美国学生世界地理教材 第178期:狮子和太阳(3)

 The fire-worshipers' chief god was called Mazda and that is where we get the name for our electric-light bulbs. 拜火教徒信仰的主神是玛兹达，这就是我们的电灯泡借用的名字。

According to their religion, everything that was light was good and everything that was dark was bad. 根据他们的宗教信仰，凡是光明的东西都是好的，凡是黑暗的东西都是坏的。

A few Persians are still fire-worshipers, but most are now Mohammedans. 有一些波斯人仍是拜火教徒，但大多数现在都是伊斯兰教徒。

The good part of Persia, like the little girl who had a little curl¹, is very, very good, but the bad part is horrid². 波斯条件好的地方，就像长着小鬈发的小女孩，非常非常美好，但条件差的地区就很糟。

In the part that is good, beautiful roses, fine melons and peaches grow, but much of Persia is desert. 好的地方长着美丽的玫瑰花、甜蜜的瓜果、桃子，但波斯很多地方是沙漠。

Most rivers get bigger and bigger as they flow along, but the Persian rivers get smaller and smaller and at last dwindle³ away to nothing. 大多数河流总是越流越宽，但是波斯的河流却是越流越窄，直到最后完全消失。

There are a great many mountains in Persia, and when the melted snows come down from these mountains they form streams, 波斯有很多高山，山上的雪融化，流下来形成小溪，

but many of these streams do not empty anywhere; they just dry up; they have no mouths. 但是这些小溪并没有流入到什么地方，只是都干涸了，根本没有河口。

Did you ever play charades⁵? 你有没有玩过字谜游戏？

Here is a word we used to act out when I played charades, though we pronounced the word incorrectly. 有个词，小时候玩字谜游戏时，我们常常把它表演出来让人猜，不过这个词的发音我们读不准。

In the first act two girls would play drinking tea. In the second act a boy would run across the room. 第一幕两个女孩表演喝茶，第二幕一个男孩跑着穿过房间。

The two acts made the capital of Persia. Can you guess it? 这两幕演的就是波斯的首都。你能猜到吗？

It is "Tehran." Another charade⁴ can be acted out in only one act. 就是“德黑兰”。另外一个字谜游戏只需一幕就能表演出来，

A boy runs across the room and then points to himself. 一个男孩跑过房间，然后指着自己。

Can you guess this one? It is "Iran," the Persian name of the country. 你能猜对这个吗？是“伊朗”，就是这个国家的波斯语名字。

The ruler of Persia is called, not a king, but a Shah. 波斯的统治者不叫国王，而叫“沙”。

Once upon a time the Shah could do anything he wished with his people. 从前，沙可以对他的人民为所欲为。

He could take all their money away from them and put them to death, if he wished to do so; but all that has long been changed. 他可以没收人们所有的财产，再把他们杀掉，只要他想这么做。但现在这一切早已改变了。

1 curl   

n.(一绺)鬈发；卷曲；vt.卷曲；vi.卷曲；缭绕

参考例句：

• She put her hair in rollers to make it curl.她用卷发夹子把头发弄鬈曲。
• Does her hair curl naturally?她的头发是天然鬈曲的吗？

2 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

3 dwindle   

v.逐渐变小（或减少）

参考例句：

• The factory's workforce has dwindled from over 4,000 to a few hundred.工厂雇员总数已经从4,000多人减少到几百人。
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority.他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。

4 charade   

n.用动作等表演文字意义的字谜游戏

参考例句：

• You must not refine too much upon this charade.你切不可过分推敲这个字谜。
• His poems,despite their dignity and felicity,have an air of charade.他的诗篇虽然庄严巧妙，却有猜迷之嫌。

5 charades   

n.伪装( charade的名词复数 )；猜字游戏

参考例句：

• She and her three brothers played charades. 她和3个兄弟玩看手势猜字谜游戏。 来自辞典例句
• A group of children were dressed to play charades. 一群孩子穿着夜礼服在玩字迷游戏。 来自辞典例句