By V. M. Hillyer ——V. M. 希利爾

V.M.希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名的兒童教育家、科普作家 ，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的世界地理》。

Between Oregon and Washington is a river named Columbia， after Columbus. In the Columbia River are large fish called salmon. Salmon live in the salt ocean， but when Mrs Salmon wants to lay her eggs she goes way up the Columbia River， far above the falls to fresh water， looking for a quiet place to do so. How can she get by the falls？

She jumps the falls. You may wonder how fish without legs can jump at all， and it is peculiar that they can， but they do. They bend their tails into a kind of spring， then flip！—up they go; for a salmon can jump as high as the Washington Monument.

Millions of salmon together called “schools” swim up the river and fishermen catch them in nets， but they leave most of them so that they can lay eggs from which little salmon are born， and the little salmon swim down the river and out into the ocean， where they live and grow up until it comes time for them also to lay eggs， and then they in their turn swim up the river， jump up the falls， and are either caught or left to raise more families of little salmon. Salmon meat is pink; we call it salmon color. It is packed in cans. You have probably eaten salmon from the Columbia River yourself.

The oldest fruit in the World is the apple. It is the fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden， but people believe the apple that Eve gave Adam was a very poor one compared to the apples that grow in the State of Washington. People in Washington，DC—all the way across the country—buy apples that have been shipped from Washington State—3，000 miles away—for they are so much better than ordinary apples.

在俄勒岡州和華盛頓州之間，有一條河叫作哥倫比亞河。這條河得名于偉大的探險家哥倫布。在哥倫比亞河中生長有一種很大的魚，叫作大馬哈魚。大馬哈魚是咸水魚，主要生活在海洋當中?？墒?，大馬哈魚又有一個奇怪的習(xí)性，它一定得在淡水中產(chǎn)卵。因此，每年到了產(chǎn)卵的季節(jié)，大馬哈魚媽媽就要從海里進入哥倫比亞河，逆流而上，找一處水勢平靜的地方產(chǎn)卵?？墒?，它如何才能通過這些瀑布呢？

它的辦法是“跳”上去！你一定會很奇怪，魚沒有腿，怎么能“跳”？可是大馬哈魚很特別，就是能做到這一點。它們把尾巴緊緊地弓起來，收縮得像個彈簧一樣，然后放開，整個身體就被彈射出去了！大馬哈魚這么一“跳”，可以跳得和華盛頓紀念碑一樣高呢！

到了產(chǎn)卵季節(jié)，數(shù)萬條大馬哈魚都會洄游到哥倫比亞河中去。這時就是漁民們捕魚的最佳時節(jié)。但是，漁民們只捕獲一定數(shù)量的魚，而把絕大多數(shù)魚都給放掉，讓它們能夠完成產(chǎn)卵的任務(wù)。這樣就有新一代的大馬哈魚出生。當小魚在河流上游的淡水中長到一定時候，它們又會往河下游走，并最終進入大海。小魚在海洋里長大，長到又一年的產(chǎn)卵季節(jié)，于是輪到它們?nèi)ネ瓿射в蔚娜蝿?wù)，“跳”上哥倫比亞河的瀑布。在這個過程中，它們要么被漁民捕獲，要么最終游到河上游，產(chǎn)下魚卵，繁衍出新一代的小魚。大馬哈魚的魚肉是粉紅色的，我們稱之為大馬哈魚色。大馬哈魚可以做成魚罐頭。說不定你都吃過從哥倫比亞河里捕到的大馬哈魚呢。

世界上歷史最悠久的水果是蘋果。因為在圣經(jīng)故事里面，最初的人類亞當和夏娃生活的伊甸園里，就有蘋果生長。不過今天的人們相信，夏娃給亞當吃的那個蘋果，一定遠遠比不上華盛頓州出產(chǎn)的蘋果。請注意，我這里說的華盛頓州在美國的西部。而美國政府所在的地方，叫華盛頓特區(qū)，在美國的東部。這兩個華盛頓之間相隔3000英里呢。居住在華盛頓特區(qū)的人們，或者居住在其他州的人們，都喜歡買華盛頓州的蘋果來吃。原因很簡單，因為那兒的蘋果比其他地方的蘋果好吃得多。

