boys and girls in one particular—they love to listen to good stories, especially at night. They can’t get enough of them. Once upon a time there was a king in the old days long ago when kings could put to death whomsoever they wished. This king had a wife whom he was going to put to death the next morning, but she told him a bedtime story which so interested him he wanted to hear another. So, on condition that he would spare her life one more day, she promised to tell him another story the next night. And again, day after day, he postponed putting her to death in order that he might hear another story at night. This she kept on doing for one thousand nights and one night more for good measure until the king could no longer live without her stories, so his queen was saved. Some of the most famous of these stories have been translated into English. They are called the “Arabian Nights.”

Arabia was the birthplace of Mohammed, the man who started the Mohammedan religion. Mohammed was born in a place called Mecca about six hundred years after Christ was born. Mohammed thought he was called by God to be His messenger. His wife and friends believed in him, but his neighbors did not, so they ran him out of Mecca. He fled to the next town, Medina, where he preached to the people, and before long there were millions who followed him and obeyed his teachings, and now to-day there are about one third as many people who believe in Mohammed as believe in Christ. Mohammedans think Mecca is the center of the World. Jerusalem is one of their holy cities, but Mecca is their holiest of holies. Medina, which means simply “The City,” is second only to Mecca in holiness. The Mohammedans think that one prayer said at Medina is worth a thousand prayers said anywhere else, so Mohammedans send long distances to have prayers said for them in Medina.

The Mohammedans have commandments as the Christians do. We have ten; they have four or more. One of their commandments is to pray five times a day; another is to give a present to every beggar who asks—it doesn’t matter how little—it may be less than a penny; a third is to fast for a month each year—that’s something like Lent; and a fourth is to make a trip to Mecca some time during their lives. Such a trip is called a pilgrimage, and every Mohammedan, no matter where or how far off he lives, hopes to make a pilgrimage to Mecca some time before he dies. A great Mohammedan king named Aaron the Just once made the trip from Bagdad to Mecca—hundreds of miles—all the way on foot, but as he was a king, the whole way was covered with carpet for him to walk on!

The whole way—hundreds of miles—was covered with carpet for the king to walk on

整条道路——几百英里——全都铺上了地毯，供国王行走

Have you ever seen a “shooting-star” in the sky? Most shooting-stars usually burn up before they reach the ground, but some do not. At Mecca there is a mosque and inside this mosque is a black stone called The Kaaba. The Mohammedans say this stone was sent down from heaven, and that may be true, for it is probably a shooting-star that fell to the ground before it burned up. The Mohammedans think, if they kiss this stone, all their sins are forgiven and they will go to Heaven and have a high place there when they die. They say this stone was once white, but it has been turned black by all the sins that have gone into it from the countless kisses of Mohammedans. A railroad one thousand miles long has been built from Damascus to Medina, and there is now a bus line from Medina to Mecca, but this railroad and bus are only for pilgrims, for none but Mohammedans are allowed in either city—Mecca or Medina.

I have told you of a White Sea and a Black Sea. Here is a Red Sea. It is a long, narrow sea bordering Arabia. I don’t know why it’s called Red, unless it is because it’s red hot, for I have been there, and the water is as blue as the Mediterranean. There is a little strip of land that used to separate the Red Sea from the Mediterranean, but men have dug a canal through this strip of land so that ships may pass from the one sea to the other. This strip of land is the Isthmus of Suez and the canal across it is called the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal is one of the most important canals ever dug. It is important because, before it was dug, this little isthmus that tied together the two big continents of Africa and Asia, barred the way to ships and they had to go all the way round Africa to get to the east side of the World. It is a water gateway to the east part of the World and England owns it.

The driest city in the World is at the lower end of the Red Sea. It is called Aden. Aden is often called the Gibraltar of the East, for the English own Aden too, and they hold on to it even though it is so dry, because then they can say who shall or shall not pass through the Red Sea. Three gateways for ships between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans—Gibraltar, Suez, Aden—and England owns all three!

There are no springs nor lakes nor rivers at Aden, and often it does not rain there for years, so the people cannot get drinking-water in any of the usual ways. But the English have found a way. They boil the sea water to get the salt out of it and store it in huge tanks so that they have plenty of fresh water all the time.

You may never have heard of Arabia till now, yet you write Arabic every day of your life, for all the figures we use are Arabic—1, 2, 3, 4, 5. There are only ten figures, as you know, but with those ten figures you can make any number from one to a billion, or more.

Arabia seems far away—a dry and desolate land that could have no connection with us—and yet if there had been no Arabia we should have no figures and no “Arabian Nights.”

【中文阅读】

你感到口渴过吗——真的很渴的那种感觉？在我们国家很少有人感到口很渴。你有没有过了一整天还没有喝水？有些人可以坚持几天、甚至几个星期都不吃食物，但是没有人可以一个星期都不喝水。设想一下你生活在一个没有任何河流和湖泊、也几乎从不下雨的国家，那里连喝的水都没有，别说洗澡了——那又是一个几乎完全被水包围着的国家，但水不能喝是因为水是咸的——整个国家，除了边界一小部分地区，以及一些零星分散的较湿润地区，其他全是沙漠。这个国家就是阿拉伯，就是阿拉伯人的家乡。那里怎么会有人生活呢？答案是人们只能生活在沙漠边缘，或者少数一些有水的地方。这些地方叫做绿洲。对阿拉伯人来说，海枣就是面包和黄油，是肉和甜点。海枣长在椰枣树上，所以阿拉伯人将椰枣树种在很深的坑里，这样它的根就可以向下延伸到有点潮湿的土壤中。富裕的阿拉伯人，家里会有一只骆驼，因为只有骆驼才能长时间忍受缺水少食那样恶劣环境。此外，他还有一些山羊或绵羊，还有一匹马。阿拉伯马体型小但跑起来却很快。有人说它们是世界上最优良的马，很多赛马用的马就来自阿拉伯。

阿拉伯人在某个方面非常像孩子——就是很喜欢听好听的故事，尤其是在晚上。好故事他们再听也听不腻。在很久以前的古代，国王可以任意处死他不喜欢的人。有这样一位国王，打算第二天早上处死他的妻子，但是国王的妻子在临睡前给他讲了一个非常好听的故事，国王听完后还想听一个。于是，国王的妻子答应第二天晚上再给他讲一个故事，只要国王让她多活一天。于是，为了能在晚上再听一个故事，一天又一天，国王一再推迟妻子的死期。就这样，国王的妻子连续说了一千零一个夜晚的故事，直到国王感到不听她讲故事就无法活下去，于是皇后得救了。其中一些最著名的故事被翻译成英语，这些故事被称作“一千零一夜”。

阿拉伯是创立了伊斯兰教的穆罕默德的诞生地。耶稣诞生后约六百年，穆罕默德出生在一个叫麦加的地方。穆罕默德认为上帝召唤他做使者。他的妻子和朋友都很相信他，但他的邻居却不相信他，于是把他赶出了麦加。穆罕默德逃到了另一个城镇麦地那。在那里，他向人们布道，不久以后，就有千千万万的人追随他，遵从他的教诲。如今，全世界伊斯兰教徒总人数大约是基督徒总人数的三分之一。伊斯兰教徒认为麦加是世界的中心，耶路撒冷是他们的圣地之一，而麦加则是所有圣地中最神圣的。麦地那，在阿拉伯语中，意思就是“城市”，是仅次于麦加的第二大圣地。伊斯兰教徒认为在麦地那做一次祈祷相当于在别的地方做一千次祈祷。于是，远离麦地那的伊斯兰教徒就派人前往麦地那，在那里替自己祈祷。

和基督教一样，伊斯兰教也有戒律。基督教有十条戒律，伊斯兰教至少有四条戒律，其中之一是每天要祈祷五次；另一条戒律是遇到任何乞讨的乞丐，都要给东西——东西再小都没关系——哪怕价值不到一便士；其三是每年斋戒一个月——有点像基督教的大斋；第四是在有生之年要去一次麦加，这样的旅程叫做“朝圣”。每个伊斯兰教徒，无论住在哪里，也无论住得离麦加有多远，都希望在去世前能去一趟麦加参加朝圣。有一位伟大的伊斯兰教国王名叫“正直亚伦”，曾经从巴格达到麦加朝圣——几百英里的路程——他全都步行！但是，由于他是国王，他所要走的路上都铺上了地毯。

你见过天上的流星吗？大多数流星还没有坠落到地面就烧掉了，但有一些掉到地上。在麦加有一个清真寺，寺里有一块黑色的石头叫做克尔白。伊斯兰教徒称这块石头是天上送下来的。那可能是真的，因为它可能是一颗还没烧尽之前就落到地面的流星。伊斯兰教徒认为只要他们亲吻这块石头，他们所有的罪过都会得到宽恕，死后就能升上天堂，还可以在那里占到一个很高的位置。他们说这块石头原为白色，但是后经千万教徒亲吻，吸收了他们所有的罪过而变成黑色。从大马士革到麦地那已建起了一条长达1000英里的铁路，还有一条公路从麦地那通往麦加。但是，铁路和公路都只对朝圣者开放，因为只有伊斯兰教徒才被允许居住在这两个城市——麦加或麦地那。

我介绍过白海和黑海，现在要讲红海了，它是与阿拉伯毗连的一个狭长的海。我不知道为什么它叫红海，因为我去过那里，那儿的海水与地中海一样蓝。有一小块狭长的陆地以前将红海和地中海隔开，但是人们在这块陆地上开凿了一条运河，这样轮船就可以从一个海航行到另一个海了。这块陆地叫苏伊士地峡，通过它的运河就叫苏伊士运河。

苏伊士运河是世界上最重要的运河之一。之所以重要是因为运河开通之前，这个连接了亚非两大陆的小小地峡却堵住了船只航行的路，船只不得不绕过整个非洲才能到达世界的东边。这是通向世界东方的水上通道，现在归英国所有。

世界上最干燥的城市在红海南端，叫亚丁。亚丁常被称作“东方的直布罗陀”，也归英国所有。即使亚丁这么干燥，英国也紧紧控制这个地方，因为有了亚丁，英国就能决定谁可以从红海经过，谁不可以。在大西洋和印度洋之间，有三条水上通道供船只通行——直布罗陀、苏伊士、亚丁——全都归英国所有！

亚丁没有泉水，没有湖泊，也没有河流，常常几年都不下雨。因此人们不能以通常的方法得到饮用水。但是英国人发明了一个方法。他们把海水煮沸，将盐提取出来，然后将水储存在一个大罐子里，这样人们就能随时有很多淡水喝了。

在这之前，你可能从未听说过阿拉伯。但一生中的每一天，你都在写阿拉伯语。我们所用的所有数字都是阿拉伯数字——1、2、3、4、5。你知道，只有从0到9十个数目字，但是用这十个数目字，我们就能写出从一至亿中的数字，或更大的数字。

阿拉伯似乎很遥远——一个干燥而荒凉的国度，原本可能与我们一点联系都没有，但是如果没有阿拉伯，我们就没有数目字，也没有《一千零一夜》故事集了。

54

The Lion and the Sun

狮子和太阳

HAVE you ever seen a Persian cat? They are big, beautiful animals with soft thick hair. They come from Persia.

Persia is one of those “once-was” or “used-to-be” countries too. It used to be the greatest country i. t. w. W. , yet many people now do not even know exactly where Persia is and can’t even find it when they look for it on a map—for the Persian name for Persia is Iran and most maps now say Iran instead of Persia. As I look around me in my home where I’m writing this, I find, to my surprise, I can count nearly a dozen things that have come from Persia or are connected with Persia, though before I began to count I should have said not a single thing Persian did I own.

The rug at my feet was made in Persia, entirely by hand. It was woven of woolen threads in beautiful colored designs and must have taken some Persian many months, perhaps a year or more, to make. Some Persian rugs are said to have taken one person the whole of his lifetime to make.

My wife has a silken shawl also woven by hand in Persia. The silkworms were raised there, the cocoons unwound, the silk spun into thread, dyed in many colors, and then woven into this shawl.

She has a ring set with greenish blue stones, called Turquoises. A turquoise is the birth-stone of December, and they also come from Persia. In some countries of the East people wear turquoises to keep away what is called the “evil eye.” They believe that some persons can do them harm by looking at them, and the turquoise prevents this “evil eye” harming them.

On my wife’s dressing-table is a small thin bottle of perfume called attar of roses. In some parts of Persia they grow the most beautiful and fragrant roses and from their petals this perfume is made.

I have a scarfpin in which is a pearl that came from an oyster that was brought up from the bottom of the Persian Gulf by a naked diver.

My bath slippers—big, sloppy slip-ons, with heels turned down—are Persian.

The electric light I am writing under is a Mazda lamp, and Mazda was the old Persian god of light.

In my bookcase is a book called “The Rubάiyάt.” It is a book of poetry written by a Persian named Omar Khayyάm.

For breakfast I might have had a melon, and melons were first grown in Persia. Our melons are grown from seeds brought many years ago to this country from Persia.

What I did have for breakfast were peaches, and these too were first grown in Persia. Peach-stones were brought to this country and from these our first peach-trees were grown.

If I had a Persian cat this would complete the picture, but I have a dog instead.

Persia is called the Land of the Lion and the Sun, and the Persian flag has a lion and a sun on it. I do not know why there is a lion, but the sun is on it because the people of that country used to worship the sun. The sun was their god. They also worshiped the stars, moon, and fire, so we call them fire-worshipers, but they call themselves Parsees. The fire-worshipers’ chief god was called Mazda and that is where we get the name for our electric-light bulbs. According to their religion, everything that was light was good and everything that was dark was bad. A few Persians are still fire-worshipers, but most are now Mohammedans.

The good part of Persia, like the little girl who had a little curl, is very, very good, but the bad part is horrid. In the part that is good, beautiful roses, fine melons and peaches grow, but much of Persia is desert. Most rivers get bigger and bigger as they flow along, but the Persian rivers get smaller and smaller and at last dwindle away to nothing. There are a great many mountains in Persia, and when the melted snows come down from these mountains they form streams, but many of these streams do not empty anywhere; they just dry up; they have no mouths.

Did you ever play charades? Here is a word we used to act out when I played charades, though we pronounced the word incorrectly. In the first act two girls would play drinking tea. In the second act a boy would run across the room. The two acts made the capital of Persia. Can you guess it? It is “Tehran.” Another charade can be acted out in only one act. A boy runs across the room and then points to himself. Can you guess this one? It is “Iran,” the Persian name of the country.

The ruler of Persia is called, not a king, but a Shah. Once upon a time the Shah could do anything he wished with his people. He could take all their money away from them and put them to death, if he wished to do so; but all that has long been changed. In Tehran is the most famous jeweled throne in the World. It is called the Peacock Throne. It is made of solid gold and the back is in the form of a peacock’s tail studded with rubies, emeralds, and sapphires—red, green, and blue precious stones.

潜水采珠人

He can hold his breath twice as long as you can

他屏气比你长一倍

All jewels, such as diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, come out of the ground—all except one. But one jewel does not come out of the ground. It comes out of the water, out of an oyster. This jewel is the pearl. The oyster makes a pearl around a grain of sand that has gotten into his shell and annoys him. So at the center of each pearl is a tiny grain of sand. It takes an oyster four or five years to make a pearl the size of a pea. In the Persian Gulf the finest pearls are found. The oysters are not good to eat, but are gathered for the pearls that are to be found in them. Men dive for the oysters, staying under the water long enough to go down to the bottom, gather a basket of oysters and come up to the top—as long as they can hold their breath. You can probably hold your breath only half a minute, but a pearl-diver can hold his for a minute or longer, and it is said that some have been able to do so for an hour—but that is a fairy-tale. A little boy wrote this composition telling how it is done: “They clamp clothes-pins on their noses and stuff wax in their earses to keep out the waterses. Then they fasten heavy stones to their feetses and jump overboard from small boatses.” Many pearl-divers lose their lives each year. They burst a blood vessel or are drowned or stung to death by a poisonous fish called the ray. But millions of dollars’ worth of pearls are gathered each year to ornament the necks and fingers of queens and ladies all over the World.

【中文阅读】

你见过波斯猫吗？体型较大，非常漂亮，长着又柔又厚的毛，产自波斯。

波斯也是那些“有过昔日辉煌”的国家之一，它过去是世界上最伟大的城市。然而现在很多人甚至都不知道它确切的位置，他们就是在地图上也找不到它——因为“波斯”的波斯语名字是伊朗，现在大多数地图上标的是“伊朗”，而不是“波斯”。在家里写到这儿的时候，我环顾四周，惊讶地发现我竟能数出差不多十几样来自波斯或者与波斯有关的东西，不过，不数一数的话，会说我没有一件东西是来自波斯的。

我脚下的地毯是波斯制造的，用羊毛线纯手工编织而成，上面有漂亮的彩色图案，某个波斯人一定编织了好几个月甚至一年多的时间才完成。据说，有些波斯地毯需要一个人一生的时间才能织完。

我妻子有一条丝质的披肩，也产自波斯，纯手工做的。波斯人养蚕，抽茧出丝，再纺成线，染成各种颜色，最后织成披肩。

她有一个戒指，上面镶有青绿色宝石，叫做“绿松石”。绿松石是象征十二月份的诞生石，也产自波斯。在东方的一些国家，人们佩带绿松石是为了远离所谓的“邪恶的目光”，他们认为有些人看他们时会给自己带来伤害，而绿松石可以防止这些“恶目”伤害自己。

我妻子的梳妆台上有一小细瓶叫“玫瑰油”的香水。波斯一些地方种植极为美丽、芬芳的玫瑰并用其花瓣来制作这种香水。

我有一个领带夹针，上面有一颗珍珠，这颗珍珠就来自波斯海湾海底的一只牡蛎，而这只牡蛎是由一个赤身裸体的潜水员捞上来的。

我沐浴时穿的拖鞋——一双又宽又肥的无扣便鞋，后跟很低——是波斯产的。

我写作时用的台灯是玛兹达灯，而玛兹达则是古代波斯的光明之神。

我书橱里有本书，书名叫《鲁拜集》，是一位名叫“欧玛尔 · 海亚姆”的波斯人写的诗歌集。

早餐我有可能会吃一个甜瓜，甜瓜最早是在波斯种植的，我们的甜瓜就是由多年前从波斯传来的种子种植出来的。

我早餐吃的桃子也是最早在波斯种植的，桃子的果核被带到美国后，由这些果核种植出我们的第一批桃树。

如果我有一只波斯猫，那么与波斯有关的各种东西都有了。但是我只有一条狗，没有波斯猫。

波斯被称作是“狮子和太阳之地”，波斯的国旗上有一头狮子和一个太阳。我不明白为什么会有狮子，但是上面有太阳是因为那个国家的人们过去崇拜太阳。太阳是他们的神。他们还崇拜星星、月亮和火，所以我们称他们是“拜火教徒”，但他们称自己是帕西人。拜火教徒信仰的主神是玛兹达，这就是我们的电灯泡借用的名字。根据他们的宗教信仰，凡是光明的东西都是好的，凡是黑暗的东西都是坏的。有一些波斯人仍是拜火教徒，但大多数现在都是伊斯兰教徒。

波斯条件好的地方，就像长着小鬈发的小女孩，非常非常美好，但条件差的地区就很糟。好的地方长着美丽的玫瑰花、甜蜜的瓜果、桃子，但波斯很多地方是沙漠。大多数河流总是越流越宽，但是波斯的河流却是越流越窄，直到最后完全消失。波斯有很多高山，山上的雪融化，流下来形成小溪，但是这些小溪并没有流入到什么地方，只是都干涸了，根本没有河口。

你有没有玩过字谜游戏？有个词，小时候玩字谜游戏时，我们常常把它表演出来让人猜，不过这个词的发音我们读不准。第一幕两个女孩表演喝茶，第二幕一个男孩跑着穿过房间。这两幕演的就是波斯的首都。你能猜到吗？就是“德黑兰”。另外一个字谜游戏只需一幕就能表演出来，一个男孩跑过房间，然后指着自己。你能猜对这个吗？是“伊朗”，就是这个国家的波斯语名字。

波斯的统治者不叫国王，而叫“沙”。从前，沙可以对他的人民为所欲为。他可以没收人们所有的财产，再把他们杀掉，只要他想这么做。但现在这一切早已改变了。德黑兰有世界上最著名的宝石御座，叫做“孔雀宝座”。它是由纯金制成的，靠背形似孔雀的尾巴，上面镶有一颗颗珍贵的红宝石、绿宝石、蓝宝石。

所有的宝石，如钻石、红宝石、绿宝石都来自地里，只有一个例外，有一种宝石不是来自地里，它来自水里，产自牡蛎，这就是珍珠。牡蛎的贝壳进入一粒沙子，就会让它不舒服，于是，围绕这粒沙子就慢慢形成了一颗珍珠。因此每颗珍珠的中心都有一粒小沙子。一只牡蛎需要花上四五年的时间才能形成一颗豌豆大小的珍珠。在波斯湾人们发现了世上最好的珍珠。牡蛎并不适合做食物，但是采集牡蛎是为了在它里面找到珍珠。人们潜入水中采集牡蛎，尽可能久地屏住呼吸，好在水下停留足够长的时间，采到一篮子的牡蛎，再回到水面上来。你大概只能屏住呼吸半分钟，但是潜水采珠人至少可以屏气达一分钟。据说，有些人能屏气达一小时之久——但那是瞎说的。一位小男孩写下这样一篇作文，告诉人们如何能做到这一点：“他们用衣夹夹住鼻子，用蜡塞住耳朵防止进水，在脚上绑上大石头，然后从小船上跳下去。”每年都有很多潜水采珠人丧生。他们或爆了根血管而死，或者溺水身亡，或者被一种叫做“鳐”的有毒的鱼刺伤而死。但是，每年价值数百万元的珍珠被采集上来，佩戴在全世界各国女王和女士的脖子上和手指上。

55

Opposite-Feet

对面脚踩之地

THERE is a shop downtown with a department in the basement, underneath the sidewalk. The sidewalk is made of thick glass, and as you look up you can see the feet of the crowds of people as they pass overhead. If the World were made of glass and you could look down through it in the same way, you could see the bottoms of the feet of the crowds passing by on the other side of the World. It is the “Opposite-feet” Land. That sounds awkward, so grown-ups call it “The Antipodes,” which means exactly the same thing—“opposite-feet.” The Opposite-feet Land on the other side of the World is a pie-shaped country called India. It is the half-way country—half-way round the World. You go away from home till you reach India, then, though you keep on going, you are coming back. I went west around the World and a friend of mine went east. We both started at the same time and met in India. When I landed at a place called Calcutta, there he was on the dock waiting to greet me. From Calcutta we used to get a kind of cloth which we called, from the name of the place, calico.

calico comes from Calcutta

加尔各答的卡利科布料

When I say “Indians”, you probably think of tommyhawks, colored feathers, and warpaint. But you are thinking of American Indians—the kind that were in our country before the white man came. There are only a few of these Indians left. They belong to the red race.

