雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界地理05 十三俱樂部

A MAN may pay millions of dollars to have a hospital, a library, or a museum named after him, and another who has paid nothing, done nothing, deserved nothing, and asked nothing has two of the biggest things in the World—the two continents North and South America—named after him, and people will go on forever calling them America after him—an unimportant, almost unknown man named Amerigo.
一個人也許要花上幾百萬美元才能讓一家醫(yī)院、一個圖書館或者一個博物館以他的名字命名，但是有個人卻沒花一分錢，沒做任何事，沒有任何功勞，也沒提出任何要求，卻讓世界上兩個最大的東西——北美和南美兩塊大陸——以他的名字命名，叫亞美利加，而且人們會永遠這樣叫下去，這個微不足道的人，名叫亞美利哥。
Do you know the song that begins, “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”? What do you mean by “My Country”? It is a part, the smaller part, of North America.
你知道那首歌嗎？開頭唱道：“我的祖國，這屬于你。”你知道“我的祖國”指的是什么嗎？它是北美洲的一部分，較小的那一部分。
Have you a buffalo nickel in your pocket—a 5-cent piece ? If not, perhaps you can borrow one just to look at. On the head side is the picture of an Indian with feathers in his hair. Why do you suppose our country has the picture of an Indian instead of a white man on the nickel? On the tail side is the picture of a buffalo. Why do you suppose our country has a picture of a buffalo on the nickel instead of a horse or a cow?
你口袋里有一枚水牛硬幣嗎？就是5分的硬幣。沒有的話你可以借一枚來看看。硬幣的正面是一個頭發(fā)上插著羽毛的印第安人的畫像。你能猜出為什么我們國家硬幣上的畫像是印第安人，而不是白人嗎？硬幣的反面是一個水牛的畫像。你想想為什么不是一匹馬或者一頭奶牛呢？
Well, long before there were any white men here at all, or any horses or cows, there were a great many Indians and a great many buffaloes in this country. Now there are very few Indians and very few buffaloes in America, so these pictures on the nickel are to remind us that the Indian is the first American man and the buffalo is the first American animal.
原來，很久以前，這里根本沒有白人、馬或奶牛，而是有很多很多的印第安人和許多許多的水?！，F(xiàn)在在美國，印第安人和水牛已經(jīng)非常少了，因此硬幣上的這些圖像是提醒我們印第安人是最早的美國人，水牛是最早的美國動物。
If you will look at the printing on the nickel you will see it says “United States of America.” That’s the full name of our country, but it is too long for us to say United States of America every time, so we usually say just United States or just America or use just the initials U. S. A.
如果看一下硬幣上的字，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)上面寫著：美利堅合眾國。這是美國的全稱，但是每次都說美利堅合眾國就太長了，所以我們通常就說美國，或簡稱為U.S.A.。
Have you ever seen a picture of a tall man with a suit of clothes that looked as if it had been made out of a flag, with red and white striped breeches, a long-tailed coat, and a tall hat with stars on it? There never was such a man really, but he is supposed to be the picture of the United States. As the initials of the United States are U. S., some one said they stand for Uncle Sam, so the old fellow dressed in a flag we call Uncle Sam.
你有沒有看過這樣一個人的圖片？他個子高高的，穿著一套好像是用美國國旗做的衣服，紅白條紋的馬褲，長長的燕尾服，戴著一頂滿是星星的高帽子。實際上從來沒有這樣一個人，但是他被認為是美國的化身。美國的首字母是U.S，于是有人說它代表山姆大叔（Uncle Sam，首字母同U.S.），我們因此就把那個穿著國旗的老伙計叫做山姆大叔。
The map of the U. S. looks as if it were made like a patch-work quilt of patches of different sizes and shapes. These patches are the States that are United—that means, joined to one another. As a matter of fact, of course, there are no lines between the States. The lines on the map are marked on the ground by stone posts set so far apart that you may cross from one State to another without even knowing when you are in a different State. Each State has towns and cities and country. I live in a city and the city is in the State of Maryland. You may live in a city or a town or in the country in another State. But every one in the U.S. must live in some State unless—I’ll tell you later the few places he may live without being in any State.
美國地圖看起來就像由不同尺寸和形狀的布塊拼縫而成的被子。這些布塊就是美國的州，這些州聯(lián)合在一起——也就是說彼此聯(lián)為一體。當然，實際上這些州之間并沒有線。地圖上的這些線在地面上就只是用界石遠遠地做的標記，所以你可能從一個州跨進了另一個州自己卻不知道。每個州都有城鎮(zhèn)、城市和鄉(xiāng)村。我住在位于馬里蘭州的一座城市里。你也許住在另一個州的某座城市或者鎮(zhèn)或者鄉(xiāng)村里。但是每個美國人都得住在某個州里，除非他是住在不屬于任何一個州的地方——稍后我會告訴你有哪幾個地方。
Some of the States have straight sides and some have one, two or more crooked sides. Some are big and some are little. The biggest State is Texas, at the bottom, near the center—only we don’t say bottom, we say south. The smallest State is Rhode Island, which is not an island at all. It is near the upper right-hand corner—only we don’t say upper right-hand corner, we say northeast. Texas would make more than 200 Rhode Islands. That is, you could put more than 200 Rhode Islands in Texas.
