第7章　“瑪麗之地”“弗吉妮亞之州”和“賓的森林”

你們有沒有過用陀螺換彈珠，或者用蘋果換橙子的經歷呢？在什么華盛頓、什么合眾國都還沒有出現的很久以前，流經如今華盛頓的那條河流兩岸，曾經生活著許多的印第安商人。那些印第安人劃著獨木舟在河上來去，與其他印第安人進行貿易，就是用自己已有的東西，換取他們想要的東西，比如用珠子換取毛皮，用弓換箭，以玉米換取土豆。在印第安語里，“商人”稱為“波托馬克”，因此后來我們便用這些印第安商人的名稱，將那條河稱為“波托馬克河”。波托馬克河隔開了兩個具有姑娘名字的州，即馬里蘭州和弗吉尼亞州。那兩個州，是以兩位女王的名字來命名的。波托馬克河沿岸的印第安人，劃著他們的獨木舟沿河而下，最終來到了一片寬闊得多的水域。那片水域非常廣袤，在他們看來就像是大海似的，因此，他們便把這片水域稱為“百川之母”，在印第安語里，就叫“切薩皮克”。你們可以在地圖上看到這個地方。其實，切薩皮克灣并不是海洋，而是美國境內最大的一個海灣。

你們有沒有吃過蝸牛、水龜或者青蛙腿呢？有些人可喜歡吃這些東西了。印第安人發現切薩皮克灣里出產牡蠣。起初，沒有人想過要去吃牡蠣，因為那種東西看上去并不好吃。可后來有一天，一位饑腸轆轆的印第安人打開了一只牡蠣殼，吃掉了里面的牡蠣肉。牡蠣肉的味道很鮮美，也沒有給他帶來什么不適，所以其他人便

in other parts of the World too, but many people say that those in the Chesapeake Bay are the largest and best, but they are not supposed to be good unless they are eaten during the eight months that have an R in their names. They are good in March but not in June.

Near“the Mother of Waters”are two cities. One is named Annapolis.The other is named Baltimore.Annapolis means Anna's City, and it too was named after a queen.That makes three places—Anna's City, Mary's Land, and Virginia's State—named after queens.Annapolis is the capital of the State of Maryland, just as Washington is the capital of all the States.At Annapolis the United States has a school for teaching boys to be sailors and fit to fight the sea battles of the United States if the country should ever have any.This school is called the Naval Academy.Some of the best boys chosen from each State in the United States go to Annapolis.They study all about boats and fighting and about geography；they visit other countries and learn to command ships.

Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland. It was named after an English lord.The first railroad in our country started in Baltimore, and as it ran from Baltimore to the State of Ohio, it was called the Baltimore&Ohio, or the B.&O.for short.Baltimore is famous for the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital.Boys come from all over the World to study at the“Hopkins，”and people come from all over the World to be treated at the“Hopkins Hospital.”

A man named Penn once owned the State just north of Maryland. It was then all woods, so it was called Pennsylvania, which means Penn's Woods.But ages before Penn's Woods

開始跟著吃牡蠣了。如今，無論是生吃還是煮熟了，幾乎每個人都很喜歡吃牡蠣了呢。雖說世界上其他一些地方也出產牡蠣，可許多人都說，切薩皮克灣里出產的牡蠣個頭最大、質量最為上乘，不過人們也認為，只有在含有英文字母“R”的那八個月份里，這兒的牡蠣吃起來才口味最佳。比如說，在三月份（March）吃口味上乘，但若是在六月份（June）吃，口味就不好了。

距“百川之母”不遠的地方，有兩座城市。其中一座叫作安那波利斯，另一座叫作巴爾的摩。“安那波利斯”指的就是“安娜之城”，也是根據一位女王的名字命名的。因此，美國總共有三個地方，即“安娜之城”、“瑪麗之地”和“弗吉妮亞之州”，都是以女王的名字命名的。安那波利斯是馬里蘭州的首府，就像華盛頓是合眾國的首都一樣。在安那波利斯，美國有一所學校，專門將男孩子培訓成能打海戰的水兵，以備美國爆發海戰時所需。這所學校，叫作海軍學院。美國各州都會選拔出一些最優秀的男孩子，并把他們送到安那波利斯的海軍學院里去深造。他們會全面學習艦船、作戰和地理方面的知識，他們會出訪其他的國家，并且學會指揮戰艦。