There is another kind of Indian that belongs to the white race, the same as we do, and there are more than twice as many of them as there are people in our whole country. They get the name “Indians” from the name of the country where they live—India. India is the country that Columbus was trying to reach by going the other way around the World. When he bumped into America he thought he had reached India, so he called the people he found here Indians. He did not find out until later that America was not India at all, but a new and unknown land, and that the people were really not Indians at all, but Red Men.

India is shut off from the rest of Asia on the north by the highest wall of mountains in the World; they are called the Himalayas, Him-al-ay-as. The highest mountain on the face of the globe is in this range; it is called Mount Everest, after an English engineer named Everest, who measured its height. No one has ever been to the top, yet we know exactly how high it is. An engineer can find out such things. He can tell exactly how high a tree, a church-steeple, or a mountain is without leaving the ground. This mountain is twenty-nine thousand and two feet high—more than five miles high. The top and sides of Mount Everest are covered with snow and ice which never melts away and will always be there until the crack of doom.

It’s the highest mountain in the World

世界上最高的山脉

Men have tried and tried again to climb to the top and many have lost their lives in attempting the climb, but no one has ever been able to get there. The top reaches so high up into the sky that there is very little air up there, and men have to take along canned air to breathe. If they attempt to climb without canned air, they are able to take but a single step and then must stop to breathe many times, like a dog panting for breath, and every few steps they must rest awhile before going on. Two Englishmen, after weeks of struggling up the sides of the giant mountain, got nearer than any other human being ever had before—within a few hundred feet of the top. A companion whom they left at their last stop watched them as they plunged upward in their last desperate struggle, and then—whish!—an icy blast of snow and sleet swept them from sight—forever. The native people think a goddess lives at the top and that she will let no one climb to her, and that it brings bad luck and even death to try to reach such a holy place.

At the other end of the Himalaya Mountains is a high valley which is so beautiful that poets call it a vale instead of a valley. It is the Vale of Kashmir. “Who has not heard of the Vale of Kashmir,” says one poet, “with its roses, the brightest the earth ever gave?” Beautiful lakes with snow-topped mountains, and roses, roses everywhere. It seems as if this should have been the Garden of Eden instead of that sun-baked mud bank between the Tigris and Euphrates.

If you will look at your map of Asia carefully you will see something strange about two of the countries that touch India. The country next to India on the west and the country next to India on the east have the same name, Pakistan. How can two separate countries have the same name? The answer is that Pakistan is one country in two parts. Until after World War II these two parts called Pakistan were both a part of India and all India belonged to England. The people of India, like people almost everywhere, wanted to rule themselves. So finally the English said they would give up India and turn the country completely over to the Indians. This pleased the people of India but there was one trouble with the plan. Most of the people of India believed in a religion called the Hindu religion but a great many others were Mohammedans. These two religions didn’t mix very well. The Hindus wanted India to remain one big country when it became independent. The Mohammedans didn’t want one big country for they knew then the Hindus would do most of the ruling as there were more Hindus in India than Mohammedans. The Mohammedans wanted the country split into separate Mohammedan and Hindu countries. Then the Mohammedans could have a country of their own and not have to be part of a Hindu country. They almost went to war about it but finally both sides agreed to make two countries out of India, a Mohammedan country to be called Pakistan and a Hindu country to keep the name of India.

Now the Mohammedans lived mostly on the western and on the eastern sides of India and the Hindus lived mostly in the middle. So Pakistan became a new country with two separate parts, an eastern part and a western part with the new country of India in between. For Pakistan it must be something like living in a house with the kitchen on one side of the street and the living room on the other side. But it seems to work.

Both India and Pakistan are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

【中文阅读】

在市中心人行道下面有个地下商店。人行道是用很厚实的玻璃做的，你在商店一抬头就可以看到很多人的脚从你头顶上走过。如果世界是由玻璃做的，你可以通过同样的方式向下透过玻璃看到世界另一面行人的脚底。这就是“对面脚踩之地”。听起来怪怪的，所以成年人称之为“对跖之地”，其实和“对面脚踩之地”是一个意思。在世界另一面的“对面脚踩之地”是一个馅饼状的国家，名叫“印度”，它就是那个位于中途的国家——环绕世界的中途。你从家出发到印度，虽然你继续前行，却又回到家。我向西出发作环球旅行，我的一个朋友向东出发。我们俩同时启程，然后在印度会面。当我到达一个叫加尔各答的地方的时候，他正站在码头上迎接我。在加尔各答我们过去常会买一种叫“卡利卡特”（源自印度的原产地名卡利卡特）的布料。

当我说到印第安人时你可能会想到飞鹰、彩色的羽毛和出战前涂在脸上的颜料。你想到的是美洲印第安人——是在白种人来美国之前就居住在这里的土著人。现在这种印第安人很少了。他们属于红种人。

另外一种印第安人属于白种人，和美国人一样，人数是美国人口的两倍多。因为他们居住的国家是印度而被称为“印度人”。印度是哥伦布试图朝另一方向作环球旅行而期望能到达的国家。当他无意之中到达美洲时，他以为已经到了印度，因此他称当地人为印度人。直到后来他才发现，美洲根本不是印度，而是一个新的未知的大陆，当地人也完全不是印度人，而是红种人。

印度北边有世界上最高的山脉，将印度与亚洲其他地区隔离开。这条山脉叫喜马拉雅山脉，地球表面最高峰就在这条山脉里，被称为“埃佛勒斯”[1]，是因为一位名叫埃佛勒斯的英国工程师测量了它的高度。迄今为止还没有人登上山顶，可是我们知道它的确切高度。一名工程师——不用离开地面就能准确说出一棵树、一座教堂尖塔、或一座山的高度。这座山峰有29,200英尺高——超过5英里高。埃佛勒斯的山顶及四周都被冰雪覆盖了，这些冰雹永远不会融化，一直留在那儿，直到世界末日。

人类一次又一次尝试登上埃佛勒斯峰，很多人在登山时丧生，到目前为止还没有一个人能够登上山顶。山顶极高，上面空气稀薄，登山者得依靠随身携带的氧气罐来呼吸。如果不带氧气罐爬山，每走一步就要停下来呼吸很多次，像狗一样气喘吁吁，每走几步就要停下来休息一会儿才能继续前进。

两名英国人，在这巨大的山体侧面，艰难爬行几周之后，到达了以前别人从未到过的高度，离山顶只有几百英尺了。有个同伴被留在最后一个停留地点，注视他俩奋力向上攀登，作最后一搏。就在这时，——“唿嘘”一声——一阵凛冽的狂风带着雪和冻雨吹来，把两人刮走了，从视线中消失——永远地消失了。当地人认为山顶上住着一位女神，这位女神不愿让任何人爬上山顶，接近她。任何人想要登上如此神圣的地方，就会遭遇厄运，甚至死亡。

在喜马拉雅山脉的另一端是一个很高的山谷，非常美丽，诗人都称它为河谷而不是山谷，那就是克什米尔河谷。“谁没有听说过克什米尔河谷？”一位诗人说，“那里盛开着地球上最美丽的玫瑰花。”美丽的湖泊、白雪皑皑的山峰，到处都是玫瑰花，似乎这儿应当就是伊甸园，而不是底格里斯河与幼发拉底河之间那块被太阳烤干了的土地。

如果仔细看亚洲地图，你会发现，与印度相连的两个国家，有什么不同寻常的地方。在西边与印度相邻的国家，和在东部与印度相邻的国家，有一个共同的名字——巴基斯坦。两个分开的国家怎么会有相同的名字？答案是巴基斯坦是一个分成了两个部分的国家。直到二战后，这两个叫“巴基斯坦”的地方都是印度的一部分，而整个印度隶属于英国。印度人，像几乎所有国家的人一样，想自己统治自己。最终英国人说他们愿意放弃印度，把国家完全交给印度人民。印度人听了很高兴，但是计划中却出现了一个问题。大多数印度人信仰印度教，但是还有许多人信奉伊斯兰教。这两大宗教不能和平相处。印度教徒希望印度独立时依然是完整的大国，但是伊斯兰教徒不希望这样，因为他们知道那样的话印度教徒就会把这个国家的统治权掌握在自己手里，因为在印度印度教徒的人数比伊斯兰教徒多，他们希望印度分成两个独立的国家——伊斯兰教国家和印度教国家，这样，伊斯兰教徒就能有自己的国家，而不必成为印度教国家的一部分。双方几乎要为之开战，最后，双方达成协议，从印度分出两个国家，伊斯兰教国家将称为“巴基斯坦”，印度教国家继续保持“印度”这个名字。

但是，伊斯兰教徒大多数居住在印度的东西两边，而印度教徒大多数居住在中间。于是，巴基斯坦成为一个新国家，就由互不相连的两个部分组成，而印度这个新国家就在这两部分之间。巴基斯坦有点像一所房子，厨房在马路的一边，而起居室却在另一边。但这似乎还行得通。

印度和巴基斯坦都是英联邦成员国。

[1] 中国称“珠穆朗玛峰”——译者注。

56

Opposite-Feet (continued)

对面脚踩之地（续）

INDIA is divided into states like the United States and many of these states have separate rulers called rajahs. Many of the rajahs, however, are more interested in showing off and in having a good time than they are in ruling. They love jewels, such as diamonds and pearls, and they collect them as you might collect marbles, though one of their diamonds may be worth a million times what one of your precious marbles is worth. They own some of the largest and finest jewels that have ever been found. We think of diamond and pearl necklaces as something that only women wear, but when the rajahs appear before their subjects or ride in processions, as they love to do, they dress themselves up with their wonderful gems, some of them as big as walnuts, and wear collars of pearls, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. In such processions a rajah rides on an elephant, which is dressed up too. The rajah sits on top of the elephant under a canopy that is so high in the air he has to use a stepladder to climb up.

A Rajah rides on an elephant which is all dressed up too

邦主坐在也穿了盛装的大象背上

Elephants are considered sacred in India, and even though there are many wild ones, it is against the law to shoot one. So men hunt them, catch them, and tame them without shooting them. Hundreds of men form a long line around the place where there are elephants and beat drums and blow horns to frighten them. The elephants move away from the noise and, unknowingly, toward a pen that is left open to catch them. In this way they are driven by the terrible racket into the pen, which is then closed. After they are caught they must be tamed. This is not an easy job, for some elephants are very dangerous and can easily stamp a man to death. Once tamed, however, an elephant can be used like a camel in Arabia, a horse in Europe, or an automobile, a tractor, or a piece of machinery in our country. An elephant will wind his trunk around a log and load it on a train or ship, much as a machine called a derrick would do.

One of the things a rajah likes best to do is to hunt tigers. The tiger—a huge, orange-colored cat with black stripes—is a fearful creature. He lives in the jungles of India, and when he is hungry he raids villages and kills domestic animals and people. A rajah going forth to a tiger hunt takes good care that he is in no danger. He and a party of friends, with hundreds of servants, go out into the jungle and climb to a safe place in a tree where a platform has been built. The servants then go through the jungle beating pans and drums and anything that will make a noise, keeping up a terrific din to scare the tiger along toward the rajah and his party of friends. When he comes within range they fire upon him from above. They then take his skin home to cover the floors or walls of the rajah’s palace.

There are over a hundred different religions in India but, as I told you in the last chapter, most of the people are Hindus. A Hindu believes his spirit comes back into this World in the shape of an animal or of another person. That is one reason why useful or good animals are treated well. A Hindu thinks that if he is good he will, when he dies, suddenly, in a twinkling, be born again—rich or in the shape of a good animal; if he has been bad, he will, when he returns, be poor or in the shape of a bad animal. When I look into the kindly eyes of my dog who wags his tail, puts out his paw, and whines “m-m-m,” I can almost believe as the Hindu does that some human being, perhaps a rajah, is in his dog body.

On the west side of India is a big city called Bombay, but Bombay does not look much different from any other large city in Europe. The buildings look much like the buildings in London or New York.

But if you travel north from Bombay for about two days you will come to a town with two buildings like none other in the World. This town is called Agra. One building is a tomb, the other is a mosque. The tomb was built by a Mohammedan prince for one of his four wives who was his favorite. It is called the Taj Mahal, and some think it the most beautiful building in the World. I had come half-way round the World to see this sight and had traveled days in such terrific heat that a sunstroke was as much to be feared as a stroke of lightning. I saw the Taj by the full moon and was so busy looking that I stepped into a pool of water up to my knees, and I had hardly clambered out when I stepped off a platform and sprained my ankle. But it was worth it. And yet to me the most beautiful building in the World is not the Taj. It is the Pearl Mosque, which is also at Agra. I don’t know what the buildings in Heaven look like, but I don’t believe they could be more beautiful than the Pearl Mosque.

On the east side of the country is the sacred river of India; it is called the Ganges. It has several mouths and at one of these mouths is Calcutta. Calcutta is in India but most of the mouths of the Ganges are in Pakistan.

Farther up the sacred river is the sacred city of the Hindus. It is called Benares. No one but a Mohammedan may go to the sacred city of Mecca, but any one may go to Benares. Benares is built on the banks of the river, and covering the banks are long stone steps leading down into the river. Hindus come from all over India to bathe in the Ganges at Benares, not to wash away dirt but to wash away sins. They go in about waist-deep and, filling a bowl with the sacred water, pour it over their heads. Especially do they come to the Ganges when they think they are about to die. Good Hindus are not afraid to die. In fact, if they are miserably poor and unhappy they are glad to die, for if their sins are washed away they expect, by dying, they will immediately be changed into the body of a happier creature.

I went half-way round the World to see the Taj Mahal

我环绕地球半圈专程来看泰姬陵

The Hindus do not bury those who die; they burn their bodies on bonfires. Those who die in Benares are burned on the steps that lead down to the river, and so many are burned there that men make a regular business of selling wood for these funeral fires. The richer a man is, the bigger fire he can have when he dies; but often a man is so poor he has not left even enough money to pay for the few sticks of wood necessary to burn his body.

There are so many people in India that often there is not enough food to go around, and though the poor people live on little but a few handfuls of rice a day, thousands upon thousands starve to death for lack of even this little food. The rajahs and well-to-do people look fat and well-fed, but the poor people are usually as thin as skeletons, and as they often wear hardly any clothes, you can see every bone in their lean bodies.

From rajahs with their millions’ worth of jewels to the poor wretch who dies without two sticks of wood to burn his body, that is the “opposite-feet” land.

South of India is an island called Ceylon, where men wear skirts and combs in their hair. Much of our tea comes from there. Near Ceylon are the greatest pearl fisheries i. t. w. W.—greater even than those of the Persian Gulf. Many of the rajahs’ famous pearls have been found there, and even I have a black pearl that came from there. It is supposed to bring good luck whether you wear it or whether you don’t. I don’t.

The Indians are famous magicians, and at Colombo in Ceylon I saw some of their tricks. An Indian placed his wife in a basket, covered it with a shawl, stabbed through it in every direction, and then uncovered her alive and smiling. I saw him put a seed in a flower-pot and while you watched it it grew to a plant. How do they do such things? You can only guess just as every one else does.

【中文阅读】

像美国一样，印度也划分为不同的州，很多州有各自的统治者——叫做“邦主”。然而，许多邦主感兴趣的不是治理国家，而是炫耀自己和尽情享受。他们喜欢珠宝，比如钻石和珍珠。就像你有可能收集玻璃弹子一样，他们收集珠宝，不过，他收集的其中一个钻石也许比你珍爱的玻璃弹子贵一百万倍。他们拥有迄今为止所发现的最大最好的珠宝。我们认为钻石和珍珠项链只有女士才佩戴。但是，当这些邦主出现在他们的臣民面前，或是参加列队行进的时候——他们就喜欢有这样的机会，他们穿上盛装，佩戴华丽无比的宝石。有的宝石有核桃那么大，衣领上缀有珍珠、红宝石、蓝宝石、绿宝石。在队伍中，邦主骑在一头也盛装打扮的大象上，华盖为其遮挡太阳。因为大象太高了，邦主不得不用一个梯子才能爬上去。

在印度，大象被认为是神圣的。尽管有很多野生大象，但是射杀大象是犯法的。于是，人们就捕猎大象，而不是射杀，捕获后驯化它们。猎象时，数百人把有大象的地方围起来，然后，敲鼓吹号来吓唬它们。为了避开噪声，大象不知不觉走向一个为捕捉它们而有意敞开的围栏。就这样，大象在喧闹声中被赶进了围栏，这时有人马上就把围栏关上。捕获大象后一定要驯化它们。驯象是一件很难的事，因为有些大象非常危险，能轻易将人踩死。然而，一旦驯化，大象就能像阿拉伯的骆驼、欧洲的马、美国的汽车、拖拉机，或一台机器一样被人使用。大象会用它的鼻子缠绕着圆木，像转臂起重机一样，把圆木放到火车或者轮船上。

猎虎是印度邦主最喜欢做的事情之一。老虎——一种橘黄色的，长着黑色条纹的大型猫科动物——是非常可怕的动物。老虎生活在印度丛林中，饥饿时，会袭击村庄，咬死家畜甚至人。邦主前去猎虎时非常小心，要确保自己绝对安全。邦主和他的一帮朋友，带着几百个仆人，离开住处，进入丛林，爬到树上一个安全的地方，那里早已搭建好一个平台。接着仆人们深入丛林，敲盆击鼓以及敲打任何可以发出噪音的东西，持续发出可怕的嘈杂声，吓得老虎朝着国王和他的朋友方向跑去。当老虎进入射程，国王和他的朋友就从平台上向它射击，并把猎杀后的老虎带回去装饰宫殿的地板或者墙面。

在印度有一百多种以上不同的宗教，但是，在上一章我就介绍过，大部分印度人都信仰印度教。印度教徒相信人死后灵魂会回到这个世界，变成一种动物或者另一个人。这就是为什么有用的或有益的动物会受到善待。印度教徒认为，如果他是个好人，那么在他死后的一瞬间，就会投胎成为一个富人，或者成为了一只有益的动物；如果他是个坏人，转世时他就会变成穷人，或者成为有害的动物。当我的狗摇着尾巴，伸出爪子，呜呜呜地叫，我看着它友好的眼神时，我几乎就像印度教徒那样，相信某个人也许是个邦主就在这狗的身体里。

在印度西海岸有个大城市叫孟买，孟买看上去和欧洲任何一个大城市没有多大区别，城市建筑很像伦敦、纽约的建筑。

但是，如果你从孟买往北走两天，就会来到一个城镇，那儿有两栋建筑物，和世界上其他任何建筑物都不一样。这个小镇叫阿格拉。其中一座建筑物是一座陵墓，另一座是清真寺。陵墓是一位伊斯兰教王子给他四位妻子中最喜爱的一位建造的，叫泰姬陵，有些人认为这是世界上最美的建筑。我曾环绕地球半圈专程来看这景观。在旅行的那几天里，天气非常炎热，人们害怕中暑就像害怕被闪电击中一样。我在满月的银光之下看见了泰姬陵。我那么专注地看着，不知不觉竟步入一个水池，水没到膝盖，我刚爬出来，从一个平台上走下来，又扭伤了脚踝。但受伤也是值得的。然而，对我来说，世界上最美的建筑不是泰姬陵，而是珍珠清真寺，它也在阿格拉镇。我不知道天堂里的建筑是什么样的，但我相信，就算是天堂里的建筑也不会比珍珠清真寺更美丽。

印度的圣河，在这个国家的东边，叫做恒河。它有好几个河口，加尔各答在其中一个河口。加尔各答在印度，但大部分恒河河口在巴基斯坦。

在圣河上游有印度教徒的圣城——贝拿勒斯。圣城麦加，唯有伊斯兰教徒可以去，但任何人都可以去贝拿勒斯。贝拿勒斯建在恒河河畔，河岸铺着长长的石阶，石阶向下延伸到恒河。印度教徒从印度各地来到贝拿勒斯，在恒河里沐浴，不是洗去污垢而是洗去罪恶。他们走到齐腰深的地方，舀起一碗圣水，浇到自己的头上。当他们认为自己快要死的时候，就会特地来到恒河。虔诚的印度教徒并不怕死。事实上，如果生活贫穷，痛苦不堪，他们宁愿死去，因为如果他们的罪恶一旦洗去，他们期望通过死亡立刻转世成为一个比以前幸福的人。

印度教徒不埋葬死去的人，而是将尸体放在篝火上焚烧。在贝拿勒斯，死去的人会被放在通向恒河的石阶上焚烧。焚烧的尸体太多了，就有人做起了常规生意，专门出售火葬用的木柴。一个人越富有，他死后焚烧的火堆就越大。但是常有人穷得连火葬用的木头都买不起。

印度人口太多，常常没有足够的食物分配给每个人。尽管穷人一天只需要几把米就可以活下去，但是成千上万的人还是因为缺少一点点粮食就饿死了。邦主和富人都长得肥头大耳，营养充足；而穷人通常是骨瘦如柴。因为穷人经常不穿什么衣服，你能看见他们瘦削身体上的根根骨头。

从拥有价值百万珠宝的邦主，到穷得连火葬自己的两根木柴都没有的可怜人，这就是“对拓之地”。

印度之南有个叫锡兰的岛，岛上的男人穿裙子，头发上插着梳子。我们喝的茶很多产自那里，锡兰附近有世界上最大的珍珠渔业场——甚至比波斯湾的还要大。印度邦主的许多著名的珍珠都产自那里。就连我也有一颗黑珍珠是产自那里。据说珍珠会带来好运，无论你戴不戴它。我不戴珍珠。

印度人是著名的魔术师。在锡兰的科伦坡，我见过他们玩的一些戏法。一位印度人把他的妻子放在一个篮子里，盖上披肩，然后用剑从各个方向刺穿这个篮子，然后掀开披肩，他的妻子毫发无损，还向大家微笑呢。我还看到他放了一粒种子在花盆里，当你看着的时候，它已经长成一株植物了。他们是如何做到的呢？你只能像别人一样去猜测吧。

57

The White Elephant

白　　象

THERE was once an Indian prince named Gautama. Gautama was rich and had everything in the World he wanted, so he grew up gay and light-hearted. He had never seen any poor people, nor known any misery in his life, so he thought every one in the World was just as well off and just as happy as he. Then one day when he was grown up he went on a trip and, to his amazement, saw for the first time in his life people who were sick, poor, and unhappy. The sights he saw filled him with such pity that he gave up all he had and spent the rest of his life helping the needy. As Gautama went about from place to place he preached that certain things were right and certain things wrong. People began to call him Buddha, which meant “the one who knows,” and to worship him, and thus started a religion called Buddhism. This was about five hundred years before Christ.

