step by step 第三册 lesson 100

Lesson 100 Canada

Lesson 100

 

Canada

 

Canada has pieces of landscape to match every spot on the globe, except tropical¹ jungle. In 1867, they joined the pieces together and made a new nation of it. And they kept adding to it until 1949 when they finally talked Newfoundland into joining her.

Since there are 3,851,809 square miles of it, you can't see too much in one trip, but you can get an idea.

All sorts of visitors come to Toronto, and the people of Toronto like to make them feel right at home.

Canadians are very proud of their sophisticated² industries and make things like the fastest autogiro in the world. They are very good at making vehicles of various sorts because they still have to spend much of their time getting from place to place.

Certain parties in the rest of the world still think Canada consists mainly of fur-bearing animals and the people who trap them. Of all the animals to choose from, the Canadians pick the beaver³ as their national animal, the creature whose one outstanding characteristic is stubborness.

However, if the majority of Canadians were once trappers, most of them have gone on to other pursuits⁴.

Canadians have a lot of space to fill. They can't have cities everywhere. … This city's on wheels. When nobody wants to live here any more, they just move the town away. There are companies who rent towns like this. They'll rent you one for about 5,000 dollars a week and deliver it anywhere in the world.

On the other hand, there are places in Canada which stay put and everybody comes to visit.

The Indians called it “the Great Thunder.” It is their legend that, when Princess Lelowalo was sacrificed to Niagara, she floated calmly over the falls in a white birch canoe⁵ dressed in soft doe-skin with a garland of flowers in her hair.

It has been said that the west coast is more British than the British. But it is also a land of exceptional⁶ exceptions⁷. There's nothing British about Mr Nikolas. “I think I will build a Greek island in Canada,” Nikolas said one day. And eighteen years later, he proved that all things are possible if you go far enough west.

It has been said that Canada is the oldest underdeveloped country in the world, that she has the size of China with the population of Iran, that she has the cultural development of Afghanistan, the economic structure of the Congo, and the climate of Siberia. But the people who see these things are Canadians. The rest of the world seems to like her. She is generally good-natured. From all we've been able to see of her, she looks just fine.

1 tropical   

adj.热带的，热带的，炎热的

参考例句：

• You must grow these tropical flowers in a glasshouse.你必须把这些热带花卉种在温室里。
• This disease is widespread in tropical areas.这种疾病在热带地区蔓延很广。

2 sophisticated   

adj.老练的，精密的，尖端的，高雅的

参考例句：

• She has become very sophisticated since she went to live in London.移居伦敦后她变得世故多了。
• This is a very sophisticated machine.这是一台非常精密的机器。

3 beaver   

n.海狸，河狸

参考例句：

• The hat is made of beaver.这顶帽子是海狸毛皮制的。
• A beaver is an animals with big front teeth.海狸是一种长着大门牙的动物。

4 pursuits   

n.追赶( pursuit的名词复数 )；工作；消遣；嗜好

参考例句：

• Games like chess are rather intellectual pursuits. 棋类比赛是相当费脑力的娱乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has been engaged in literary pursuits. 他从事了文学生涯。 来自《用法词典》

5 canoe   

n.独木舟；vi.乘独木舟，划独木舟

参考例句：

• They slid the canoe down to the water.他们使小舟滑到水中。
• It is only the second time he has been in a canoe.这仅是他第二次乘小游艇。

6 exceptional   

adj.优越的，杰出的，例外的，独特的，异常的

参考例句：

• He is a man of exceptional talent.他是位具有非凡才能的人。
• He showed exceptional musical ability.他显示出特殊的音乐才能。

7 exceptions   

例外( exception的名词复数 )； 不包括在内的人（或物）； 规则的例外； 例外的事物

参考例句：

• Most children like sweets, but there are some exceptions. 大多数孩子喜欢吃糖果，但也有一些例外。
• Such exceptions do not invalidate the rule. 这些例外并不证明此规则无效。