美国学生世界地理教材 第199期:一条巨大的海蛇怪(4)

 The one for the boys is on the fifth day of the fifth month, that is May fifth. It is called Flag Day or Kite Day. 另一个是男孩子的节日，在第五个月的第五天，也就是5月5日，叫做“国旗节”或“风筝节”。

Big paper kites in the form of a fish called the carp are hung out on poles in front of the houses where there are boys. 有男孩子的人家，在房前的杆子上悬挂鲤鱼形状的大型纸风筝。

The carp is a fish that swims upstream against the current¹, which is a hard thing to do, instead of downstream, which is easy. 鲤鱼是一种逆流而上的鱼，逆流而上比顺流而下，要困难得多。

So the carp is a model for boys—to do the hardest thing, not the easiest. 所以，鲤鱼为男孩子们树立了一个榜样——去做最难的事情，而不是最容易的。

The Japanese love flowers perhaps more than any people and they have holidays when the flowers are in bloom². 日本人也许比世界上其他任何一个民族都更喜欢花，当鲜花盛开的时候，他们都有专门的节日。

One holiday comes when the cherry-trees, plum-trees, and peach-trees bloom in the spring, and another when the chrysanthemums³ bloom in the fall. 一个是在春季，这时樱桃树、李树还有桃树的花都竞相开放；另一个是在秋季，这时各种各样的菊花盛开。

Every house in Japan has a garden, no matter how small it may be— 在日本，每户人家都会有一个花园，不管这个花园有多小——

a tiny imitation⁴ of the country-side, with tiny lakes and tiny mountains, and tiny rivers with tiny bridges over them, 它就是一个微型的乡村，有小小的湖泊、小小的山、小小的河流，河流上还有小小的桥,

all so perfectly⁵ made that a photograph of such a garden looks like a picture of real mountains and lakes and rivers—like a doll garden. 所有这一切都做得栩栩如生，把这样的一座花园拍成照片，照片里的山、湖泊、河流看起来就像是真的——这样的花园像是一个玩偶花园。

The Japanese grow dwarf⁶ trees—oaks and maples⁷ — which look in a picture as if they were a hundred feet tall and a hundred years old, 日本人种植矮生树木——橡树和枫树——在图片中它们看起来好像有100英尺高，有100年的树龄，

 but which are actually only a foot or so tall, but may be a hundred years old. 但实际上大约只有1英尺高，不过也许有100年的树龄。

The Japanese school-boys seem to "hunger and thirst" after knowledge. 似乎日本男生的求知欲“如饥似渴”。

I was looking into a shop window where beautiful Japanese umbrellas were displayed, 有一次，我正在看商店橱窗里展示的漂亮的日本伞，

when a school-boy came up to me and asked me in English if he couldn't act as my guide for a day without charge. 一个小男生走到我跟前，用英语问我，是否可以免费给我当一天导游。

"Why," said I, "do you want to show me around?" “为什么?”我问，“你想带我参观这里吗？”。

"Just to practise speaking English," he replied. “只是想锻炼一下英语口语。”他回答道。

I visited a Japanese school, and a dozen boys gave me their calling cards  我参观了一所日本学校，有十几名男孩给了我他们的名片，

and asked me to write them when I reached home, promising⁸ to reply in English if I did so. 请求我回家后给他们写信，还答应收到我的信，他们一定用英语回信。

1 current   

n.涌流，趋势，电流，水流，气流；adj.当前的，通用的，流通的，现在的，草写的，最近的

参考例句：

• Electric current is often powerful enough to kill a man.电流常强得足以致命。
• There is a story about her in the current number.最近一期上有关于她的故事。

2 bloom   

n.花，花期；vi.开花；容光焕发，显露出健康

参考例句：

• The park is a picture when flowers are in bloom.当鲜花盛开时，这个公园的景色美极了。
• The flowers in the garden are now in full bloom.花园里的花盛开。

3 chrysanthemums   

n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The cold weather had most deleterious consequences among the chrysanthemums. 寒冷的天气对菊花产生了极有害的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The chrysanthemums are in bloom; some are red and some yellow. 菊花开了， 有红的，有黄的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 imitation   

n.模仿；仿制，仿制品；赝品

参考例句：

• It's not real leather;it's only an imitation.那不是真皮，只不过是仿制品。
• Young children learn how to speak by imitation.儿童通过模仿学说话。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

7 maples   

槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木

参考例句：

• There are many maples in the park. 公园里有好多枫树。
• The wind of the autumn colour the maples carmine . 秋风给枫林涂抹胭红。

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。