雙語(yǔ)+MP3|美國(guó)學(xué)生世界地理01 透過小望遠(yuǎn)鏡看到的世界

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2018年06月20日

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01
The World Through a Spy-Glass
透過小望遠(yuǎn)鏡看到的世界

You have never seen your own face.
This may surprise you and you may say it isn’t so-but it is so.
You may see the end of your nose.
You may even see your lips if you pout out—so.
If you stick out your tongue you may see the tip of it.
But you can’t go over there, outside of yourself, and look at your own face.
Of course you know what your face looks like, because you have seen it in a mirror; but that’s not yourself—it’s only a picture of yourself.
And in the same way no one of us can see our own World—all of it—this World on which we live.
You can see a little bit of the World just around you—and if you go up into a high building you can see still more—and if you go up to the top of a high mountain you can see still, still more—and if you go up in an airplane you can see still, still, still more.
But to see the Whole World you would have to go much higher than that, higher than any one has ever been able to go or could go. You would have to go far, far above the clouds; way, way off in the sky where the stars are—and no one can do that, even in an airplane.
Now you cannot see the World in a mirror as you can see your face. So how do we know what the World looks like ?
A fish in the sea might tell her little fish, “The World is all water—just a huge tub; I’ve been everywhere and I know.” Of course, she wouldn’t know anything different.
A camel in the desert might tell her little camels, “The World is all sand—just a huge sand pile; I’ve been everywhere and I know.”
A polar bear on an iceberg might tell her little polar bears, “The World is all snow and ice—just a huge refrigerator; I’ve been everywhere and I know.”
A bear in the woods might tell her little bear cubs, “The World is all woods—just a huge forest; I’ve been everywhere and I know.”
In the same way, once upon a time, people used to tell their little children, “The World is just a big island like a huge mud pie with some water, some sand, some ice, and some trees on it, and with a cover we call the sky over us all; we’ve been everywhere and we know.”
When some inquisitive child asked, “What does the flat World like a mud pie rest on?” they really truly said, “It rests on the backs of four elephants.”

But when the inquisitive child asked, “And what do the elephants stand on?” they really truly said, “On a big turtle.”
Then when the inquisitive child asked, “What does the turtle stand on?” no one could say—for no one could even guess farther than that—so the turtle was left standing—on nothing.
That’s the old story that parents long ago used to tell their children as to what the World was like. But just suppose you could go way, way off above the clouds; way, way off in the sky, sit on a corner of nothing at all, dangle your feet over the edge and look down at the World far, far below. What do you suppose it would really look like? I know—and yet I have never been there.
The World from way off in the sky and through a spy-glass would look just like a full moon—round and white; not round like a plate, but round like a huge snowball. Not exactly white, either, but bright—for the sun shines on this big ball, the World, and makes it light just as the headlight on an automobile shines on the road at night and makes the road light. Of course, the sun can shine on only one side of this big ball at a time; the other side of the World is dark, but the World keeps turning round and round in the sunlight.
If you looked at the World through a telescope—you know what a telescope is: one of those long spy-glasses that make things seem closer and bigger—as men look at the moon, you would see on one side of the World two big patches that look like queerly shaped shadows and on the other side of the World twice as many big patches, four queerly shaped shadows. These patches which look like shadows are really land and are called by a long name: con-ti-nents. These continents have names, and if their names were printed across them in letters a thousand miles high—which they are not—so that the man with a spy-glass could read them, he would read on one side of the World
NORTH AMERICA
SOUTH AMERICA
and if he waited until the World turned round, until the other side showed in the sunlight, as I’ve seen the World do in “the movies,” he would read on this continent EUROPE and on that continent ASIA and on the other continent AFRICA, and the smallest one would have the longest name, AUSTRALIA. At the very bottom would be ANTARCTICA.
We call one side of a piece of money “the head,” because there is usually the head of some one on that side, and the other side we call “the tail,” as that is opposite from the head. It would be easy to tell which side of the World was which if we could call one side heads and the other tails. But there are no heads or tails on the World—only these queer shadows—so we use two big words instead of “heads” and “tails” to tell which side of the World is which. We call one side the “Western Hemisphere” and the other side we call the “Eastern Hemisphere.” Whew! Why don’t they call it something easy?—well, let’s call it “Half-a-Ball,” for that is what Hemisphere means. The Western Half-Ball has two continents and the Eastern Half-Ball has four continents.