金子，這個神奇的詞再一次召喚著人們從美國各地擁入阿拉斯加。就像當年加利福尼亞州的淘金潮一樣，人們蜂擁著跑向阿拉斯加。成千上萬人扔下一切，只帶上一把鏟子、一個篩子，懷揣挖到金子發(fā)大財?shù)膲粝刖蛠淼搅诉b遠寒冷的阿拉斯加?？墒牵秃孟袷ソ?jīng)故事里說的帶了燈卻忘了燈油的傻女孩一樣，不少被發(fā)財?shù)拿缐魶_昏了頭腦的淘金客也犯了同樣錯誤：他們只想到帶上挖金子的工具，卻忘記了帶生存必需品。他們似乎沒有想到，能挖到金子的地方一定是人跡罕至的地方。這種地方可沒有商店，也不可能找到吃的東西。有一些聰明的人，帶了罐頭食品來到阿拉斯加，于是有趣的事就發(fā)生了。在富饒的阿拉斯加，金子也許并不難找到，可是當那些沒帶食物的淘金者餓得頭昏眼花的時候，他們只好用自己千辛萬苦找到的金子向有食物的人買罐頭吃。

這時候，一罐普普通通的豆子可能就會被賣出天價！可是忘記帶食物的淘金者還只得乖乖掏出金子來，要不然，他們就得餓死！金子再好，也不能當飯吃。所以，阿拉斯加的淘金潮最終的結(jié)果是，那些聰明的人帶回了忘記帶食物的淘金者挖的金子，而那些忘記帶食物的淘金者沒有餓死就算是幸運的了。

In the parts of Alaska where fish can be caught for food， Indians live in small villages. In the center of each village they put up a tall pole carved and painted in the forms of birds and animals with big ugly faces. These are called Totem Poles. Each tribe or family has some bird or animal such as an eagle or a bear for its mascot， as you might call your club “the Lions” or “the Owls，” and the Totem Pole is the tribes sign.

在阿拉斯加同樣有印第安人居住的村落。這些村落往往靠近很容易捕到魚的溪流邊。在每一個印第安村落的中心地帶，都會立有一根又高又粗的木桿。印第安人在這根木桿上雕刻各種大臉鳥獸的形象，并且涂上各種色彩鮮明的顏色。這種木桿叫作圖騰柱。所謂圖騰，就是用某一種形象作為自己部落的標志。每一個印第安部落都有某一種動物作為自己部落的象征。這種動物要么是鳥，要么是野獸，像老鷹或者熊什么的。就算是今天的現(xiàn)代人，也喜歡把自己的俱樂部或者球隊取名為獅子或者貓頭鷹之類的。

If you should suddenly see at night the whole northern sky hung with curtains of fire and ablaze with flashing flames shooting from the ground far up into the heavens， you might think， as I did the first time I saw it when a boy， that the World was coming to an end. It looked as if the World were on fire and were about to explode. This amazing sight is called the Aurora Borealis or Northern Light， and it may be seen often in Alaska and sometimes， though perhaps only once or twice in a lifetime， much farther south. It is a terrifying sight to those who have never seen or even heard of such a thing before， and yet the Aurora Borealis does no more harm than a beautiful sunset or a rainbow in the sky.

如果有天夜里，突然之間你看到北面的天空中仿佛像著了火一樣閃耀著奇異的光線，同時地面上也有一簇簇如火焰般的紅光直沖云霄，你會不會覺得，世界末日就要來了？當我還是個小孩子，第一次看到這樣奇幻的情形時，我就是這么以為的。因為天空中的火光看上去就好像整個地球都燒了起來，而且馬上就要爆炸了似的。不過，請你放心，這種現(xiàn)象叫作北極光。在極北的阿拉斯加很容易出現(xiàn)北極光，而在地球的南極，也偶爾會發(fā)生這種現(xiàn)象。對于一個從來沒有見過或者聽說過北極光的人來講，目睹這樣的情形是有點嚇人。但是從天文學(xué)上來說，北極光就像晚霞或者彩虹一樣，不會對地球有任何傷害。

Word Study

shovel /'??vl/ n. 鏟;鐵鏟;鏟狀物; v. 鏟;鏟起

The children took their pails and shovels to the beach.

sieve /s?v/ v. 篩;過篩;濾? n. 濾器;篩子;

Youll need to sieve out the stones from the soil.

strain /stre?n/ v. 盡力;竭力;使勁;用力推（或拉）;拉緊

The dogs were straining at the leash， eager to get to the park.

tribe /tra?b/ n. 部落;一伙（人），一幫（人）;群，族

mascot /'m?sk?t/ n. 吉祥物