巴爾的摩是馬里蘭州最大的城市。它是以一位英國貴族的名字來命名的。我國的第一條鐵路，就是在巴爾的摩興修起來的。由于它從巴爾的摩通往俄亥俄州，因

other woods were there—huge forests of trees and giant plants growing high and thick and fast. More ages passed and these forests died and became buried and mashed down under the ground and turned into black rock.More ages passed and men dug up this black rock, and by accident they found that unlike other rock this rock would burn.Of course it would burn, because, as we know now, it was really only hardened wood—which we call coal.

There are two kinds of coal. One is called hard and the other is called soft.Soft coal doesn't mean soft like a cushion；it means it crumbles easily.Hard coal is the best；soft coal is dirtier and smokier, but is a great deal cheaper.Why is it that the best things almost always cost the most?In the eastern part of Pennsylvania the coal that comes out of the ground is hard；in the western part it is soft.

Hundreds of thousands of men, called miners, work underneath the ground, where it is like night all day long, digging out the coal to run steam-engines and to heat our houses. They have been digging away for years and years, so that there are huge hollow places underneath parts of Pennsylvania.

Coal is in layers underneath the ground and between layers of rock like the chocolate in a chocolate layer-cake. But there are also iron mines in Pennsylvania, and iron is not in layers；it is all mixed through the rock under the ground and is called ore.To get the iron out of the ore, men build huge fires under the ore and the iron melts and runs out, like water, into troughs which they make in the ground to catch it.When the iron cools, the blocks of iron are called“pigs”—perhaps because they are about the size of pigs—or

此被稱為“巴爾的摩—俄亥俄鐵路”，或者簡稱“巴—俄鐵路”。巴爾的摩還因為該市有約翰·霍普金斯大學和約翰·霍普金斯醫院而著稱。世界各地都有孩子來到“霍普金斯大學”就學，而世界各地也都有病人來到“霍普金斯醫院”接受治療。

馬里蘭州北部的那個州，原本為一個叫作“賓”的人所有。當時，那里全都是森林，因此被稱為“賓夕法尼亞”，意思就是“賓的森林”。不過，在“賓的森林”出現的很久以前，那里就有其他的森林了，并且面積廣袤，各種樹木和巨型植物都高大、茂密且生長迅速。過了許多年之后，那些森林都枯死了，并且被埋到了地下，擠壓成了黑色的巖層。又過了許多年后，人們挖掘出了這種黑色的巖層，并且在無意中發現，與其他巖層不同，這種巖石竟然能夠燃燒。它們當然能夠燃燒啦，因為如今我們都知道，它們實際上不過是硬化了的木材罷了，我們稱之為“煤炭”。

煤炭分為兩種。其中一種叫作硬煤，另一種叫作軟煤。“軟煤”可并不是指這種煤炭像墊子那樣柔軟，而是指它們很容易粉碎。硬煤的品質最佳，軟煤非但比較臟，而且燃燒后產生的煙霧也較多，但它比硬煤要便宜得多。為什么品質最好的東西，費用幾乎總是最昂貴呢？賓夕法尼亞東部地區出產的是硬煤，而西部地區出產的則是軟煤。

有成千上萬個叫作“礦工”的人，都在暗無天日的地下工作，將煤炭開采出來，供蒸汽發動機運行，以及為我們的房子供暖。他們已經年復一年地開采了很久的時間，因此賓夕法尼亞州的部分地區下面，全都留下了一個個巨大的空洞。

煤炭是一層一層地分布在地下巖層之間的，就像多層巧克力蛋糕上的那一層層

perhaps because a pig goes into a trough.