The tip top and the very bottom of the World are called the Poles, although there are no poles. Around the top and bottom Pole it would be all white—snow and ice—for the Poles are so cold there is snow and ice there all the time.
The part of the World that isn’t patches of shadow or snow is water. The water all around the continents is the ocean, and though of course there are no walls nor fences dividing it into different parts, its different parts are called by different names.
Do you know your right hand from your left? Of course you do if you’re over six years old. But do you know the west side from the east side? If you are over nine years old you should. The east is where the sun rises, the west is where it sets. And if your right hand is east, your left hand is west, your face is north and your back is south.
The Atlantic Ocean is on the east side of North and South America. The Pacific Ocean is on the west. The ocean entirely in the Eastern Hemisphere is called “Indian.” No, it is not named for our Indians. At the top of the World is the Arctic Ocean. At the bottom, all around Antarctica, is the Antarctic Ocean. The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans are mostly ice, for it is so cold there the water freezes and stays frozen. If we wanted to put names on the oceans so that a man off in the sky could read them, we would have to stick huge signs in the water, as we can’t paint letters on the ocean.
There is no reason why I should show you the World turned this way with North America on top. I might just as well show it upside down or sideways, for there is no upside nor downside on the World. I suppose the reason the north side is always shown on top is because the people who made maps and geographies all lived in the north part of the World and they wanted their part of the World on top.
So this is our World. You may wonder, “Are there any other Worlds besides ours?” Some have guessed that there may be—that some of those sparks in the sky that look like stars at night may be other Worlds like ours with people living on them. But no one knows, for the strongest telescope is not strong enough for us to see what is on those far off sparks, so we can only guess about them.

你從來都沒看過你自己的臉。
這樣說可能讓你驚訝，你也許會(huì)說這不可能，但事實(shí)的確如此。
你或許能看到你的鼻尖。
你或許能看到你的嘴唇——如果撅起嘴巴的話。
如果伸出舌頭，你或許還能看到你的舌尖。
但是你無(wú)法離開你自己去看自己的臉。
當(dāng)然你知道自己長(zhǎng)的什么樣子，因?yàn)槟阍阽R子里看到過自己的臉。但這不是你自己，而只是你的一個(gè)圖像。
同樣的道理，我們中沒有人能看到我們居住的這個(gè)世界，看不到它的全部。
你可以看到世界的一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，也就是你自己周圍的那點(diǎn)地方；如果你爬到一棟高樓上，就可以看到更多；如果你爬到一座高山頂上，就可以看到更多更多；如果你乘一架飛機(jī)向上飛，你可以看到更多更多更多。
但是要看到整個(gè)世界，你不得不到一個(gè)比那更高的地方，一個(gè)比任何人到達(dá)過或能夠到達(dá)的更高的地方。你不得不走到遠(yuǎn)在云層之上，很高很高的地方，直到星空中老遠(yuǎn)老遠(yuǎn)的地方；這沒有人能做到，即使坐飛機(jī)也做不到。
你無(wú)法像在鏡子里看見你自己那樣來看見這個(gè)世界，那么我們?cè)趺粗朗澜缡鞘裁礃幼拥哪兀?br /> 大海里的魚會(huì)對(duì)魚寶寶們說：“世界都是水——就是好大好大一盆水；我哪兒都去過，我當(dāng)然知道。”當(dāng)然，除了水，她不可能知道什么別的事情。
沙漠里的駱駝會(huì)對(duì)小駱駝們說：“世界都是沙——就是好大好大一堆沙；我哪兒都去過，我當(dāng)然知道。”
冰山上的北極熊會(huì)對(duì)小北極熊們說：“世界都是雪和冰——就是好大好大一個(gè)冰箱；我哪兒都去過，我當(dāng)然知道。”
森林里的熊會(huì)對(duì)小熊仔說：“世界都是森林——就是一個(gè)巨大的森林；我哪兒都去過，我知道就是這樣。”
同樣，人們從前常常對(duì)孩子們說：“世界是一個(gè)大大的島，就像是一個(gè)用泥做的大餡餅，上面有水呀、沙呀、冰呀和樹呀等等，在我們的上方有一個(gè)我們稱之為天空的蓋子；我們哪兒都去過，我們當(dāng)然知道。”
當(dāng)某個(gè)好奇的孩子問道：“這個(gè)平平的像泥餡餅的世界是放在什么上面的呢？”他們非常真誠(chéng)地說：“它放在四只大象的背上。”
當(dāng)這個(gè)好奇的孩子又問道：“大象站在什么上呢？”他們非常真誠(chéng)地說：“一個(gè)大海龜身上。”
當(dāng)這個(gè)好奇的孩子又繼續(xù)問道：“大海龜站在什么上呢？”沒人能回答，因?yàn)闆]人能想那么遠(yuǎn)，因此就讓大海龜這么站著——懸空站著。
那就是父母?jìng)兒芫靡郧俺８嬖V孩子們的關(guān)于世界是什么樣子的老一套說法。但是想象一下你可以到云層之上很高很高的地方，在天空中老遠(yuǎn)老遠(yuǎn)的地方，坐在一個(gè)什么都沒有的角落，把腳放在邊上垂下來，向下看著這個(gè)遠(yuǎn)在下方的世界，你認(rèn)為它實(shí)際上會(huì)是什么樣子的呢？我知道是什么樣子，不過我從沒去過那里。
在天空深處透過小望遠(yuǎn)鏡看到的世界就像一輪滿月——又圓又白；它并不是像盤子那樣的圓，而是像個(gè)大雪球那樣的圓。也并不是真正的白，而是明亮，因?yàn)樘?yáng)光照在世界這個(gè)大球上，使它發(fā)光，就像汽車的前燈在夜晚照在路上使路變亮。當(dāng)然太陽(yáng)一次只能照在世界的一面上；世界的另一面就是黑暗的，但它不停地在陽(yáng)光中轉(zhuǎn)啊轉(zhuǎn)啊。
如果你用望遠(yuǎn)鏡看世界的話（你知道望遠(yuǎn)鏡是什么吧？就是一種長(zhǎng)的小望遠(yuǎn)鏡，可以使東西看起來更近更大），就像人們觀察月亮那樣，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)在世界的一面有兩塊大斑塊，看起來就像形狀奇怪的陰影，而在世界的另一面會(huì)有這面兩倍大的斑塊，四個(gè)形狀奇怪的陰影。這些看起來像陰影的斑塊實(shí)際上是土地，它們有個(gè)很深?yuàn)W的名字：大陸。這些大陸都有自己的名字，如果他們的名字在距大陸上方1000英里的高度印出來的話（當(dāng)然是不可能的了），這樣拿著小望遠(yuǎn)鏡的人就可以看得清，他會(huì)看到在世界的一面寫著：

