美国学生世界地理教材 第59期:战神的国家(2)

I told you there was a Peace Stone on the Canada line and that Canada and the United¹ States agreed long ago never to fight each other. 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。

There is no peace stone on the Mexican border line and there have been many fights between the United States and Mexico. 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。 

Our States of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona once belonged to Mexico.  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。

Between Texas and Mexico is a river called the Rio Grande, which means³ River Grand² or Grand River. 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”。 

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,  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，

so that people can walk right across from the United States to Mexico in certain places, or at certain times of the year. 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。

When the white people came to America there were Indians living all over our country.  当白人初到美洲的时候，美国到处都生活着印第安人。

The white people pushed the Indians farther⁴ and farther off to the corners and out-of-the-way places  白人把印第安人逼到越来越远的角落和偏僻的地方，

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.  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。

When the white people came to Mexico there were Indians living all over that country too,  当白人初到墨西哥时，那个国家到处也都生活着印第安人，

but in Mexico there still are more Indians now living than there are white people. 但是现在在墨西哥，印第安人仍然比白人要多。 

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. 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。

The people in the United States speak English and do many things as the people in England do.  美国人说英语，很多生活习惯与英国人相同。

The people who came to Mexico were white people from Spain. 而最初到墨西哥的人是西班牙的白人。 

So they speak Spanish and do many things as the people in Spain do. 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。

When the Spanish first came to Mexico they found the Indians there wearing silver necklaces and silver bracelets⁵ and silver ornaments,  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，

so they knew there must be silver in Mexico. 于是他们就知道墨西哥肯定有银子。

The Spaniards were really looking for gold, but silver was next best, so they set to work to dig⁶ for silver and they are still doing so, 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， 

and even now, more than 400 years after white people came to Mexico more silver is mined there than anywhere else  except the United States. 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。 

Silver mines are in the mountains, the same chain of mountains as the Rocky⁷ Mountains in the United States,  银矿位于山里，和美国的落基山脉相连，属同一山系，

only in Mexico they are called Sierra Madre. 只不过在墨西哥这段山脉被叫做马德雷山脉。 

1 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。

2 grand   

adj.豪华的，宏伟的，壮丽的，主要的，重大的；n.(美俚)一千美元

参考例句：

• The pianist played several pieces of music on a grand piano.钢琴家在一架大钢琴上弹了几首乐曲。
• Come on,I'll give you the grand tour of the backyard.跟我来，我带你去后院来一次盛大的旅游。

3 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。

4 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

5 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 rocky   

adj.岩石的，像岩石的；多岩石的

参考例句：

• She drives carefully up the rocky lane.她驾车小心地从这条很多石头的小路上驶过去。
• There is only one port along this rocky coast.这个多岩石的海岸只有一个港口。