By V. M. Hillyer ——V. M. 希利爾

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國(guó)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》。

Some thermometers have numbers down to forty degrees （40℃） below zero. There the numbers stop， for when the mercury gets down to that point it freezes up. But there are few places in the World where it ever gets as cold as that. The coldest place in the World is not at the North Pole; the coldest place in the World， where the thermometer does go below 40℃ and freezes up， is called Siberia.

Siberia is a huge area north of China. In the north of Siberia the sun never rises all winter long. It is night， as it is in Norway and Sweden. But there is no Gulf Stream to warm the land， so it gets much colder than 40℃ below zero， and they have to use a different kind of thermometer to measure how cold it is. In one place it goes to 60℃ below zero. People cant grow fur on their skins to keep themselves warm as animals can， so when they go outside they must cover themselves from top to toe with animal skins or they would freeze to death in a few moments.

But all of Siberia is not like this. There is a top， a middle， and a bottom part. Few people live in the northern part， however. It is so cold that no trees grow there and the ground is frozen solid many feet down. In the summer it gets very warm， and the thermometer sometimes goes to above 30℃. The ground then thaws out on top and moss and a few other things grow for a short while， though the ground underneath still stays frozen. Siberia belongs to Russia， but there are people from other countries living there too.

一些溫度計(jì)的最低刻度達(dá)到-40℃。可是實(shí)際上，溫度計(jì)里面的水銀柱是走不到那么低的位置的，因?yàn)樵谀莻€(gè)溫度，水銀會(huì)結(jié)冰。但在我們的地球上，有很少幾個(gè)地方會(huì)冷到那種程度。世界上最冷的地方并不是北極，而是一個(gè)叫作西伯利亞的地方。在那兒，溫度可以降到-40℃，溫度計(jì)一定會(huì)被凍僵。

西伯利亞在中國(guó)以北，是一片廣闊的地帶。在西伯利亞的北部，整個(gè)冬天都看不到太陽(yáng)。這樣極夜的情形，同在挪威和瑞典是一樣的?？墒桥餐０队袕哪鞲鐬沉鬟^(guò)來(lái)的暖流，而西伯利亞卻完全沒(méi)有這樣的條件，因此西伯利亞的氣溫會(huì)比-40℃還低得多。那兒的人們必須使用一種特制的溫度計(jì)來(lái)測(cè)量當(dāng)?shù)氐臏囟?。在西伯利亞最冷的地方，氣溫可以低?60℃。人的身體不像動(dòng)物一樣有毛發(fā)御寒，所以那兒的人們一旦要出門，就必須全身上下裹上厚厚的動(dòng)物毛皮。否則，要不了多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，人就可能會(huì)被凍死。

然而西伯利亞并不是所有地區(qū)都那么寒冷。整個(gè)西伯利亞可以被分成高緯度（北部）、中緯度（中部）和低緯度（南部）三個(gè)地區(qū)。西伯利亞北部非常冷，因此居住在那兒的人非常少。由于嚴(yán)寒，西伯利亞北部基本上沒(méi)有任何樹木生長(zhǎng)。而那里的土地，在冬季的時(shí)候，從地表到地下數(shù)英尺全部被封凍。西伯利亞北方的夏季卻非常熱，最高氣溫可以達(dá)到30℃以上。這樣一來(lái)，土地表層就會(huì)解凍，苔蘚和其他一些植物會(huì)長(zhǎng)出來(lái)。不過(guò)，在地表以下，土地依然是封凍的。西伯利亞屬于俄羅斯，但除了俄羅斯人，還有別的國(guó)家的人生活在那兒。

word? ?study

thermometer /θ?'m?m?t?（r）/ n. 溫度計(jì)

mercury /'m??kj?ri/ n. 水銀

frozen /'fr??zn/ adj. 冰凍的

It was bitterly cold now and the ground was frozen hard.

thaw /θ??/ v.（結(jié)冰后）解凍

Thaw it out completely before reheating in a saucepan.

moss /m?s/ n. 苔蘚

The middle part of Siberia is not nearly so cold， and there great forests have grown， and in the forests live wild animals such as foxes， wolves and sable， which have beautiful thick coats of fur to keep themselves warm. Trappers hunt these animals just for their furs， to be made into coats to keep people warm. One small animal， called the ermine， has a snow-white coat and a tail with a black tip. The ermine hates dirt or anything that will soil his white fur， so he keeps himself spotless. It is for this reason that the official robes of judges and kings are made of the fur of the ermine， as a sign that they must be pure and clean in heart and mind. The skins of many such animals are sewn together to make a single cape or coat， which then looks white with little black tails spotted regularly over it.

The longest railway in the World is built through the bottom part of Siberia. It is so long it takes two weeks to go from one end of it to the other. One end of it on the Pacific Ocean is called Vladivostok and the other end in Russia is Moscow. It is called the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Most of the people in Siberia live along this railway， and yet one may travel for hundreds of miles without seeing a town or even a house. Often the towns are far from the railroad， so that there is a long drive from the station to the town. In the early 20th century， the engines that draw the trains are fired by wood instead of coal， and along the railroad there are piles of wood at which the train stops to get fuel， as a car would stop to get gasoline. The chief Siberian cities end in “sk”. They are Omsk， Tomsk， and Irkutsk.

A stranger once asked a man on the street of Irkutsk how far it was to the railway station. The man replied， “If you keep on going the way you are headed it is twenty-five thousand miles， but if you turn round its two blocks.”

