美国小学英语教材6:第236课 森林产品(1)

FOREST PRODUCTS: FROM WOODLAND TO FACTORY By Charles Lathrop Pack and Tom Gill

森林产品：从森林到工厂 查尔斯·派克和汤姆·吉尔著

Perhaps you think of lumber¹ as being the main use that is made of trees. This article will tell you of the many other gifts that the forests make to us.

或许你认为有大用途的木材来自树木，这篇文章将告诉你森林赐予我们的其它礼物。

Charles Lathrop Pack, one of the authors, is the president of the American Tree Association. In addition to a busy life as a banker,

查尔斯·派克是其中一个作家，他是美国林木协会的主席，除了他是一名繁忙的银行家外，

he has spent many years educating people to the great value of forests. Tom Gill is a forester and a writer on outdoor life.

他还花费了很多年教育人们森林的珍贵价值，汤姆·吉尔是一名护林员，也是户外生活作家。

Lumber is only one of the many gifts the forests have to offer. Long before boards had ever been thought of,

木材只是森林赐予我们的许多礼物的其中之一，在很久以前，我们从未想过木板，

the early peoples of the world had learned to make use of many other products of the forest.

早期的人们曾学会利用森林的其它产品。

In the tropics they built their homes of palm leaves and made spears and arrows of the hard, heavy woods.

在热带雨林，他们建造了棕榈叶房屋，用坚硬，厚重的木材制作矛和箭。

Throughout the world they had learned to hollow logs for canoes. It may be that with dry sticks man first made fire his servant.

纵观世界，他们学会了凿原木来制作独木舟，

From the leaves and bark and fruit of forest trees come many of the well known medicines that man through the long ages has used to cure his ills.

从森林的叶子，树干和果实上，我们采集了许多知名药材，很长时间来人们用此来治疗疾病。

Even today witch doctors and medicine men of the primitive² tribes obtain most of their medical stores directly from the trees.

甚至在今天，原始部落的巫医和萨满，他们的大多数药品直接来自树木。

Rubber, a highly important substance, was first secured from tapping trees discovered in the tropical forests of the Amazon,

橡胶是非常重要的材料，它是在亚马逊热带雨林中首次发现的，通过敲击树木而获取，

and the greater amount of chicle, used for making chewing gum, is bled from tall evergreen³ trees that grow in the dark jungles of Central America and southern Mexico.

整块的树胶来制作口香糖，这种树胶来自高耸常青的树木，长在中美洲和墨西哥南部的丛林深处。

Two products of the forest, rosin and turpentine, were of service to man long before the making of paper from wood pulp⁴ and even before the lumber industry was started.

森林的两种产品，松香和松脂很早就被人类利用，早于用木浆造纸，甚至遭遇木材产业的开始。

These forest products are called naval⁵ stores. In the United States their main source is the sap of the long-leaf pine and slash⁶ pines of the South.

这些森林产品被称之为松脂制品，在美国，他们的主要来源是长叶松树和南部的湿地松汁。

The name naval stores dates back to the time when this gummy sap was used to build and repair ships in the old days of wooden vessels⁷.

松脂制品这个名字可以追溯到木船的制作早期，当时粘性的汁液用来制作和修复船只。

Today the use of rosin and turpentine covers a much wider field than shipbuilding, but the name naval stores still remains⁸.

如今松香和松脂的使用不仅仅是建造船只，覆盖了很大的领域，但松脂制品这个名字依然存在。

The business of manufacturing rosin and turpentine has become a most important industry,

生产松香和松脂的产业已成为重要产业，

employing about forty thousand persons and each year turning out products to the value of forty million dollars.

雇佣了4万员工，每年产品价值高达4000万美金。

1 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

2 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

3 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

4 pulp   

n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆

参考例句：

• The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
• The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。

5 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

6 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

7 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。