第16章　最遙遠的西部（續(xù)）

出個謎語給大家來猜一猜吧。什么東西沒有腿，卻能跳得像華盛頓紀念碑那樣高呢？過一會兒，我再告訴你們答案。

俄勒岡州和華盛頓之間有一條河流，叫作哥倫比亞河，是用哥倫布的名字命名的。哥倫比亞河里有一種大型的魚類，叫作鮭魚。鮭魚原本生活在海洋的咸水當中，但母鮭魚要產(chǎn)籽的時候，卻會沿著哥倫比亞河逆流而上，到瀑布上游很遠的地方，去尋找水流平穩(wěn)、適合產(chǎn)籽的水域。母鮭魚又怎么能夠通過那些瀑布呢？告訴你們吧，它們都是跳上瀑布的。你們可能都很奇怪，沒有腿的魚兒怎么能夠跳躍，盡管這是一種很古怪的現(xiàn)象，可這種魚兒確實能夠跳躍呢。它們是先把尾巴彎成弓弦似的，然后猛地一彈，就上去了。鮭魚能夠跳得像華盛頓紀念碑那樣高啊。

“那些瀑布的落差都像華盛頓紀念碑那樣高嗎？”

“不，瀑布的落差都很低。”

“可您說的是鮭魚能夠跳得像華盛頓紀念碑那樣高啊。”

“鮭魚當然能夠，因為華盛頓紀念碑根本就跳不起來！”

數(shù)百萬條鮭魚聚集在一起，形成所謂的“群”，浩浩蕩蕩地在河中逆流而上。雖說漁夫會用漁網(wǎng)捕捉，但他們也會放過絕大部分鮭魚，好讓它們產(chǎn)下能夠孵出小鮭魚的魚子來。而小鮭魚出生后，又會在河中順流而下，進入海洋，并在那里their turn swim up the river, jump up the falls, and are either caught or left to raise more families of little salmon.Salmon meat is pink；we call it salmon color.It is packed in cans.You have probably eaten salmon from the Columbia River yourself.

The oldest fruit in the World is the apple. It is the fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden, but people believe the apple that Eve gave Adam was a very poor one compared to the apples that grow in the State of Washington.People in Washington, D.C.—all the way across the country—buy apples that have been shipped from Washington State—3，000 miles away—for they are so much better than ordinary apples.They are“skookum.”That's what the Indians of the Northwest call something very nice—whether it is a girl or an apple.

There are great forests in Washington and Oregon. The forest trees are cut down to make lumber for building houses；and the paper I am writing on was made from trees that grew in Oregon.How do I know that?When I hold the paper up to the light, there is printed in white—we call it a watermark—the word“Oregon.”

At the northwest corner of America is a large country that belongs to the United States and yet it is not a State. It is called a Territory.It is Alaska.The highest mountain in North America is there.It is called Mount McKinley.Alaska is so cold, so far off, and so hard to get to, and yet the United States bought it and paid millions of dollars for it, not because it had the highest

生活、長大，直到它們也準備產(chǎn)籽的時候，便輪到它們在河中逆流而上，跳上那些瀑布，然后要么被漁夫捕住，要么便是留下來產(chǎn)籽、孵出更多的小鮭魚來。鮭魚肉呈粉紅色，我們把這種顏色稱為“肉粉色”。鮭魚肉都是裝在罐頭里面的。你們很可能都吃過了哥倫比亞河出產(chǎn)的鮭魚呢。

世界上最古老的水果，就是蘋果。蘋果也就是生長在伊甸園里的那種水果，可人們認為，夏娃給亞當吃的那個蘋果，與華盛頓州出產(chǎn)的蘋果比起來，質(zhì)量卻低劣得很。位于美國東海岸華盛頓特區(qū)里的市民買到的蘋果，都是從三千英里以外的華盛頓州運來的，因為那里出產(chǎn)的蘋果與普通蘋果相比，品質(zhì)要優(yōu)良得多。它們都是“呱呱叫”。這個詞，是西北地區(qū)的印第安人用于形容某種非常不錯的東西的，他們無論形容的是一位姑娘還是一個蘋果，都是用這個詞。

華盛頓和俄勒岡兩個州，都被廣袤的森林覆蓋著。林中的樹木被人們砍伐下來，當成建筑房屋的木材，而我此時正在寫字的紙張，也是用俄勒岡出產(chǎn)的樹木制成的。不過，我又是怎么知道的呢？這是因為，如果把紙張舉起來，對著光線，我就能看到紙上印有白色的“俄勒岡”字樣，這種字樣，我們稱之為“水印”。

美洲的西北角上，有一大片土地，雖說那里也屬于美國，但它并不是一個州。這個地方，被稱為“準州”。這個準州，就是阿拉斯加。北美洲最高的山峰就位

mountain, but chiefly because of the fish in its waters and the fur on its animals, and then one day gold was discovered there.

Gold is a magic word. Again, as in the days of the Forty-niners, thousands of people, when they heard of the gold, left everything and, with nothing but shovels to dig the gold and sieves to strain it out of the water, started off to that far-away place, hoping to make their fortunes before the new year.Many foolishly went off with nothing to live on after they reached Alaska.They didn't seem to know that where the gold was to be found there was no food, nothing to eat, and no stores where one could buy food.Others, more wise, carried cans of food with them, and when the foolish gold-diggers had found gold, the wise ones sold them food for their gold.For a can of beans they often asked hundreds of times what it had cost, and the foolish gold-diggers had to pay it or starve, for they couldn't eat gold and they had to eat or die.So the wise ones came back with the gold which the foolish ones had dug, and the foolish ones were lucky to get back at all.

