A Pile of Ashes a Mile High 一英里高的一堆灰

A PILE of ashes is not usually very beautiful, and if it is in your back yard it is usually very ugly.  一堆灰，通常是不美的。如果它在你家后院里，通常会觉得它很丑。

But in Italy there is a pile of ashes which every one thinks beautiful, though it is nearly a mile high and though it is in the back yard of a city called Naples.  但是在意大利有一堆灰，尽管它几乎有一英里高，尽管位于一座叫那不勒斯的城市的后院里，人们却觉得它很美。

It is on the beautiful Bay of Naples, and people have built their homes and hotels around the bay so as to get a view of this pile of ashes,  它坐落在优美的那不勒斯海湾，人们在海湾周围建起住宅和宾馆，为的就是能看到这堆灰。

which is called Mount Vesuvius, though it’s not really a mountain at all. 人们称之为维苏威火山，尽管它并不是一座真正的山。

In olden days when grown-up people believed in fairy-tales they said that a lame blacksmith lived down under the ground,  从前，在成年人还相信神话故事的时候，传说有一个跛脚的铁匠住在地底下，

that he kept a huge furnace burning there to heat the iron with which he worked.  他让一个大熔炉在那里不停地燃烧，把他工作用的铁烧熟。

His name they said was Vulcan, and the smoke and flame that came out of the ground and the ashes that piled up above the ground were from his fires.  据说他的名字叫法尔坎（古罗马神话中火和冶炼的神）。那些从地下喷出的烟和火焰，以及堆积在地上的灰烬就来自他的大熔炉。

So we call these mountains of ashes, through the top of which fire and smoke pour forth, volcanoes, after Vulcan. 所以我们以“法尔坎”（Vulcan）之名，把那些不断喷出火和烟的山称作火山（volcanoes）。

There are volcanoes in many places in the World, but Vesuvius is the best known of all.  世界上很多地方都有火山，但是维苏威火山是最出名的。

We now know that volcanoes are huge fiery furnaces beneath the ground, but we also know that no man nor fairy nor god is down there keeping them burning.  我们现在知道，火山只是地下炽热的巨大火炉；我们也知道，地下并没有人也没有神仙使火炉一直燃烧。

Some volcanoes in other parts of the World have burned out, but the fires of Vesuvius have not. 世界上其他地方的一些火山已经燃烧殆尽，不再喷发了，但维苏威火山还没有烧尽。

Vesuvius is always smoking and burning.  维苏威火山始终在冒烟和燃烧，

We can see smoke or steam coming out of its top in the day and we can see the firelight come out of its top at night,  白天可以看见烟或蒸汽从山顶喷出，晚上可以看到山顶冒出的火光，

but usually it does no more damage than a huge smoking chimney would.  但就像一个巨大的冒着烟的烟囱一样，通常不会造成损害。

But every now and then the fires start burning fiercely and rock and ashes are shot up into the air,  然而会不时地有火焰从中猛烈喷出，岩石和灰尘被冲上天空，

and pieces of rock are blown to such fine powder that they float in the air like dust.  那些岩石被冲成了非常细小的粉末，可以像灰尘一样飘浮在空中。

This dust may float for months in the air and for thousands of miles to other countries far off from the volcano from which it comes.  这些尘埃也许会在空中漂浮几个月，甚至会飘到离火山几千英里之外的其他国家去。

Strange to say, it is this dust from volcanoes that often makes the sunsets such brilliant colors. 说也奇怪，正是这些来自火山的尘埃常常使日落有着如此灿烂的色彩。

The fire in volcanoes is hotter than any fire we can make.  火山里的火要比我们人类点燃的任何火都要热。

We can make a fire so hot that it will melt copper and iron, but we can’t make a fire so hot that it will melt rock.  我们生的火的热量可以熔化铜和铁，但是无法熔化岩石。

A volcano fire melts rock as easily as if it were butter.  火山火可以像熔化黄油那样轻而易举地熔化岩石。