去大金字塔之路

It looks like a giant ice cream cone turned upside down

它看起来就像一个倒置的巨大的冰激凌蛋卷

After Buddha died, Buddhists sent missionaries to other countries to teach the people Buddhism too, just as Christians now send missionaries to other lands to teach Christianity. After a long while most of the people in India got tired of Buddhism and took up other newer religions. Many became Mohammedans, but in the countries east of India they still held to Buddhism, although now this worship has become chiefly a worship of idols.

The two countries next door to India are Burma and Thailand. A Mohammedan church is called a mosque, a Buddhist church is called a pagoda. In the capital of Burma—a city called Rangoon—is one of the largest and most wonderful of these pagodas. This pagoda is called the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. It looks like a giant ice cream cone turned upside down and is nearly as high as the Washington Monument. It is built of brick, but the outside is covered with sheets of solid gold—a glorious, dazzling sight in the sunlight. Around the bottom of the pagoda are little cell-like rooms in each of which is an idol, and underneath the center of the pagoda is a box in which, it is said, there are eight hairs from the head of Buddha. On the tip top of the pagoda is—what do you suppose? A church would have a cross, a mosque a crescent, but the pagoda has an umbrella!—with little tinkling bells hanging to it.

Rice is the chief and almost the only food of most of the people in Asia. They eat boiled rice just so, without sugar or cream, and they eat it for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. Rangoon is the chief rice market of the World.

The people in Burma and Thailand are more like the Chinese than like the people in India. Burma is a republic but Thailand is a kingdom. Until after World War II, Thailand was named Siam. Then the people changed the name of this country of Siam to Thailand. If a man suddenly changed his name from Mr. Jones to Mr. Baker some people would still think of him as Mr. Jones and call him Mr. Jones instead of Mr. Baker. Many people still call Thailand, Siam.

Once, the King of Siam could do anything he wanted with his people. That is what is called an absolute monarchy. When-I-was-a-boy, if any one acted very “bossy” or ordered others around, we used to say, “Who do you think you are? The King of Siam?”

But now the King of Thailand has to rule according to the laws of the country and cannot do just as he pleases the way his ancestors used to do.

The Buddhists believe that when they die their souls go into the bodies of animals. The kings’ souls they think go into the bodies of white elephants, so in Thailand the White Elephant is sacred. The white elephants are, however, more gray than white. Once any white elephant found in a herd had to be presented to the King to bring good luck to him and to the kingdom. Because these royal white elephants did no work, we have come to call something we may have that is of no use, and yet we must keep and take care of, “a white elephant.” A friend of mine has an old worn-out automobile that will not run, that he can neither sell nor give away, and as it takes up space in his garage he calls it his “white elephant.”

In Burma the ordinary gray elephant is used as we use an automobile, truck, or tractor and costs about the same as an automobile does. An elephant carries people, he carries loads, he lifts logs, he plows. A driver sits on the elephant’s head and taps him on one side or the other to let him know just what he is to do and he does it. He works regular hours and knows when it’s time to start work and when it’s time to quit. It is as if he belonged to a labor union, and he will not work at all unless he has had one or more baths each day!

We always say wood will float, but there is a kind of wood in Burma that is so heavy it will not float. It is called “Teak.” They use teak instead of other woods in making furniture, for white ants eat up and destroy anything made out of softer woods. One of the jobs that elephants are used for is hauling, lifting, and loading the heavy logs of teak. I thought I should like to have an elephant myself, so I bought a nice one and brought it all the way home. There it is on my table now. It’s made of bronze.

Stretching down from Thailand like an elephant’s trunk is a long peninsula known as the Malay Peninsula. Just about half a mile offshore from the top of this “trunk” is a bit of an island called Singapore. It was at one time nothing but a jungle in which poisonous snakes and terrible tigers lurked. The owner tried to give it away to get rid of it and couldn’t. Later, however, he sold it to an Englishman named Raffles for almost nothing, and England built a city there. Why do you suppose England wanted such a place at all? Because this spot was another gateway for ships going east or west. There is, as you will see, a narrow passageway between the islands, and this was the only good way for ships to go. Just as in the case of Gibraltar, Suez, and Aden, England wanted to control it. In World War II the Japanese captured Singapore, not with ships from the sea, but with soldiers from the land side of the city. When the Japanese were finally beaten in the war, England again took control of Singapore. Singapore is now one of the most important stopping-places for ships, and in the lobby of the great hotel called “Raffles” you may now see people from all nations of the earth.

Singapore is almost on the Equator—it is almost half-way between the North and South Poles. Sailors call the Equator “The Line.” When you cross “The Line” for the first time you are supposed to be baptized by Father Neptune, the god of the sea. So I was baptized when I crossed it and this was the way it was done. As I stepped out on deck a sailor suddenly appeared on each side of me. One caught me by my arms and the other by my legs and, lifting me in the air, they threw me, with all my clothes on, into a big pool of water that had been made out of canvas on the deck of the ship. Then when I clambered out of the pool, sputtering for my breath, they shoved me into the end of a long canvas pipe, through which I had to crawl. When I came out at the other end they gave me a whack on the back with a paddle. Then I was taken before Father Neptune, a man seated on a throne and dressed up in a bath-robe with a pasteboard crown set on the side of his head, a pitchfork in his hand. He handed me a diploma, as if I were graduating from college, saying that I had been duly baptized and initiated and was now “a regular fellow” in the society of those who had crossed “The Line.”

海神尼普顿颁发合格证书

Neptune handed me a diploma saying I had been duly baptized

尼普顿递给我一张合格证书，并说我已正式受洗

Near the Malay Peninsula are the East Indies and the Spice Islands, which Columbus tried to reach. Sumatra, which is shaped something like a fat cigar, is where the tobacco is grown for making the covers for cigars. Java, another one of the East Indies, was once famous for its coffee. I had looked forward to getting a good cup here, but I tried in a number of places and finally got a cup, but the coffee had come from Brazil!

In Java I saw bats as big as eagles and butterflies as big as your two hands.

【中文阅读】

曾经有位叫乔答摩的印度王子。他很富有，世界上他想要的东西他都有，所以他是快快乐乐、无忧无虑地长大的。他从小到大从未见过穷人，也不知道什么是悲惨的生活，所以，他认为世界上人人都生活得很好，和他一样快乐。成年后，有一天他外出旅行，生平第一次看到了那些病人、穷人和不快乐的人，使他大为惊奇。眼前的一幅幅悲惨的情景，让他内心充满了怜悯。于是，他放弃了所有的财产，用以后的有生之年去帮助那些贫困的人。乔答摩四处布道，教诲人们，什么是对的，什么是错的。人们开始尊称他为“佛陀”，意思是“觉悟者”，并开始崇拜他。这样就产生了一种宗教，叫做“佛教”。这发生在耶稣诞生前500年左右。

乔答摩去世后，佛教徒派遣传教士到其他国家向人们传播佛教，就像现在的基督徒派遣传教士到其他国家去传播基督教一样。很长一段时间之后，大部分印度人厌倦了佛教，开始接受新的宗教。很多印度人成为伊斯兰教徒。但是，印度以东的一些国家仍坚持信仰佛教，不过只是崇拜佛像。

与印度相邻的两个国家分别是缅甸和泰国。伊斯兰教的教堂叫做清真寺，佛教的教堂叫做佛塔。在缅甸的首都——一个名叫“仰光”的城市，有全世界最大最美的佛塔之一，这个塔叫“大金宝塔”。它看起来就像一个倒置的巨大的冰激凌蛋卷，几乎和华盛顿纪念碑一样高。此塔用砖建成，但是外面覆以片片纯金——阳光下，金碧辉煌，耀眼夺目。塔的底座四周有一些像单人间的小房间，每个房间里都有一尊佛像。在塔的中心下面有一个盒子，据说里面装有佛陀的八根头发。你猜猜塔的顶上有什么东西？教堂上面有一个十字架，清真寺上面有一弯新月，但是塔顶上却是一把伞！——上面挂有一些叮当响的小铃铛。

大米是亚洲大多数人主要的、也几乎是唯一的食物，他们吃煮熟的大米，不放糖也不放奶油，早餐吃米，中餐、晚餐还吃米。仰光是世界上主要的大米市场。

缅甸人和泰国人长得不像印度人，而像中国人。缅甸是共和国，泰国是王国。第二次世界大战之前，泰国被称为暹罗，“二战”结束后才改名为泰国。如果一个人突然将自己的名字从琼斯改成贝克，一些人仍然认为他就是琼斯，还叫他琼斯先生，而不是贝克先生，所以，现在很多人仍然称泰国为暹罗。

过去，暹罗的国王可以对他的人民为所欲为，这就是所谓的君主专制。我小时候，如果有人非常专横或者以命令的口气叫别人干这干那，我们就会说，“你以为你是谁啊？是暹罗的国王吗？”

但是，现在泰国的国王必须按照法律统治国家，不能像他的祖先那样为所欲为了。

佛教徒相信自己死后灵魂会进入动物体内，他们认为国王的灵魂会进入白象体内，因此，在泰国白象是神圣的。不过，白象与其说是白色，还不如说是灰色的。一旦在象群中发现了白象，就必须献给国王，希望它给国家和国王带来好运。因为这些皇家白象不干活、无所事事，所以，如果我们有个无用的东西但又不得不留着它、照顾它，我们就把这个东西叫做“白象”。我的一个朋友有辆破旧的汽车，不能开了，他卖不掉也送不了人，由于它还占着车库的位子，他就把这辆汽车叫做“白象”。

在缅甸，普通的灰色大象可以当做汽车、卡车、拖拉机使用，一头大象的价格和一辆汽车差不多。大象运载人和货物、装卸木料、耕地。驾驭者坐在大象的头上，轻轻拍打它一侧或者另一侧，让他明白该去做什么，大象就会按指令去做。按固定时间工作，知道什么时候开始干活，什么时候停工，好像它是属于某个工会工人似的，大象每天至少洗一次澡，否则它绝不肯干活。

我们总说木头都会浮在水中，但是在缅甸有一种木头很重，放在水中都浮不起来，这种木头叫做“柚木”。人们用柚木代替别的木头来做家具，因为白蚁可以吃掉并毁坏所有较软木材做的东西。大象常干的工作之一就是帮助装卸这些沉重的柚木木料。我想我自己要有一头大象就好了，于是，我买了一头很可爱的大象，一路把它带回家。现在它就在我的桌子上。它是一件青铜制品。

从泰国向下延伸出的一个长长的半岛，很像大象的鼻子，叫做马来半岛。距“象鼻子”顶端只有半英里远的海上，有一个很小的岛叫“新加坡”。新加坡岛曾经有一个时期只不过是一片丛林，里面藏着很多毒蛇和凶猛的老虎。岛的主人想把它捐赠出去，但没有人要。不过他后来把它卖给了一位名叫“莱佛士”的英国人，价格非常低，几乎是白送。英国就在新加坡岛建了一座城市。你猜英国人究竟为什么想要这样一个地方？因为这儿是东西方船只来往的又一条通道。

你会看到，这些岛屿之间有一条狭窄的通道，这是唯一适合船只通行的航道。就和直布罗陀、苏伊士和亚丁的情况一样，英国又想控制这条通道。第二次世界大战期间，日本人占领了新加坡，不是从海上用军舰攻占，而是从城市陆地一侧派士兵占领的。日本人最终在战争中被打败后，英国重新控制了新加坡。现在，新加坡是来往船只最重要停靠港口之一。在一个叫“莱佛士大酒店”的大厅里，你可以看到来自世界各个国家的人。

新加坡几乎位于赤道上，几乎就在南极和北极之间的中途。水手们称赤道为“中线”。当你第一次穿过“中线”的时候，水手们认为你应该接受海神尼普顿的洗礼。当我坐船经过赤道的时候，也接受了洗礼。洗礼的经过是这样的：当我走上甲板时，我的两侧突然各出现一位水手，一位抓住我的胳膊，一位抓住我的腿，把我举到空中，然后，将衣冠整齐的我就这么扔进甲板上的一个用帆布做的大水池里。当我刚从水池里爬出来，吐出口中的水，大口喘气的时候，他们又把我推进一个很长的帆布管道里，我只得爬过这条管道。当我从另一端出来时，他们用船桨在我的背部拍了一下，然后我就被带到海神尼普顿面前——一位男士坐在宝座上，穿着浴袍，头上斜戴着一顶硬纸板做的王冠，手执干草戟。他递给我一张证书，好像我大学刚毕业一样，并说我已正式受洗并被接纳，现在已是跨过“中线”的这一阶层中的“合格成员”。

靠近马来半岛有东印度群岛和香料群岛，就是哥伦布当年想到的地方。苏门答腊岛，形状像个胖雪茄，岛上种植烟草用来做雪茄的外包叶。爪哇岛，东印度群岛中的另一个岛屿，曾经以产咖啡而闻名。我曾盼望在岛上喝上一杯上好的咖啡，但是我试了好几个地方终于喝了一杯，却发现这咖啡竟然是巴西产的。

在爪哇，我看见大如老鹰的蝙蝠和与你双手一样大的蝴蝶。

58

Where the Thermometer Freezes Up

温度计冻住的地方

MOST thermometers have numbers down to forty degrees (40°) below zero. There the numbers stop, for when the mercury gets down to that point it freezes up. But there are few places in the World where it ever gets as cold as that. The coldest place in the World is not at the North Pole; the coldest place in the World, where the thermometer does go below 40° and freezes up, is in the country called Siberia.

Siberia is a huge country north of China. In the north of Siberia the sun never rises all winter long. It is night, as it is in Norway and Sweden. But there is no Gulf Stream to warm the land, so it gets much colder than 40° below zero, and they have to use a different kind of thermometer to measure how cold it is. In one place it goes to 90° below zero, which is the coldest place i. t. w. W. People can’t grow fur on their skins to keep themselves warm as animals can, so when they go outside they must cover themselves from top to toe with animal skins or they would freeze to death in a few moments.

But all of Siberia is not like this. There is a top, a middle, and a bottom part. Few people live in the northern part, however. It is so cold that no trees grow there and the ground is frozen solid many feet down. In the summer it gets very warm, and the thermometer sometimes goes just as high above zero as it goes below in the winter; that is, to 90°. The ground then thaws out on top and moss and a few other things grow for a short while, though the ground underneath still stays frozen. Siberia is larger than the United States. It belongs to Russia, but there are people from other countries living there too.

The middle part of Siberia is not nearly so cold, and there great forests have grown, and in the forests live wild animals such as foxes, wolves, sable, and ermine, which have beautiful thick coats of fur to keep themselves warm. Trappers hunt these animals just for their furs, to be made into coats to keep people warm. One small animal, called the ermine, has a snow-white coat and a tail with a black tip. The ermine hates dirt or anything that will soil his white fur, so he keeps himself spotless. It is for this reason that the official robes of judges and kings are made of the fur of the ermine, as a sign that they too must be pure and clean in heart and mind. The skins of many such animals are sewn together to make a single cape or coat, which then looks white with little black tails spotted regularly over it.

穿着白鼬皮毛皇袍的国王

The little animal called the “ermine” is different from most boys—he hates dirt

名叫“白鼬”的小动物和大多数男孩不一样——它讨厌脏东西

The longest railway in the World is built through the bottom part of Siberia. It is so long it takes two weeks to go from one end of it to the other. One end of it on the Pacific Ocean is called Vladivostok and the other end in Russia is Moscow. It is called the Trans-Siberian Railway, which means the Across Siberia Railway.

Most of the people in Siberia live along this railway, and yet one may travel for hundreds of miles without seeing a town or even a house. Often the towns are far from the railroad, so that there is a long drive from the station to the town. The engines that draw the trains are fired by wood instead of coal, and along the railroad there are piles of wood at which the train stops to get fuel, as a car would stop to get gasoline. The chief Siberian cities end in “sk.” They are Omsk, Tomsk, and Irkutsk.

A stranger once asked a man on the street how far it was to the railway station. The man replied, “If you keep on going the way you are headed it is twenty-five thousand miles, but if you turn round it’s two blocks.”

How far do you suppose it is to Siberia from our country?—how many miles away would you say?—eight thousand?—ten thousand miles? As a matter of fact, it is only about fifty miles—yes, that’s right, fifty miles—for the short way is across to Alaska. Between Siberia and Alaska is a narrow strip of water called Bering Strait, and when this is frozen over, one could walk across from Asia to America. On the map there is also a long string of islands that look like stepping-stones, but one would have to be a giant to walk across that way. Some say that the Indians and Eskimos in Alaska and the United States may have come across Bering Strait from Asia long, long ago, and that they look something like the Chinese because they once came from that country.

Before World War I, when Russia had a czar, people who hated the czar or were supposed to hate the czar, or who had said anything against the czar, or even thought anything against the czar, were made prisoners, torn away from their families and friends, and sent to far-off Siberia to work in the mines. Many of them perished before reaching there. Most of them never returned.

After World War I, there was a revolution. The people rose up and threw out the Czar’s government. The new government was taken over by a group of Russians called Communists. These Communists killed the czar and his family and most of the well-to-do people of Russia. The Communists made many changes. They started schools. They killed all farmers who owned large farms and gave their land to many poor people to farm. They started factories and opened stores and built railroads and airlines. They made large dams across the rivers so they could use waterpower to send electric current to the factories.

【中文阅读】

大部分温度计向下标出的度数最低是零下40度，在零下40度这儿数字就停止了，因为温度计里的水银降到这个温度就会冻住。但世界上很少有地方能冷成那样。世界上最冷的地方不在北极。世界上最冷的地方，是在一个叫“西伯利亚”的地方，那里温度计能降到零下40度以下并冻住。

西伯利亚是在中国以北的一个巨大区域，在西伯利亚的北部，整个冬季，太阳都不会升起。就像在挪威和瑞典一样，都是夜晚。但那儿没有墨西哥湾流来温暖大地，因此那里的温度可以低到零下40度以下，他们要用一种特别的温度计来测量温度。有一个地方温度低到了零下华氏90度，那是世界上最冷的地方。人类不能像动物那样让自己的皮肤长出皮毛来保暖，所以，当地人外出时，只能从头到脚裹上动物的皮毛，否则一会儿就会被冻死。

但并非整个西伯利亚都像这样寒冷，西伯利亚分上中下三部分。很少有人住在北部地区，那里太冷，连树都不生长，地面以下好几英尺都冻得结结实实。夏季天气变得非常暖和，炎热时温度计升到华氏90度，与冬季最冷的度数正相反。土壤表层会解冻，苔藓和其他一些植物能短期生长。不过深层的土壤仍然冰冻着。西伯利亚的面积比美国大，属于俄罗斯，但也有其他国家的人居住在这里。

西伯利亚的中部远没有那么寒冷，那里有大片的森林，森林里有狐狸、狼、黑貂和白鼬那样的野生动物，这些野生动物都有美丽厚实的皮毛保暖。捕兽者猎杀这些动物就是为了获取它们的皮毛，用来做保暖的大衣。有一种叫“白鼬”的小动物，长着雪白的皮毛，只有尾巴尖是黑色的。白鼬爱干净，不愿让任何东西弄脏自己雪白的皮毛，所以全身总是一尘不染。由于这个原因，法官和国王的袍服都是用白鼬毛皮做的，象征他们的心灵是纯净的。将很多白鼬皮毛缝在一起就可以制成一件斗篷或大衣，整体看上去是白色上面均匀地点缀着黑色尾巴尖。

世界上最长的铁路贯穿西伯利亚的底部。乘火车从一头到另一头要花两周的时间。铁路的一头在太平洋的海参崴，另一头在俄罗斯的莫斯科，这条铁路叫做“西伯利亚大铁路”，意思是穿越整个西伯利亚的铁路。

大多数西伯利亚人都住在铁路沿线。然而，你乘火车可能走数百英里也看不到一座城镇，甚至看不到一座房子。城镇通常离铁路较远，因此从车站到镇上驾车还有很长一段路。拉动火车的火车头不是烧煤而是烧木头。铁路沿线有一堆堆的木头，火车停下就可以添加燃料，就像小汽车停下来加油一样。西伯利亚主要城市的名字都是以“斯（茨）克”结尾的，如鄂木斯克、托木斯克和伊尔库茨克。

一个外地人曾在大街上询问到火车站有多远，得到的回答是，“如果你继续朝前走，有25,000英里，但是，如果你掉转头，也就两个街区而已。”

你猜从美国到西伯利亚有多远？——你说有多少英里？——8,000英里？10,000英里？事实上，大约只有50英里——对，没错，就是50英里——从西伯利亚到对面的阿拉斯加的最短路程。西伯利亚和阿拉斯加之间有条狭长的海域叫白令海峡，当白令海峡全部结冰时，人们就能从亚洲走到美洲。在地图上有一串看起来像踏脚石一样的岛屿，但是，如果一个人要踩着这些岛屿跨过去，还得是个巨人才行。有人说，在阿拉斯加和美国的印第安人与爱斯基摩人也许很久以前是从亚洲越过白令海峡来到美洲的，而且，他们看起来有点像中国人，因为他们曾经就是来自那个国家。

第一次世界大战之前，俄国由沙皇统治。只要有人憎恨沙皇，或被认为憎恨沙皇，或说了什么反对沙皇的话，甚至有反对沙皇的想法，就会被抓起来，强行从家人和朋友身边被带走，送到遥远的西伯利亚矿场干活，很多人在途中就死了，大部分人再也没有回来。

第一次世界大战之后俄国爆发了一场革命，人民起来反抗并推翻了沙皇政府。新政府由被称为“共产党人”的俄国人接管。共产党人处死了沙皇、沙皇家族以及大多数俄国富人。共产党人进行了很多变革，他们创建了学校，处死了拥有大片农场的地主，并将他们的土地分给贫穷的农民耕种。他们建起了工厂，开了商店，建造铁路和建立航空公司。他们在河流上建了大坝，利用水力发电，给工厂供电。

59

A Giant Sea-Serpent

一条巨大的海蛇怪

WHEN the World was young and people believed in sea-serpents they used to say there was a huge sea-serpent a thousand miles long in the sea near China. Wherever the humps on the sea-serpent’s back stuck out of the water they looked like islands, and whenever the sea-serpent twisted or turned in his age-long sleep the islands would shake. Yet, long ago people from China went to these islands on the sea-serpent’s back and made their homes there, in spite of the fact that he was squirming in his sleep. We now know that these islands are simply old volcanoes in the water, most of which have burned out, and when they shake, as they still do almost every day, we know that the shakes are just earthquakes. We call these islands on the sea-serpent “Japan” and the people “Japanese.” The Japanese, however, don’t call their island Japan; they call their country of islands “Nippon,” which means the Land of the Rising Sun. Of course, the sun rises in other lands too, but when the Japanese went to Japan it was, for them, the land where the sun rose. So their white flag has on it the picture of a red sun with rays.

