第8章　帝國之州

好幾個國家合并起來之后，就稱為一個“帝國”。紐約州通常被人們稱為“帝國之州”，因為這個州人口眾多，他們所從事的生意、賺到的錢財，都有好幾個國家合起來那么多。

紐約州的南部一角，便是紐約市，它是世界上的第二大城市，其中的商店、旅館、人口、財產，比西半球上其他任何一座城市都要多，而其中的高樓大廈，也超過了全世界其他任何一座城市。它是用大洋彼岸的一座叫作“約克”的城市來命名的，可如今的“新約克”，即紐約市，卻要比舊的約克市大上了數百倍呢。這是一座既有許多百萬富翁，也有數百萬普通民眾的城市。世界各地的人都紛紛來到紐約，希望自己也在這里變成一位百萬富翁。有些人曾經以為，紐約市的街道上全都鋪著黃金，因此待到發現該市的街道不過就是柏油路之后，他們都大失所望呢。

紐約市的主城位于一座小島上，印第安人稱這個小島為“曼哈頓島”。后來，白人從印第安人手中買下了這個小島，當時，白人只花了大約二十四美元，就買下了整個島嶼。當然，白人支付的并不是現金，而是價值二十四美元的珠子和裝飾品，因為印第安人那時還不知錢為何物。如今，一處巴掌大小、僅能供人站立的地塊，價錢也會比當時整座小島的價錢貴上許多、許多倍了呢。對于一小塊土地來說，這似乎已經是一種高價了，可一塊土地，卻并不像一張沒有厚度的紙張。地塊

owns everything above and below the ground—down to the center of the earth and up to the sky. That is why men in New York build buildings up to the sky—“sky-scrapers”we call them—for a fifty-story building takes up no more land than a one-story building.

To me there is nothing in the World made by the hand of man more wonderful than New York's giant buildings. They are marvelous, magnificent, awe-inspiring, stupendous, amazing, overpowering, thrilling, Brobdingnagian.Have you read“Gulliver's Travels”?Brobdingnag was the land of the giants.They stand unmoved by thunder and lightning, by wind, storm, or tempest, and they look down on their creators—mites of men who, with their hands of only five fingers, have built them.New York's motto is“Excelsior，”which means“Higher”，and that is the motto of its builders.There is a saying，“Great oaks from little acorns grow，”and one of the greatest of these buildings—sixty stories high—was built from the nickels and dimes made by Woolworth's Five and Ten Cent Stores.The most marvelous building of all is called the Empire State Building.It is one hundred and two stories high, taller than any other building in New York City, or in America, or in the whole World.

One group of high buildings in New York might be called the capitol of the World. After

所有者擁有地上和地下的一切，下至地心、上至蒼穹，一切都是地塊所有者的。紐約市的人之所以會修建高聳入云的大樓（我們稱這種大樓為“摩天大樓”），原因就在于，一棟五十層高的大樓所需的土地面積，并不比一棟一層樓的建筑多。

在我看來，人類在世界上手工建造出來的東西，沒有什么比紐約的這些高樓大廈更加奇妙的了。它們神奇非凡、宏偉壯麗、令人驚嘆、巨大無比、令人稱奇、令人無法抗拒、令人激動，一座座都像巨人國里的巨人似的，聳立在那里。你們有沒有看過《格列佛游記》這本書呢？這本書里提到的巨人國，就是一個巨人的國度。這些高樓大廈屹立在那里，不為雷鳴電閃和狂風暴雨所動，高高地俯瞰著下面的人們，正是那些小如蟲蟻的人，用自己那雙只有五個指頭的手，建造了這些高樓大廈。紐約市的座右銘是“不斷向上”，意思就是“追求更高”，而這也正是修建那些高樓大廈的人的座右銘。有一句諺語說得好：“參天橡樹，也是從小小橡果長成的。”而那些最了不起的建筑中，有一座高達六十層，竟然都是用伍爾沃斯公司“五分和一角商店”里所用的那種分幣和角幣湊起來建成的呢。其中最令人稱奇的一棟大樓，叫作帝國大廈。它有一百零二層樓高，曾經比紐約市、全美國乃至整個世界上的其他大樓都要高。

