美国学生世界地理教材 第75期:白银之国和棉条之国(1)

 Chapter 23 Silver Land and Sliver¹ Land 第23章 白银之国和棉条之国

We give babies names when they are born, but sometimes when the babies grow up the names do not fit them.  孩子出生了，就要取个名字，但有些孩子长大后，名字和人并不相称。

“Charles” means “strong” and “Ruth” means “beautiful,” but when Charles grows up he may not be strong, and Ruth may not be beautiful.  “查尔斯”含有“强壮的”意思，“鲁丝”含有“美丽的”意思，但是查尔斯长大后，也许并不强壮，鲁丝也许并不美丽。

You never can tell.  这种事，谁也拿不准。

When white people came to South America to the land south of Brazil they saw Indians there wearing silver bracelets² and silver necklaces,  白人来到南美洲，到了巴西南面一个国家，当时他们看见那里的印第安人都戴着银手镯和银项链，

and they supposed there must be a great deal of silver in the land,  就以为这个国家肯定有很多的银子，

so they named the country “Silver Land,” which in their language is “Argentina.”  于是把这个国家叫做“白银之国”，按他们的语言（西班牙语）就是“阿根廷”。

But Argentina turned out to have very little silver, yet we still call it Silver Land just the same.  但后来发现阿根廷没有什么银子，然而“白银之国”这个名字仍然沿用至今。

Although Argentina has little silver, the people there have a great deal of money;  尽管阿根廷没有什么银子，那里的人却很有钱；

in fact, they have more money than any other country in South America.  他们甚至比南美洲其他任何一个国家的人都更有钱。

They do not get the money out of the ground, but they make it by selling wheat and meat,  他们不是靠银赚钱，而是靠卖小麦和肉类赚钱的，

so it would have been a more fitting name if they had called Argentina “Wheat Land” or “Meat Land” instead of “Silver Land,”  因此如果人们把阿根廷叫做“小麦之国”或者“肉类之国”而不是“白银之国”可能更合适，

but not nearly so pretty.  只是远没有那么好听了。

In Argentina there are enormous farms where they grow wheat and corn, and enormous fields called pampas where they raise cattle and sheep.  阿根廷有许多广阔的大农场种植小麦和玉米，还有叫做南美大草原的辽阔田野，人们在那里放牧牛羊。

The men that look after these cattle and sheep we should call “cowboys,” but there they are called “gauchos⁴.”  我们把照看这些牛羊的人叫做“牛仔”，但是他们却叫“加乌乔牧人”。

Gauchos wear ponchos⁶.  加乌乔牧人穿着南美披风。

A poncho⁵ is a kind of square blanket with a hole in the center through which the gaucho³ sticks his head.  南美披风是一种方形的毛毯，中间开有领口，加乌乔牧人穿时从头部套入。

He uses it as a coat by day and as a blanket by night.  他们白天把它当外套穿，晚上就当毯子盖。

A gaucho always carries a big knife, which he uses as a sword, as a hatchet⁷, or as a table knife. 加乌乔牧人总是带着一把大刀，这把刀既用作剑，又用作短柄小斧，还能作餐刀使用。

Corn feeds the cattle. Cattle makes meat and meat makes money.  阿根廷人用玉米养牛，牛养大后，牛肉可以卖钱。

From the skin of the cattle leather is made, and from the wool of sheep cloth is made, and from both money is made. 牛皮制成皮革，羊毛可以织布，都可以卖钱。

1 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。

2 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》

3 gaucho   

n. 牧人

参考例句：

• Outside the city there are many countryside ranches for city dwellers to live the gaucho life,or just enjoy country life in the pampas,the grasslands outside buenos aires.城外有许多农庄，可以供城市居民前往居住和体验牛仔生活，或者只是去享受一下草原上的农家生活。
• There are many working estancias where tourists can live out the gaucho lifestyl

4 gauchos   

n.南美牧人( gaucho的名词复数 )

参考例句：

5 poncho   

n.斗篷，雨衣

参考例句：

• He yawned and curled his body down farther beneath the poncho.他打了个呵欠，把身子再蜷拢点儿，往雨披里缩了缩。
• The poncho is made of nylon.这雨披是用尼龙制造的。

6 ponchos   

n.斗篷( poncho的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The men cast off their packs, withdrew their ponchos and set up their pup tents again. 大家扔下了背包，取出了雨披，把小帐篷重又架了起来。 来自辞典例句

7 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。