雙語+MP3|美國(guó)學(xué)生世界地理25 盎格魯人的土地

     ENGLAND is an island.
     Angles once lived on the island-no, not Angels-but people called Angles.
　　So it was called Angle-land.
　　We now spell it Eng-land
　　But we call it "Ingland."
     There are, however, two other countries on the island-Wales and Scotland-as well as England; so we should call the whole island "Great Britain." Next door to the island of Great Britain is another is-land. It is Ire-land.
     A ship, when it reaches England, cannot land its passengers wherever it chooses. There are only certain places. The shore may be too shallow and the ship would run aground and turn over, or the shore may be too rocky or too high with cliffs. Most people who go to England usually land on the west side at a place called Liverpool-Liver pool: what a peculiar name!-or at Southampton, which we can tell from the name is on the south side of England; or at London, which is on the east side. If they land at London the ship must go up a river spelled Thames but called "Temz." English people spell many things one way and pronounce them another. The Thames runs right through London, but big ships cannot go up any farther than London Bridge. Have you ever played the game "London Bridge is Falling Down"? Well, London Bridge has fallen down several times, but each time it has been built up again; and the London Bridge that is there now I don't believe will ever fall.


     London was a city when Christ was born, but it was then so small and so far off that Christ never heard of it. London is now the largest city i. t. w. W.
     New York is tall, London is broad. New York buildings climb to the sky, fifty, seventy, a hundred stories high. London buildings seldom go higher than a few stories, but the city spreads out in every direction, mile after mile. People travel about London chiefly on buses, double-decker ones with seats on top as well as inside, but they also travel about London on trains that run under the ground.
     London is the capital of England. The capit-o-1 of England-the building-is, of course, in London and it is on the banks of the Thames. It is called the Houses of Parliament, which means the Houses of Talk. It is the place where people not only talk but make the laws for England. A king rules over England, but the English people send men to Parliament to make their laws. As I had lived in sight of our Capitol in Washington for many years, I thought all capitols had to have domes, just as all cows had horns. It was therefore a shock for me to see that the English Capitol, the Houses of Parliament, had no dome-only square towers with a large clock in one of them, with a huge bell, called "Big Ben," that strikes the hours.


     There is, however, another great building in London that does have a dome like our Capitol. But that building is a church and it is called St. Paul's. Indeed, it is said that the dome of our Capitol at Washington was copied from St. Paul's, for St. Paul's was built long before there was a Capitol at Washington, long before there was a Washington, and even long before there was a United States. They once had a great fire in London-they still call it the Great Fire, for it burned up most of the city. That was about three hundred years ago. Then a man with the name of a bird, Wren-Christopher Wren-built up much of the city that had been burned down. He built beautiful churches and other buildings; so people say it was well the old city was burned down, for it gave them the chance to make a beautiful city. St. Paul's was one of the churches that Wren built.


     During World War II thousands of buildings were destroyed by bombs dropped on London by the Germans. Many of Christopher Wren's churches were among the buildings burned or smashed by the bombs, but he had built so many that there are still some left. The people of London called these terrible bombings the Blitz. Great numbers of people were killed. The Blitz will be remembered, like the Great Fire, for hundreds of years to come, but no one can ever say, as they said about the Great Fire, that it was a good thing for the city. The only good thing about the Blitz was the bravery shown by the people of London.


     A church that Wren didn't build, a very old one, is called Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is not only a church; it is also a tomb for famous people. In it are buried the most famous English people who have ever lived and died-kings and queens, great writers, great poets, great musicians, great soldiers. After World War I a soldier who had died on the battlefield in France, but whose name no one knew, was buried in Westminster Abbey to honor all those who had died without name or fame for a great cause. The place is called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
     In Westminster Abbey is a chair in which all the kings of England sit when they are crowned kings. It is called the Coronation Chair. Underneath the seat of the Coronation Chair is a large stone. Why the stone underneath the chair seat? Well, hundreds of years ago the country North of England named Scotland was separate from England. When the kings of Scotland were crowned they used a large stone for a seat. So when England and Scotland became one country, the people took the stone of Scotland and put it under the Coronation Chair of England, so that the king could sit on both seats while he was crowned king of both countries.


     The oldest building in London, built long before the Great Fire, is one which from its name sounds like only part of a building. It is called the "Tower." In the times long ago the Tower was a prison in which were put many famous people. Even princes and queens were put in this prison, and some of them were put to death. It is now a museum where are kept many interesting curiosities of those days-the steel armor that soldiers and their horses, and even their dogs, wore; the block and ax with which prisoners' heads were cut off; and wonderful jewels which the kings wore in their crowns-huge diamonds and rubies as big as walnuts. The Queen's crown is there on a white satin pillow. It is studded with jewels and a huge diamond called the "Koh-i-noor," which means "mountain of light." This stone was supposed to bring bad luck to any man who owned it, so a woman now owns it-the Queen. The guards of the Tower are called "Beef- Eaters" and should any one break into the cases in which are the jewels, the doors and gates of the Tower would automatically clang shut and the thief be caught a prisoner.
     Did you ever collect stones or stamps, butterflies or coins? Well, grownups have collected treasures and curiosities from all over the World and brought them together in a wonderful museum, and the largest i. t. w. W. It is called the British Museum.
     It is said that if all the streets in London were strung out in one line they would reach round the World. No one could ever know the names of all the London streets, not even the London policemen, who are called "Bobbies" and who are supposed to know everything. They may have to look for a street in a little book which they carry in an inside pocket. But every one knows the names of some of the streets-they are either so famous or so funny. There is Threadneedle Street and Cheapside. There is Pall Mall and Piccadilly, where are fine houses, hotels, clubs, and palaces. There is Fleet, Strand, Regent, and Bond Streets, which are shopping streets. There is Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, but there is no "circus" there. A circus is simply a big open space where streets cross, and which we should call a Square or a Circle.