A man may pay millions of dollars to have a hospital, a library,  一个人也许要花上几百万美元才能让一家医院、一个图书馆

or a museum named after him, and another who has paid nothing, done nothing, deserved nothing,  或者一个博物馆以他的名字命名，但是有个人却没花一分钱， 没做任何事，没有任何功劳，

and asked nothing has two of the biggest things in the World—the two continents North and South America—named after him,  也没提出任何要求，却让世界上两个 最大的东西——北美和南美两块大陆——以他的名字命名， 叫亚美利加，

and people will go on forever calling them America after him—an unimportant, almost unknown man named Amerigo. 而且人们会永远这样叫下去，这个微不足道的人，名叫亚美利哥。

Do you know the song that begins, My Country, Tis of Thee?  你知道那首歌吗？开头唱道：我的祖国，这属于你。

What do you mean by My Country?  你知道我的祖国指的是什么吗？

It is a part, the smaller part, of North America. 它是北美洲的一部分，较小的那一部分。 

Have you a buffalo nickel in your pocket—a 5-cent piece?  你口袋里有一枚水牛硬币吗？

If not, perhaps you can borrow one just to look at. 就是5分的硬币。没有的话你可以借一枚来看看。

On the head side is the picture of an Indian with feathers in his hair. 硬币的正面是一个头发上插着羽毛的印第安人的画像。

Why do you suppose our country has the picture of an Indian instead of a white man on the nickel?  你能猜出为什么我们国家硬币上的画像是印第安人，而不是白人吗？

On the tail side is the picture of a buffalo,  硬币的反面是一个水牛的画像。

why do you suppose our country has a picture of a buffalo on the nickel instead of a horse or a cow? 你想想为什么不是一匹马或者一头奶牛呢？

Well, long before there were any white men here at all, or any horses or cows,  原来，很久以前，这里根本没有白人、马或奶牛，

there were a great many Indians and a great many buffaloes in this country. 而是有很多很多的印第安人和许多许多的水牛。

Now there are very few Indians and very few buffaloes in America,  现在在美国，印第安人和水牛己经非常少了，

so these pictures on the nickel are to remind us that the Indian is the first American man and the buffalo is the first American animal. 因此硬币上的这些图像是提醒我们印第安人 是最早的美国人，水牛是最早的美国动物。

If you will look at the printing on the nickel you will see it says United States of America.  如果看一下硬币上的字，你会发现上面写着：美利坚合众国。

That's the full name of our country, but it is too long for us to say United States of America every time,  这是美国的全称，但是每次都说美利坚合众国就太长了，

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Have you ever seen a picture of a tall man with a suit of clothes that looked as if it had been made out of a flag, with red and white striped breeches,  你有没有看过这样一个人的图片？他个子高高的，穿着一套好像是用美国国旗做的衣服，红白条纹的马裤，

a long-tailed coat, and a tall hat with stars on it?  长长的燕尾服，戴着一顶满是星星的高帽子。

There never was such a man really, but he is supposed to be the picture of the United States. 实际上从来没有这样一个人，但是 他被认为是美国的化身。