The Chinese and the Japanese both belong to the yellow race. But the Japanese are as different from the Chinese in most ways as the white people of our country are different from the white people of India. The Japanese are quick to learn and quick to copy. The Japanese used to copy the Chinese writing, the Chinese Buddha, the Chinese way of eating with chop-sticks, for they knew no other people and no other country but China and, like the Chinese, they kept all others out of their country. It was as if they had put up a sign, “No Admittance.”

Now, for some reason or other, most people whenever they see a sign “Keep Out” want to “Go in”—like Mary, Mary quite contrary, they want to do what they are told they mustn’t. They are curious or inquisitive and they want to know and see why there is “No Admittance.” So, over a hundred years ago, an American naval officer named Commodore Perry went to Japan and tried to get in. He took with him a shipload of presents from our country for the Japanese Emperor, presents such as the Emperor had never seen or known of before. The Emperor was so pleased with the presents that he wanted to buy more and to know more about countries that could make such things. So Commodore Perry said to the Emperor, “Let the American people come in to your country and we will sell you these things and buy other things from you.” The Emperor agreed, and so the country was opened for trade and the eyes of the Japanese were opened too, for until then they had had no idea of what was going on in other countries except China. They were amazed to hear about railroad trains, the telegraph, and the marvelous machines that we had. Then Japan sent thousands of her brightest young men to our country and to the countries of Europe to learn about such things, and they returned and taught their own people, who were extraordinarly quick to learn. It was not long before they had copies of everything that we had. They made their country an up-to-date country and in a hundred years they jumped ahead of the Chinese a thousand years. But if some one sets out to copy some one else he is apt to copy the bad things as well as the good. And that’s what the Japanese did. They not only copied trolley-cars, electric lights, and automobiles. They copied battleships and airplanes and tanks and guns. They built a great big up-to-date army. Then they started a great big up-to-date war by dropping bombs on American ships in Hawaii. After the Japanese were beaten in the war they were not allowed to have a big army nor to build war machines like battle-ships, tanks, and guns.

One of the first things the Japanese copied was a baby carriage to carry grown-up people. In Japan they have very few horses, because horses eat too much. So an American sailor, living in Japan, made for his wife a large baby carriage that could be pulled by a man, for in Japan a man was cheaper than a horse. The Japanese called it a Jinrikisha, which means a “man pull car,” or a Pullman car. It seems strange that the parlor cars on our trains are also called Pullman cars. This “rickshaw,” as it is called for short, seemed such a good idea that the Japanese made thousands of them, and they are now used instead of taxis or private cars, not only in Japan but in China and other countries of the East. The men who pull them are called coolies, and a coolie will dog-trot almost all day long, pulling a rickshaw behind him, without getting tired. As you see a rickshaw going away from you down the street, the coolie is hidden all but his legs, so that it looks as if the rickshaw itself were trotting along with a pair of legs of its own.

In the cities many of the men wear clothes like ours, but most of the people, both men and women, still wear kimonos like those our mothers and sisters often wear in their own homes.

There are two important holidays for Japanese boys and girls. The one for girls comes on the third day of the third month, that is March third. It is called Doll Day and the girls get out all their dolls, arrange them nicely, and play with them. The one for the boys is on the fifth day of the fifth month, that is May fifth. It is called Flag Day or Kite Day. Big paper kites in the form of a fish called the carp are hung out on poles in front of the houses where there are boys. The carp is a fish that swims upstream against the current, which is a hard thing to do, instead of downstream, which is easy. So the carp is a model for boys—to do the hardest thing, not the easiest.

The Japanese love flowers perhaps more than any people i. t. w. W. and they have holidays when the flowers are in bloom. One holiday comes when the cherry-trees, plum-trees, and peach-trees bloom in the spring, and another when the chrysanthemums bloom in the fall. Every house in Japan has a garden, no matter how small it may be—a tiny imitation of the country-side, with tiny lakes and tiny mountains, and tiny rivers with tiny bridges over them—all so perfectly made that a photograph of such a garden looks like a picture of real mountains and lakes and rivers—like a doll garden. The Japanese grow dwarf trees—oaks and maples—which look in a picture as if they were a hundred feet tall and a hundred years old, but which are actually only a foot or so tall, but may be a hundred years old.

The Japanese school-boys seem to “hunger and thirst” after knowledge. I was looking into a shop window where beautiful Japanese umbrellas were displayed, when a school-boy came up to me and asked me in English if he couldn’t act as my guide for a day without charge.

“Why,” said I, “do you want to show me around?”

“Just to practise speaking English,” he replied.

I visited a Japanese school, and a dozen boys gave me their calling cards and asked me to write them when I reached home, promising to reply in English if I did so.

【中文阅读】

在人类历史的早期阶段，人们相信世界上有海蛇怪，他们常说在中国海域附近，有一条巨大的海蛇怪，有1,000英里长。凡是在海蛇怪背部隆肉拱出水面的地方，看起来就像岛屿；海蛇怪长期沉睡不醒，每当它偶尔扭动或翻转身体的时候，这些岛屿就会晃动。然而，很久以前，中国人来到海蛇怪背部上的这些岛屿，并在那儿定居下来，尽管海蛇怪会在沉睡中时不时扭动一下。现在，我们都知道这些岛屿只是海里古老的火山，大多数火山已经熄灭了；当岛屿晃动的时候——现在差不多每天都会发生，我们知道这些晃动只不过是地震。我们称海蛇怪背上的这些岛屿为“日本”，称那儿的人为“日本人”。然而，日本人并不称他们的岛为“日本”，而是称为“立邦”，意思是“太阳升起的大地”。当然，太阳也从世界各地升起，但是，当初日本人朝着日本前行的时候，对他们来说，这片土地就是太阳升起的地方。所以他们白色国旗的图案是一轮光芒四射的红太阳。

中国人和日本人都属于黄种人。但是，在很多方面，日本人与中国人差别很大，就像美国的白种人与印度的白种人差别很大一样。日本人学东西很快，仿效别人也很快。日本人过去仿效中国的文字、中国的佛教、中国人用筷子吃饭的方法等，因为他们对其他民族毫不了解，而且，除了中国，他们也毫不了解世界上其他国家。像中国人一样，日本人不允许其他国家的人踏入他们的国家，好像他们也竖起一块“禁止入内”的告示牌。

然而，不知什么原因，大多数人每次看到“禁止入内”的告示，他们就想“进去”——就像玛丽，那个好与人作对的玛丽。你告诫他们不可做的事情，他们偏想去做。他们很好奇，对别人的私事爱刨根问底。他们就想知道和弄明白为什么“禁止入内”。所以，一百多年前，一位名叫佩里的美国海军准将来到日本，设法进入日本。他从美国为日本天皇带来了满满一船的礼物，这些礼物都是日本天皇以前从未见过或者从未听过的东西。日本天皇很喜欢这些礼物，就想买更多这样的东西，还想进一步了解造出这些东西的国家，于是海军准将佩里就对天皇说，“让美国人到你们国家来吧。我们把美国生产的东西卖给你，也从你这儿买日本生产的东西。”天皇同意了。这样，这个国家的贸易对外开放了。日本人民的眼界也开阔了，因为在此之前除了中国，他们一点也不了解其他国家所发生的事。于是，日本就派出了成千上万最有才华的年轻人到美国和欧洲各国去学习先进的技术。这些年轻人学成归国后，再把学到的技术传授给自己的同胞。日本人很快就学会了。不久，日本就仿制出美国人拥有的所有东西。他们将自己的国家建成一个现代化的国家。日本用100年的时间就超过了中国。但是，当一个人力图仿效另一个人的时候，他学到了有益的东西，也学会了有害的东西。日本人正是这样。他们不仅学会制造无轨电车、电灯和汽车，还学会制造战舰、飞机、坦克和枪炮。他们建立了一支强大而庞大的现代化军队。然后，他们将炸弹丢向停在夏威夷的美国船只，发动了一场大规模的现代化战争。日本人战败之后，被禁止拥有一支庞大的军队，也禁止建造诸如战舰、坦克和枪炮之类的战争武器。

日本人最早学到的东西之一就是成人坐的“婴儿车”。日本没有什么马，因为马吃得太多了。于是，一位生活在日本的美国水手，给他的妻子做了一辆可以用人来拉的大婴儿车，因为在日本雇佣人比马便宜。日本人把这种车称为“人力车”，意思是“人拉的车”，或称为“人力客车[1]”。奇怪的是，火车上的特等车厢也叫“普耳曼式客车”（源自美国设计者普耳曼之名）。这种“人力车”，日本人似乎觉得挺有创意，就制造了数千辆。现在，不仅在日本，而且在中国，还有其他一些东方国家仍在使用这种人力车，以代替出租车或私家车。拉车的人被称为“苦力”。苦力几乎整天都在小跑，不知疲倦地拉着身后的人力车。当你看着人力车沿着街道离你而去的时候，苦力被车身遮住，你只能看到他的两条腿，于是，看起来好像是人力车自己长了两条腿在向前跑着。

在日本的城市里，许多人穿的衣服与我们穿的没有区别。但是大多数人，不论是男人还是女人，仍然穿“和服”，一种像我们的妈妈和姐妹们在自己的房间里经常穿的那种衣服。

日本有两个专门让孩子们过的重要节日。一个是女孩子的节日，在第三月的第三天，也就是3月3日，叫做“玩偶节”。女孩子们拿出自己所有的玩偶，整整齐齐摆放在一起，然后玩玩偶。另一个是男孩子的节日，在第五个月的第五天，也就是5月5日，叫做“国旗节”或“风筝节”。有男孩子的人家，在房前的杆子上悬挂鲤鱼形状的大型纸风筝。鲤鱼是一种逆流而上的鱼，逆流而上比顺流而下，要困难得多。所以，鲤鱼为男孩子们树立了一个榜样——去做最难的事情，而不是最容易的。

日本人也许比世界上其他任何一个民族都更喜欢花，当鲜花盛开的时候，他们都有专门的节日。一个是在春季，这时樱桃树、李树还有桃树的花都竞相开放；另一个是在秋季，这时各种各样的菊花盛开。在日本，每户人家都会有一个花园，不管这个花园有多小——它就是一个微型的乡村，有小小的湖泊、小小的山、小小的河流，河流上还有小小的桥——所有这一切都做得栩栩如生，把这样的一座花园拍成照片，照片里的山、湖泊、河流看起来就像是真的——这样的花园像是一个玩偶花园。日本人种植矮生树木——橡树和枫树——在图片中它们看起来好像有100英尺高，有100年的树龄，但实际上大约只有1英尺高，不过也许有100年的树龄。

似乎日本男生的求知欲“如饥似渴”。有一次，我正在看商店橱窗里展示的漂亮的日本伞，一个小男生走到我跟前，用英语问我，是否可以免费给我当一天导游。

“为什么?”我问，“你想带我参观这里吗？”。

“只是想锻炼一下英语口语。”他回答道。

我参观了一所日本学校，有十几名男孩给了我他们的名片，请求我回家后给他们写信，还答应收到我的信，他们一定用英语回信。

[1] 此词音译“普耳曼式卧车”——译者注。

60

Picture Post-Cards

风景明信片

WHEN I came home from Japan I sent picture post-cards to all the Japanese school-boys who had given me their names. I had chosen cards that I thought would give them some idea of the size and importance of our country. One card had a picture of the Capitol at Washington, another Niagara Falls, another sky-scrapers in New York. In reply each boy wrote me a letter on thin rice paper and drew or painted or inclosed a picture of some scene or common sight in Japan.

Three of the pictures were of the same thing—a beautiful mountain with a snow-white top. It is the sacred mountain of Japan, called Fujiyama or just Fuji. It is really not a mountain at all but a burnt-out volcano, the top of which is covered with snow. You can see it from afar, and the Japanese love it so they put pictures of it on every conceivable thing they want to ornament—on fans, boxes, trays, umbrellas, lanterns, screens. No movie queen or famous beauty has ever had as many pictures made of her as have been made of Fuji.

日本的圣火山——富士山

There were two pictures of a huge bronze statue of Buddha seated out-of-doors in a grove of trees. It is so large that half a dozen people can sit on its thumbs. The eyes are of solid gold and more than a yard long, and in its forehead is a large ball of solid silver. They call it the Diabutsu. We might call it an idol, but the Japanese make statues of Buddha as we put up monuments to famous men and saints, and their statues of Buddha are to remind them that he was wise and good. His life was an example which even Christians might imitate.

Here are some of the other pictures which the Japanese boys sent me:

A street scene in Tokyo

Tokyo is the capital and largest city of Japan and one of the largest cities i. t. w. W. The old capital has exactly the same letters as Tokyo but arranged this way: Kyoto. If you say Tokyo twice you say Kyoto too—TO/KYOTO/KYO. Both Tokyo and Kyoto and all other Japanese cities look quite different from our large cities. There are no sky-scrapers, few buildings are more than two stories high, and most of them are built of bamboo. The reason for this is because the sea-serpent is still shaking himself almost every day, and they have so many earthquakes in these islands that tall houses would be shaken down. When an earthquake does come—and slight ones come almost every day and terrific ones every once in a while—the houses can easily be built up again. The chief damage done by the earthquakes, however, is the result of fires started when lights and stoves are upset. Then thousands of houses may be destroyed.

佛 像

It is to remind them that Buddha was wise and good

它提醒众人——佛祖是充满智慧和善的

There are a few big buildings that are built to withstand earthquakes. They are built on underground platforms of concrete instead of on the solid rock of the earth. This keeps them from being torn from their foundations when an earthquake shakes the ground; just as a big loose rock lying on the ground might be shaken but would not be broken apart.

A picture of a Japanese house

Japanese houses make fine bonfires, for they are not only made entirely of wood, but the windows are made of paper and the floors are covered with straw mats. The mats are not made to fit the floor, but the floors are made to fit the mats, which are all of the same size. The rooms are built to fit six mats, ten mats, and so on. In order to keep the mats clean, the Japanese take off their shoes whenever they enter their houses, and walk about the house in their stocking feet. Their stockings are like mittens with a place for the toe, and they would no more think of stepping on the mats with their shoes on than you would of getting into bed with your shoes on.

There are no chairs in a Japanese house, for the Japanese sit on the floor. For us it is very uncomfortable to sit on the floor for any length of time, but the Japanese prefer it, and I have seen them squatting on the floor in railway stations, although there were benches to sit on right alongside. I don’t know why, but I’ve often seen American girls sit on chairs with their feet up under them as if they were sitting on the floor. But I’ve never seen boys do it. Perhaps girls are part Japanese. The tables in a Japanese house have legs only a few inches high; they are really only trays like the bed trays we use when one is sick, and meals are served by placing such a tray in front of each person as he squats on his heels on the floor. There are no beds either; they sleep on the mats and cover themselves with a padded kimono for a comforter and use a hard wooden block for a pillow.

The Japanese are like elephants. In what way? I’ll give you three guesses. They bathe frequently. The Chinese, who seldom bathe, say the Japanese must be very dirty to need so many baths. But what seems to us peculiar, all the family, one after another, bathe in the same tub without changing the water. The tub is shaped like a sawed-off barrel in which there is room to sit but not to lie down. The water is piping hot “to open the pores.” After the bather has parboiled himself, he then climbs out and scrubs himself.

A picture of two Japanese carrying a big bucket on a pole which rests on their shoulders

In the tub—I couldn’t see them but I knew—there are live fish. The Japanese eat little meat, because they have few animals such as cows, sheep, or pigs from which meat is made, and because good Buddhists do not believe in eating meat anyway. But fish they do not call meat, and they catch and eat more fish than any other people in the World, even more than the people in Norway. As Japan is all islands, no one lives far from the sea, and fresh fish may be had all the time. Peddlers carry them alive in tubs of water so that the fish will be absolutely fresh.

A torll or Janpanese gate（神社前面的牌坊）

A picture of fields covered with water in which is growing rice

Rice is the chief and almost the only vegetable in Japan, and tea is the chief drink. Tea the Japanese drink without either sugar or cream. There are tea-houses and tea-gardens where waitresses called Geisha girls serve tea to customers and then entertain them by dancing and playing on long-necked musical instruments something like a banjo.

Another letter was ornamented with high wooden gateways called Torii, which you see everywhere in Japan, standing sometimes alone, sometimes in line. Torii means a bird rest. They are sacred gateways under which one passes to a temple or shrine.

Still another letter was illustrated with pictures of large stone lanterns such as you often see around Japanese temples and in their gardens. These lanterns give very little light, but they are much more ornamental than our lanterns, and the Japanese think more of beauty than they do of use. They even have a festival of lanterns—the paper kind that we use at garden parties.

Another letter contained a picture of three monkeys carved in wood in the greatest of all Japanese temples at Nikko. One monkey had his paws over his ears, the next over his mouth, and the third over his eyes, meaning: “Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.”

A picture of two very fat men squatting on the ground and facing each other in the center of a huge building around which are sitting thousands of people watching

The two fat men are wrestlers. Wrestling is a national sport in Japan, as bull-fighting is a national sport in Spain and football is a national sport in the United States. There are two kinds of wrestling. One kind is done by giants weighing several hundred pounds, who wrestle before crowds such as gather to watch baseball or football games in this country. The wrestlers squat, facing each other like huge bullfrogs, and spend most of their time in this position, each watching for a chance to get a grip on the other. The game seems to an American simply one of watching and waiting, for once one gets “a hold” on the other the battle is usually over. Another kind of wrestling is called Jiu-jitsu. It is a trick wrestling, and a little chap, if he knows how, can throw a much larger and stronger person by catching his arm, hand, or leg and twisting it with a quick movement into certain positions that make it impossible for him to resist. I have seen in Japan whole schools lined up two and two, practising the various “throws” with lightning-like movements.

Wrestling is an old Japanese sport. The Japanese, however, copied new sports from other countries along with all the other things they copied. They copied baseball, and crowds at baseball games in Japan are as big as baseball crowds in the United States.

The last letter inclosed a photograph of the Emperor. Many countries have now changed from emperors to presidents but Japan, which has been quick to change in most things, I don’t believe ever will change to a president. The same family has been ruling in Japan for two thousand years. Even after being beaten in World War II, the Japanese were allowed by the other countries to keep their Emperor. Before this war the Japanese believed the Emperor was sacred as if he were a god. They still treat him with great respect but are no longer supposed to worship him.