有些州有著筆直的邊界，有些州的邊界至少有一兩處是彎曲的。有的州大，有的州小。最大的州是德克薩斯州，靠近中心下邊的地方——不過我們不說下邊，而說南邊。最小的州是羅德島州，實際上它根本不是什么島。它靠近右上角——不過我們不說右上角，而說東北部。德克薩斯州有兩百多個羅德島州那么大，也就是說，你可以把兩百多個羅德島州放進德克薩斯州里。
Not so long ago there was no United States. There were only thirteen little States along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. These States were so small they thought they ought to form a club. There is an old story about a man who wanted to break a bundle of sticks. He tried and he tried but he couldn’t break the bundle. Then some one told him to take the bundle apart and break each stick separately; so he did, and broke them easily. The States thought that they, in the same way, might be broken easily if separate, so they tied themselves together like a bundle of sticks in order that they might not be “broken” by an enemy. And so the 13 States formed a 13 club and called themselves the United States. They took as their motto “In Union is Strength,” which means “In one bundle we are strong.”
不久以前美國還不存在。只有沿大西洋海岸的13個小州。這些州都很小，所以他們覺得應(yīng)該成立一個俱樂部。這與一個古老的故事有關(guān)，故事說有個男人想折斷一束樹枝，他怎么折都折不斷。于是有人給他出主意把樹枝解開，再一根一根折；他就照做了，果然很容易就把樹枝折斷了。這13個州認為如果他們彼此分開，同樣也會很容易被打垮，于是他們團結(jié)起來就像一捆樹枝那樣，不會被任何敵人“折斷”了。所以這13個州就組成了一個“十三俱樂部”，起名叫“合眾國”。他們的座右銘是：“團結(jié)就是力量。”意思就是“抱成團，折不斷”。
Now thirteen is generally considered an unlucky number, but these 13 States were not afraid of bad luck. In fact, as the new country had to have a flag, they made a flag with 13 stripes— seven red stripes and six white—and they put a white star for each State in a blue corner of the flag. Other parts of North America thought they’d like to join the club too, and more and more pieces kept on joining until there were forty-eight States, and these States that were united stretched from the Atlantic Ocean on one side to the Pacific Ocean on the other—that is, from where the sun rises from the ocean on one side to where it sets over the ocean on the other. Each time a piece joined the U. S., another star was put in the corner of the flag, but the number of stripes was not changed, for there would have been too many; so now there are forty-eight stars—that means forty-eight States united into one country. That’s why there are on our coins the words “e pluribus unum,” which means “one from many.”
現(xiàn)在13通常被認為是個不吉利的數(shù)字，但是這13個州并不害怕什么壞運氣。甚至想到一個新的國家總得有國旗，他們還制作了一面有13道條紋的旗子——七紅六白——并在旗子藍色一角用13顆白色的星星代表13個州。北美的其他地區(qū)也想要加入進來，于是越來越多的地方加入進來，直到一共有48個州，這些州連起來從大西洋東側(cè)的岸向西延伸到西側(cè)的太平洋——也就是從海洋一邊太陽升起的地方到海洋另一邊太陽落下的地方。每次有新州加入，旗子一角的星星就會添加一顆，但是條紋不再增加，不然就太多了；所以現(xiàn)在國旗上有48顆星——意味著48個州聯(lián)合成一個國家。這就是為什么我們的硬幣上有“e pluribus unum”這樣的拉丁語字樣，意思是“合眾為一”。
Not all of America joined the club, however. The country north of the U. S. called Canada and the country south of the U. S. called Mexico did not join. And yet the people in Canada are Americans, and the people in Mexico are Americans, too, but both Canada and Mexico have different rulers from what we have, for they are different countries.
然而并不是整個美洲所有地區(qū)都加入了這個俱樂部。美國北部的國家加拿大和南部的國家墨西哥都沒有加入。不過加拿大人也是美洲人，墨西哥人也是美洲人，但加拿大和墨西哥都有著和我們不一樣的統(tǒng)治者，因為他們是不同的國家。
Though there are very few Indians left in the U. S., we still use some of their names in naming our States. See if you can pick out some of the States on the map that have Indian names. Maryland and Virginia, of course, are not—for they are girls’ names. States beginning with “New”—like New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire—of course are not Indian. They are named after old places in another country. But Minnesota, which means “sky blue water”; Ohio, which means “beautiful river” or “great”; and many others are Indian.
盡管美國現(xiàn)在只有極少數(shù)印第安人，我們?nèi)匀挥盟麄兊拿謥砻恍┲??？纯茨隳懿荒茉诘貓D上找出幾個有印第安名的州。馬里蘭和弗吉尼亞當然不是——因為它們是女孩的名字。以“新”字開頭的州——比如說紐約[1]、新澤西、新罕布什爾——當然也不是。它們是按別的國家的老地名來取名的。但是像明尼蘇達（意思是“天藍色的水”），俄亥俄（意思是“美麗的河”或“偉大的”）等許多其他州——都是印第安語。

[1] 英語“New York”字面意思為“新約克”——譯者注。