紐約有一組高樓群，堪稱整個世界的國會大廈。第二次世界大戰結束之后，世界上的絕大多數國家都希望找到某種途徑，來避免爆發第三次世界大戰。這些國家

World War II most of the countries of the World wanted to find some way of keeping a third World War from happening. These countries each sent men to meet together as our States send men to Congress.At their meetings they discuss matters that are of interest to all the countries of the World.When any country quarrels with another these people try to have them settle their quarrel without fighting.This congress is called the United Nations.The United Nations decided that New York City would be the best place to have its meetings and carry on its business.So there it built its offices.When the buildings were dedicated, or solemnly set apart for United Nations use, the speeches were broadcast in twenty-six different languages.

At a meeting of the United Nations each speaker speaks in his own language, yet he can be understood by all the other people there, for everyone wears earphones and hears a translation of the speech in the language he understands. Of course the people who do the translation must know two languages, for they have to listen in one language and speak into a microphone in another language.What they speak into the microphones is what is heard in the earphones.Millions of other people watch the United Nations meetings on television.

On a little island in New York Harbor is a huge bronze statue called the Goddess of Liberty holding aloft a torch-light. Her hand is over sixteen feet long.What a hand to shake！One finger is eight feet long.What a finger for a ring！Her nose is four and one-half feet long.What a nose for smelling！Her mouth is a yard wide.What a mouth for talking！

便各自派出代表來舉行會議，就像我國各州派出代表參加國會那樣。在會議上，他們將對關乎世界上所有國家的重大問題展開討論。如果一個國家與另一個國家發生了沖突，那么這些代表就會想方設法，盡量讓兩國不要開戰便解決分歧。這個“國會”，就叫“聯合國”。聯合國認為，紐約是一個最適合于舉行聯合國大會、行使聯合國職能的地方，于是便把辦公室建在這里。這組樓群專門撥給（或者說正式交付）聯合國使用之后，代表們在聯合國大會上的發言，便用二十六種不同的語言進行廣播了。

在聯合國大會上，每位發言者說的都是本國的語言，可與會的其他代表全都聽得懂，因為每位代表都會戴上耳機，聽到用他們聽得懂的語言所翻譯出來的發言。自然，那些從事翻譯工作的人必須懂得兩種語言才行，因為他們必須聽一種語言，然后再對著麥克風說另一種語言。他們對著麥克風所說的內容，也就是代表們在耳機中聽到的內容。還有其他數百萬的人，都是通過電視收看聯合國大會呢。

紐約港內的一個小島上，有一尊巨大的青銅雕塑，叫作“自由女神像”，女神手里高舉著一個火炬。她的手掌就有十六英尺長。這樣的一只手，叫人怎么去握呀！其中一根手指就長達八英尺。要是戴上戒指的話，那個戒指得有多大呀！雕像的鼻子，有四英尺半長。用這么大的鼻子來聞氣味，該有多神奇呀！雕像的嘴有一碼寬。這張嘴巴說起話來，該有多響亮呀！你們可以從雕像內部爬到女神的腦袋

You can climb up on the inside into the Goddess's head and arm, and a dozen people can stand inside her torch. Ships pass by her, and their passengers crowding the deck greet her with a thrill of“My Country，'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty，”and wave her farewell as they leave for afar, perhaps never to return.

On one side of Manhattan Island is the Hudson River and on the other side is the East River. A bridge was built across the East River by stretching ropes made of steel from one side of the river to the other and hanging the floor of the bridge from these steel ropes.This is called a suspension bridge.It is called the Brooklyn Bridge because at the other end of it on Long Island is another big city called Brooklyn.Brooklyn is now a part of New York City.Such bridges had been built over small streams before, but this was the first big, long bridge built in this way.It is suspended in the air so high above the water that even the greatest ships easily pass beneath it.

At first people were afraid to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, for, said they，“A bridge hung on ropes, even if made of steel, will fall.”It swayed and shook as trucks and cars rumbled over it, and it still does—but still hangs. Several other bridges have been built over the East River and the Hudson River to New York City.Also, tunnels have been dug under the Hudson.The tunnels are called“Tubes”because they are like big tubes under the river.