【中文阅读】

我从日本回国后，就给那些想和我通信的日本男孩都寄了风景明信片。我特地挑选了一些明信片，这些明信片我认为可以让他们对美国的国土面积和国际地位有所了解。一张明信片上的图画是华盛顿的国会大厦，另一张是尼亚加拉瀑布，还有一张是纽约的摩天大楼。每个男孩都用薄薄的米纸给我写了回信，有的用铅笔画了一幅画，有的用颜料画了一幅画，有的随信附上一张图片，上面画的都是日本风景或常见的景点。

有三张画是同一景物——一座美丽的山，山顶白雪皑皑，那是日本的圣山——叫做“富士山”，其实，它不是一座真正的山，而是一座死火山，山顶覆盖着白雪。人们远远地就能看见它。日本人非常喜欢富士山，他们将富士山的照片贴在他们想要装饰的任何一件东西上——扇子上、盒子上、托盘上、伞上、灯笼上、屏风上。没有哪位影后或名媛佳丽能像富士山那样让人拍了那么多的图片。

有两张画画的是一个巨大的青铜佛像，坐落在树丛中。青铜佛像非常大，仅两只大拇指就可以坐得下六个人。眼睛是用纯金做的，有1码多长，前额上有一个巨大的纯银制的球。他们把铜像称为“Diabutsu”，我们也许称其为偶像。日本人就像我们为名人或圣人竖立纪念碑一样制作佛像，是为了提醒自己，佛陀是充满智慧的、和善的，他的一生是个榜样，即使是基督徒也可以效仿。

以下是日本男孩寄给我的其他一些图画：

东京街景

东京（Tokyo）是日本的首都，是日本最大的城市，也是全世界最大的城市之一。日本过去的首都是京都（Kyoto），它的英文名字和东京的英文名字是由相同的字母组成的，只不过顺序不同。如果你说Tokyo两遍，你就说了Kyoto——TO/KYOTO/KYO。东京、京都，还有其他日本城市看起来与美国的大城市截然不同。日本城市没有摩天大楼，很少有建筑物在两层以上，大多数房屋都是用竹子建的，这是因为那条海蛇怪几乎每天会扭动它的身体，这些岛屿频繁发生地震，高楼都会被震塌。如果地震真的发生了——小地震几乎每天都发生，大地震每隔一段时间发生——房子也很容易重建起来。然而，地震造成的主要灾害是由于灯和炉子打翻而引发的火灾。发生火灾时，成千上万栋房子都会被烧毁。

日本也建了一些能够抗震的大型建筑物，它们建在地下的混凝土平台上，而不是直接建在地面坚硬的岩石上，这样会防止地震发生时建筑物在地基处断裂，就像一块躺在地上的松动的大石头一样，地震时它只会晃动，而不会裂开。

日本民居

日本的房屋适合用作篝火的材料，因为它们不仅全是用木头做的，而且窗户是用纸做的，地板上还铺着用草编织的垫子。垫子不是按照地板的大小制作的，而是地板的规格要适合垫子的大小，而且所有垫子的大小是一致。房间的面积均按照六块草席的大小或十块草席的大小而设计的。为了保持草席清洁，日本人每次进屋前都会脱鞋，穿着袜子在室内行走；他们的袜子像连指手套，四脚趾相连与脚拇指分开。他们从不会想到穿着鞋子走在草垫上，正如你不会想到穿着鞋子上床一样。

日本人的房内没有椅子，因为日本人席地而坐。我们要是坐在地板上，哪怕是再短的时间，也会觉得非常不舒服。但是，日本人更喜欢席地而坐。我曾经看见他们蹲坐在火车站的地板上，尽管旁边就有长凳可以坐。也不知为什么，我常常看见美国女孩盘腿坐在椅子上，好像坐在地板上一样；但我从未看见男孩子这样坐。也许，美国女孩子有部分日本血统吧。日本人家里的桌子桌腿只有几英寸高。它们其实就像我们在有人生病的时候使用的床上托盘。一日三餐就是放在这样的一个桌子上，摆在跪坐者的前面。日本人室内也没有床。他们就睡在席子上，把衬里的和服当被子盖在身上，用一块硬木头当枕头。

日本人像大象。在哪个方面像呢？我让你猜三次。日本人勤洗澡。很少洗澡的中国人说，日本人一定很脏，才需要这么经常洗澡。但是，在我们看来，很奇怪的一点是，一家人洗澡用一个浴盆，一个人洗完另一个洗，中间不换水。澡盆的形状像个被锯了一截的大木桶，人在里面只能坐着不能躺下。洗澡水很烫，可以“使毛孔张开”。洗澡的人在滚热的水里泡上一段时间，然后爬出来，用力擦洗身体。

两个日本人用一根杆子抬着一个大水桶

画中那只桶里——虽然我看不见，但是我知道——有活鱼。日本人很少吃肉，因为日本国内像牛、羊、猪这样可以食用的动物很少；再加上，虔诚的佛教徒无论如何都不赞成吃肉。但是，他们认为鱼不是肉，所以，他们捕捉的和吃掉的鱼，是全世界最多的，甚至比挪威人还要多。因为日本是岛国，每个人离海都很近，所以始终都可以吃到新鲜的鱼。鱼贩将活鱼放在装满水的桶里，所以鱼是极其新鲜的。

种着水稻的水田

水稻是日本主要的、也几乎是唯一的农作物。茶是主要的饮料。日本人喝茶不放糖，也不放牛奶。日本有很多茶馆或茶室，里面有叫“艺妓”的女服务员为顾客上茶，还跳舞、弹琴、弹奏乐器娱乐观众。她们弹的乐器有点像琴颈细长的班卓琴。

另一封信上的装饰画是一排高高的木牌坊，叫做“鸟居”。鸟居在日本随处可见，有时只有孤零零一个，有时则是一排。鸟居的意思就是“鸟休息的地方”。这些牌坊是通向寺庙和神殿的大门，所以是神圣的。

还有一封信上的插图画的是巨大的石灯笼，你常常在日本寺庙附近、或寺院内见到这种石灯笼。这些石灯笼发出的光很暗，但比我们的灯笼更具装饰性。日本人更看重石灯笼的美，而不是它们的用途。日本人甚至还有一个灯笼节——就是我们在游园会上使用的那种纸质灯笼。

另一封信里是一幅画，画的是三只用木头雕刻的猴子。这三只猴子在日光市最大的神社里。一只猴子用爪子捂住耳朵，另一只猴子用爪子捂着嘴巴，第三只猴子捂着眼睛，意思是“决不听邪恶的东西，决不说邪恶的东西，决不看邪恶的东西”。

在一个大型建筑物的中央，两个很胖的男人面对面蹲坐在地上，周围坐着成千上万观众

这两个胖男人是摔跤运动员。摔跤是日本的全民运动，就像斗牛是西班牙的全民运动、橄榄球是美国的全民运动一样。摔跤分两种，一种是参加摔跤的人都是体重达几百磅的高大魁梧的男人，观看比赛的人很多，就像美国人在观看棒球或橄榄球比赛一样。两名摔跤手像巨大的牛蛙一样面对面蹲伏着，大部分时间都保持这种姿势，各自都在寻找机会抓住对方。在美国人看来，这项运动，只不过是“观察和等待”，因为一旦一方抓住另一方，比赛也就结束了。另一种摔跤被称为“柔道”，它是一项技巧性很强的摔跤运动，就是一个瘦小的人，如果他知道其中的诀窍——通过抓住对手的胳膊、手、或腿，快速扭动到某个位置，使对手无法抵抗，即使对手比自己强壮高达，也会被摔倒在地。我在日本很多学校，看到全校学生排成队，两两一组练习各种摔倒对手的技巧，动作快如闪电。

摔跤是日本一项古老的运动。但是，日本人在向其他国家学习时，也学到了一些新的运动项目。他们学会了打棒球。日本喜欢棒球运动的人一点也不少于美国人。

最后一封信里附上的是一张日本天皇的照片。许多国家已经将“皇帝”转变为“总统”，但是日本，尽管在很多方面变化很快，我却认为，不会将“皇帝”转变为“总统”。同一个天皇家族统治日本已有两千年之久了。甚至在第二次世界大战中战败之后，日本得到其他国家的许可，保留了天皇。在这场战争之前，日本人认为天皇是神圣的，把他当做神。现在，日本人仍然非常尊敬天皇，不过不再崇拜他了。

61

Man-Made Mountains

人造山

ALL the continents begin with an “A” except one.

Asia is the largest continent.

Africa is the next largest.

But Africa was an “In-the-Way” continent. It was in the way of those who wanted to get to Asia. Every one wanted to get around Africa. No one wanted to get to it. Sailors had been shipwrecked on its shores, but few lived to tell the tale of jungles of wild animals and wild black men. Africa was called the Dark Continent because no one knew much about it or wanted to know about it. Like children afraid of the dark, people were afraid of the Dark Continent. On one edge—along the Mediterranean Sea—white men lived, but south of that edge was a great desert that men feared to cross, and south of that wild black men and wild animals. But in one corner of Africa, the corner near Asia and along the Red Sea, white people had been living and mighty kings had been ruling for thousands of years. This corner country is called Egypt.

Have you ever seen a man one hundred years old? I have seen a man five thousands years old—a real man, a little dried up man who was once a mighty ruler of Egypt. He did not want to “turn to dust” when he died, for how then could he rise again from the dead at the Day of Judgment? So he left orders that he should be pickled and wrapped in bandages and a mountain of stone placed over his body to make sure it would not be touched or moved away. In fact, he built the mountain of stone before he died, to make sure of that part of it. But you can never tell what will happen to you after you are dead, so in spite of the mountain of stone, here he is, a ruler of Egypt whom millions obeyed, now in a case in a museum where any one can stare at him, and the janitor dusts his face and moves him out of the way to sweep the floor. A pickled man is called a mummy, and the mummies of many such rulers of Egypt are now in museums.

Once a king of Egypt now in a Museum and the janitor moves him out of the way to clean the floor

过去的埃及国王现在仍存放在博物馆里，勤杂工在打扫地板的时候暂时将他搬走

One of the Seven Wonders of the World was these mountains of stone called pyramids, which the kings built when they were alive, to be tombs for themselves when dead. Each king tried to build a bigger and better pyramid than the king before him. The largest pyramid was built by a king called Cheops, who died nearly three thousand years before Christ was born. It is said that it took one hundred thousand people ten years to build his tomb.

The outsides of the pyramids used to be smooth slanting walls, but people have taken out stone from the sides to build other buildings, so that now the outsides of the pyramids are as rough as piled-up heaps of stones and you can climb from stone to stone on up to the top. Cheops’s tomb and most of the other tombs or pyramids are of solid rock, with just a small room in the center, which was left for the body of the king and the things he had used when he was alive. The old Egyptians thought they must keep their furniture and other things around them, so that on the Judgment Day, when they should be awakened from their long sleep, they would be all ready to go on housekeeping. After Cheops’s body was put into the tomb the passageway leading to it was filled up tight with stone, and all traces of the opening were hidden so that no one could find it and steal his body away. But, nevertheless, some one did find it out, stole his mummy and all the things that had been left there for his use in the next World, and if his soul ever returns it will find nobody.

The ancient Egyptians worshiped fairy-tale gods and even animals. Bulls and beetles were sacred and they made mummies of them. Now, however, nine out of every ten people in Egypt are Mohammedans and, instead of building pyramids, they build beautiful mosques.

Close by these big pyramids is the Sphinx, a huge stone figure with the body of a lion and the head of one of the Egyptian kings. In Greece a sphinx was supposed to be an animal with a woman’s head that sat by the road and asked passers-by this riddle: “What is it that goes on four feet in the morning, two at midday, and three at night?” If the traveler couldn’t tell the answer the sphinx devoured him. At last some one answered, “Man, because he crawls on all fours in the morning of his life, then walks on two feet, and finally on two feet and a cane.” The Greek sphinx was a “she”. But the Egyptian sphinx is a “he.” He has a man’s head and he asked no riddles. He was a god of the sun.

斯芬克斯像和埃及金字塔

They were called one of the Seven Wonders of the World

它们被称为“世界七大奇观”之一

The Sphinx and pyramids are on the bank of the one and only great river of Egypt, called the Nile. Have you ever heard of crocodile tears? The crocodile is a big alligator-like animal that lives in the Nile, and people used to say that he would catch little Egyptian boys and while he was eating them he would weep as if his heart would break. That’s why when you cry, though you don’t really mean it, we say you are shedding “crocodile tears”! The Nile splits into several branches before it empties into the Mediterranean Sea, and the land between the branches is called a delta, because it is shaped like the Greek letter “D,” which was called delta and shaped like a triangle. You see, people of long ago also called places after common things which they thought had the same shape.

Hardly any rain falls in northern Egypt, but in southern Egypt there are heavy rains in the summer. Then the Nile overflows its banks and floods the country and leaves great quantities of mud. This mud is very rich soil in which the Egyptians grow wheat and a very fine kind of cotton. In the olden times the Nile used to overflow the banks only once a year, and the rest of the year the land would be dry and the people would have to climb down the banks to get water. Not so long ago a huge dam was built far up the Nile at a place called Assuan. This dam holds the water back and forms a deep lake. So now the Nile does not flood lower Egypt all at once; the water is let out by doors in the bottom of the dam as needed. One of the most beautiful of the old temples in Egypt was right in the way when the Assuan Dam was built, but it could not be moved from there, so now the water almost covers it up.

There was once a boy named Aleck. You may know a boy named Aleck too, but this Aleck lived two thousand years ago. He was a great Greek king whose full name was Alexander. He built a city where the Nile flows into the sea and called the city after himself, Alexandria. Alexander has been dead more than two thousand years, but his city still lives and is the chief seaport of Egypt.

Near the beginning of the delta, up the river from Alexandria, is a city called Cairo. It is the largest city in Egypt and also the largest city in the whole of Africa. Even if you were flying over Cairo in an airplane you would know that most of the people there were not Christians but Mohammedans. Can you guess how? In a Christian city you would see church steeples, but in Cairo you see saucer-shaped domes and candle-shaped minarets, for some of the most beautiful mosques in the World are there.

【中文阅读】

地球上所有大洲的英文名字，除一个洲之外，都是以“A”开头的。

亚洲是最大的洲。

非洲是第二大洲。

但是，非洲是一个“挡道”的大洲，它挡住了那些想到亚洲去的西方人的道。所有人都想“绕过”非洲，没有人“进入”非洲。有些水手在非洲沿岸遭遇海难，很少有人能活着回来，给人们讲一讲他们在非洲丛林里遇到的野生动物、未开化的黑人。非洲被称为“黑暗大陆”，因为没有人对这片大陆了解多少，也没想去了解它。就像小孩害怕黑暗一样，人们也害怕黑暗大陆。在非洲—地中海沿岸生活着白人，而在地中海沿岸的南边是人人害怕穿越的大沙漠。在沙漠的南边生活着未开化的黑人和野生动物。然而，在非洲的一角，也就是在红海沿岸，靠近亚洲的那个角落，几千年来，白人一直生活在那里，也一直由强大的国王统治着，这个角落里的国家就是埃及。

你见过100岁的人吗？我见过一个500岁的人——一个真人，一个矮小干瘪的男人，他曾经是埃及一位强大的统治者。他不想死后“化为尘土”，因为一旦化为尘土，他怎么能在最后审判日死而复生呢？于是，他下令自己死后的尸体必须“腌制”，然后用布裹起来，上面再压上一座石山，确保不会有人挪动或触摸他的尸体。事实上，他在生前就建好了这座石山，这样他的愿望在这一环节就不会延误。

但是，没有人知道自己死后会发生什么，所以，尽管建了这座石山，他，一个曾经让无数人俯首称臣的埃及统治者，现在却被装在一个盒子里，陈列在博物馆中，任何人都可以盯着他看。而且，博物馆的勤杂工会经常掸去他脸上的灰尘，并在打扫地板的时候暂时将他搬走。一个用防腐剂处理后的人叫做“木乃伊”。许多这样的木乃伊——埃及曾经的统治者——现在就存放在博物馆里。

“世界七大奇观”之一就是这些被称作“金字塔”的石山。埃及国王生前就把金字塔建好，作为死后的陵墓。每一位国王都想建一座比前一位国王更大、更好的金字塔。最大的金字塔是一位叫“胡夫”的国王建造的，他是在耶稣诞生前三年去世的。据说十万人用了十年的时间才建成了他的陵墓。

金字塔的外表本来是光滑的斜墙，但是，后来人们从中取出石头去建造其他建筑，于是，金字塔的外侧现在像是堆积起来的石头堆那样参差不齐，你可以踩着一块一块的石头往上爬到顶部。胡夫的墓和其他大多数的墓或金字塔都是由坚固的岩石建成的，只在金字塔的中心部位留了一小块地方，用来存放国王的尸体和他生前使用过的一些东西。古代埃及人认为，死后必须把一些家具和其他东西放在身边，这样，在最后审判日，当他们从漫长的睡眠中被唤醒后，就一切准备就绪，继续居家过日子了。胡夫的尸体被放进陵墓之后，就把通向内部的通道用石头填满了，封口处没有缝隙，不留下任何痕迹，这样就能防止别人发现并偷走他的尸体。但是，仍然有人发现了通道，偷走了木乃伊和所有留在那儿准备让胡夫在另一个世界使用的东西。假如他的灵魂回来的话，也找不到自己的身体了。

古代埃及人崇拜神话中的各种神，甚至动物。公牛和甲虫在当时是神圣的，人们还把它们制成木乃伊。但是现在，十个埃及人中就有九个是伊斯兰教徒，他们不再建造金字塔，而是建造漂亮的清真寺。

在这些大金字塔近旁有一座斯芬克斯卧像——一座巨大的石头雕像，身体是狮子，而头则是一位埃及国王。在希腊，斯芬克斯被认为是一只长着女人头的动物，坐在路边，让路过的人猜一个谜语，“今有一物，早晨四足，中午两足，夜晚三足，此为何物？”如果路过的人猜不出，斯芬克斯就把他吞食了。最后，有一个人终于答对了，“人。人在婴儿时期匍匐爬行，长大后两脚步行，年迈时拄杖行走”。希腊的斯芬克斯是“女的”，而埃及的斯芬克斯是“男的”。他长着男人的头，他不会让人猜谜，他是一位太阳神。

斯芬克斯雕像和金字塔都坐落在一条河的河岸上，这条河是埃及唯一的一条大河，叫做尼罗河。你听说过“鳄鱼的眼泪”吗？鳄鱼是生活在尼罗河的一种长得像短吻鳄的大型动物。埃及人过去常说，鳄鱼总是抓埃及小男孩，吃小男孩的时候就要流眼泪，好像很伤心。这就是为什么当你虚情假意哭的时候，我们就会说你在流“鳄鱼的眼泪”。尼罗河在流入地中海之前，分为几条支流，这些支流之间的地带叫做“三角洲”，在英文中叫做“戴尔特”，因为它的形状像希腊字母“△”，“△”读作“戴尔特”，而且形状像个三角形。你看，很久以前的人们也用常见的事物给地区命名，因为他们认为两者具有相同的形状。

埃及北方几乎不下雨，然而南方每到夏季就下起大雨。于是，尼罗河河水溢出堤岸，淹没了大片的土地，留下了大量的泥土。这种泥土成了非常肥沃的土壤，埃及人就在上面种植小麦和一种优质棉花。过去，尼罗河每年只泛滥一次，其他时候，土地非常干燥，人们不得不走下河岸去取水。就在不久以前，人们在尼罗河上游一个叫阿斯旺的地方修建了一座巨大的水坝。大坝拦住河水，形成了一个很深的湖。所以，现在尼罗河下游就不会突发洪灾了。需要的时候，大坝底部的闸门会打开放水。阿斯旺水坝在修建的时候，埃及最漂亮的古老寺庙之一正好在大坝内，但是又没法将它搬走，所以，现在河水几乎将它淹没了。

曾经有个叫亚历克的小男孩。你也许也认识一个叫亚历克的小男孩。但这个亚历克生活在两千年前。他是一位伟大的希腊国王，全名叫亚历山大。他在尼罗河入海口建立了一座城市，并用他自己的名字来命名它——亚历山大市。亚历山大去世已经两千多年了，但他的城市依然屹立在那儿，现在是埃及主要的海港城市。

在三角洲的起点附近，从亚历山大港，沿尼罗河向上游有一座城市叫开罗，它是埃及最大的城市，也是非洲最大的城市。即使你乘飞机在开罗上空飞过，你也会知道大多数开罗人不是基督徒，而是伊斯兰教徒。你能猜出原因吗？在一个基督教城市，你会看到教堂的尖塔，但是在开罗，你看到的是蝶状的圆顶和蜡烛状的光塔，因为世界上最漂亮的一些清真寺就在开罗。

62

Afraid of the Dark

害怕黑暗

IT takes about two months to cross the Sahara Desert by camel from top to bottom, and there is no other way to go than by camel or airplane—no railroads, no auto roads, no roads of any kind. On the southern edge of the desert is a place called Timbuktu. When people want to describe a very long distance they often say, “from Kalamazoo to Timbuktu.” Kalamazoo is in Michigan in the United States and Timbuktu is in Africa. Timbuktu is the starting point for caravans going north across the Sahara to the countries along the Mediterranean and it is the ending point for caravans coming from those countries.

The Sahara has no rain, but south of the Sahara is a part of Africa called the Sudan, which has plenty of rain. The Sudan means “the land of the Black People.”

When-I-was-a-boy we used to say that God made white people in the day and black people at night. Some say black people are simply white people tanned by the sun, which is so hot where they live that the tan never wears off.

The Sudan has one great river called the Niger. Like the Nile, that other great river in Africa beginning with an “N,” the Niger fertilizes the land through which it runs. The Niger empties into the great Gulf of Guinea, a name which even intelligent people sometimes mix with Guiana in South America. Along the edge of the Gulf of Guinea are little countries, all of which except one belong to countries in Europe.

This one country, at the corner of the Gulf of Guinea, is called Liberia. It is like a tiny United States; in fact, it was copied after the United States, but the president and all the people are colored, and the way it came to be so is this:

When our country was first started, the white men wanted some one to do farming and other work for them. So pirates captured black people from the shores of Africa, brought them to the United States, and sold them as slaves, just as the pirates on the Mediterranean captured white people from ships on the sea and made slaves of them. All the colored people in the United States to-day are descended from these black slaves who were brought from Africa. Many people in our country thought these poor slaves, whose fathers and grandfathers had been stolen away from their homes in Africa, should be sent back to their own land. So when Monroe was President of the United States some of our colored people who had been set free and wanted to go “home” were put on a ship and sent back. Home was Home—even if it was a jungle. There they started this little country called Liberia, which means “Land of Liberty.” They named their capital Monrovia after President Monroe and named some of their villages after great cities here. Two of their villages they called New York and Philadelphia, although there are but a few hundred people in them. Instead of trying to forget the land where they had been enslaved they imitated it.

As you go farther south in Africa you reach the Equator. This is half-way land between the North and South Poles, and the second greatest river in Africa, called the Congo, runs through it. In this part of Africa it is hot and rainy every month in the year. Things grow and keep on growing. Grass grows as high as a room. Vines and trees and everything else grow so thick, so close together, and in such a tangle that one can hardly get through them. It is something like that other Equator land—in South America—the Selvas.

A hundred years ago people knew little or nothing about this part of Africa. It was an unhealthful and a dangerous country for the white man. The marshes and jungles gave white men fever, and there was a little fly called the tsetse which gave men a disease called sleeping sickness, from which they never awoke. Besides all these terrible things there were fierce wild animals that killed those who escaped other things.

