美国学生世界地理教材 第7期:透过小望远镜看到的世界(3)

 These patches¹ which look like shadows are really land and are called by a long name: continents.  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。

These continents have names, and if their names were printed across them in letters a thousand miles high—which they are not 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，

so that the man with a spy-glass could read them, he would read on one side of the World NORTH AMERICA/SOUTH AMERICA.  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。

And if he waited until the World turned round, until the other side showed in the sunlight² as I've seen the World do in the movies,  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，

he would read on this continent EUROPE and on that continent ASIA and on the other continent AFRICA,  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，

and the smallest one would have the longest name, AUSTRALIA.  最小的那个写着澳洲，

At the very bottom would be ANTARCTICA³.  最下面的是南极洲。 

We call one side of a piece of money the head, because there is usually the head of some one on that side,  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；

and the other side we call the tail, as that is opposite from the head.  另一面叫做反面，因为它和正面正相反。

It would be easy to tell which side of the World was which if we could call one side heads and the other tails.  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。

But there are no heads or tails on the World—only these queer⁴ shadows 但是世界上没有正反面—只有这些奇怪的阴影

so we use two big words instead of heads and tails to tell which side of the World is which.  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。

We call one side the Western Hemisphere⁵ and the other side we call the Eastern Hemisphere.  我们把一面叫做西半球，另一面叫做东半球。

Whew! Why don't they call it something easy? 咳，为什么不用简单点的词呢？

Well, let's call it Half-a-Ball, for that is what Hemisphere means⁶.  嗯，好吧，我们可以把它叫做半个球，半球就是这个意思。 

The Western Half-Ball has two continents and the Eastern Half-Ball has four continents.  西边半个球有两个大洲，而东边半个球有四个大洲。

The tip top and the very bottom of the World are called the Poles, although there are no poles.  世界的最顶端和最下端叫做极地，尽管那儿并没有杆子。 

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.  上在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。

1 patches   

n.小块( patch的名词复数 )；斑；补丁；小块土地v.补( patch的第三人称单数 )；修理；调停；解决

参考例句：

• The dog's coat is white with black patches. 这只狗的皮毛白色中带有黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She sewed patches on the elbows of jacket. 她在夹克肘部缝了几块补丁。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sunlight   

n.日光，阳光，日照

参考例句：

• The room was flooded with warm and golden sunlight.房间充满着温暖、金色的阳光。
• In the bright sunlight she had to narrow her eyes.在强烈阳光下她必须眯着双眼。

3 Antarctica   

n.南极洲

参考例句：

• Antarctica is the earth's coldest landmass.南极洲是地球上最冷的大陆。
• This penguin is from Antarctica.这只企鹅来自南极洲。

4 queer   

adj.奇怪的，异常的，不舒服的，眩晕的

参考例句：

• I heard some queer footsteps.我听到某种可疑的脚步声。
• She has been queer lately.她最近身体不舒服。

5 hemisphere   

n.半球，半球地图

参考例句：

• This animal is to be found only in the Southern Hemisphere.这种动物只有在南半球才能找到。
• In most people,the left hemisphere is bigger than the right.多数人的左脑比右脑大。

6 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。