美国学生世界地理教材 第180期:对面脚踩之地(1)

 There is a shop downtown with a department in the basement¹, underneath² the sidewalk. 在市中心人行道下面有个地下商店。

The sidewalk is made of thick glass, and as you look up you can see the feet of the crowds of people as they pass overhead³. 人行道是用很厚实的玻璃做的，你在商店一抬头就可以看到很多人的脚从你头顶上走过。

If the World were made of glass and you could look down through it in the same way, you could see the bottoms of the feet of the crowds passing by on the other side of the World. 如果世界是由玻璃做的，你可以通过同样的方式向下透过玻璃看到世界另一面行人的脚底。

It is the “Opposite-feet” Land. That sounds awkward⁴, so grown-ups call it "The Antipodes," which means⁵ exactly the same thing—"opposite-feet." 这就是“对面脚踩之地”。听起来怪怪的，所以成年人称之为“对跖之地”，其实和“对面脚踩之地”是一个意思。

The Opposite-feet Land on the other side of the World is a pie-shaped country called India. 在世界另一面的“对面脚踩之地”是一个馅饼状的国家，名叫“印度”，

It is the half-way country—half-way round the World. 它就是那个位于中途的国家——环绕世界的中途。

You go away from home till you reach India, then, though you keep on going, you are coming back. 你从家出发到印度，虽然你继续前行，却又回到家。

I went west around the World and a friend of mine went east. 我向西出发作环球旅行，我的一个朋友向东出发。

We both started at the same time and met in India. 我们俩同时启程，然后在印度会面。

When I landed at a place called Calcutta, there he was on the dock⁶ waiting to greet me. 当我到达一个叫加尔各答的地方的时候，他正站在码头上迎接我。

From Calcutta we used to get a kind of cloth which we called, from the name of the place, calico. 在加尔各答我们过去常会买一种叫“卡利卡特”（源自印度的原产地名卡利卡特）的布料。

When I say "Indians", you probably think of tommyhawks, colored feathers, and warpaint. 当我说到印第安人时你可能会想到飞鹰、彩色的羽毛和出战前涂在脸上的颜料。

But you are thinking of American Indians—the kind that were in our country before the white man came. 你想到的是美洲印第安人——是在白种人来美国之前就居住在这里的土著人。

There are only a few of these Indians left. They belong to the red race. 现在这种印第安人很少了。他们属于红种人。

There is another kind of Indian that belongs to the white race, the same as we do, 另外一种印第安人属于白种人，和美国人一样，

and there are more than twice as many of them as there are people in our whole country. 人数是美国人口的两倍多。

They get the name "Indians" from the name of the country where they live—India. 因为他们居住的国家是印度而被称为“印度人”。

1 basement   

n.地下室，地窖；建筑物的基部

参考例句：

• It is rather damp in the basement.地下室很潮湿。
• They live in a basement flat in North London.他们住在伦敦北部的一所地下公寓里。

2 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

3 overhead   

adj.在头顶上的，悬空的；n.间接开支

参考例句：

• A number of birds are circling overhead.很多鸟在头顶上空盘旋。
• Many stars overhead are invisible to the naked eye.天上的许多星星是肉眼看不到的。

4 awkward   

adj.笨拙的，尴尬的，使用不便的，难处理的

参考例句：

• John is so shy and awkward that everyone notices him.约翰如此害羞狼狈，以至于大家都注意到了他。
• I was the only man among the guests and felt rather awkward.作为客人中的唯一男性，我有些窘迫。

5 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

6 dock   

n.码头；被告席；vt.使(船)进港；扣；vi.进港

参考例句：

• We took the children to the dock to see the ships.我们带孩子们到码头去看轮船。
• The corrupt official stood in the dock.那贪官站在被告席上。