And then there was born in Scotland a boy named David Livingstone. He was just like you or me until he was ten years old. But when he was ten years old he left school and went to work in a cotton mill. There he worked all day from six in the morning until eight at night. If you count this up you will find that it was fourteen hours a day he worked—and he was only ten years old. Every day in the week he worked this way, but when he went home at night he wasn’t through working. After his supper he would study until he fell asleep over his books. Livingstone’s one idea in life was to be of some good in the world and to help people who were sick and miserable. So he studied to be a doctor, and he decided he would go to China. He thought also they should be made Christians. So he learned to be a minister as well as a doctor. But he didn’t go to China at all. He was sent to Africa instead.

Every one said he would die, he would be stung by the deadly tsetse fly, or he would drink water that would give him a fever, or he would be devoured by some wild animal. “If I’m going to die,” said he, “it doesn’t matter which way. I’ll have to die some day, but I want to do some good before that day.” So he went to Africa.

Thirty years passed and though he went back home several times he always returned to Africa and at last he disappeared. He was given up for lost, and his countrymen thought him dead. But some people in our country got the idea that he might still be alive, so they sent a newspaper reporter named Stanley to look for him. They thought a reporter could find him if anybody could. Stanley landed on the west coast of Africa and asked the black men by signs if any one had seen a white man. Most of the black men said “no”—thirty years was too long a time to remember—in fact, most that were alive then were dead. But some black men said they had heard their fathers say that a white man had once passed through that way, and they pointed toward the east. So Stanley kept on going east and still east. After a long, long while he came to a long, long lake that has a long, long name—Tanganyika. When he reached this lake an old white man came to meet him. Stanley said, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” just as if he were greeting a stranger whom he had been sent to meet at the railroad station. Of course, it was Livingstone, and Stanley tried to get him to go back with him.

But Livingstone said, “No, my work is here, teaching the black people about God and curing their bodily diseases. I’ll not go back until I’m dead. When I am dead, then I want to go home to be buried in England.” So Stanley had to return without him.

Two years after that, with no one around him but black men, Livingstone died. He was on his knees at prayer when his black servant boy found him dead. All the black men loved him, and knowing that he wanted to be buried in England, they prepared his body by the sort of embalming they knew and bore it on their shoulders for eight hundred miles—it took two months—until they reached the coast. There they signaled a passing ship and asked that his body be taken to England. In England he was buried in Westminster Abbey, where the famous and great men of the World are buried.

Livingstone was so beloved by the black men that anything he told them to do they would do. His was a magic name. He made black people Christians.

They thought Livingstone was dead

他们认为利文斯通死了

There was an Arab chief with the funny name Tippoo Tib who used to catch black men as if they were wild animals, chain them, and ship them to other countries to be made slaves. Livingstone with his black men fought Tippoo Tib year after year, until at last he put an end to Tippoo Tib’s slave business. This is one of the big things Livingstone did.

Another thing Livingstone did was to make maps of the parts of Africa that no one knew about. He found the greatest waterfall in the World. These falls are twice as high and twice as broad as our Niagara Falls. The falls can be heard twenty miles away. He heard them sounding and resounding long before he reached them and asked the natives what the sound was. They said they are the falls of “sounding mist.” He named them Victoria after the Queen of England, who was then living. The Victoria Falls are in the River Zambezi. Far north of Victoria Falls is a lake which is also called Victoria. Victoria Lake is where the Nile begins. The Egyptians had known the Nile River, of course, some three or four thousand years before Christ, but none knew where the Nile began. It might have started in Heaven for all they knew.

【中文阅读】

骑骆驼从撒哈拉沙漠北边到南边，大约需要两个月的时间。除了骑骆驼或乘飞机，没有其他路可走——那里没有铁路，没有公路，没有任何一种路。在撒哈拉沙漠的南部边缘有一个叫延巴克图的地方。当美国人要描述一段很长的距离时，他们常说：“从卡拉马祖到廷巴克图。”卡拉马祖在美国的密歇根州，廷巴克图在非洲。廷巴克图是旅行队向北穿过撒哈拉沙漠到地中海沿岸城市的起点，也是来自那些国家的旅行队的终点。

撒哈拉沙漠不下雨，但是在撒哈拉沙漠之南有一个叫苏丹的非洲地区，却有充沛的雨水。“苏丹”的意思是“黑人的土地”。小时候，我们常说上帝在白天创造了白人，在夜晚创造了黑人。有些人说黑人只不过是被太阳晒黑的白人，他们居住的地方太热，所以黑色褪不掉了。

苏丹有一条大河叫尼日尔河。和尼罗河一样，非洲这条大河的名字也是以“尼”字开头的。尼日尔河使其流域的土地变得非常肥沃。尼日尔河最终流入几内亚湾，即使是聪明人有时也会把“几内亚”这个名字和南美的“圭亚那”混淆[1]。几内亚湾沿岸有许多小国，除了其中一个之外，其他都属于欧洲的国家。

这个不属于欧洲的国家，位于几内亚湾的角落里，叫利比里亚。它像一个极小的美国，事实上，利比里亚就是仿照美国建立的，但是利比里亚的总统和人民都是黑人。它的发展历史是这样的：

美国刚建国时，美国的白人需要有人替自己干农活和其他粗活，于是，海盗就从非洲沿岸抓了很多黑人，带到美国，卖给白人当奴隶，就像过去地中海上的海盗抢劫过往船只抓了白人，让他们成为自己的奴隶一样。今天美国的所有黑人都是过去从非洲带来的这些黑人奴隶的后代。许多美国人认为，这些可怜奴隶的父亲和祖父是从非洲的家园被偷来的，应该将他们送回他们的故土。于是，在门罗当总统期间（美国第五任总统），一些恢复了自由并想“回家”的黑人就被送上船，回到非洲。家就是家——即使它是一片丛林。他们在那儿建立这个名叫利比里亚的小国家，“利比里亚”意思是“自由之地”。他们以总统门罗的名字把首都命名为“蒙罗维亚”，并以美国一些大城市的名字给自己的一些村庄命名，其中有两个村庄分别叫“纽约”和“费城”，尽管村子里只有几百人。他们不是试图忘掉他们曾经受奴役的地方，反倒要仿效那里的一切。

从利比里亚再往南走，就到了赤道，赤道是离南北两极距离相等的地方，非洲的第二大河叫刚果河，就流经此处。非洲的这块地方终年炎热，每个月都下雨，所以植物很容易生长，不停地生长。草长得和房子一样高。各种藤本植物和树，以及其他一切植物都长得极为茂盛，密密匝匝地纠缠在一起，人很难穿过。这里很像另一个赤道地区——在南美洲——亚马孙河沿岸的热带雨林。

一个世纪以前，人们对非洲的这块地方所知甚少或一无所知。对白人来说，这是一个不利于健康、不安全的地方。白人待在这里，经常患一种热病，而且还有一种很小的苍蝇叫舌蝇，人被咬后会患一种叫“昏睡病”的疾病，睡着后就再也醒不过来了。除了这些令人恐怖的事物，那里还有凶猛的野兽，那些有幸逃脱其他危险的人，往往又被野兽咬死。

后来，有一位名叫大卫 · 利文斯通的小男孩在苏格兰出生。他在10岁前，和你我小时候一样，没什么特别之处。但他在10岁的时候，离开了学校，在一家棉纺厂干活。在那儿，他每天从早晨6点一直做到晚上8点。如果你算一下，你会发现他一天干14个小时的活，而他只是个10岁的孩子。每周的每一天他都这样辛苦工作。但是，晚上回家后，他并没有休息，晚饭后，他就开始读书，直到趴在书本上睡着了。利文斯通的人生计划就是为这个世界作点贡献，帮助那些身患疾病和生活不幸的人。于是，他学习医学，还决定去中国。所以利文斯通不仅学了医学，还学了神学。但是他后来根本没有去中国，而是被派往非洲。

人人都说他去了会死，不是被致命的舌蝇叮咬，就是会喝那里的水患上热病；或者会被某个野兽吃掉。“如果我要死了，”他说，“怎么死都没有关系。我总有一天会死的，但是我想在那一天来临之前，做一些好事。”于是，利文斯通去了非洲。

三十年过去了，尽管利文斯通回了几次家，他总是又返回非洲。最终他消失了。人们认为他失踪了，对找到他不再抱有任何希望。他的同胞认为他死了。但是在美国有一些人猜想他可能还活着，于是就派了一位名叫斯坦利的记者去找他。他们认为如果有什么人能找到利文斯通的话，那么记者就能做到。斯坦利在非洲西海岸上岸，用手势问那里的黑人是否看见一个白人。大多数黑人都表示“没有”——三十年的时间确实太长了，当时的事没有人记得了——事实上，大多数那时候活着的人现到都不在人世了。但是一些黑人说，他们听他们的父辈说过，有一个白人曾经朝那个方向走去，说着还指向东方。于是，斯坦利继续往东走，一直往东走。经过了很长一段时间，他看到了一个长长的湖，这个湖有个长长的名字——坦噶尼喀湖。当他到达湖边时，有位年老的白人过来迎接他，斯坦利说，“您就是利文斯通医生吧？”就像他被派去火车站迎接一位陌生人那样招呼对方。当然，他就是利文斯通。斯坦利试图说服利文斯通和自己一起回去。

但是，利文斯通说，“不，我的工作在这儿。我要引导这里的黑人信仰上帝，并治愈他们身体上的疾病。我死了才回去。等我死了，那时我希望回家，葬在英国。”于是，斯坦利只能自己一个人回去了。

两年后，利文斯通去世了，身边只有一些黑人陪伴着。当时，他正跪着在祷告，他的黑人仆人发现他已经死了。当地所有的黑人都很爱戴他，知道利文斯通希望死后葬在英国。他们以自己的方法，用香料对将利文斯通的身体做了防腐处理，用肩膀抬着他的遗体，走了800英里——花了两个月的时间——最终到了海边。在海边，他们向一艘过往的船发出信号，请求将利文斯通的尸体带回英国。回到英国，他被安葬在威斯敏斯特大教堂，世界上一些名人和伟人都葬在这里。

利文斯通深受当地黑人的爱戴，凡是他吩咐的，他们都会去做。连他的名字都具有魔力。他教诲黑人信仰基督教。

曾有一个阿拉伯首领，他的名字，引人发笑，叫蒂普 · 蒂布。他常常抓黑人，好像他们是野生动物一样，用链子拴住他们，把他们运到其他国家，然后卖给别人当奴隶。利文斯通与黑人一起同蒂普 · 蒂布斗争了一年又一年，最后，利文斯通终于让蒂普 · 蒂布终止了他的奴隶买卖。这是利文斯通所作的重大贡献之一。

利文斯通所做的另一贡献是绘制了非洲一些地区的地图，这些地区当时还无人知晓。他发现了世界上最大的瀑布。这个瀑布的高度和宽度是尼亚加拉大瀑布的两倍。在20英里之外就可以听到瀑布声。他在离这个瀑布很远的地方，就听到水的轰鸣声，就问当地人这声音是什么。他们说这是瀑布，“它有会发声的雾”。他以当时英国女王的名字将瀑布命名为“维多利亚”。维多利亚瀑布位于赞比西河。在维多利亚瀑布以北很远的地方，有一个湖泊也叫“维多利亚”。维多利亚湖泊是尼罗河的源头。当然，大约在耶稣诞生三四千年前，埃及人就知道尼罗河了，但是，没有人知道尼罗河发源于哪里，说不定他们认为尼罗河发源于天堂呢。

[1] “几内亚”（Guinea）和“圭亚那”（Guiana）的英文十分相近——译者注。

63

Zoo Land

动物王国

HAVE you ever been to the ZOO or the circus? HOW would you like to live in a ZOO where the animals were not in cages? The land in Africa on each side of the Equator is like that. A great many of the animals are dangerous, yet some are not.

A lion is a huge cat. but he is the wildest kind of a wild cat. He is the most terrifying of all wild animals—his roar is enough to “freeze the narrow in your bones.” even if he happens to be behind bars in the zoo. No wonder he is feared by all animals and fears none. Other animals have always to be on the watch against enemies, but the lion can lie down and go to sleep without watching or worrying or caring about enemies.

My father used to say if you wanted to catch a bird alive the thing to do is to put a little salt on his tail. But you can’t catch lions that way and you can’t catch birds that way either. If a hunter wishes to catch a lion alive for the zoo or circus, he must catch him in a trap called a snare, which is a pit dug in the ground and covered over with branches and twigs. The lion falls into it and then must be caught with a very strong net. If, however, a hunter wishes to kill thelion. he hides near a water-hole and waits until the lion comes for a drink, or else the hunter kills some harmless animal as you might dig worms for bait to catch fish and places him in the lion’s path. One of the animals used for bait is a zebra—a poor, harmless animal that looks like a little pony with stripes. Nature has given the zebra stripes that look like the shadows of tall grass so that he cannot easily be seen. Other animals looking for food will come along too and must be scared away from the bait or killed. The first animal to come along is usually the hyena. The hyena is an animal with a peculiar screech that sounds like a laugh. But he laughs when he is mad, not when he is glad. He is too much of a coward to kill live animals. so he waits until he can find one dead. He is the most cowardly animal in the jungle.

In the jungle every animal must either fight, run away, or be killed; there are no policemen to look out for him.

The bravest animal in the jungle, strange to say, is not the lion—he doesn’t have to be; the monkey is the bravest.

When a lion’s roar shakes the jungle all the animals start on the runaway from him, but the last to run away are the monkeys. When a hunter who is hiding and waiting for a lion to come along sees the hyena pass by, he knows the lion is far behind, for the hyena is the first to run away; but when at last, after all the other animals have passed by fleeing, the monkeys come along, the hunter knows the lion is close behind. A hunter will not shoot a monkey if he can help it—he looks so much like a child. He will cry like a child when hurt, and if shot try to pull the bullet out with his hands, and that’s more than even hunters can stand.

Some animals will not eat meat—only growing things. The giraffe, the animal with a long neck and still longer legs, doesn’t eat meat. He eats only what he can reach with his long neck—usually leaves and twigs of trees. When he wants to drink or to eat anything on the ground he must spread his legs apart like a letter “A” so that he can reach the water.

Almost every animal makes some kind of sound. It may be his language. He barks, moos, clucks, bleats, mews, whinnies, croaks, roars, grunts, cries, snarls, chirps, screeches, crows, hisses, whines, laughs, squeals, cackles, squawks, snorts, bellows, or sings. But the giraffe is said to be the only jungle animal that makes no sound.

In the rivers of the jungle lives a huge fat animal called a hippopotamus. Hippopotamus means a river horse, but he is really more like a huge fat pig. Like a pig, he loves to wallow in mud and water. When he lies asleep with perhaps only his back showing above the water he looks like a large rock or a submarine partly under the water. A magician once sold a secret for turning lead into gold. I will tell you the secret and won’t charge you anything for it. This is it. “Put the lead in a pot on the fire and stir it for half an hour while you do not once think of the word Hippopotamus.” If you can do that the lead will turn to gold. Do you think you could do that? Then you don’t know how hard it iS to try not to think of Hippopotamus. Here’s another good rule if you want to learn any hard name in geography: try not to think of it for half an hour.

Another big clumsy animal iS the Rhinoceros. He would take a prize in any Ugly Show. He has very short legs and one or two horns on his nose, and his skin is so thick that a hunter can’t shoot him except in the stomach, and he can’t shoot him there because his legs are so short his stomach is almost on the ground. When a person is so dumb that nothing we say seems to have any eftect on him or trouble him. we say he has a hide like a rhinoceros. I have a peculiar stick and I often ask people to guess what it is made of. They usually say “horn” or “hard rubber.” for it will bend. It is really made out of rhinoceros hide. The rhino has very poor eyesight. His little eyes can hardly see at all. He needs glasses. Instead of glasses he has a friend that does his seeing for him. This friend is a little bird called arhino bird that rides on his back, does his seeing for him, and warns him of any danger.

The elephant is another animal with bad eyesight. The elephants in Africa are bigger than those in India.

In India they hunt elephants to catch them alive.

In Africa they hunt elephants to kill them.

In India they catch elephants to tame them and put them to work.

In Africa they catch elephants for their tusks, which are teeth sometimes ten feet long. Just suppose you had two front teeth as long as that. These tusks are ivory and they make fine piano keys.

The ivory business is not, however, as good as it used to be—or as bad as it used to be for the elephants—for men have learned to make a kind of ivory out of cotton and other materials. This takes the place of ivory and comes in many forms called plastics. Plastics are much cheaper than ivory and in many cases much better. Ivory turns yellow and cracks as it gets old, but plastics do not.

非洲黑人

He thinks himself very stylish

他认为自己很时尚

But the most curious animals in Africa are the human animals—the Black People. They have very funny ideas about beauty, so we think. We have funny ideas, so they think. A white person is all faded out, pale, unhealthy, sickly looking. A black man is a rich, black, coal color. Our ladies wear rings in their ears. Their ladies wear rings in their noses, where they show better. Some hunters had a box of safety-pins. The Blacks begged for the pins, and when they were given to them they pinned them through their noses. An earring isn’t big enough for them. They make holes in their ears and holes in their lips and gradually work the holes large enough to put their whole hand through the hole. Then they put blocks of wood or something like that in the holes. Our ladies bob their hair. Their ladies arrange their hair in huge top knots and gum it up with blood.

Some white men were building a telegraph line in Africa, but as fast as they built it, the Blacks stole the wire to make bracelets, and they would completely cover their arms and legs with the wire. That showed how stylish they were and how smart and how wealthy.

You’ve probably heard of the little boy who was so sad that he went out into the garden and ate worms. Well, in some parts of Africa the people eat ants and grasshoppers, both raw and toasted, and they are not sad but glad. But there is one thing that both white and black people like—that is watermelon. Our watermelons first came from Africa.

The music the black people love best iS that made by beating on a kind of drum called a tom-tom. They beat it with their hands and fists and will keep it up for hours without stopping; the thump, thump, thump and boom, boom, boom seems to charm them. The sound can often be heard for miles, and they can send a sort of wireless message in this way across country to their neighbors. A little girl writing a composition on this subject said, “You can hear them beating on their tum-turns for miles!”

【中文阅读】

你去过动物园或马戏团吗？如果有个动物园，动物都不关在笼子里，你愿意住在里面吗？非洲赤道两侧的地带就像这样的动物园。许多动物都是危险的，而有些并不危险。

狮子是大型猫科动物，但它是野兽中最凶猛的。狮子是所有野生动物中最可怕的动物——即使它被关在动物园的笼子里，它的吼声也让你不寒而栗。难怪，所有的动物都怕它，而它却不怕任何动物。别的动物不得不总是提防敌人，而狮子却能够躺下来呼呼大睡，不必提防、担心或在意什么敌人。

我小时候父亲常说，要想活捉一只鸟儿，最好的办法是在它的尾巴上撒一点盐。但是用这种方法，是抓不住狮子的，其实用这种方法也抓不住鸟儿。如果一个猎人想活捉一只狮子卖给动物园或马戏团，他就必须设圈套让它落入陷阱中，就是为捕捉野兽而挖的一个坑穴，上面浮盖着大小不等的树枝，狮子踩在上面就掉到坑里，这时必须用一张结实的网将它套住。然而，如果猎人想猎杀狮子，他就躲在池塘附近，等着狮子来饮水；或者，猎人猎杀某种温顺的动物，把它放在狮子必经之路上做诱饵，就像你挖虫子做钓鱼用的诱饵一样。用作诱饵的动物之一就是斑马——一种可怜、温顺的动物，样子像身上有条纹的小型马。大自然赋予斑马身上的条纹，看上去就像高高的草投下的影子，因此，它们就不容易被发现。其他寻找食物的动物也会出现，见到诱饵一定会被吓跑或被猎杀。最先出现的动物通常是鬣狗，这种动物会发出一种奇怪的尖叫声，听起来像笑声，但是只有在它们生气的时候，才会发出笑声，而不是在高兴的时候。鬣狗胆子极小，不敢捕食活的动物，所以它只有等待，等到死的动物出现。鬣狗是丛林中最胆小的动物。

丛林里，每一只动物都必须能搏斗，能逃跑，要不然就被别的动物撕咬而死。丛林中没有警察关照它们。

丛林里最勇敢的动物，说来也怪，并不是狮子——它不必勇敢。猴子才是最勇敢的。

当狮子的吼声威震丛林的时候，所有的动物就开始逃离，而最后逃走的却是猴子。当躲着等待狮子来临的猎人看见鬣狗走过，就知道狮子还在后面很远的地方，因为鬣狗总是第一个逃跑的。但是，当最后所有其他动物都匆匆逃离后，猴子才出现。这时，猎人就知道狮子就在后面很近的地方。猎人都尽量避免猎杀猴子——猴子看起来很像小孩。猴子受伤了，会像小孩一样哭起来；如果被子弹射中，它就设法用手将子弹拔出来。就连猎人也不忍心看到这种情景。

有些动物不吃肉——只吃地里长出的东西。长颈鹿——一种脖子很长、而腿更长的动物——就是其中一种。它只吃长脖子能够着的东西——通常是树叶和嫩枝。想喝水或吃地面上的东西时，长颈鹿就必须将腿像字母“A”一样张开，才能够得到水。

几乎所有的动物都会发出某种声音，那也许就是动物的语言。有的汪汪地叫，有的哞哞地叫，有的咯咯地叫，有的咩咩地叫，有的喵喵地叫，有的嘶叫，有的呱呱地叫，有的吼叫，有的发呼噜声，有的嗷叫，有的露齿咆哮、有的吱吱喳喳地叫，有的尖叫，有的喔喔叫，有的发嘶嘶声，有的呜呜叫，有的发笑声，有的吱吱叫，有的咯咯叫，有的嘎嘎大叫，有的呼哧呼哧喷鼻息，有的怒吼，有的啼啭。但据说长颈鹿是丛林中唯一不发出声音的动物。

丛林的河流中生活着一种巨大、肥胖的动物叫河马。“河马”的意思是“河里的马”，但它更像一头巨大的肥猪。像猪一样，河马喜欢在泥水中打滚。河马睡着了的时候，只有背部露出水面，这时它看起来就像一块巨大的岩石，或者像没有完全浮出水面的潜艇。有一个魔术师曾经出售将铅变成金子的秘诀。我愿告诉你这个秘密，而不收取任何费用。这个秘密就是，“将铅放入炉上的一只锅里，搅动半个小时，在这期间一次都不要想‘河马’这个单词。”如果你能做到这一点，铅就会变成金子。你认为你能做到这一点吗？那么，你根本不知道，努力不去想“河马”有多难。如果你想记住地理书里什么较难的名字，这里有一个很好的规则，那就是：半个小时努力不去想它。