西伯利亞中部地區(qū)不像北方那么冷，所以那里有面積很大的森林。森林里有不少野生動(dòng)物，如狐貍、狼和貂。這些動(dòng)物的皮毛又厚又漂亮，能夠幫助它們抵御西伯利亞冬季的嚴(yán)寒。獵人們捕獵這些動(dòng)物，目的就是獲取它們的皮毛。這些皮毛最終會(huì)被做成衣服，供生活在地球上嚴(yán)寒地區(qū)的人們御寒。小體型的雪貂有一身雪白的皮毛，長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的尾巴尖上有一撮黑色的毛。雪貂很愛干凈，容不得它雪白的“大衣”上有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)臟，所以雪貂始終保持身體潔凈。而這也是為什么大法官的法袍和國(guó)王的袍子都要用雪貂皮毛來(lái)縫制的原因，干凈的雪貂皮毛象征著大法官和國(guó)王必須有純凈無(wú)瑕的心靈。人們將很多條雪貂皮縫在一起，做成一件法袍或者王袍。這件袍子是白色的，上面均勻地點(diǎn)綴著黑色的小斑點(diǎn)，那是雪貂的尾巴。

西伯利亞的南部有一條世界上最長(zhǎng)的鐵路，從這條鐵路的一頭到另一頭，需要兩個(gè)星期的時(shí)間。這條鐵路的一頭在太平洋岸邊，始發(fā)站叫符拉迪沃斯托克，另一頭的終點(diǎn)站是俄羅斯的首都莫斯科。這條鐵路的名字叫作西伯利亞大鐵路。

西伯利亞大多數(shù)居民生活在這條鐵路的沿線地區(qū)，可是這些居民住得非常分散。經(jīng)常有這樣的情況，你走上好幾百英里，都看不到一個(gè)城鎮(zhèn)甚至一棟房子。西伯利亞大鐵路沿線的城鎮(zhèn)實(shí)際上離鐵路還遠(yuǎn)得很。從火車站到某個(gè)城鎮(zhèn)，得開上很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的車才行。20世紀(jì)初，在這條鐵路上運(yùn)行的火車車頭不是靠燒煤來(lái)發(fā)動(dòng)的，而是燒木頭。因此，在鐵路旁邊，有非常多的木柴儲(chǔ)藏點(diǎn)?；疖囬_到一個(gè)儲(chǔ)藏點(diǎn)，就會(huì)停下來(lái)加點(diǎn)木柴。這就像我們把車開到加油站加油一樣。西伯利亞的主要城市都叫“某某克”，像鄂木斯克、托木斯克、伊爾庫(kù)茨克。

曾經(jīng)一個(gè)外地人在伊爾庫(kù)茨克的大街上問(wèn)一個(gè)當(dāng)?shù)厝嘶疖囌居卸噙h(yuǎn)。那個(gè)當(dāng)?shù)厝嘶卮鸬溃骸叭绻愠F(xiàn)在面對(duì)的方向一直走，走25 000英里就能到。不過(guò)，如果你轉(zhuǎn)個(gè)身，往回走，兩個(gè)街區(qū)以外就是火車站。”

How far do you suppose it is to Siberia from the US？—eight thousand？—ten thousand miles？ As a matter of fact， it is only about fifty miles—yes， thats right， fifty miles—for the short way is across to Alaska. Between Siberia and Alaska is a narrow strip of water called Bering Strait， and when this is frozen over， one could walk across from Asia to America. On the map there is also a long string of islands that look like stepping-stones， but one would have to be a giant to walk across that way. Some say that the Eskimos in Alaska and Indians in the US may have come across Bering Strait from Asia long， long ago， and that they look something like the Chinese because they once came from that country.

Before World War I， when Russia had a czar， people who hated the czar or were supposed to hate the czar， or who had said anything against the czar， were made prisoners， torn away from their families and friends， and sent to far-off Siberia to work in the mines. Many of them perished before reaching there.

你猜猜從美國(guó)到西伯利亞有多遠(yuǎn)——8 000英里，10 000英里？實(shí)際上，只有50英里。是的，沒(méi)錯(cuò)，就是50英里。從西伯利亞到美國(guó)的阿拉斯加，是這兩地之間相距最短的地方。這兩個(gè)地方隔著一條窄窄的海峽，叫作白令海峽。白令海峽結(jié)冰的時(shí)候，人甚至可以從冰面上走過(guò)去——從亞洲走到美洲。在地圖上，你還能在白令海峽上看到一連串的島嶼。這些島嶼看起來(lái)就像是漂浮在海面上的踏腳石，不過(guò)能走到上面的人一定得是個(gè)巨人才行。有人認(rèn)為，阿拉斯加的因紐特人和美洲的印第安人就是在很久很久以前，在白令海峽結(jié)冰的時(shí)候，從亞洲走到美洲去的。這些人之所以看上去那么像中國(guó)人，就是因?yàn)樗麄儊?lái)自中國(guó)。

第一次世界大戰(zhàn)以前，在俄羅斯被沙皇統(tǒng)治的時(shí)期，憎恨沙皇的人，或者沙皇認(rèn)為對(duì)他有敵意的人，或者是說(shuō)了反對(duì)沙皇的話的人，都會(huì)被關(guān)起來(lái)。他們被迫離開自己的家人和朋友，被送到遙遠(yuǎn)的西伯利亞去開礦。很多人在去西伯利亞的路上就死掉了。

trapper /'tr?p?（r）/ n. 捕殺動(dòng)物者（尤指為獲取毛皮）

spotless /'sp?tl?s/ adj. 非常潔凈的

She keeps the house spotless.

sew /s??/ v. 縫制;縫補(bǔ)

Can you sew a button on for me？

chief /t?i?f/ adj. 最重要的;主要的

prisoner /'pr?zn?（r）/ n. 囚犯;犯人

perish /'per??/ v.（因惡劣條件或事故）死亡

Most of the butterflies perish in the first frosts of autumn.