In the parts of Alaska where fish can be caught for food, Indians live in small villages. In the center of each village they put up a tall pole carved and painted in the forms of birds and animals with big ugly faces.These are called Totem Poles.Each tribe or family has some bird or

于這里，叫作“麥金利山”。雖說阿拉斯加的氣候非常寒冷，距美國本土又那么遙遠，那么難以到達，可美國還是支付了數(shù)百萬美元，買下了此地，這并不是因為此地有一座最高的山峰，而主要是因為美國希望獲得阿拉斯加周邊水域里的出產(chǎn)的魚類和那里的動物皮毛。而接下來，有一天人們又在那里發(fā)現(xiàn)了黃金。

黃金可是一種咒語。就像“四九年人”所處的那個時代一樣，一旦聽說阿拉斯加發(fā)現(xiàn)了黃金，便又有成千上萬的人拋下一切，除了挖掘黃金的鏟子、用于把黃金從水中淘出來的篩子之外，什么也不帶，開始前往這個遙遠的地方，希望在新年到來之前發(fā)上一筆大財。很多人還非常可笑，連生活用具都沒有帶，就抵達了阿拉斯加。他們似乎并不知道，發(fā)現(xiàn)黃金的那個地方既沒有糧食，沒有吃的東西，也沒有可以買到食物的商店。還有一些人卻比較聰明，隨身帶著罐頭食品，因此，當那些可笑的淘金者找到黃金后，這些聰明人就開始用食物換取黃金了。一罐豆子，他們的要價通常都是正常售價的成百上千倍，那些愚蠢的淘金者卻不得不用黃金來購買，否則他們就會挨餓，因為他們既不能吃黃金，又必須吃東西才行，不然就會餓死。因此，最終聰明人便帶著愚蠢者淘來的黃金滿載而歸，那些愚蠢的人能夠回去，就已經(jīng)是很幸運的了！

在阿拉斯加那些能夠捕魚為食的地方，土著印第安人都聚居在一些小型的村莊里。他們在每個村莊的中央部位，印第安人都會立起一根高高的木桿，上面雕刻或者繪制著許多丑陋的鳥形或獸形大面具。這種木桿，叫作“圖騰柱”。每個部落或者家族，都把某種鳥兒或獸類當成自己的吉祥物，比如鷹或者熊，就像大家可能animal such as an eagle or a bear for its mascot, as you might call your club“the Lions”or“the Owls，”and the Totem Pole is the tribe’s sign.

If you should suddenly see at night the whole northern sky hung with curtains of fire and ablaze with flashing flames shooting from the ground far up into the heavens, you might think, as I did the first time I saw it when a boy, that the World was coming to an end. It looked as if the World were on fire and were about to explode.This amazing sight is called the Aurora Borealis or Northern Light, and it may be seen often in Alaska and sometimes, though perhaps only once or twice in a lifetime, much farther south.It is a terrifying sight to those who have never seen or even heard of such a thing before, and yet the Aurora Borealis does no more harm than a beautiful sunset or a rainbow in the sky.

What causes the Aurora Borealis?That's a hard question to answer. Electricity has something to do with it and so have sun spots.Have you ever heard of sun spots?Sometimes a dark spot will appear on the sun and move slowly across it.You can't see sun spots because the sun is much too bright to be stared at.But men who look through telescopes with darkened glass to protect their eyes can see these spots and they can photograph them with special cameras.After a sun spot appears on the sun there is usually a very bright Aurora Borealis.

That's all I can tell you. A little girl once asked，“What is a thought made of?”That's a hard question to answer too.

把你們的俱樂部叫作“雄獅俱樂部”或者“貓頭鷹俱樂部”一樣，而“圖騰柱”，就是每個部落的標志。

假如哪一天晚上，你們突然看到北方的天空中騰起一道火簾，熊熊燃燒著的火舌從地面高高地噴向空中，那你們可能會認為，世界末日到了，我小時候第一次見到那種情景后，曾經(jīng)也是這樣以為的呢。那種情形，就像是地球失了火，馬上要爆炸了似的。這種令人詫異的景象，叫作“北極光”，阿拉斯加經(jīng)常能夠看到北極光，有的時候更往南的地方也能看到，只是比較罕見，一生中也就一兩次罷了。對于那些以前從未見過、也從未聽說過這種東西的人來說，北極光可是一種非常恐怖的現(xiàn)象，不過，就像美麗的日落或者空中的彩虹那樣，北極光也不會給世人帶來什么危害。

北極光是怎樣形成的呢？這個問題可不容易回答。電與它有關(guān)，而太陽黑子也是如此。你們有沒有聽說過，什么是太陽黑子呢？這是指，有的時候，太陽表面會出現(xiàn)一個黑色的斑點，并且緩慢地從太陽表面一側(cè)移動到另一側(cè)的現(xiàn)象。大家用肉眼是看不到太陽黑子的，因為太陽太過明亮，沒法直視。不過，人們通過裝有能夠保護眼睛的深色玻璃的望遠鏡，卻能觀看到這些斑點，并且用特殊的相機拍下來。每當太陽上出現(xiàn)黑子后，通常隨后就會出現(xiàn)非常明亮的北極光。

我能告訴你們的，就只有這些了。一個小姑娘曾經(jīng)問我說：“思想是由什么組成的呢？”這也是一個不易回答的問題啊。