还有一种又大又笨拙的动物是犀牛。如果举行什么“选丑大赛”的话，犀牛一定会得奖。犀牛腿非常短，鼻子上长着一个或两个角，皮很厚，猎人只能射击它的肚子。向犀牛的肚子射击也不是件容易的事，因为它的腿太短了，它的肚子几乎就紧贴在地面上。如果一个人很愚钝，无论我们说什么，似乎都无法触动他或令他苦恼，我们就说他“皮厚得像犀牛皮”。我有一根奇特的棍子，我常常让人猜它是什么做的，一般都回答是用“动物角”或“硬橡胶”做的，因为它可以弯曲。其实它是用犀牛皮做的。犀牛的视力很差，它的小眼睛几乎什么都看不见，它需要一副眼镜。虽然犀牛没有眼镜，但有一位朋友替代它的眼镜。这位朋友是一只小鸟，叫“犀牛鸟”，它栖在犀牛背上，为犀牛瞭望，如果有什么危险，它就提醒犀牛。

大象是另一种视力较差的动物。非洲象比印度象大。

在印度，人们猎象是要活捉大象。

在非洲，人们猎象是要射杀大象。

在印度，人们捕住大象，是要驯化它们，让它们干活。

在非洲，人们捕住大象是为了获取象牙。有的象牙长达10英尺，假如你有两颗门牙，像象牙一样长，你打算怎么办？这些象牙可做成各种象牙制品，是做钢琴琴键的优质材料。

然而，象牙生意没有以前那么好了，——或是对大象来说，情况没有以前那么坏了——因为人们已经学会用棉花和其他材料来生产出一种人造象牙。这种材料代替了真正的象牙，并有很多类型，都叫做“塑料”。塑料比象牙便宜多了，在很多情况下，比象牙更有用。象牙日子久了会变黄，还会开裂，然而塑料不会。

但是，非洲最好奇的动物是人这种动物——黑人。在我们看来，他们对美的看法非常古怪。在黑人眼里，白人的肤色都褪掉了、显得苍白、不健康，看上去像生了病；而黑人的肤色黑得很浓艳，像煤一样。白人女子戴耳环，而黑人女子戴鼻环，她们觉得鼻环更好看。有些猎人随身会带一盒安全别针。黑人向他们讨要别针，讨到后，就别在自己鼻子上。耳环在他们看来还不够大，他们在自己耳朵和嘴唇上打洞，渐渐地，这些洞越来越大，大得可以将整只手穿过去。然后，他们在洞里放上木块诸如此类的东西。白人女子将头发剪短；而黑人女子将头发盘成一个巨大的顶髻，还在上面涂满鲜血，将头发粘牢。

曾有一些白人男子在非洲安装一条电报线，但是，刚装好，黑人就偷走了电线。他们用电线做成手镯，而且在手臂和腿上挂满电线，以此来炫耀自己是多么时尚、多么聪明、多么富有。

你大概听说过有这样一个小男孩，他很伤心，竟然走进花园里吃虫子。对了，在非洲一些地方，人们吃蚂蚁和蚂蚱，既生吃，也烤着吃，而且，吃的时候，他们并不伤心而是很开心。但是有一件东西是白人和黑人都喜欢的——那就是西瓜。我们的西瓜最初就是来自非洲。

黑人最喜欢的音乐，是在一种手鼓上敲出的音乐。他们用手和拳敲打手鼓，一打就是打好几个小时，这种砰、砰、砰和嗵、嗵、嗵的声音似乎令他们陶醉。这手鼓声在数英里之外都能听到。黑人可以通过打手鼓向另一地区的邻居传送消息，类似无线电报。就这个主题，有个小女孩写了一篇作文，“在几英里外，你就能听到他们敲击自己肚子的声音[1]。

[1] 小女孩把“tomtom”（手鼓）误认为儿语“tumtum”（肚子）——译者注。

64

The End of the Rainbow

彩虹的尽头

GOLD!

It used to be said there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, though no one has ever found it. Yet men have left their business and their families and homes and gone to the ends of the earth in search of gold and to find a short cut to riches, for gold is used for money all over the World, though small coins are not made of it because they would have to be too small and would easily be lost.

The largest gold mines in the World are in South Africa, and more than half of the gold in the World comes from gold mines near a city there called Johannesburg.

Gold is called the king of metals, for though platinum is more valuable, gold can be used for money and for ornament and for other things, and most people think it more beautiful. Pure gold is stamped 24 karat, but pure gold is so soft it wears away too easily and some other metal is usually mixed with it to make it harder. The finest rings and jewelry are usually 18 karat, which means that eighteen parts are of pure gold and six parts are of another metal. Look on a ring or watch and see if you can find the figures 18 K or 14 K stamped there.

彩虹的尽头

There was supposed to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

过去人们常说在彩虹的尽头有一罐金子

Sometimes gold is found in little lumps which are called nuggets, but usually it is mixed through the rock and doesn’t show at all. The rock has to be ground to powder and then the gold separated from the powder.

Almost every family has at least one thing that has come from South Africa—a very small thing but a very valuable one. Can you guess what it is? The diamond in your mother’s ring. Nearly all the diamonds in the World come from a place called Kimberley in South Africa. They are found in a kind of blue clay in what used to be volcanoes.

Most of the diamonds used to be sent to Amsterdam in Holland to be cut and polished. The reason they are sent there rather than to some other country is because the diamond mines were first discovered by Dutch people living in South Africa. Now, however, many of the diamonds are cut in Kimberley and are all finished there before being shipped to other countries.

Diamonds are made out of the same stuff as coal, and if they were put in the fire would turn to coal. Sometimes people speak of coal as “Black Diamonds.” When a diamond is held to the light it may look pure white or it may be bluish or yellowish. The pure white diamonds are the most valuable.

The biggest diamond ever found was about the size of my fist. It was called the Cullinan diamond. It was too large and too valuable to be used as a single jewel, so it was broken into two pieces and each piece was cut and polished. The next largest diamond ever found was called the Great Mogul. But the Great Mogul was stolen. Of course, the thief could not sell such a large diamond, for, as there was only one such diamond in the World, every one would know he was the thief. It was something like stealing the picture of Mona Lisa. But the Great Mogul has never been seen since, so the thief must have broken it up into smaller diamonds and sold the pieces.

The owners of the diamond mines take extraordinary care to prevent the black people who dig the diamonds from stealing at least some of those they find. The mines are closed in with a high fence which is closely guarded, and the laborers are not allowed to go home at night but must live inside of the fence for three or four months. When they do leave, the guards, for they are guarded as if in prison, strip them and search their hair and ears and mouths to see that they have not hidden any diamonds away, for even a single diamond would be worth a fortune to one of the black people. They have found so many diamonds at Kimberley that, if they sold them all, diamonds would be too common and too cheap. In order to keep up the price, therefore, the owners of the diamond mines lock up millions of dollars’ worth and only sell them when people are willing to pay a good price.

An Englishman named Cecil Rhodes went out to South Africa for his health. He happened to be there when diamonds were discovered and fortunes were being made, and he found his health and found wealth too. A part of South Africa was named after him: Rhodesia. When Rhodes died he left a great deal of money, part of which was to be used to send some of the best young men chosen from our country and other countries to the great university of Oxford in England. These boys are called Rhodes Scholars.

Cecil Rhodes wanted to build a railroad from the top of Africa to the bottom of Africa, from Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town at the southern point. Most of the railroad has been built since he died. It is called the “Cape to Cairo” Railroad, but more is still to be built. Rhodes was one of the few Englishmen who didn’t ask to be sent home when he died. He chose a place in Africa on the top of a mountain to be buried. It was such a high point he called it “The World View.”

The capital of South Africa, Pretoria, is like an English city. The chief city is Cape Town, and it too is just like an English city. Only about a hundred years ago these cities were jungle in which only savage black men lived.

If you collect stamps you may have heard of a famous stamp called “A Mauritius” that a collector paid $20,000 for, enough money to buy a good house and lot, yet the only thing he can do with it is put it in a stamp album. Why should he pay so much money for it? Just to show others something he has that no one else has. Mauritius is a little island off the east coast of Africa. There are other islands near Africa. Madagascar is the biggest. Mauritius is one of the smaller ones. Zanzibar is another small one. Pictures of their stamps you will have in your album, if not the stamps themselves. From Zanzibar come the cloves your mother uses to spice baked apples, pickles, and hams. Cloves look like little burnt match heads, and I don’t believe you would ever guess what they really are. They are tiny flower blossoms that grow on the clove-tree!

【中文阅读】

金子！

过去人们常说在彩虹的尽头有一罐金子。不过从未有人找到过。然而，人们还是放下手头的工作，离开亲人和家乡，到天涯海角去寻找金子，期望找到致富的捷径，因为金子在世界各地都可作货币使用。不过小钱币并不是用金子做的，因为它们太小又容易丢失。

世界上最大的金矿在南非。世界上一半以上的金子产于南非金矿，这些金矿位于一座名叫约翰内斯堡的城市附近。

金子被称为“金属之王”，因为虽然白金更贵重，但金子可以用作货币，用来装饰，还有很多其他用途，而且大多数人认为金子更漂亮。纯金上都压印着24K的标记，但是纯金质软，很容易磨损，通常用金和其他金属制成合金，以增大硬度。最好的戒指和珠宝通常是18K的，这表示其中四分之三是纯金，四分之一是另一种金属。查看一枚戒指或一只手表，看看你能否找18K或14K的印记。

有时候，金子被发现时是一小块一小块，叫做天然金块。但通常金子都混在岩石中，一点都看不出。只有把岩石碾磨成粉，才能把金子从粉末中分离出来。

在美国，几乎每个家庭都至少有一件东西来自南非——一件很小但很贵重的东西。你能猜到是什么吗？它就是你母亲戒指上的钻石。几乎世界上所有的钻石都来自南非一个叫金伯利的地方。钻石是在一种蓝色黏土中被发现的，发现的地点以前是火山。

过去大多数钻石都运送至荷兰的阿姆斯特丹进行切割和打磨。之所以送到荷兰而不是其他国家，是因为钻石矿最初是由居住在南非的荷兰人发现的。然而，现在多数钻石是在金伯利切割，并在那里加工完毕之后就被船送到其他国家。

钻石和煤都是由同一种成分组成的。把钻石扔进火里，就会变成煤。有时人们把煤叫做“黑色钻石”。拿着钻石对着光看，它可能是纯白色的，或者是淡蓝色的或者略带黄色。发纯白色光的钻石是最贵重的。

迄今为止发现的最大的钻石大约和我拳头一样大，叫做“库里南钻石”。它太大了，太贵重了，不适合用作一颗单独的宝石，于是，它被分为两半，分别打磨。迄今为止发现的第二大钻石叫做“大莫卧儿”，但是，大莫卧儿钻石被窃贼偷走了。当然，窃贼不敢卖掉这么大的钻石，因为这样的钻石在世界上只有一颗。只要他一拿出来，人人都会知道窃贼就是他。这种情况就像偷走蒙娜丽莎画像一样。但是，从此以后，大莫卧儿钻石就再也没有出现过，所以，窃贼一定是把钻石分成几颗较小的钻石卖掉了。

钻石矿的矿主格外小心，提防挖钻石的黑人偷走哪怕一点点他们发现的钻石。钻石矿被高高的栅栏围起来，并有人严密守卫。工人晚上不准回家，而是必须在栅栏里居住三或四个月。当到了真要离开时，警卫就要脱光他们的衣服，搜查他们的头发、耳朵和嘴巴，确保他们没有隐藏任何钻石，因为即使是一小块钻石，对任何一个黑人来说，都是一笔巨大的财富。在金伯利开采出大量钻石，如果矿主将这些钻石全卖了，钻石就会变得很寻常而不值钱了。所以，为了使价格不下降，矿主们囤积了价值数百万美元的钻石，等到有人出大价钱时才出手。

一位名叫塞西尔 · 罗得斯的英国人，为了健康来到南非；正当人们发现钻石、纷纷发财的时候，他恰巧在南非，于是他不仅获得了健康，也找到了财富。非洲有些地区就是以他的名字来命名的，叫做罗得西亚。罗得斯死后留下了一大笔遗产，其中的一部分用于资助从美国和其他国家选出的最优秀的男青年去英国著名的牛津大学学习，这些年轻人被称为罗得斯奖学金获得者。

罗得斯生前想修建一条铁路，从非洲北部一直延伸到非洲南部，从埃及的开罗一直到最南端的开普敦。罗得斯去世后，这条铁路一直在修建，大部分路段已经完成了，现在叫做“开普敦——开罗铁路”。不过，还有很长一段路没有完成。罗得斯是少有的几个没有要求自己死后送回英国的英国人之一。他选择葬在非洲的一座高山的山巅，这个地方很高，他就称之为“世界景观”。

南非的首都，比勒陀利亚，像一座英国的城市。最重要的城市是开普敦，也像一座英国的城市。大约一百年以前，这些城市所在地还是热带丛林，里面住着未开化的黑人。

如果你爱好集邮，也许听说过一枚著名的邮票，叫做“毛里求斯”。一位收藏家花了两万美金买了这枚邮票，这笔钱足以买到一栋很好的房子和一块空地，然而他利用这枚邮票，唯一所能做的就是把它放进集邮簿里。他为什么要花这么多钱买这枚邮票呢？只是为了向别人显示他拥有别人没有的东西。毛里求斯是非洲东海岸边的一座小岛。在非洲附近还有其他一些岛屿。马达加斯加岛是最大的，毛里求斯是较小的岛之一，桑给巴尔岛是另一个小岛。这些地方的邮票即使你没有，你集邮簿上也会有这些邮票的照片。桑给巴尔岛出产丁香，你母亲把这种香料用于做云莓干、泡菜和火腿。丁香看起来像燃烧后的小火柴头。我想你一定猜不到丁香到底是什么。它们是长在丁香树上的非常小的花朵！

65

Fortune Island

财富岛

HAVE you ever been homesick? If you haven’t, then you have never been far away from home for any length of time, or you never had a home. Just suppose you lived on the other side of the World from your father and mother, from your sisters, brothers, and friends, and were only able to get home once in five or ten years, or maybe never. The English people probably love their homes more and get more homesick than any other people in the World, and yet they go farthest away from home and live there.

There is a big island, so big that it is usually called a continent and so far off from England that it used to take five or six months, a half year, to get to it from England, and even now it takes a month or more by ship. On it lived only wild black men, yet the English people went there, built great cities and now rule over the island. This island is Australia, which means “South Land,” for it is far, far south—south of the Equator, where it is summer when it is winter here and night when it is day here. The island was so far away the English thought it would be a good place to send prisoners, to get rid of them, because once there they could not get away and they could not harm anybody but themselves. Many prisoners were sent there and few of them ever came back. Some even died of homesickness, for even a criminal is human and gets homesick.

It was not very long, however, before the English found that this island was too good just for prisoners. The central part of Australia was a desert, but there were gold mines in the desert, and neither a desert nor danger will keep men away when gold, magic gold, is to be found. So a great many young Englishmen went out to Australia in search of gold and to make their fortunes, expecting to return home as soon as they had done so. But they found that it cost more to get the gold than it was worth—it didn’t pay. They didn’t give up, however. They were bound to make their fortunes in one way or another, so they tried another. In the southeastern part of this island was grass land. Grass was good for raising sheep and cattle, but there were no sheep and no cattle. So the Englishmen sent to England for sheep and cattle. But when the sheep and cattle came it was found that they would not eat the grass—it was not the right kind. And still the Englishmen were not discouraged. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” So they sent back again to England and got good grass seed and planted that. And then at last they did succeed, for the grass grew exceedingly well and before long the sheep and cattle turned out to be a “gold mine,” better even than the gold mines they had expected to find. From the sheep that they raised they got the finest wool in the World—very long and silky. It was shipped to England and other places to make woolen clothing, and Australia is now the greatest wool-raising country i. t. w. W. And the cattle grew and prospered, and now frozen beef and mutton are sent back to England, which hasn’t nearly enough beef of its own.

But not long after the sheep and cattle had gotten a good start a peculiar thing happened. An Englishman carried a pair of pet rabbits out to Australia. The pair of rabbits got loose and started to raise families. Now rabbits as well as sheep like grass. But rabbits raise families very, very fast, much faster than sheep or cattle, so before very long there were more rabbits in the country than there were sheep, and there were so many millions of rabbits eating up the grass and running wild over everything that there was not enough grass for the sheep. More rabbits and more rabbits and more rabbits—the people could not get rid of them. Men poisoned millions of them and trapped millions more, but for every million killed, millions more were born. It was like some of the plagues that visited Egypt in Bible times. The people built a wire fence all the way across the country to try to pen the rabbits in. But some of them escaped through the fence, so another fence was built. Men are still killing them off by the millions. They pack some of the rabbit meat in cans and send it to England, and they send the skins back also—“a rabbit skin to wrap up Baby Bunting in.” But they cannot get rid of the little creatures altogether and probably never will.

The native animals in Australia are very peculiar. One curious animal is the kangaroo, an animal as big as a man. He stands on his two hind legs like a dog begging for food. He uses his tail as if it were a third leg, sitting upon his two legs and tail as if on a three-legged stool. His two front legs are very small and almost useless. He doesn’t run along on all fours; he jumps over the ground on his hind legs, making long hops. The mother kangaroo carries her babies in a pocket made of the skin of her stomach; it is a nest and a cradle.

Sailors used to return from long voyages and say they had seen living in the sea beautiful girls—from the waist up—with bodies like fish from the waist down. They called them mermaids. You have heard of them in fairy-tales, of course. Well, there are real mermaids on the west coast of Australia. They do live in the sea, and they do hold their babies in their arms. From a distance a sailor might imagine them beautiful; but close up they do not look like the beautiful girls with fish tails you read about, for they are really ugly animals called sea-cows. How disappointing!

The natives of Australia are black people called “Bushmen.” They can’t count even up to ten nor write their names nor read a single word. About the only thing they know is how to get food. They wear very little clothing. Instead of clothing they paint their bodies, and they raise bumps on their skin by scratching it with the edge of a shell and rubbing clay into the scratches. The more bumps they have on their bodies, the more beautiful they think they are.

The Bushmen have a peculiar plaything called a boomerang. It is made of a piece of wood shaped like a new moon. They throw it into the air away from themselves, and it turns round and round like a wheel and, if properly thrown, will come back to the thrower. I have several boom-erangs which I have learned to throw. A friend of mine once said, “I hear you know how to throw a kangaroo.” “To throw a kangaroo!” said I. “No, not even a Bushman can do that.”

The capital of Australia used to be a city called Melbourne. But a new city called Canberra has been built for the capital. It is a made-to-order city. The city was laid out, streets made, a capitol built, and houses put up, and then people moved in. The chief city is Sydney.

The healthiest country in the World is southeast of Australia. It is called New Zealand. You will remember that Zealand is a part of Denmark and you may remember that it is the healthiest country in Europe. New Zealand is made of two big islands that look something like Italy or a boot turned upside down. They do not seem to be far away from Australia on the map, but it takes four or five days to get to them by ship from Australia. In the northern part of New Zealand are natives called Maoris, but they are quite different from the Bushmen in Australia. They used to be cannibals, but they have brains, and they learned so much from the white men that now some of them are as well educated as their teachers, and are even members of the New Zealand Parliament.

