第9章　揚基人之地

一雙鞋子、一頂帽子或者一輛汽車，要是用了一年之后，我們就不能再說它們是“新的”了，不過，我國有一個角落，雖說已經有三百多年的歷史了，可如今我們卻仍然說它是“新的”。大約三百年前，人們從英國漂洋過海，來到了合眾國的東北角，并在那里定居下來。于是，我們便把這些人定居的地方，即紐約以北的那六個州，稱為“新英格蘭地區(qū)”。當地的印第安人本想稱呼這些白人為“英國人”，可他們卻發(fā)不準音，充其量只能說出“英基人”或者“揚基人”來，這就好比是一個想要叫“哥哥”的孩子，喊出來的卻有可能是“柯柯”一樣。因此，如今我們仍然將新英格蘭地區(qū)的人稱為“揚基人”呢。我們可以將新英格蘭地區(qū)的那六個州，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)裝進西部幾個州中的任意一個里，不過，盡管新英格蘭地區(qū)的這幾個州面積很小，可它們在其他許多方面卻都很了不起。

新英格蘭地區(qū)最大和最重要的城市，就是波士頓，它是用英國一個小鎮(zhèn)的名稱來命名的。許多人都把波士頓稱為“輪轂”，他們這樣叫，意思就是說，整個世界都是在圍繞著波士頓運轉哩。因為你們都知道，輪轂就是一個輪子的中心，輪子的其余部分都是繞著輪轂在轉動。當然，整個世界實際上是繞著北極和南極運轉的，南、北極才是世界真正的“輪轂”，因此，人們說世界繞著波士頓運轉時，其實只是在開玩笑罷了。

it also is very rocky, so rocky that men make their fences of stones gathered off the fields. The cold and the rocks make it very hard to grow things there, but there are many, many waterfalls in New England, and waterfalls can be used to turn the wheels of factories to make things, so what people chiefly do in New England is to make things for the rest of the United States—thousands of different kinds of things—not big things such as railroad tracks and bridges that they make in Pittsburgh, but small things for a person's use, such as needles and pins, watches and clocks, boots and shoes.If the wheels of the factories are turned by waterfalls they are called mills.Nowadays, most of the waterfalls are used to make electricity, and the electricity is used to run the machinery, but the factories are still called“mills.”

When I was a boy my idea of perfect happiness was to go barefoot. In some countries rich and poor alike go barefoot all the time, but in America almost every one wears shoes all the time.One of the chief things they make in these New England mills is shoes.In New England they make enough shoes for every pair of feet in the United States.Shoes wear out, so we can understand why the mills should keep on, year after year, making so many shoes.But in one of the States—the one with the Indian name, Connecticut—they make pins—enough for every man, woman and child in the United States to use 100 every year.What becomes of so many pins, do you suppose?They don't wear out like shoes, and yet they disappear—billions of pins every year.

And clocks and watches—they make millions of them too, though one clock or one

地上多石和天氣寒冷，都是不利于種莊稼的。新英格蘭地區(qū)的冬季非常寒冷，而且那里還到處是石頭，以至于人們都可以用從地里撿來的石頭砌圍墻。寒冷與多石，使得這里很難種出莊稼來。不過，新英格蘭地區(qū)卻有許多、許多的瀑布，而人們則可以利用瀑布去驅動工廠里的機器輪子，來制造產品。因此，新英格蘭地區(qū)的人從事的主要業(yè)務，便是為美國的其他地區(qū)制造產品，生產出成千上萬種不同的東西來。這些產品，可不是像人們在匹茲堡制造的鐵軌、橋梁那樣的大型產品，而是個人所用的小型產品，比如縫衣針和別針、鐘表和鞋靴等。如果工廠里的輪子是由瀑布驅動的，那么這種工廠就叫“磨坊”。如今，雖說絕大多數瀑布都被用于發(fā)電，然后再用電力去驅動工廠里的機械設備，可這些工廠仍然被人們稱為“磨坊”呢。

小時候我曾經覺得，最幸福的事情莫過于光著腳丫走路了。在有些國家里，富人和窮人一樣，始終都是光著腳丫的，可在美國呢，幾乎所有的人始終都穿著鞋子。新英格蘭地區(qū)這些工廠里生產的一種主要產品，就是鞋子。新英格蘭地區(qū)生產出了足夠全美國所有人穿的鞋子。鞋子會磨損，因此我們也就可以理解，為什么那些工廠能夠存在下去，并且年復一年，生產出如此之多的鞋子來。但是，有一個州，即也有個印第安名稱的康涅狄格州，生產的別針卻足夠讓全美國的每個男人、女人和孩子每年都用上一百根呢。你們覺得，那么多的別針最后都怎么樣了呢？雖說它們可不像鞋子那樣會磨破，但最終還是消失不見了，因此，美國每年都要耗費數十億根別針呢。

watch should last a person a lifetime—little watches for the wrist and little clocks for mantelpieces and big clocks for clock towers.

