美国学生世界地理教材 第56期:之最最多的西部续(2)

 The oldest fruit in the World is the apple. It is the fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden,  世界上最古老的水果是苹果。它是长在伊甸园里的水果， 

but people believe the apple that Eve gave Adam was a very poor one compared to the apples that grow in the State of Washington¹. 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。 

People in Washington, D.C.—all the way across the country—buy apples that have been shipped from Washington State 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—

—3,000 miles away—for they are so much better than ordinary apples. 运程达3000英里—就因为它们比普通的苹果可口多了。

They are “skookum.” That’s what the Indians of the Northwest call something very nice—whether it is a girl or an apple. 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。

There are great forests in Washington and Oregon.  华盛顿州和俄勒冈州有着大片的森林。

The forest trees are cut down to make lumber² for building houses; and the paper I am writing on was made from trees that grew in Oregon.  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。 

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.”  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。

At the northwest corner of America is a large country that belongs to the United³ States and yet it is not a State.  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 。

It is called a Territory⁴. It is Alaska.  那叫做领土，那是阿拉斯加。

The highest mountain in North America is there.  北美洲最高的山峰就在那里，

It is called Mount⁵ McKinley. 叫做麦金利山。 

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, 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， 

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. 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。

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,  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， 

with nothing but shovels⁶ to dig⁷ the gold and sieves⁸ to strain⁹ it out of the water, started off to that far-away place, hoping to make their fortunes before the new year.  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。

Many foolishly went off with nothing to live on after they reached Alaska.  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。 

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.  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。

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. 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。  

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. 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。  

So the wise ones came back with the gold which the foolish ones had dug¹⁰, and the foolish ones were lucky to get back at all. 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。

1 Washington   

n.华盛顿特区(是美国首都)

参考例句：

• His birthplace is Washington,but he lives in San Francisco.他出生于华盛顿，但住在旧金山。
• They, together with my father,have gone to Washington.他们和我父亲一起去华盛顿了。

2 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

3 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

4 territory   

n.领土，领地，版图，地区，活动范围

参考例句：

• Resources in plenty can be found in this territory.这一地区能找到大量自然资源。
• Our country has a vast territory and abundant resources.我国土地辽阔，资源丰富。

5 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

6 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

7 dig   

v.挖（洞，沟等）；掘

参考例句：

• It is difficult to dig the ground when it is frozen.地面冻住了就不易挖掘。
• In those days we often went to dig for wild vegetables.那时候我们常常出去挖野菜。

8 sieves   

筛，漏勺( sieve的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This thesis emphasized on the preparation of mesoporous molecular sieves MSU. 中孔分子筛MSU是当今认为在稳定性方面很有发展前途的一种催化新材料。
• The mesoporous silica molecular sieves Zr-MCM-41 were synthesized in ethylenediamine. 以乙二胺为碱性介质合成了Zr-MCM-41介孔分子筛。

9 strain   

n.紧张，拉紧，血统；v.劳累，拉紧，过份使用

参考例句：

• Strain the fat off before you serve the soup.在上汤前把里面的油滤掉。
• He had a muscular strain.他肌肉过劳。

10 dug   

n.动物的乳房[乳头]v.挖，掘( dig的过去式和过去分词 )；（如用铲、锨或推土机等）挖掘；挖得；寻找

参考例句：

• He dug a deep hole in the garden. 他在花园里挖了个深坑。
• We dug a deep pit in the yard. 我们在院子中挖了个深洞。