【中文阅读】

你有没有想过家？如果没有，那么你一定没有出过远门，在外待过一段时间；或者你从来没有一个家。假使你居住在世界的另一面，远离你的爸爸妈妈、兄弟姐妹和好朋友，五年或十年才能回家一次，或者也许永远都回不了家了。英国人可能比世界上其他任何民族更热爱自己的家园，也更容易想家，但是，仍有英国人到离家最远的地方，在那里定居下来。

有一座岛很大，大到被称为大陆。它离英国很远，过去要花五六个月或者说半年的时间才能从英国来到这个岛。即使现在，坐船也至少需要一个月的时间。在这座岛上，那时只住着野蛮的黑人。后来，英国人后来到了那儿，建立了大城市，现在还统治着这座岛。这座岛就是澳大利亚，“澳大利亚”的意思就是“南方之地”，因为它在遥远、遥远的南方——赤道以南。当美国这儿是冬天的时候，那儿是夏天；这儿是白天的时候，那儿是夜晚。这座岛离英国非常遥远，所以英国人认为如果将犯人遣送到那儿，那可是关押他们的好地方，因为一旦到了那里，他们就无法逃离，也就伤害不到任何人，除非伤害他自己。许多犯人被送到那儿，几乎没有人再回到英国，有些犯人甚至因思乡而死，因为即使是罪犯，他也是有人性的，也会想家。

然而，没过多久，英国人就发现这个岛的好处不仅仅是用于关押犯人。澳大利亚的中心地带是一片沙漠，但是沙漠里有金矿。当金子、有魔力的金子有可能被发现的时候，无论是沙漠，还是危险，都不能阻止人们前往。于是，大批大批的英国年轻人远离家乡，来到澳大利亚寻找金子，寻求发财，期望一成功就马上回家。但是他们发现挖金子的成本太高，一点都不划算。然而，他们并不放弃，下了决心，无论以怎样的方式都要实现发财梦。于是他们就尝试别的方法。在这个岛的东南部有大片草地。草地适合放牛养羊，但是那儿既没有羊也没有牛，于是英国人派人回国，将牛羊运来。牛羊来了，却发现它们不吃这儿的草——草的品种不对头。但是英国人并不气馁。“一开始不成功，就试了再试。”于是他们再次派人回到英国，带来适合的草籽，在澳大利亚种植。最终他们成功了，因为草长得特别好，不久羊和牛就变为“金矿”了，甚至比他们期望找到的金矿还要好。从他们喂养的绵羊身上，他们得到了世界上最好的羊毛——又长又柔软。羊毛被运到英国以及其他地方再生产出各种毛料衣着用品。现在，澳大利亚是世界上羊毛产量最高的国家。牛在那里生长得也很好，又强又壮。现在，冷冻的牛肉和羊肉被运回英国，英国国内产的牛肉早已满足不了需求。

一开始，牛羊畜牧进展顺利。但是不久发生了一件特别的事。一个英国人带了一对宠物兔来到澳大利亚。后来，这对兔子逃走了，开始繁殖小兔子。兔子和羊都喜欢吃草。但是兔子繁殖的速度非常、非常快，比羊和牛快多了，所以不久，这片土地上，兔子就比羊多了，几百万只兔子吃掉了大量的草，它们又不受任何约束，变得狂野。这样，羊就渐渐没草吃了。兔子越来越多、越来越多、越来越多——人们无法消灭它们。人们毒死了几百万只兔子，又捕捉了几百万只兔子，但是，每消灭一百万只兔子，几百万只兔子又出生了。就像在《圣经》时代埃及遭受的瘟疫一样。人们建起了一道铁丝网栅栏，穿越整个地区，试图将兔子圈进去。但还是有些兔子钻过栅栏逃出来，于是又建起另一道栅栏。人们现在仍然成百万地杀掉兔子。他们把兔肉做成罐头送回英国，也将兔子的皮送回去——“一张兔皮包住了一个邦廷宝宝”[1]。但是他们无法完全摆脱这些小动物，很可能永远都摆脱不了。

澳大利亚的土生动物非常独特。一种奇特的动物就是袋鼠，长得与人一样大。它靠两条后腿站立，像立起来要东西吃的狗。袋鼠还把自己的尾巴用作“第三条腿”，坐在两条腿和尾巴上，就好像坐在一只三条腿的凳子上。袋鼠的两条前腿非常短小，几乎没有用。袋鼠不是靠四条腿向前奔跑，而是靠两条后腿跳跃，一下能跳得很远。袋鼠妈妈的肚子上长着一只口袋，用来装袋鼠宝宝，这只口袋既是窝，又是摇篮。

以前，长途航海回来的水手们常说他们见过生活在海洋里的美丽的姑娘——腰部以上似人，腰部以下身体像鱼。他们称这种生物为“美人鱼”。当然，你们在童话故事中就听说过美人鱼了。你知道吗？在澳大利亚西海岸有真的美人鱼。它们确实生活在海里，也确实用前肢抱着自己的孩子。可能水手从远处看就想象它们多么美丽，但是近看，它们并不像你从童话故事里读到的那样是长着鱼尾的美丽姑娘，其实它们是一种很丑的动物，叫做“海牛”。多么令人失望啊！

澳大利亚本土著居民是被称为“丛林居民”的黑人，他们不识数，数数甚至数不到十，也不会写自己的名字，更不识字。他们唯一懂的就是如何获得食物。他们不穿什么衣服，他们在身体上涂上颜料来代替衣服，他们用贝壳的边缘划伤自己的皮肤，然后在划痕上揉进泥土，这样皮肤上就会隆起肿块。他们觉得身上的肿块越多越好看。

澳洲土著居民有一种奇特的玩具，叫做“回飞镖”，回飞镖是用木头做的，形状像一弯新月。他们把回飞镖向空中扔出去，回飞镖像轮子一样不停转动，如果扔得恰当，它会飞回到原处。我有几个回飞镖，已经学会怎么扔它们。我的一个朋友曾对我说，“我听说你会扔袋鼠。”“扔袋鼠！”我说，“我不会，即使是丛林居民也做不到啊。”

澳大利亚过去的首都是一座叫墨尔本的城市，但是人们建起了一座叫堪培拉的新城市作为首都。这是一座按设计建起的城市。城市设计好后，就建了街道，建了国会大厦，建起了房屋，然后人们迁入居住。澳大利亚最主要的城市是悉尼。

世界上最有益于健康的国家在澳大利亚的东南面，叫做新西兰。你还记得丹麦有个西兰岛吧，你也许记得丹麦是欧洲最有益于健康的国家。新西兰由两座大岛组成，两座岛看起来像意大利或像一只倒置的靴子。从地图上看，新西兰似乎离澳大利亚并不远，但是乘船从澳大利亚到新西兰需要四五天的时间。新西兰北部地区居住着叫“毛利人”的土著人，然而他们与澳大利亚的丛林居民十分不同，他们以前是食人生番，但他们有很高的智力，从白人那里学到很多东西，所以现在，他们中的一些人受过和他们的老师一样的良好的教育，有的甚至成为新西兰议会的成员。

[1] 这可能是婴儿睡袋的广告语。在英语中，“邦廷宝宝”现在表示“婴儿睡袋”——译者注。

66

Cannibal Islands

食人生番的岛屿

I SUPPOSE you know what cannibals are—savages who kill and eat each other. They used to live on little islands in the Pacific Ocean, which is the biggest, broadest, deepest ocean of all. The Atlantic Ocean has very few islands in it—you could cross the Atlantic without seeing a single island, but in the Southern Pacific Ocean there are thousands of islands, and if you were shipwrecked there you would probably be in sight of one. Many of these islands are so tiny that they are only specks on the map, and some of them are not on the map at all.

If you could drain all the water out of the Pacific Ocean as you drain water out of a bathtub, you would not see a level bottom but thousands of mountains all over the bottom. These mountains were once volcanoes, but they are now drowned by the ocean. Where their tops are high enough to reach above the water you see islands. In the warm water around these islands live the tiny little sea animals called polyps, which I told you made Florida. Their tiny little bones pile up until they reach the top of the water and form rings round these mountain tops. These we call coral islands.

On some of these coral islands live brown-skinned people who once were cannibals; on other islands no one lives. On all these islands grows a tree from which the native gets his food, drink, clothing, house, and furniture. This tree is the cocoanut-palm. I have told you before of that other palm on which dates grow. The cocoanut-palm has a tall trunk with all the leaves at the top, and in the center of the cluster of leaves grows a bunch of cocoanuts.

Cocoanuts are about the size of a baby’s head. There is a shuck around the outside, and when this is taken off, the nut is inside. Strange to say, the cocoanut has what looks like two eyes, a mouth and a sort of coarse brownish hair. Inside the shell of the cocoanut is white meat, and inside of that is a kind of milk. The natives eat the meat of the nut as we would bread, and drink the milk, so the cocoanut is like bread and milk. From the hair on the nut they make rope and string and cloth and everything that we would make with cotton or silk or wool. From the cocoanut shells they make the cups, saucers, and all other dishes they use. From the leaves of the tree they make short skirts, which are all the clothing they wear. From the leaves they also make the roofs to their houses. Their houses often have no sides—they have roofs of leaves held up by poles made of the cocoanut-tree, and a floor which is raised a few feet off the ground.

When the native tribes had fights with other native tribes they would eat those whom they killed. Missionaries went out to teach them to be Christians, and at first the cannibals ate the missionaries, but many of the natives became Christians and almost all have stopped eating people. The missionaries thought the women were not dressed properly, so they made them wear long dresses called “Mother Hubbards,” because they looked like the dress that Mother Hubbard in the nursery book wore. When the native women go to town they wear these dresses, but when they are in the country or want to climb a tree for food, they wrap the dresses around their necks. When the white people went to these islands they took their diseases with them, and the natives, who had never had such diseases before, caught them and many died. They did not seem able to get well even from measles.

The natives live an easy life. They have no money, but they want none, for they have nothing to buy. They do no work, and if they want anything to eat, all they have to do is to climb a tree and get a cocoanut. This is easy, for the trees usually slant, and I have seen boys start at the ground and run up a tree as you might run up a sliding-board.

An Englishman named Captain Cook was the first person to explore these islands and write about them, so one group of islands is named after him.

White men became interested in these islands because they found that the cocoanut meat could be sold in their countries for good prices, so they put the natives to work gathering cocoanuts. It was not necessary to pay them with money, because money meant nothing to them. They wouldn’t work for a thousand dollars a day, but they would work for a ten-cent string of beads. They were very fond of jewelry, so the white men paid them with glass beads or with victrolas to amuse them. Shredded cocoanut is called copra and is used in various ways. The cocoanut oil is used for making soap and a sort of butter.

Ships and steamers seldom pass many of these islands, and only at a few of the largest do they ever stop. Many stories have been told of men who were shipwrecked on coral reefs where no one lived, and where they lived alone and waited for years before they saw a sail and were picked up.

Many of these islands are so small that they have no names. Some of the groups, however, are named. There are the Solomon Islands, named so because the discoverers expected to find the wealth of Solomon there; there are the Cook Islands, named after Captain Cook; there are the Fiji Islands, and there are the Samoan Islands, some of which belong to the United States.

One of the largest groups, called the Philippines, once belonged to the United States, but now is a free nation. The Philippines, however, are nearer China, and the natives are more nearly like the Chinese. Near the middle of the Pacific are the Hawaiian Islands, which still belong to the United States. In Hawaii are raised most of the pineapples we eat. Honolulu is the capital of Hawaii, and from Honolulu come some of the greatest swimmers. They spend much of their time in the water, and young boys and girls are able not only to swim like fish but to ride the waves standing on a board. The ukulele, which you probably have heard and seen, is a musical instrument with a Hawaiian name. When a visitor comes to Honolulu the Hawaiians throw garlands of flowers called lei over his head, and when the visitor leaves he throws the lei into the water so that he will return some day. There is one word the Hawaiians use very often; it is “Aloha.” It means “Hello, Welcome, Good-by, God bless you.”

Aloha!

【中文阅读】

我想你知道什么是食人生番——他们是野蛮人，互相残杀，把杀死的人吃掉。他们以前居住在太平洋的小岛上，太平洋是所有大洋中最大、最宽和最深的。大西洋上没有什么岛屿——你在穿越大西洋时看不到一座岛屿，但是在太平洋上就有几千座岛屿。假如在那儿遭遇海难，你很可能就会看到一座岛。许多岛屿很小，标在地图上只是一些小点，有些甚至在地图上都没有标出来。

如果能像放掉浴缸里的水一样，放掉太平洋中的海水，那么，你看到的不是一个平坦的底部，而是遍布海底的数千座山。这些山曾经是火山，但是现在都被海洋淹没了。在山峰高出水面的地方，你看到的就是岛屿。在这些岛屿四周温暖的海水里生活着一种叫做“珊瑚虫”的微小海洋生物。我给你说过，佛罗里达州就是由它们构成的。它们微小的骨骼不断地堆积，直到露出水面，在山峰周围形成环礁，我们称这些岛屿为珊瑚岛。

在其中一些珊瑚岛上居住着棕色皮肤的人，他们以前也是食人生番；在其他珊瑚岛屿上则无人居住。在所有这些岛上生长着一种树，当地土著人吃的、喝的、穿的、住的、家里用的全靠这种树。这就是椰子树。我在前面给你讲过另一种长椰枣的棕榈树。椰子树的树干很高，树叶全都长在顶部，就在那丛树叶的中央长着一串椰子。

椰子和婴儿的脑袋差不多大，有一层外壳，剥了壳，就看到里面的坚果。奇怪的是，椰子看起来好像长着两只眼睛、一张嘴巴和毛糙的带棕色的头发。椰子壳里面就是白色的椰肉，在椰肉里面有一种牛奶样的椰汁。当地人像我们吃面包喝牛奶一样吃椰肉，喝椰汁，所以椰子就像面包和牛奶一样是他们的生活必需品。当地人还用椰子上的毛做成绳子、线和布，凡是我们用棉花或蚕丝或羊毛做出来的东西，他们用这种毛也同样做得出来。他们把椰子壳做成就餐用的杯子、碟子和其他盘子。他们用椰树叶做成短裙，除了这种短裙，他们没有其他服装。他们也用椰树叶来盖屋顶，他们的房子通常没有墙壁——房子只是用椰子树作柱子，撑起椰子叶做的屋顶，再加上地板而已，地板离地面有几英尺高。

土著部落相互作战，会吃掉他们杀死的敌人。一些传教士来到岛上，向他们传播基督教。一开始食人生番把传教士也吃了，但是很多土著人变成了基督徒，同时，几乎所有的人都不再吃人。传教士认为当地女人穿着不得体，就让她们穿一种叫做“哈伯德大妈”的宽大长罩衣，因为这种衣服看起来像童谣书中的哈伯德大妈穿的衣服。土著妇女进城就穿着长罩衣，但是她们在乡下或想爬到树上找东西吃的时候，就将长罩衣围在脖子上。白人来到这些岛上，同时也带来了疾病。岛上以前没有这样的疾病，土著居民感染上后，很多人就病死了。就连得了麻疹，他们似乎也不能痊愈。

土著居民过着一种悠闲的生活。他们没有钱，但是也不想要钱，因为岛上没有什么可买的。他们什么活也不干。如果想吃什么，他们只需爬上树，摘一个椰子。上树摘椰子很容易，因为很多树通常都是倾斜的。我见过有些男孩从地面一下子就跑到树上，就像你跑上滑梯一样。

一位名叫库克船长的英国人是第一个探索这些岛屿的人，并记录了关于这些岛屿的事情，所以有一群岛屿就是以他的名字来命名的。

白人开始对这些岛屿感兴趣了，因为他们发现椰子肉能在自己的国家卖个好价钱。于是，白人让土著居民干活摘椰子。让他们干活也不需要付工钱，因为金钱对他们来说毫无价值。即使一天给他们一千美元，他们也不愿意，但是他们却愿意为得到一串廉价的珠子而干活。土著居民非常喜欢首饰。于是，白人就把一些玻璃珠子偿付给他们，或者给他们留声机让他们娱乐。切碎的椰肉叫做椰仁干，有多种用途。椰子油可以用来做肥皂和一种黄油。

海轮和汽船很少经过这些岛屿，只在最大的岛屿停靠。有很多故事讲述船员遭遇海难后的经历，有的就发生在珊瑚礁附近，珊瑚礁上无人居住，船员只能自己在岛上生活，等待多年后才看见一艘帆船，才被带走。

许多岛屿很小，连名字都没有。但是，有些群岛有名字，如所罗门群岛，它之所以叫这个名字，是因为发现岛屿的人期望在那儿能找到像所罗门国王那么多的财富；再如库克群岛，是以库克船长的名字命名的。还有斐济群岛、萨摩亚群岛，其中一些属于美国。

太平洋最大的群岛之一叫菲律宾，曾经属于美国，但现在是一个独立自主的国家。然而，菲律宾离中国比较近，菲律宾人也很像中国人。靠近太平洋中部有夏威夷群岛，现在仍然属于美国。美国人吃的大多数菠萝都是在夏威夷种植的。火奴鲁鲁是夏威夷的首府。有些最优秀的游泳运动员就来自火奴鲁鲁，他们大多数时间都在水里训练。当地的年轻人，无论男女，不仅能像鱼一样自由自在地游泳，还能站在一块木板上冲浪。你很可能听说过，也见过尤克里里琴，这种乐器的名字来自夏威夷语。游客一到火奴鲁鲁，夏威夷人就把叫“莱伊”的花环戴在游客的头上。游客离开时，就把花环扔进水里，意味着有一天他还会回来。夏威夷人经常使用一个单词“阿洛哈”，表示“你好”，“欢迎”，“再见”，“上帝保佑你”等意思。

阿洛哈!

67

Journey’s End

旅行结束

AND so back home once more after a trip Around the World in more than 400 pages! Home, Sweet Home! “’Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.” Every one feels the same way, whether he is an Eskimo or a Tibetan. Home is where we were born and brought up—whether it is on a block of ice or under a cocoanut-tree.

I once knew an old sea captain. He had been sailing the seas for fifty years. He had been round the World a score of times. He had been in every port from Punta Arenas to Archangel. He could speak a dozen languages. He had been in every land and on every sea; he had been everywhere and had seen everything. For a dozen years he had looked forward to the day when he could at last “ettle down” and go home. At last that day came. I never saw any one happier as he headed toward home—the place where he was born—a little village in southern Maryland, near the sea.

A year later I met him again in New York. I never saw any one happier. He was all dressed up, with a flower in his buttonhole as if he were going to be married. “Where are you going?” said I. “I’m sailing, sailing at 12 o’clock,” said he, “for a trip round the World!” and I thought he was going to dance a sailor’s hornpipe right there on the street.

“Au revoir,” said I. “I thought you were going to settle down at home.” “Home,” said he, “is a place to come back to,” and he waved a jubilant farewell.

【中文阅读】

经过四百多页的环球旅行之后，我们终于再次回到了家。家啊，温馨的家！“也许我们会贪图享受，羡慕奢华，但是无论家是多么简陋，没有任何地方比得上它！”所有的人对家的感觉都是一样的，无论他是爱斯基摩人还是中国西藏人。家就是我们出生和成长的地方——无论它是在一块冰上还是在椰子树下。

我曾经认识一位老船长。他的航海生涯有五十年了，曾环球航行二十次。他到过世界上所有的港口，从彭塔阿雷纳斯到阿尔汉格尔斯格。他会说十几种语言。他到过每一片陆地和每一个海洋。无论哪里他都去过，无论什么东西他都见过。十几年来，他盼望着最终可以“安定下来”，可以回家的那一天。终于，那一天到来了。当他朝家——他出生的地方——马里兰州南部一个临海的小村庄——走去的时候，我没见过比他更开心的人了。

一年后，我在纽约再次遇见他。我没见过什么人比他更开心了。他打扮得很时髦，钮扣孔里还别着一朵花，好像他要结婚的样子。“你要去哪里呀？”我问道。“去航海呀，12点出发，”他说，“去环球旅行。”看他高兴的样子，我觉得他好像就要在街上跳起水手的角迪舞。

“再见，”我说，“我还以为你要在家安定下来呢。”

“家，是你可以回来休息的地方。”他一边说一边喜气洋洋地向我挥手告别。

Table of Contents

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书名页1

版权页

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目录

前言

01　The World Through a Spy-Glass ◆ 透过小望远镜看到的世界

02　The World Is Round, for I’ve Been Round It ◆ 世界是圆的，我围着它绕了一圈

03　The Inside of the World ◆ 世界的内部

04　The Endless Parade ◆ 没有尽头的队列

05　The 13 Club ◆ 十三俱乐部

06　A City Built in a Swamp ◆ 建于沼泽中的城市

07　Mary’s Land, Virginia’s State, and Penn’s Woods ◆ 玛丽的领地、弗吉尼亚的领土和佩恩的森林

08　The Empire State ◆ 帝国州

09　Yankee Land ◆ 扬基人的定居地

10　Five Big Puddles ◆ 五个大水坑

11　The Father of Waters ◆ 河流之父

12　The Fountain of Youth ◆ 青春泉

13　The Covered Wagon ◆ 大篷车

14　Wonderland ◆ 仙境

15　The ‘Est,’ Est West ◆ “之最”最多的西部

16　The ‘Est,’ Est West (continued) ◆ “之最”最多的西部（续）

17　Next-door Neighbors ◆ 隔壁邻居

18　The War-God’s Country ◆ 战神的国家

19　So Near and Yet so Far ◆ 近在咫尺，远在天涯

20　Pirate Seas ◆ 海盗的海洋

21　North South America ◆ 南美洲北部

22　Rubber and Coffee Land ◆ 橡胶和咖啡之国

23　Silver Land and Sliver Land ◆ 白银之国和棉条之国

24　The Bridge Across the Ocean ◆ 越洋之旅

25　The Land of the Angles ◆ 盎格鲁人的土地

26　The Land of the Angles (continued) ◆ 盎格鲁人的土地（续）

27　The Englishman’s Neighbors ◆ 英格兰人的邻居

28　Parlez-vous Franais? ◆ 你讲法语吗？

29　Parlez-vous Franais? (continued) ◆ 你讲法语吗？（续）

30　The Land Below the Sea ◆ 低于海平面的国家

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书名页2

31　Castles in Spain ◆ 西班牙城堡

32　Castles in Spain (continued) ◆ 西班牙城堡（续）

33　The Land in the Sky ◆ 天空之国

34　The Boot Top ◆ 靴子顶端

35　The Gates of Paradise and the Dome of Heaven ◆ 天堂之门和天国的穹顶

36　The Dead and Alive City ◆ 死亡而又活着的城市

37　A Pile of Ashes a Mile High ◆ 一英里高的一堆灰

38　Wars and Fairy-Tales ◆ 战争和童话故事

39　The Great Danes ◆ 伟大的丹麦人

40　Fish, Fiords, Falls, and Forests ◆ 鱼儿、峡湾、瀑布和森林

41　Fish, Fiords, Falls, and Forests (continued) ◆ 鱼儿、峡湾、瀑布和森林（续）

42　Where the Sun Shines All Night ◆ 极昼之地

43　The Bear ◆ 熊

44　The Bread-Basket ◆ 装面包的篮子——粮仓

45　The Iron Curtain Countries ◆ 铁幕国家

46　The Land of the Gods ◆ 众神之国

47　The Land of the New Moon ◆ 新月之国

48　The Ship of the Desert ◆ 沙漠之舟

49　A “Once-Was” Country ◆ 昔日辉煌的小亚细亚

50　A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey ◆ 丰饶之国

51　The “Exact Spots” ◆ “确切地点”

52　The Garden of Eden ◆ 伊甸园

53　The Land of Bedtime Stories ◆ 产生《一千零一夜》的国家

54　The Lion and the Sun ◆ 狮子和太阳

55　Opposite-Feet ◆ 对面脚踩之地

56　Opposite-Feet (continued) ◆ 对面脚踩之地（续）

57　The White Elephant ◆ 白象

58　Where the Thermometer Freezes Up ◆ 温度计冻住的地方

59　A Giant Sea-Serpent ◆ 一条巨大的海蛇怪

60　Picture Post-Cards ◆ 风景明信片

61　Man-Made Mountains ◆ 人造山

62　Afraid of the Dark ◆ 害怕黑暗

63　Zoo Land ◆ 动物王国

64　The End of the Rainbow ◆ 彩虹的尽头

65　Fortune Island ◆ 财富岛

66　Cannibal Islands ◆ 食人生番的岛屿

67　Journey’s End ◆ 旅行结束