和胳膊那里去，而雕像所舉的火炬里面，也可容納十二個人呢。船只從雕像旁邊經過，乘客們都擠到甲板上來對著她歡呼：“我的祖國，也屬于你，美妙的自由國度。”如果是離開美國去往遠方，或許永遠都不再返回時，乘客們就會揮手向雕像告別。

在曼哈頓島的一側，流淌著哈德遜河，而島的另一側，則是東河。東河上修建了一條跨河大橋，這座大橋，是將鋼索從河流的這一側拉到對岸，再用這些鋼索將橋面懸吊起來。這種橋梁，叫作懸索橋。這座大橋叫作“布魯克林大橋”，因為大橋那一端的長島上，還有一個叫作布魯克林的大城市。如今，布魯克林變成了紐約市的一個區。以前，人們在一些較小的河流上也修建過這種懸索橋，但布魯克林大橋卻是第一座用此種方法修建起來的大型長跨度懸索橋。它懸在空中，距水面很高，因此連最大的船只也能輕松地從橋下穿過去呢。

起初的時候，人們都很害怕，不敢跨過布魯克林大橋，他們都說：“用繩索懸掛的橋梁，哪怕用的是鋼索，也會垮掉的?！笨ㄜ嚭托∑嚱涍^大橋上面時，大橋會搖晃、震動，如今依然這樣，可大橋卻依然懸掛在那里。東河以及通往紐約市區的哈德遜河上，后來又修建了好幾座跨河大橋。而且，人們還在哈德遜河的下方修建了隧道。這些隧道被稱為“管道”，因為它們就像是河流下面的一條條巨大管道似的。

Two of the most famous streets in the World run the length of Manhattan Island and still farther north. One is named Broadway and the other Fifth Avenue.Broadway was at first only a short street, but it seemed very broad, so they called it that.Broadway, however, is now so long that it might better be called“Longway.”One part of it is lighted so brightly at night by thousands of electric lights and flashing electric signs that it is often called“The Great White Way.”Fifth Avenue is a famous street of once fashionable homes, and many of the finest and most expensive shops are there, so that Fifth Avenue has come to mean Fashion Avenue.The streets of New York are so crowded that most of the people travel from their homes to their work by trains that run in tunnels underground.These underground tunnels are called Subways.

In spite of the fact that land in New York City is worth more than any other land in the World, there are two big parks where city people may have a little country. Central Park is fifty blocks long and several blocks wide, and Bronx Park has a wonderful Zoo where there are strange and curious animals which hunters have brought alive from the jungles, mountains, deserts, and wildernesses of far-off lands.

A man from across the ocean once landed in New York and spent the day seeing the sights. Just before dinner he said he would like to drive

世界上最有名的兩條街道，都穿過了整個曼哈頓島，并且繼續向北延伸。其中一條叫作“百老匯”，而另一條則叫“第五大道”。百腦匯大街起初只是一條很短的小街，但看上去寬闊得很，因此人們便給它起了個“百老匯”的名字。然而，如今的百老匯大街卻已經變得很長，因此可能稱它為“長街”更合適了。其中有一段路，晚上燈火通明，數千盞電燈、閃爍的電子廣告牌相互競輝，因此還經常被人們稱為“大白路”呢。第五大道是一條曾經以時尚之家而著稱的街道，那里有許多最優秀、最昂貴的商店，因此后來第五大道也開始指“時尚大道”了。紐約市內的街道都非常擁擠，因此絕大多數人 都是乘坐在地下隧道里運行的列車上下班。這種地下的隧道列車，就叫地鐵。

盡管紐約市內的土地比世界上其他任何一個地方的土地都要值錢，但該市還是開辟了兩個大型的公園，從而讓城里人也可以感受到一點兒鄉村風情。中央公園有五十個街區那么長，幾個街區那么寬，而布朗克斯公園里還有一個奇妙的動物園，里面養著許多陌生而奇怪的動物，都是獵人們從遙遠國度的叢林里、山脈上、沙漠中和荒野處捕捉來的。

out and see Niagara Falls, which he had heard were the most wonderful falls in the World. When he was told that it would take all night on a fast train to get to Niagara, he couldn't understand.

