美国学生世界地理教材 第63期:近在咫尺 远在天涯(3)

 This doctor found out that what made the Isthmus¹ so unhealthful was—what do you suppose?—nothing but little mosquitos.  这个医生发现造成地峡如此有害于健康的罪魁祸首是——你猜是什么呢？——竟然只是小小的蚊子。

These mosquitos were different, however, from those we have that merely leave an itchy spot where they bite.  然而，这种蚊子和我们平时遇到的那种叮一下让人有点痒的蚊子不一样。

The mosquitos down there were of an entirely² different kind.  那里的蚊子是一种完全不同的品种。

Some of them were town mosquitos and some were country mosquitos.  它们分成两类，一类是城镇蚊子，一类是乡村蚊子。

The country mosquitos gave people malaria³, which was bad enough, but the worst kind of mosquitos were the town mosquitos.  乡村蚊子让人染上疟疾，这已经够厉害的了，但最厉害的是城镇蚊子。

They gave people a terrible disease called yellow fever—a disease that turned people yellow and killed almost every one who caught it.  它们会让人染上一种叫做“黄热病”的可怕疾病——患这种病的人皮肤变黄，几乎都会死。

So the doctor said I’ll find out how to get rid of the mosquitos and keep them from killing⁴ the people.  在这种情况下那名医生说他要找到消灭这种蚊子的方法，让它们不再害死人。

Accordingly, he went after the mosquitos first, and this is the way he killed them. 于是，他先去追踪蚊子，然后他是这样消灭蚊子的： 

The town mosquitos he killed with sulphur smoke—sulphur from Popocatepetl—and the country mosquitos he killed with oil—oil from Mexico too.  他用硫黄烧的烟杀死城镇蚊子——波波卡特佩特产的硫黄——他用石油杀死乡村蚊子——也是墨西哥产的石油。

Then he cleaned up the marshes⁵ and other places where the mosquitos lived and raised their enormous families,so that they had no place to live, 然后他清理了沼泽地和其他一些适宜蚊子居住和大量繁殖的地方，这样蚊子就没有地方生存了。

and in these ways he changed the Canal Zone from the most unhealthful place  to one of the most healthful places.  通过这些方法他把运河区从世界上最有害于健康的地方变成了世界上最有益于健康的地方之一。

Then, and not until then, the United States went ahead and made the Canal.  直到完成以上这些工作，美国才去开凿运河。

They didn’t cut the land straight through, however, as the French had started to do, so that the Atlantic and Pacific could run together 然而他们并没有像法国人开始干的那样把陆地直接挖通，那样的话大西洋和太平洋就会流到一起

—that would have meant too much digging, even with dynamite⁶, for dynamite blows up land, and the land has to be carried away after it is blown up. ——那就意味着开凿工作量太大，即使是用炸药也减轻不了。因为炸药会把土炸开，而炸开后的土必须得运走。

So the United States dug a ditch across the Isthmus on top of the land and used a river and a lake already there to keep this ditch filled with water. 于是美国人在地峡的最高处挖了一条横越过去的渠道，利用那里原本就有的一条河和一个湖把渠道灌满水。 

At each end of this ditch or canal they made locks to raise ships from the sea at one end, and to lower them to the sea at the other. 在这个渠道或者叫运河的两端都建起水闸，一端把船从海面上举起，到了另一端再把船放到海里去。 

So ships now go across from one ocean to the other, but most of the way they sail on fresh water, for neither ocean runs into the other.  这样轮船就可以从一个大洋驶到另一个大洋，但运河里的水大部分都是淡水，因为两个海洋并没有流到一起。

Namerica and Samerica are not cut apart—they are still joined and always will be, until the Creator does the separating. 北美洲和南美洲没有被分开——它们仍然连在一起，也将永远连在一起，直到造物主把它们分开。

1 isthmus   

n.地峡

参考例句：

• North America is connected with South America by the Isthmus of Panama.巴拿马海峡把北美同南美连接起来。
• The north and south of the island are linked by a narrow isthmus.岛的北部和南部由一条狭窄的地峡相连。

2 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。

3 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。