To get iron out of iron ore you must have heat, and to have heat you must have something to make heat with, like coal. Some places have iron ore but no coal, and some places have coal but no iron.It is as if some boys who wanted to play baseball had a ball but no bat, and some other boys had a bat but no ball.But Pittsburgh, in the western part of Pennsylvania, had both iron and coal near-by.That is like boys who have both a hat and a ball.From the ore they make iron, and from the iron they make steel, and from the steel they make rails for railroad tracks and beams for tall buildings and bridges to cross rivers.

A name that is in the Bible is the name of a city, Philadelphia. It means the City of Brotherly Love.This name was'chosen to give to the largest city in Pennsylvania, in fact, the third largest city in all the United States, but I don't know whether it suits or not.Philadelphia was the capital of the United States before there was any Washington, D.C.，but now it isn't even the capital of its own State.Here in an old building, called Independence Hall, is the bell that rang

巧克力一樣。不過，賓夕法尼亞州也儲有鐵礦，而鐵礦卻不是成層分布的，鐵礦與地下的巖石全都混雜在一起，這種巖石就稱為鐵礦石。為了從礦石中開采出鐵礦，人們在礦石下生起大火，使得鐵礦石熔化，然后像水一樣流淌出來，流進人們在地上建造的、用于接住鐵水的那種槽子里。鐵水冷卻后形成的鐵塊，被稱為“生鐵錠”；之所以如此稱呼，或許是因為它們的形狀與豬差不多，或許是因為豬喜歡跑到飼料槽子里去的緣故吧。

要想從鐵礦石里提煉出鐵來，必須對鐵礦石加熱才行，而要想加熱鐵礦石，就必須有某種能夠產生熱量的東西，比如煤炭才行。有些地方儲有鐵礦石，卻沒有煤炭；有些地方儲有煤炭，卻沒有鐵礦石。這就好比是一個想要打板球的孩子有球卻沒有球棒，而其他孩子則是有球棒卻沒有球一樣。不過，位于賓夕法尼亞州西部的匹茲堡卻既儲有鐵礦，附近地區也出產煤炭。這就好比是那些既有球棒、又有球的孩子了。

人們從鐵礦石中開采出鐵，然后將鐵提煉成鋼，再用鋼材制造出鐵路所用的鐵軌、高樓大廈里的梁桁，以及橫跨河流的橋梁來。

out the news when the United States was first made a country. It is now cracked, so will not ring any more, but is more treasured than any bell in the United States that can ring.

The biggest bathtub in the World is not far from Philadelphia. It is an ocean bath called Atlantic City, on the coast of New Jersey.People from all over the World go there to take salt baths and sun baths and to be amused.There is a boardwalk miles long and as wide as a street close by the ocean, and along its side is every kind of thing to amuse you and your“stummick.”If you want to see a board“walk，”go to Atlantic City.

費城這個城市的名稱，來自《圣經》。它的意思就是指“兄弟友愛之城”。人們選擇了這個名稱，來給賓夕法尼亞州最大的、實際上也屬于全美第三大的這座城市命名，可我不知道，這樣做合不合適。在哥倫比亞特區的華盛頓出現之前，費城曾經是美國的首都，而如今，這里連本州的首府也不是了。費城有一棟叫作“獨立大廳”的舊樓，正是里面的一座大鐘敲響，宣告了合眾國最初建國的消息。雖說這座大鐘如今已經開裂，因而沒法再敲響了，可它比美國現存的、任何一座能夠敲響的大鐘，卻都要寶貴哩。

世界上最大的浴場，位于距費城不遠的地方。那是一個海上浴場，叫作“大西洋城”，就在新澤西州的海濱。世界各地的人紛紛來到這里，享受鹽浴、日光浴以及休閑娛樂。離海邊很近的地方，有一條長達數英里、并且像街道那樣寬闊的木板路，兩側全都是各種各樣、讓你們覺得有意思并且能夠讓你們“大快朵頤”的東西。如果你們想要看到一塊會“走路”的木板，那就去大西洋城吧。