“But isn't Niagara in New York?”he asked.

“Yes，”was the reply，“but not in New York City. Niagara is all the way across the State of New York.”

On the west edge of New York State are two great lakes with Indian names—Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Lake Erie on the map looks lower than Lake Ontario, but it really is much higher.So the water from Lake Erie falls over a high and broad cliff to reach Lake Ontario.This waterfall is called Niagara, and though there are other falls in the World higher and other falls broader, Niagara is the most beautiful and most famous, and people go from all over the World to see it.The roar of the water as it thunders over the edge can be heard for miles, and when the sun is shining there is always a rainbow in the spray that rises from the bottom of the falls.Thousands of people view the falls each day, and of each thousand—

358 say“Isn’t it wonderful！”

247 say“Isn’t it grand！”

136 say“Isn’t it beautiful！”

93 say“Isn’t it lovely！”

45 say“Isn’t it pretty！”

有個外國人曾經橫渡大西洋，來到紐約，觀賞了一整天的風景。就在吃晚飯之前，他說自己想開車出去，去看一看尼亞加拉大瀑布，因為他聽說那是世界上最神奇的瀑布。當有人告訴他說，坐快速列車也得花上整整一個晚上才能到達尼亞加拉之后，他簡直無法理解。

“尼亞加拉不是在紐約嗎？”他問道。

“是的，”有人回答說，“但它不在紐約市。要穿過整個紐約州，才能到達尼亞加拉大瀑布呢。”

紐約州的最西端，是兩個具有印第安名稱的大湖，即伊利湖和安大略湖。在地圖上看去，伊利湖的位置比安大略湖要低，但它的實際地勢，卻要比安大略湖高得多。因此，伊利湖的湖水便從一個高聳而寬闊的懸崖一瀉而下，注入了安大略河。在這個懸崖邊形成的那道瀑布，就叫尼亞加拉大瀑布，盡管世界上還有比它更高、更寬闊的瀑布，可尼亞加拉大瀑布卻是其中最美麗、最著名的，世界各地的人都紛紛前來一睹其風采。湖水躍過懸崖邊緣而下時發出的轟鳴之聲，數英里以外都聽得到，如果艷陽高照，那么瀑布底部噴濺上升的水霧，往往還會形成一道彩虹。每天都有成千上萬名游客來觀賞這道瀑布，而每一千名游客中，就有

三百五十八位會說：“真是不可思議呀！”

二百四十七位會說：“太壯觀了！”

一百三十六位會說：“真美呀！”

九十三位會說：“太可愛了！”

24 say“Ah！”

And the rest say“Oh！”

A part of Niagara is caught in a huge bucket as it falls, and the falling water turns giant wheels in the bottom of the bucket. The wheels make electricity, which is carried on wires to turn the wheels of mills, to run the trolley-cars, and to light the houses and streets in the city of Buffalo near-by, and other places farther away.

For some reason or other, every now and then some man tries to jump the falls in a barrel, and at least one man has done it and lived. But boats on Lake Erie that wanted to go to Lake Ontario couldn't jump the falls.So men dug a river around Niagara Falls from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and put water steps in it so that boats could go downhill to Lake Ontario or uphill to Lake Erie.This man-made river is called the Welland Canal.

It may seem strange for a boat to step downhill, but it not only can step downhill, it can step up too. A water step down a hill is called a“lock，”and a lock is like a huge bathtub set in the canal.Perhaps you have floated toy boats in your bathtub.If you have, you know that as you fill the tub the boat rises

四十五位會說：“太漂亮了！”

二十四位會發出“啊！”的驚嘆。

其余的人則會發出“呀！”的感嘆。

尼亞加拉大瀑布的一部分在下落的過程中，會注入一個巨大的戽斗里，從而驅動戽斗底部那些巨大的輪子。這些輪子能夠發電，通過電線的輸送，就可以給附近的布法羅市及更遠的其他地方提供電力，讓磨坊里的輪子轉動，以及驅動電車，提供家用照明和街道照明用電了。

