美国学生世界地理教材 第38期:五个大水坑(1)

 Chapter 9 Five Big Puddles² 第9章 五个大水坑

Did you ever wonder what an ant must think of us giants who tread³ on his ant-hills, or what he must think of a puddle¹ of water? 我们经常踩到蚂蚁窝，你是否好奇小蚂蚁会怎么看我们这些巨人呢？或者在蚂蚁眼中一个水坑是怎样的呢？

There are five big puddles of water along the northern edge of the United States—at least they look like puddles on the map— 沿着美国的北部边界有五个大水坑——至少它们在地图上看起来像水坑——

as if a gigantic⁴ giant had left his wet umbrella standing⁵ and the water had trickled⁶ out over the land. 就像是一个庞大的巨人拿一把湿漉漉的雨伞立在那儿，水顺着雨伞滴到了地面上形成这些水坑。

We call these puddles “The Great Lakes,” for they are the biggest lakes on this side of the World,  我们把这些水坑叫做“大湖”，因为它们是西半球最大的湖了，

though a giant with legs a mile long would think them only puddles to wade⁷ across.  不过在腿长1英里的巨人眼里，这些湖就像很容易就蹚过去的小水坑。

Two of the lakes—the smallest two—I have already told you about. 我已经介绍过其中两个湖的故事了，最小的两个

They are Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Two of the others also have Indian names, Lake Michigan, which means “Great Lake,” and Lake Huron.  ——伊利湖和安大略湖。另外还有两个用印第安名字的湖——一个是密歇根湖，意思是“大湖”，另一个是休伦湖。

The Greatest Lake of all the Great Lakes is called Superior, which means simply Greater Lake,  五大湖中最大的是苏必利尔湖，意思就是更大的湖

as we say a boy who is a better football player or who makes better marks is “superior” to some other boy. 就像我们会说一个孩子球踢得更好，得分更高，也会用同样的一个词：优秀的（superior）

Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes that belongs entirely⁸ to the United States, as it is entirely inside of the United States.  五大湖中只有密歇根湖整个都在美国境内，因此是完全属于美国的。

Half of the other four lakes belong to the country north of the United States—the country called Canada— 其他四个大湖每个都有一半属于美国北边的邻国——加拿大，

because these other lakes are along the border between the two countries. 因为这四个湖正好在两国的交界处。 

The United States owns its side of each of these lakes and out to the middle;Canada owns its side and out to the middle. 这些湖以湖中心线为界，分属加、美两国。

Lake Superior is not only bigger, it is higher than the other lakes. 苏必利尔湖不仅面积最大，地势也最高。

It empties its water into Lake Huron through a little river called St. Mary’s, and in this river are falls.  它的湖水经由一条叫做圣玛丽的小河流入休伦湖，圣玛丽河上有很多瀑布。

These falls in the St.Mary’s River are called St. Mary’s Jump, because the water jumps, jumps down. 这些瀑布叫做圣玛丽急流瀑布，因为水急速下泻，就像是在不断蹦跳。

These falls are not nearly as high as Niagara Falls, but they are too high for boats to go over the jump,  这些瀑布远没有尼亚加拉瀑布那么高，但是船只却无法直接从上面开下去，

so men had to build canals with locks around the falls to lower boats down and raise them up from one lake to the other. 于是人们只好在瀑布附近开凿运河，河里有船闸，这样船只就可以在大湖之间上下来往了。

As there are so many boats that want to go down and up, one canal was not enough to take care of all the boats that wanted to go round the falls, 那里有很多的船只要往返穿梭，一条运河远远不够，

so men have built five canals round St. Mary’s Jump. St. Mary’s Jump in French is Sault Ste. Marie, and as this is so difficult to say, 人们在圣玛丽急流瀑布附近一共修建了五条运河。圣玛丽急流瀑布在法语中叫做“苏圣玛里”，很不好念， 

people simply call the falls Soo, the river Soo, and the canals Soo too. 人们干脆就叫这些瀑布“苏”，叫这条河“苏”，也叫运河“苏”。

Some of the boats on the Great Lakes are as big and fine as those on the ocean; and they have to be, for the Great Lakes are like small oceans. 五大湖上的有些船像海洋上的船那样巨大壮观；这也是航行的需要，因为五大湖就像是小型的海洋。

 When you are out, far out, you cannot see land, and at times there are high waves and storms, just as at sea.  当你离岸远去，就看不见陆地了，湖上时有暴风雨，波涛汹涌，就像在海上一样。

The chief difference is that the water in the lakes is fresh, not salt.  主要的区别就是湖水是淡水，海水则是咸水。

1 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

2 puddles   

n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The puddles had coalesced into a small stream. 地面上水洼子里的水汇流成了一条小溪。
• The road was filled with puddles from the rain. 雨后路面到处是一坑坑的积水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 tread   

vi.踩；行走；vt.踩烂（出）；n.胎面，脚步声

参考例句：

• A policeman walked by with a slow,measured tread.一名警察迈着小心的步子慢慢走过。
• We heard father's tread on the steps.我们听到台阶上父亲的脚步声。

4 gigantic   

adj.巨大的，巨人似的

参考例句：

• He has a gigantic appetite and eats gigantic meals.他有很大的食量，能吃很多的食物。
• The earth may be thought of as a gigantic magnet.整个地球可以想像为一块硕大无朋的磁石。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 trickled   

v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Blood trickled down his face. 血从他脸上一滴滴流下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tears trickled down her cheeks. 热泪一滴滴从她脸颊上滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。