美国学生世界地理教材 第1期:前言(1)

 This book is for the child who: thinks heaven is in the sky and hell is under the ground;  这本书是写给这样的孩子：他认为天堂在天上，地狱在地下；

has never heard of London or Paris and thinks a Dane is a kind of dog. 他从未听说过伦敦或巴黎，他认为丹麦人是一种狗。

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

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

It is to show him not only "the Seven Wonders of the World but the seventy times Seven Wonders of the world. 这本书不但给孩子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。

When-l-was-a-boy in New England we had for Thanksgiving six kinds of pie:  我小时候在新英格兰过感恩节，有六种果馅派：

apple, peach, cranberry¹, custard, mince², and pumpkin,  苹果派、桃子派、越橘派、蛋奶派、百果派和南瓜派。

but I was allowed to have only two kinds and I never could make a satisfactory choice.  但只准我从中选两种，而我从未能做出让自己满意的选择。

I have had the same difficulty in selecting geographical³ places and subjects to tell about.  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。

There are too many most important places in the World to be included in this first survey,  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，

and there will inevitably⁴ be those readers who will wonder why certain countries and certain places have been omitted,  有些读者会奇怪为什么某些国家和某些地方被忽略了，

especially the place where the reader may live. 尤其是读者本人生活的地方。

To me, as a child, geography was a bugbear of repellent names 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

Climate and Commerce, Manufactures and Industries, and products,products, PRODUCTS.  气候和商业、各种制造业和行业以及产品、产品，还是产品！

It seemed that the chief products of every place in the World were corn, wheat, barley⁵, rye;  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；

or rye, barley, wheat, corn; or barley, corn, rye, wheat.  或是大麦、玉米、黑麦、小麦。

In my geography modern Greece had but a paragraph—because, I suppose, it did not produce wheat corn, barley, rye.  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。

Geography was a stomach geography; the head and heart were left out. 地理只关心吃的的学科，却忽视了思想和感情。

I loved the geography pictures and maps but hated the text.  我爱看地理书上的图片和地图，却讨厌读上面的文字。

Except for an occasional descriptive or narrative⁶ paragraph the text was wholly unreadable 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

a confused jumble⁷ of headings and sub-headings and sub-sub- headings:  一大堆杂乱无章的大标题、小标题以及小标题下的小标题：

Home Work, Notes, Map Studies, Suggestions to Teachers,  家庭作业、注释、地图练习题、给老师的建议、

Helps, Directions, Questions, Reviews, Problems,Exercises, Recitations, Lessons, Picture Studies, etc.,etc.,etc. 辅导、指导、问题、复习、疑难、练习、背诵、课程、图片习题，等等。

1 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

2 mince   

n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说

参考例句：

• Would you like me to mince the meat for you?你要我替你把肉切碎吗？
• Don't mince matters,but speak plainly.不要含糊其词，有话就直说吧。

3 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

4 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

5 barley   

n.大麦，大麦粒

参考例句：

• They looked out across the fields of waving barley.他们朝田里望去,只见大麦随风摇摆。
• He cropped several acres with barley.他种了几英亩大麦。

6 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

7 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。