美国学生世界地理教材 第8期:透过小望远镜看到的世界(4)

 The part of the World that isn't patches of shadow or snow is water. 环绕着大陆的水叫做海洋，

The water all around the continents is the ocean, and though of course there are no walls nor fences dividing it into different parts, 尽管并没有围墙或者篱笆把它们分成不同的部分，

its different parts are called by different names. 海洋的不同部分还是有它们自己不同的名字。

Do you know your right hand from your left? 你能分清自己的左右手吗？

Of course you do if you're over six years old.But do you know the west side from the east side? 当然能，如果你超过6岁的话。 但你能分清东西方向吗？

If you are over nine years old you should. 如果你超过9岁了，就该分得清了。

The east is where the sun rises, the west is where it sets. 东方是太阳升起的地方，而西方是太阳落山的地方。

And if your right hand is east, your left hand is west your face is north and your back is south. 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。

The Atlantic Ocean is on the east side of North and South America. 大西洋位于南北美洲的东边。

The Pacific Ocean is on the west. 太平洋在西边

The ocean entirely¹ in the Eastern Hemisphere² is called Indian. 全部在东半球 的海洋叫做印度洋，

No, it is not named for our Indians.At the top of the World is the Arctic³ Ocean. 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。

At the bottom, all around Antarctica, is the Antarctic Ocean. 在最底部，环绕着南极洲的是南冰洋。

The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans are mostly ice, for it is so cold there the water freezes and stays frozen⁴. 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。

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, 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，

as we can't paint letters on the ocean. 因为没人能在海洋上画上字。

There is no reason why I should show you the World turned this way with North America on top. 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。

I might just as well show it upside down or sideways, for there is no upside nor downside on the World. 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。

I suppose the reason the north side is always shown on top is because the people who made maps 我想北半边总是被放在上面是

and geographies all lived in the north part of the World and they wanted their part of the World on top. 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。

So this is our World. 这就是我们的世界。

You may wonder, Are there any other Worlds besides ours? 你也许会想：除了我们的世界之外，还有其他世界吗？

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. 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。

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. 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 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

2 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。

3 Arctic   

adj.北极的；n.北极

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• The sort of animal lived in the Arctic Circle.这种动物生活在北极圈里。

4 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。