出于某種原因，時不時地會有人試圖坐在水桶里從這道瀑布上跳下去，起碼有一個人干過這樣的事情，并且活了下來。不過，伊利湖里的船只要想駛到安大略湖去，卻是沒法直接從瀑布上跳下去的。于是，人們便繞著尼亞加拉大瀑布挖出了一條從伊利湖通往安大略湖的河流，并且一級一級地注水，從而讓船只可以從上游航行到安大略湖里去，或者從下游上溯到伊利湖里去。這條人工開鑿出來的河，叫作威蘭運河。

一艘船只竟然可以走下山去，這一點看起來似乎很奇怪，不過，船只不但可以下山，還可以上山呢。下山時的梯級提水區，叫作“水閘”，一道水閘，就像是安放在運河里的一個巨型浴盆似的。沒準，你們都在浴盆里漂過玩具船吧。要是玩過的話，那你們就會知道，往浴盆里加水時，隨著水位升高，玩具船也會上浮，要是as the water rises, and as you let the water run out of the tub the boat lowers as the water lowers.

Now a canal lock works the same way with large boats as the bathtub with small boats. If a boat wants to go downhill it sails into the lock.The water in the lock is then let out and the boat lowers as the water lowers.When the boat is at the bottom, doors at the end of the lock are opened and the boat sails out on the lower canal.If a boat wants to go uphill it sails into the bottom of the lock through the open doors, the doors are then closed, and the water is turned on.As it fills the lock the boat rises with it, for water will lift anything that will float, no matter whether it be the smallest chip or the biggest ship.Water, just plain water, has more power to lift and lower the largest steamship than even giant machinery would have.It lifts the largest battle-ship as easily and softly as it would the lightest feather floating on the surface—as easily as you might lift a snowflake on your hand.

Boats that wanted to go to New York City—and almost all boats did want to go to New York—once had to go down through the Welland Canal and locks to Lake Ontario, then all the way out the St. Lawrence River, which runs from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean, then sail down the coast to New York.To avoid this long detour, this long way round, men dug a canal all the way across New York State from Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson River, so that big boats can now cut across from Lake Erie to New York City.This is called the Barge Canal.It's one of the longest canals in the World.

將浴盆里的水放掉，那么，隨著水位下降，玩具船也會下沉。

注意，一座運河船閘讓大型船只上下航行的原理，與你們在浴盆里讓小型玩具船只上下浮動的原理是一樣的。假如一艘船想要下坡，它就會駛入水閘。接下來，水閘里的水就會被排掉，而隨著水位下降，那艘船只也會下降。當船只到達水閘底部后，水閘一端的兩扇門就會打開，船只便可以駛出去，進入較低的那段運河了。如果一艘船想上山，它就會通過那兩扇打開的大門駛入水閘底部，然后關上那兩扇門，并且開始向水閘里注水。隨著河水注滿水閘，船只便會上浮，因為河水能夠托起任何可以漂浮起來的東西，無論是最小、最小的木片還是最大的船只。水，普普通通的水，在托舉或者放下大型汽輪方面，本領甚至比巨型機械還要大呢。它能夠輕而易舉、平平穩穩地浮起一艘最大的戰艦，使之就像是一片漂浮在水面上的最輕的羽毛一樣，并且像你們用小手托起一片雪花那樣毫不費力。

過去，那些想要前往紐約市的船只（幾乎所有船只的確都想要前往紐約呢），都不得不先沿著威蘭運河，以及運河里的水閘，一路下行到安大略湖，然后一路駛出圣勞倫斯河（該河從安大略湖一直通往大西洋），再向南航行，沿著海岸駛向紐約。為了避免如此麻煩的長途迂回，人們便開掘了一條貫穿整個紐約州的運河，從伊利湖畔的布法羅開始，一直通到了哈德遜河，這樣一來，大型船只如今就可以抄近路，從伊利湖直接駛往紐約市了。這條運河，稱為“駁船運河”。它也是世界是最長的運河之一呢。