北美洲
南美洲

如果他在那等著直到世界的另一面轉(zhuǎn)到太陽(yáng)光下時(shí)，就像我在電影院里看到的那樣，他會(huì)看到在這一個(gè)大陸上寫著歐洲，那一個(gè)寫著亞洲，還有一個(gè)寫著非洲，最小的那個(gè)寫著澳洲，最下面的是南極洲。
我們把硬幣的一面叫做“正面”，因?yàn)槟且幻嫱ǔ?huì)有某個(gè)人的頭像在上面；另一面叫做“反面”，因?yàn)樗驼嬲喾础Ｈ绻馨咽澜绲囊幻娼凶稣娑硪幻娼凶龇疵娴脑?，?huì)更容易區(qū)分世界的每一面。但是世界上沒有正反面——只有這些奇怪的陰影——因此我們不用“正面”、“反面”而用兩個(gè)大詞來區(qū)分世界的這兩面。我們把一面叫做“西半球”，另一面叫做“東半球”?？?，為什么不用簡(jiǎn)單點(diǎn)的詞呢？嗯，好吧，我們可以把它叫做“半個(gè)球”，“半球”就是這個(gè)意思。西邊半個(gè)球有兩個(gè)大洲，而東邊半個(gè)球有四個(gè)大洲。
世界的最頂端和最下端叫做極地，盡管那兒并沒有桿子[1]。在上下兩極到處都是白色的——冰和雪——因?yàn)闃O地地區(qū)非常的寒冷，終年都有冰雪。
世界上沒有陰影斑塊和雪斑塊的部分是水。環(huán)繞著大陸的水叫做海洋，盡管并沒有圍墻或者籬笆把它們分成不同的部分，海洋的不同部分還是有它們自己不同的名字。
你能分清自己的左右手嗎？當(dāng)然能，如果你超過6歲的話。但你能分清東西方向嗎？如果你超過9歲了，就該分得清了。東方是太陽(yáng)升起的地方，而西方是太陽(yáng)落山的地方。如果你的右手是東方，你的左手是西方，那么你的臉就是北方，你的后背就是南方。
大西洋位于南北美洲的東邊，太平洋在西邊。全部在東半球的海洋叫做印度洋，起這個(gè)名字不是指美國(guó)的印第安人。在世界的最頂部是北冰洋。在最底部，環(huán)繞著南極洲的是南冰洋[2]。北冰洋和南冰洋大部分都是冰，因?yàn)槟抢锾淞耍冀Y(jié)冰了，一直處于冷凍狀態(tài)。如果我們要在這里的海洋上寫上字讓天空中的人能看得到，我們得在水上貼上巨大的標(biāo)志，因?yàn)闆]人能在海洋上畫上字。
并沒有什么特別的原因讓我把這個(gè)世界以北美洲在上的方式展示給你們看。我當(dāng)然也可以把它上下顛倒過來或者斜向一邊放，因?yàn)槭澜缟细揪蜎]有上部和下部之分。我想北半邊總是被放在上面是因?yàn)槔L制地圖研究地理的人都住在北半邊，他們想讓他們那邊在上邊。
這就是我們的世界。你也許會(huì)想：“除了我們的世界之外，還有其他世界嗎？”有人猜也許會(huì)有——夜晚的天空中閃閃發(fā)光的像星星一樣的亮點(diǎn)也許就是其他的世界，像我們的一樣，上面住著人。但是沒人知道，因?yàn)榫褪亲罡呒?jí)的望遠(yuǎn)鏡也不足以讓我們看清離我們那么遠(yuǎn)的小亮點(diǎn)上有些什么，所以我們只能猜猜而已。

[1] 英語(yǔ)中“極地”（pole）也有“桿子”的意思——譯者注。
[2] 南冰洋（Southern Ocean或Antarctic Ocean）又稱“南極海”或“南大洋”。國(guó)際水文組織于2000年確定其為一個(gè)獨(dú)立的大洋。中國(guó)大陸普遍不承認(rèn)南冰洋的存在——譯者注。

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