美国学生世界地理教材 第71期:南美洲北部(4)

 Have you ever heard of a man named Simon Bolivar?  你听说过一个叫做西蒙 ?玻利瓦尔的人吗？

Probably not, but in South America every boy and girl knows him as you know George Washington.  大概没有，但在南美洲，每个男孩女孩都知道他，就像你知道乔治 ?华盛顿一样。

In fact, he is often called the George Washington of South America.  实际上，他经常被叫做“南美洲的乔治 ?华盛顿”。

Just as England once owned the thirteen colonies¹, Spain once owned a great part of South America. 就像英国曾经拥有13个殖民地一样，西班牙曾经拥有南美洲的大部分土地。 

Then this man Bolivar, Simon Bolivar, who lived in Venezuela, thought, as a great many others did, that Spain was not treating his country right. 当时这个住在委内瑞拉叫做玻利瓦尔的人，西蒙玻利瓦尔，和许多其他人一样认为西班牙在压迫自己的国家。 

Bolivar had been in the United States and had heard how the United States once belonged to England  玻利瓦尔曾经去过美国，听说了美国过去曾是英国的殖民地，

and how George Washington had led the revolution against England until the United States belonged to itself. 而乔治 ?华盛顿又是如何领导了反抗英国的革命斗争，直到美国成为一个独立的国家。 

So Bolivar went back to South America and started a revolution to make his country and other countries of South America independent of Spain.  于是玻利瓦尔回到南美洲，为使自己的国家和其他南美国家摆脱西班牙的殖民统治，发动了一场革命。

He had a very hard time of it, indeed. Again and again he had to flee for his life,  当时他过着艰难困苦的生活，一次又一次地被迫逃亡，

but again and again he returned to South America and at last succeeded in making five countries of South America independent of Spain. 但是一次又一次地又回到南美洲，最终革命成功了，使五个南美国家摆脱了西班牙的统治，成了独立的国家。 

After he died one of these countries that he had freed changed its name from High Peru to Bolivia, after him. 玻利瓦尔去世后，为了纪念他，其中一个国家将国名由“高秘鲁”改成了“玻利维亚”，以他的名字而命名。 

Bolivia is one of the few countries in the World that do not touch the sea, from which there is no way to get to the sea by boat. 玻利维亚是世界上少数几个内陆国家之一，那里没有坐船可以到达海洋的航线。

Much of the tin in the World comes from mines in Bolivia.  世界上很多锡产自于玻利维亚的锡矿。

Tin pans² and tin cans are not made of pure tin—it would cost too much if they were. 锡盘和锡罐并不是用纯锡做的——纯锡成本太高，而是用铁做的，仅在外面镀了一层锡。 

They are made of iron and simply plated with tin. Pans and cans made of iron would rust³ and so be unfit for food,  铁盘和铁罐很容易生锈，不适合盛放食物，

but tin doesn’t rust and that’s why the pans and cans are covered with a thin coating of tin. 而锡不会生锈，所以铁盘和铁罐外面都涂上了一层锡。 

When this thin tin wears off, the iron rusts⁴ easily enough, and that’s why most tin cans you see on the ash pile are rusty⁵; the tin has worn off. 这层锡磨掉后，铁就很容易生锈了，那就是为什么你看见灰堆上的罐子大都是生锈的；上面的锡被磨掉了。

Between Bolivia and Peru there is a very large lake. Its name sounds funny, like a person stuttering. 在玻利维亚和秘鲁之间有一个很大的湖。 

It is Ti ti ca ca. It is the highest lake of its size  I once built a rowboat in my cellar⁶. 它的名字听起来很有趣，就像一个人结结巴巴地说话一样。 

When I had finished it I found it was so big I couldn’t get it out of the house.  叫做“的的喀喀湖”。它在世界上和它同等面积的湖泊中海拔最高。

So I had to take it apart, carry it outside, and put it together again. 我曾经在家里的地下室里做了一个划艇，做完后发现划艇太大，拿不出来，只能把它拆了，拿到外面，重新组装。 

There are steamers⁷ on Lake Titicaca, but in order to get them there from where they were built they had to be taken to pieces 的的喀喀湖可通航，但为了把轮船从造船厂运到那里，人们不得不把轮船拆掉，

and carried up the mountains to the lake, piece by piece, and there put together again. 把零部件小运到山上，重新组装起来放进湖里。

1 colonies   

n.殖民地( colony的名词复数 )；（侨民等）聚居区；（动植物的）群体；（来自同一地方，职业或兴趣相同的）聚居人群

参考例句：

• They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small farms and self-sufficiency. 但就整个殖民地来说，人们主要依靠小型农场，过着自给自足的生活。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 pans   

n.平底锅( pan的名词复数 )；（天平的）秤盘；马桶；盘状凹地（尤指盆地）

参考例句：

• Pots, pans, kettles and mops are kitchen utensils. 锅、盘、壶及拖把是厨房用具。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She clashed these pans down on the floor. 她将这些盘子哗啦一声摔在地上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

4 rusts   

n.铁锈( rust的名词复数 )；（植物的）锈病，锈菌v.（使）生锈( rust的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Copper nails are better than iron nails because the iron rusts. 铜钉比铁钉好，因为铁会生锈。 来自辞典例句
• The axenic culture of rusts has been achieved on various defined media. 在各种规定的培养基上可得到锈菌的单体纯净培养物。 来自辞典例句

5 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

6 cellar   

n.地窖，地下室，酒窖

参考例句：

• He took a bottle of wine from the cellar.他从酒窖里拿出一瓶酒。
• The little girl hid away in the cellar.小姑娘藏在地下室里。

7 steamers   

abbr.steamed clams 汽船，蒸汽机n.汽船( steamer的名词复数 )；大轮船；汽锅；蒸锅

参考例句：

• The lower reaches of the river are navigable for steamers. 这河的下游能够行驶轮船。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• These steamers are used for conveying passengers on the rivers. 这些轮船是用来在江河上载客的。 来自辞典例句