Switzerland's Berner Alps 雪域之行-瑞士-2

Special thanks to :wangmin0161, lollipop-candy, henryforward, Connie, 艾薇荧荧, Quandary¹, online fantasy, Laowai2006, scooter,Andrew1258, charming ,toyworld

You'd think with all those differences they'd have lots of problems. But they've managed to maintain one of the strongest economies in the world and they are experts at staying out of Europe's wars. They seem to be on to something.

Pick up the museum guidebook and start your tour. This map shows how these rural homes have been grouped according to regions in Switzerland. These aren't replicas² but the real thing, each one carefully taken apart and put back together here.

You can see the cultural heritage of each distinct canton at this museum, this is a time tunnel experience, look at the intimate attention to detail. The craftspeople are busy keeping the traditional ways alive. These buildings are from western Switzerland where French influences are strong, or what about this half-timbered winegrower's house from a village near Zurich where the Swiss speak their unique form of Swiss German. I love this house with its bread museum. One of my favorite things in all of Europe is bread, fresh, different, and always delicious. Tasty history, edible³ culture. I can't imagine a more painless and fun classroom for an introduction to Switzerland.

All right! It's gonna be a real TV show, isn't it? haha. Ok, to summarize, a third of Switzerland is French, in the west, half is German, in the north, and ten percent is Italian, in the south. The rugged⁴ Alpine⁵ terrain⁶ explains Switzerland's diverse demographics, While the Swiss may speak German, French, or Italian, they are uniquely Swiss. One of the things that Swiss do particularly well is manage money. Its stability, its thriftiness⁷, and its willingness to let people store money secretly have produced the Swiss Bank, well, most of us don't have Swiss bank accounts, this is still a good place to talk about money. So before we head for the mountains, let's take some how-to time here in Interlaken / to talk about money strategies, you know, traveler's checks, cash, bank cards, exchange rates, and so on

1 quandary   

n.困惑，进迟两难之境

参考例句：

• I was in a quandary about whether to go.我当时正犹豫到底去不去。
• I was put in a great quandary.我陷于进退两难的窘境。

2 replicas   

n.复制品( replica的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His hobby is building replicas of cars. 他的爱好是制作汽车的复制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The replicas are made by using a thin film of fusible alloy on a stiffening platen. 复制是用附着在加强托板上的可熔合金薄膜实现的。 来自辞典例句

3 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

4 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

5 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。

6 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

7 thriftiness   

节俭，节约

参考例句：

• Taoism has always advocated thriftiness and plain life. 道教历来倡导节俭、朴素的生活。
• That's a positive feeling. Now I added only to my thriftiness but also independence and endurance. 通过这事，我不仅长了点经济头脑，也变得更加独立，更具忍耐力了。