美国学生世界地理教材 第222期:财富岛(1)

 Have you ever been homesick¹? 你有没有想过家？

If you haven't, then you have never been far away from home for any length of time, or you never had a home. 如果没有，那么你一定没有出过远门，在外待过一段时间；或者你从来没有一个家。

Just suppose you lived on the other side of the World from your father and mother, from your sisters, brothers, and friends, 假使你居住在世界的另一面，远离你的爸爸妈妈、兄弟姐妹和好朋友，

and were only able to get home once in five or ten years, or maybe never. 五年或十年才能回家一次，或者也许永远都回不了家了。

The English people probably love their homes more and get more homesick than any other people in the World,  英国人可能比世界上其他任何民族更热爱自己的家园，也更容易想家，

and yet they go farthest away from home and live there. 但是，仍有英国人到离家最远的地方，在那里定居下来。

There is a big island, so big that it is usually called a continent  有一座岛很大，大到被称为大陆。

and so far off from England that it used to take five or six months, a half year, to get to it from England,  它离英国很远，过去要花五六个月或者说半年的时间才能从英国来到这个岛。

and even now it takes a month or more by ship. 即使现在，坐船也至少需要一个月的时间。

On it lived only wild black men, yet the English people went there, built great cities and now rule over the island. 在这座岛上，那时只住着野蛮的黑人。后来，英国人后来到了那儿，建立了大城市，现在还统治着这座岛。

This island is Australia, which means² "South Land," for it is far, far south—south of the Equator³, 这座岛就是澳大利亚，“澳大利亚”的意思就是“南方之地”，因为它在遥远、遥远的南方——赤道以南。

where it is summer when it is winter here and night when it is day here. 当美国这儿是冬天的时候，那儿是夏天；这儿是白天的时候，那儿是夜晚。

The island was so far away the English thought it would be a good place to send prisoners⁴, to get rid of them, 这座岛离英国非常遥远，所以英国人认为如果将犯人遣送到那儿，那可是关押他们的好地方，

because once there they could not get away and they could not harm anybody but themselves. 因为一旦到了那里，他们就无法逃离，也就伤害不到任何人，除非伤害他自己。

Many prisoners were sent there and few of them ever came back. 许多犯人被送到那儿，几乎没有人再回到英国，

Some even died of homesickness⁵, for even a criminal⁶ is human and gets homesick. 有些犯人甚至因思乡而死，因为即使是罪犯，他也是有人性的，也会想家。

It was not very long, however, before the English found that this island was too good just for prisoners. 然而，没过多久，英国人就发现这个岛的好处不仅仅是用于关押犯人。

The central part of Australia was a desert, but there were gold mines in the desert, 澳大利亚的中心地带是一片沙漠，但是沙漠里有金矿。当金子、有魔力的金子有可能被发现的时候，

and neither a desert nor danger will keep men away when gold, magic gold, is to be found. 无论是沙漠，还是危险，都不能阻止人们前往。

So a great many young Englishmen⁷ went out to Australia in search of gold and to make their fortunes, expecting to return home as soon as they had done so. 于是，大批大批的英国年轻人远离家乡，来到澳大利亚寻找金子，寻求发财，期望一成功就马上回家。

1 homesick   

adj.想家的；患思乡病的

参考例句：

• She's feeling a little homesick.她有点想家。
• He left his job largely because he was homesick.他辞职不干主要是因为他想家。

2 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。

3 equator   

n.赤道，（平分球形物体的面的）圆

参考例句：

• Singapore is near the equator.新加坡位于赤道附近。
• The United States is north of the equator.美国位于赤道以北。

4 prisoners   

n.囚徒( prisoner的名词复数 )；俘虏；被夺去自由的人[动物]等

参考例句：

• The president granted a general amnesty for all political prisoners. 总统大赦了所有的政治犯。
• The prisoners were living in appalling conditions. 囚犯的居住条件极为恶劣。

5 homesickness   

n.思家病；乡思；思家成疾；怀乡病

参考例句：

• He returned to his native land of homesickness. 他因怀念故土而返回（乡里）。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The girl appeared to be overcome with homesickness. 这女孩看来想家想得受不了啦。 来自辞典例句

6 criminal   

n.罪犯，犯人，刑事；adj.犯了罪的，罪的，有罪的

参考例句：

• He is a habitual criminal.他是一个惯犯。
• We captured the criminal.我们捕获了那个犯人。

7 Englishmen   

n.英国人；英格兰（男）人，英国（男）人( Englishman的名词复数 )；英国人的家就是他的城堡（意即一个人的家是安全的私人场所）

参考例句：

• Few Englishmen wear frock coats now.They went out years ago. 现在，英国人很少穿大礼服了，大礼服在多年以前就不时兴了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• During the disturbance which followed, three Englishmen were hurt. 在接下来的骚乱中，3名英国人受伤。 来自辞典例句