And spools of thread—enough thread is made in one mill in a single day to wind round the World—that is, over twenty-five thousand miles of thread in one mill in one day！

Where do you spend your vacation?Do you go to the seashore, to the mountains, or“down on a farm”?New England is the vacation land of many people from other parts of the country, because there are so many lakes, waterfalls, and beautiful spots for camps, streams for fishing, and in the Maine woods places for hunting deer and moose. In New Hampshire there are mountains called the White Mountains, and one of these White Mountains, named after our First President, is Mount Washington.It is the highest mountain in this part of the country, and just because it is so high many people like to climb it.Some people are like that.In Vermont, which means“green mountain，”there are the Green Mountains, not as high as the White Mountains, but very lovely.All along the New England coast are places where people go to spend the summer, because this part of the country is so cool while the rest of the country is so hot.

還有鐘表。這些工廠也生產出了成千上萬塊鐘表，盡管一只鐘表其實可以讓一個人戴上一輩子，還有小型的腕表、置于壁爐架上的小鐘，以及用于鐘樓上的大鐘。

還有一軸軸的線團。一家工廠里一天生產出來的線，就足以繞地球一周，也就是說，一家工廠一天就能生產出長度超過兩萬五千英里的線來！

大家一般都去哪里度假呢？你們是會去海濱、去山區(qū)，還是會“下放到農場”里去呢？新英格蘭可是美國其他地區(qū)許多人的度假勝地，因為那里有大量的湖泊、瀑布，以及適合于野營的美麗景點、適合于垂釣的溪流。而在緬因州的森林里，還有許多適合于狩獵鹿和駝鹿的地方。在新罕布什爾州，有一道叫作“白山”的山脈，其中有一座山峰，還是以美國第一任總統(tǒng)的名字命名的，叫作“華盛頓山”。華盛頓山是美國這一地區(qū)最高的一座山峰，而恰恰是因為它高高聳立，所以許多人都喜歡去攀登。有些人就是那樣的。在意思是指“綠色山脈”的佛蒙特州，有一條綠色的山脈，雖說它并沒有白山山脈那樣高聳，景色卻極其美麗。整個新英格蘭地區(qū)的沿海，都遍布著人們的避暑勝地，因為美國其他地區(qū)非常炎熱的時候，這個地

But the thing that New England is proudest of is its schools and colleges. In their mills they make Things, in their schools and colleges they make Men.Two of the most noted colleges in the country are in New England—Yale is in Connecticut and Harvard is in Massachusetts.Harvard is the oldest college in the United States.

Sticking out from Massachusetts like a long, bent finger, as if beckoning to people across the water to come to Massachusetts, is a piece of land called Cape Cod. It was named in honor of the codfish, because codfish are so plentiful in those waters, and they are caught and dried in great quantities and shipped everywhere.

The finger of Cape Cod has beckoned to people of other lands than England. People who speak strange languages have come to New England to work in factories and mills, so that now almost one quarter of the people in New England are not from England；they are not Yankees.

區(qū)卻非常涼爽。

不過，新英格蘭地區(qū)最值得驕傲的一個方面，卻還是這一地區(qū)的學校和大學。這個地區(qū)的工廠里生產物品，而這個地區(qū)的學校和大學卻是出產人才。美國最著名的兩所大學，都位于新英格蘭地區(qū)，它們就是位于康涅狄格州的耶魯大學，以及位于馬薩諸塞州的哈佛大學。哈佛也是美國歷史最悠久的一所大學。

從馬薩諸塞州伸出來，就像一根長長的、彎曲著的手指，仿佛是在召喚人們漂洋過海到馬薩諸塞州來的那片土地，叫作“科德角”。之所以叫這個名稱，是為了紀念鱈魚，因為那里的海洋中盛產鱈魚。人們將鱈魚捕撈起來后大批量曬干，然后再運送到各個地方去。

手指狀的科德角，不但召來了英國人，還吸引著其他國家的許多人都來到了此處。一些說著陌生語言的人都來到新英格蘭地區(qū)，在工廠里面工作，因此，如今新英格蘭地區(qū)差不多有四分之一的人并非來自英國，自然，他們也不是揚基人了。