美国学生世界地理教材 第70期:南美洲北部(3)

 They often fight, not with bows and arrows, but with huge blow-pipes—as long as a man 他们经常打斗，使用的武器不是弓和箭，而是巨大的吹矢枪——足有一人长

—using clay balls or little darts¹ which have been dipped in poison. ——枪内装上浸过毒药的小土球或小飞镖。 

With these blow-pipes they can kill men and animals.  他们可以用这种吹矢枪杀死敌人或动物。

These savage² Indians catch fish for food, not with a line or net,but by putting poison in the streams where the fish are. 这些未开化的印第安人捕鱼为食，不用线或网，而是把毒药投放到有鱼的小溪里。 

The poison kills the fish and they float on the top, but it doesn’t spoil³ them for eating. 鱼被毒死后就漂浮到水面上来，但毒药的药性不影响鱼的食用。 

The Indians of Ecuador are the most savage Indians now known,  厄瓜多尔的印第安人是已知的最野蛮的印第安人，

but in the country just south of Ecuador, in the country called Peru, once lived the most civilized⁴ Indians ever known.  但是就在厄瓜多尔南面一个叫做秘鲁的国家里曾经生活着迄今为止最文明的印第安人。

They lived not in tents or wigwams or huts, but in palaces, and they were very intelligent and very rich. 他们不住在帐篷或棚屋或简陋的小屋里，而是住在宫殿里，他们非常聪明，也很富有。

They were called Incas and their capital was named Cuzco.The Incas had great treasures of gold and silver, 他们叫做“印加人”，他们的都城是库斯科。印加人有大量的金银财宝，当西班牙人最初来到南美洲寻找金子或银子的时候， 

and when the Spaniards first came to South America looking for gold or silver they found it in Cuzco already mined. 他们发现在库斯科早已有人开采金矿和银矿。

All they had to do was to take it away from the Incas.  他们要做的就是从印加人手中抢走金银财宝。

This was easy because the Spaniards had guns,and the Incas,who had no such thing, were no match for them in a fight.  这很容易，因为西班牙人有枪，而印加人没有这种武器，在战斗中根本不是西班牙人的对手。

So the Spaniards won and simply helped themselves to the gold,and made the Incas work in the mines for more. 于是西班牙人赢了，也就擅自拿走了这些金子，还强迫印加人在矿里开采更多的金子。 

However, the joke was on the Spaniards,  然而，被戏弄的反而是西班牙人自己，

for many of their ships sailing back to Spain with their stolen treasure were captured⁵ by the pirates⁶. 因为他们的很多船只，载着抢来的财宝，在返回西班牙的途中遭到海盗的抢劫。

Many of the Spaniards who stayed in Peru married Indian women, so now most of the people in Peru are a mixture of Spanish and Indian. 很多留在秘鲁的西班牙人和印第安女子结了婚，因此现在的大部分秘鲁人是西班牙人和印第安人的混血后裔。

There is little left of Cuzco, except ruins of the old Inca palaces. 除了古老印加宫殿的断垣残壁现在已见不到库斯科过去的风貌了。 

The present capital of Peru is Lima, but Lima beans don’t come from there.  秘鲁现在的首都是利马，但是利马豆并不产自那里。

A medicine that is often given for fever does come from Peru, however.  然而有一种经常用来治疗发烧的药物倒是产自秘鲁。

The Indians found that the bark of a certain tree when stewed⁷ in water made a kind of tea that was good for fever. 当地的印第安人发现把某种树的树皮在水里炖烂，当茶喝，对治疗发烧很有效。 

When the white man came, he found it was good for fever too.  白人来到秘鲁后，也发现这种树皮很有效。

So now the bark of this tree is gathered and sent to other countries to be used in making medicine to cure fevers.  所以现在这种树的树皮被采集下来，运到其他国家用于生产退烧药。

The medicine is called quinine. 这种药叫做“奎宁”。

In the United States loads are usually carried on freight⁸ trains or trucks  在美国，货物通常是用运货列车或卡车来运的，

but in the Andes Mountains they are usually carried on the backs of a little animal called a llama.  但在安第斯山脉，货物通常是由一种体形较小、叫做美洲驼的动物驮运的。

A llama is something like a small camel without a hump. 美洲驼有点像骆驼，但没有驼峰。

1 darts   

n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• His darts trophy takes pride of place on the mantelpiece. 他将掷镖奖杯放在壁炉顶上最显著的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I never saw so many darts in a bodice! 我从没见过紧身胸衣上纳了这么多的缝褶！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

3 spoil   

n.战利品，赃物，奖品，掠夺，次品；vt.损坏，破坏，溺爱；vi.腐坏，掠夺

参考例句：

• Don't bunch the flowers up so tightly,you'll spoil them.别把花束得这么紧，会弄坏的。
• Overacting will only spoil the effect.表演过火，效果反而不好。

4 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

5 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

6 pirates   

n.海盗( pirate的名词复数 )；剽窃者；侵犯版权者；非法播音的人（或组织）

参考例句：

• Children dressed (themselves) up as pirates. 孩子们假扮成海盗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The pirates treated their captives with barbarity. 海盗们残暴地对待他们的俘虏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 stewed   

adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• When all birds are shot, the bow will be set aside;when all hares are killed, the hounds will be stewed and eaten -- kick out sb. after his services are no longer needed. 鸟尽弓藏，兔死狗烹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• \"How can we cook in a pan that's stewed your stinking stockings? “染臭袜子的锅，还能煮鸡子吃！还要它？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

8 freight   

n.货物，货运；vt.运送（货物）看，装货于

参考例句：

• Tons of freight were flown into this airport every day.每天有许多吨货物被空运到这个机场。
• There is ten yuan in the bill for freight.发票中包括运费十元。