Bruges has many streets of water with bridges crossing them, and boats instead of carts, although there are paved streets also.  布鲁日城里有很多水道，各种桥横跨其上，水道里走的是船而不是车，不过那里也有路面铺过的街道。

See how many things in Belgium begin with a “B:” Belgium Bells Battle-fields Brussels Bruges Bridges Boats  看看比利时有多少东西是以“B”开头的吧：Belgium（比利时）Bells（钟）Battle-fields（战场）Brussels（布鲁塞尔）Bruges（布鲁日）Bridges（桥）Boats（船）

Belgium is hilly on the side near France, but on the opposite side it is very low.  比利时靠近法国的那一地区是丘陵地带，但相对的另一地区地势很低。

On this low side it joins the land of the Dutch people, which is called Holland.  这一地区与荷兰人的国家接壤，这个国家就叫荷兰。

Holland means “hollow land,” and it is so named because in many places it is even lower than the sea.  “荷兰”的意思是“凹地”，之所以这样命名是因为那里很多地方甚至低于海平面。

Banks or walls called dikes had to be built to hold the water back,  人们不得不修建很多叫做堤坝的岸和墙挡住水，

and windmills with big sprawling wings had to be built inside the dikes to pump the water out and keep it out.  还必须在堤坝里建起伸着大翅膀的风车把水抽出去，不让水进来。

Water won’t run off the ground in Holland, for there is no low place for it to run to; it would have to run uphill.  在荷兰，水不会从地面流掉，因为那里根本没有低的地方可让水流去；水要流也只得往上流。

So it has to be pumped off. 所以人们只好把水抽掉。

The dikes that hold back the sea have to be very big and very strong to stand the pounding of the waves against them,  用来挡住海水的堤坝必须又高又大，才能经受住海浪的击打，

for the slightest break or hole in the dike would soon burst open and the water would flood the country,  因为堤坝上最小的裂缝或裂口都会很快造成溃决，整个国家就会洪水泛滥，

and cover houses and drown the people, so they have men to watch the dikes all the time to mend any broken places as soon as they are made. 海水会淹没房屋，淹死人，因此他们有专人一直在看守堤坝，一有裂缝就马上修补。

But long, long ago—about seven hundred years ago—there was a terrible storm,  但是很久很久以前——大约700年前——发生过一次特大风暴，

and the North Sea did break through and it drowned thousands upon thousands of people and the villages and houses in which they lived.  北海海水决堤，成千上万的人被淹死，他们居住的村庄和房屋都被淹没。

Ships now sail and fish now swim where these drowned villages lie, and this inland water is called the South Sea, which in Dutch is the Zuyder Zee.  真是沧海桑田！那些被淹没的村庄上现在是轮船往来，鱼儿游动，这一块内陆水域叫做南海，按照荷兰语就是须德海。

But the Dutch people are planning to build dikes and shut off the North Sea once again and pump the water out.  但是荷兰人正在计划建起堤坝，再次隔断北海，把海水抽出去。

This will make dry land where the Zuyder Zee now is; so some day, not many years from now, there will be no Zuyder Zee,  这将把现在须德海所在的地方变成陆地；所以有一天，也许不要过很多年，须德海将不复存在，

no South Sea, and where fish now swim and ships now sail will be houses and farms. 南海也不复存在，在现在鱼儿游动、轮船往来的地方将建造起房屋和农田。

Where we have roads and streets, in Holland they have canals.  我们有马路和街道，而荷兰则有运河。

In the summer, boats sail on the canals and in the winter the people skate on them.  夏天船儿在运河上行驶，冬天人们在运河上溜冰。

Children skate to school and men skate to work. What fun!  孩子们溜着冰去上学，大人们溜着冰去上班。真好玩！