美国学生世界地理教材 第227期:食人生番的岛屿(2)

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The natives eat the meat of the nut as we would bread, and drink the milk, so the cocoanut is like bread and milk. 当地人像我们吃面包喝牛奶一样吃椰肉，喝椰汁，所以椰子就像面包和牛奶一样是他们的生活必需品。

From the hair on the nut they make rope and string and cloth and everything that we would make with cotton or silk or wool. 当地人还用椰子上的毛做成绳子、线和布，凡是我们用棉花或蚕丝或羊毛做出来的东西，他们用这种毛也同样做得出来。

From the cocoanut shells they make the cups, saucers, and all other dishes they use. 他们把椰子壳做成就餐用的杯子、碟子和其他盘子。

From the leaves of the tree they make short skirts, which are all the clothing they wear. 他们用椰树叶做成短裙，除了这种短裙，他们没有其他服装。

From the leaves they also make the roofs to their houses. 他们也用椰树叶来盖屋顶，

Their houses often have no sides—they have roofs of leaves held up by poles made of the cocoanut-tree, and a floor which is raised a few feet off the ground. 他们的房子通常没有墙壁——房子只是用椰子树作柱子，撑起椰子叶做的屋顶，再加上地板而已，地板离地面有几英尺高。

When the native tribes¹ had fights with other native tribes they would eat those whom they killed. 土著部落相互作战，会吃掉他们杀死的敌人。

Missionaries² went out to teach them to be Christians³, and at first the cannibals ate the missionaries, 一些传教士来到岛上，向他们传播基督教。一开始食人生番把传教士也吃了，

but many of the natives became Christians and almost all have stopped eating people. 但是很多土著人变成了基督徒，同时，几乎所有的人都不再吃人。

The missionaries thought the women were not dressed properly, so they made them wear long dresses called "Mother Hubbards," 传教士认为当地女人穿着不得体，就让她们穿一种叫做“哈伯德大妈”的宽大长罩衣，

because they looked like the dress that Mother Hubbard in the nursery book wore. 因为这种衣服看起来像童谣书中的哈伯德大妈穿的衣服。

When the native women go to town they wear these dresses, but when they are in the country or want to climb a tree for food, 土著妇女进城就穿着长罩衣，但是她们在乡下或想爬到树上找东西吃的时候，

they wrap the dresses around their necks. 就将长罩衣围在脖子上。

When the white people went to these islands they took their diseases with them, 白人来到这些岛上，同时也带来了疾病。

and the natives, who had never had such diseases before, caught them and many died. 岛上以前没有这样的疾病，土著居民感染上后，很多人就病死了。

They did not seem able to get well even from measles⁴. 就连得了麻疹，他们似乎也不能痊愈。

The natives live an easy life. 土著居民过着一种悠闲的生活。

They have no money, but they want none, for they have nothing to buy. 他们没有钱，但是也不想要钱，因为岛上没有什么可买的。

They do no work, and if they want anything to eat, all they have to do is to climb a tree and get a cocoanut. 他们什么活也不干。如果想吃什么，他们只需爬上树，摘一个椰子。

This is easy, for the trees usually slant⁵, and I have seen boys start at the ground and run up a tree as you might run up a sliding-board. 上树摘椰子很容易，因为很多树通常都是倾斜的。我见过有些男孩从地面一下子就跑到树上，就像你跑上滑梯一样。

An Englishman named Captain Cook was the first person to explore these islands and write about them, so one group of islands is named after him. 一位名叫库克船长的英国人是第一个探索这些岛屿的人，并记录了关于这些岛屿的事情，所以有一群岛屿就是以他的名字来命名的。

White men became interested in these islands because they found that the cocoanut meat could be sold in their countries for good prices, 白人开始对这些岛屿感兴趣了，因为他们发现椰子肉能在自己的国家卖个好价钱。

so they put the natives to work gathering⁶ cocoanuts. It was not necessary to pay them with money, because money meant nothing to them. 于是，白人让土著居民干活摘椰子。让他们干活也不需要付工钱，因为金钱对他们来说毫无价值。

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