美国学生世界地理教材 第218期:动物王国(5)

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The Blacks begged for the pins, and when they were given to them they pinned them through their noses. 黑人向他们讨要别针，讨到后，就别在自己鼻子上。

An earring¹ isn't big enough for them. 耳环在他们看来还不够大，

They make holes in their ears and holes in their lips and gradually work the holes large enough to put their whole hand through the hole. 他们在自己耳朵和嘴唇上打洞，渐渐地，这些洞越来越大，大得可以将整只手穿过去。

Then they put blocks of wood or something like that in the holes. Our ladies bob their hair. 然后，他们在洞里放上木块诸如此类的东西。白人女子将头发剪短；

Their ladies arrange their hair in huge top knots and gum it up with blood. 而黑人女子将头发盘成一个巨大的顶髻，还在上面涂满鲜血，将头发粘牢。

Some white men were building a telegraph line in Africa, but as fast as they built it, the Blacks stole the wire to make bracelets², 曾有一些白人男子在非洲安装一条电报线，但是，刚装好，黑人就偷走了电线。

and they would completely cover their arms and legs with the wire. That showed how stylish³ they were and how smart and how wealthy. 他们用电线做成手镯，而且在手臂和腿上挂满电线，以此来炫耀自己是多么时尚、多么聪明、多么富有。

You've probably heard of the little boy who was so sad that he went out into the garden and ate worms. 你大概听说过有这样一个小男孩，他很伤心，竟然走进花园里吃虫子。

Well, in some parts of Africa the people eat ants and grasshoppers⁴, both raw and toasted, and they are not sad but glad. 对了，在非洲一些地方，人们吃蚂蚁和蚂蚱，既生吃，也烤着吃，而且，吃的时候，他们并不伤心而是很开心。

But there is one thing that both white and black people like—that is watermelon. Our watermelons first came from Africa. 但是有一件东西是白人和黑人都喜欢的——那就是西瓜。我们的西瓜最初就是来自非洲。

The music the black people love best is that made by beating on a kind of drum called a tom-tom. 黑人最喜欢的音乐，是在一种手鼓上敲出的音乐。

They beat it with their hands and fists and will keep it up for hours without stopping; the thump⁵, thump, thump and boom, boom, boom seems to charm them. 他们用手和拳敲打手鼓，一打就是打好几个小时，这种砰、砰、砰和嗵、嗵、嗵的声音似乎令他们陶醉。

The sound can often be heard for miles, and they can send a sort of wireless⁶ message in this way across country to their neighbors. 这手鼓声在数英里之外都能听到。黑人可以通过打手鼓向另一地区的邻居传送消息，类似无线电报。

A little girl writing a composition on this subject said, "You can hear them beating on their tum-turns for miles!" 就这个主题，有个小女孩写了一篇作文，“在几英里外，你就能听到他们敲击自己肚子的声音。”

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