I thought perhaps I could, but I was a little doubtful for the Washington Monument seemed terribly high.  我想也许我能，但是我有点不确定，因为华盛顿纪念碑看起来真是高得怕人。

Men have dug wells many times as deep as the Washington Monument,  人们挖过比华盛顿纪念碑还要高很多倍的深井，

my father told me, but never all the way nor nearly all the way through the World.  爸爸告诉我，但是从来没有人挖通，或者接近挖通过世界。

You would have to dig many thousands of times deeper than the Washington Monument to get down even to the center of the World.  要挖到世界的中心，你就得挖上比华盛顿纪念碑还要深几千倍的深度才行。

It's eight thousand miles straight through the earth and most all the way is rock—just rock, and more rock, that's all.  从世界的一面直穿到另一面有八千英里，而这中间几乎全是岩石，岩石，还是岩石，就是这样。

Then I gave it up. 于是我放弃了。

How do you know it's eight thousand miles if no one has ever been through the World? asked the inquisitive child.  如果没有人穿过世界，你怎么知道是八千英里呢？我这个好奇的孩子又问道。

I don't know what my father answered. I was too young to understand.  我不记得当时爸爸是怎么回答我的了，我太小了根本听不懂。

I wonder if you are too young, if I tell you how we know it's eight thousand miles;  我在想如果我告诉你我们是怎么知道那是八千英里的，

for without ever having been through the World, we do know how far it is. 你是不是太小了而听不懂。因为没有人穿过世界，而我们确实知道那有多远。

This is how we know.  我们是这样知道的。

It's a funny thing, but every ball whether it is a little ball  很有意思的是，每个球，不管是小球

or a medium-sized ball or a great big ball is always just a little more than three times as big round as it is through.  还是中等大的球，还是很大的球，它一周的长度总是垂直深度的三倍多点。

I have often wondered why this was so—why a ball shouldn't be exactly three times or four times or five times as big round as through, but it isn't.  我常想为什么是这样—为什么它一周的长度不正好是垂直深度的三倍、四倍或五倍呢？但确实不是。

You can try it yourself if you don't believe it. Take an apple or an orange and measure it around and then cut it and measure it through. 你如果不相信的话可以自己试一试。拿一个苹果或橙子，量一量它的一 圈的长度，再把它切开，量一量它垂直的深度。

Now we know the World is a ball a huge ball, and yet as it is a ball it must, like all other balls,be a little more than three times as big around as it is through.  现在我们知道世界是一个球，一个巨大的球，既然它是一个球，那就和其他所有的球一样，它一周的长度肯定是垂直深度的三倍多点。

It is twenty-five thousand miles round the World, because men have actually measured that.  世界一周的长度是两万五千英里，因为人们确实量过这个长度。