美国学生世界地理教材 第81期:越洋之旅(3)

 The captain knows from the way the compass points which way he must go to reach England.  船长通过罗盘指的方向知道要去英国应走哪个方向。

He doesn’t follow the way the compass points—that would bring him to the Magnetic pole. 他并不是顺着罗盘指针的方向走，那样的话，就会走到磁极去了。

When it’s fine weather at sea the passengers have a fine time too.  海上天气好的时候，船上的乘客也会度过一段好时光。

They play games, they dance, they take photographs,they write letters and postcards, they read books, they eat five meals a day,  他们玩游戏、跳舞、拍照、 写信、写明信片、看书、一天吃五餐，

they lie in long steamer chairs wrapped up in rugs, and look out over the ocean or talk or sleep. 他们裹着毛毯躺在长长的甲板躺椅上向外眺望大海或者聊天或者睡觉。

Now and then porpoises¹, that look like big fishes, swim along the side or just ahead of the ship, 不时有海豚出现，看起来就像很大的鱼，它们游在船的一侧或是船头， 

and jump out of the water and dive in again, as if they were running a race with the ship.  跳出水面又潜入水中，好像在和轮船竞赛一样。

Occasionally a mountain of ice may be seen floating in the sea, many many times bigger than the ship, called an iceberg². 偶尔能看到巨大如山的冰块漂浮在海上，比轮船大好多好多倍，叫做冰山。 

It has broken away from the frozen part of the ocean far up north and floated down. 冰山是从北极海洋冰川破裂开的大块漂浮冰。 

And then at times a whale like a little island may rise out of the water, spout³ a fountain into the air, then sink out of sight again. 有时还能看到像小岛一样大的鲸鱼浮出水面，向空中喷出一股水柱，然后又沉入水中不见了。

Sometimes, but not often, the sea is so smooth it is like glass, no wind and no waves except those which the ship itself makes. 有时，但并不是经常，平静的海面就像一面镜子，风平浪静，只有轮船驶过掀起的一点浪花。 

That’s why the Atlantic Ocean is sometimes called “The Big Pond.” But then again the wind blows, clouds rise, rain pours down,  这就是为什么大西洋有时被叫做“大池塘”。但是风平浪静之后，又是风起云涌，大雨如注下，

the waves rise up higher and higher until the sea is all moving hills and valleys of water,  波涛汹涌，海浪越升越高直到大海成了一片移动的浪之山，水之谷。

and the ship pitches up and down and rolls and tosses from side to side.  轮船随风浪剧烈地上下颠簸，左右摇晃。

It is necessary to put fences on the dining tables to keep the dishes from sliding off,and of course many people are seasick⁴.  这时就必须在餐桌边装上小围栏，以免就餐时菜肴滑落下去。当然很多人都会晕船。

The ship slides down one water hill and rises up the next water hill, and, big though it is, seems almost to turn over.  轮船从一个巨浪上滑下来又升到下一个巨浪上，尽管船很大，但感觉就像要翻船。

But it seldom does turn over or sink unless it runs into an iceberg or another ship and smashes a hole in its side. 但轮船很少向一侧翻倒或者下沉，除非是撞上了冰山或者其他船只，造成船侧洞穿。

1 porpoises   

n.鼠海豚( porpoise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A shoal of porpoises are well on the feed. 一群海豚正在吞食。 来自辞典例句
• In 1928 some porpoises were photographed working like beavers to push ashore a waterlogged mattress. 1928年有人把这些海豚象海狸那样把一床浸泡了水的褥垫推上岸时的情景拍摄了下来。 来自辞典例句

2 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

3 spout   

v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱

参考例句：

• Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
• This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季，这东西被用作喷管来排水。

4 seasick   

adj.晕船的

参考例句：

• When I get seasick,I throw up my food.我一晕船就呕吐。
• He got seasick during the voyage.在航行中他晕船。