第17章　隔壁鄰居

有句老話，說“好籬笆出好鄰居”，不過，這也取決于鄰居好不好。美國的北方，有一個國土面積大于美國的國家，叫作加拿大。該國也橫跨美洲大陸，西面是太平洋，東面是大西洋，因此，兩國之間要是修上一道籬笆的話，那么這道籬笆就必須有三千英里長才行呢。當然，兩國之間實際上是沒有什么籬笆的，除了一條想象中的界線，什么也沒有。這條想象中的界線，只存在于地圖上，而不是畫在現(xiàn)實中的地面上。兩國在這條想象中的界線上立了一塊石碑，上面刻著像“加拿大與美國一致同意永不開戰(zhàn)”之類的話，那就夠了，因為它完全就是一種君子協(xié)定。這塊石碑，就叫“和平石”。

男孩子們常說“誰找到，就歸誰”。加拿大原本是法國人發(fā)現(xiàn)的，可英國卻覺得，自己更有權(quán)力擁有加拿大，因此便發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭，從法國人手中奪取了加拿大。這當然是很久以前的事兒了，可如今，加拿大仍然還生活著大量的法裔民眾，而在魁北克市，說法語的人也比說英語的人還要多。

我曾經(jīng)養(yǎng)過一條紐芬蘭犬。它全身毛茸茸的，體型巨大，食量跟人一樣大。紐芬蘭犬產(chǎn)自加拿大東邊大西洋上的一個島嶼，那個島嶼是一個英國人發(fā)現(xiàn)的，因此他把該島命名為“新發(fā)現(xiàn)之地”，音譯過來就是“紐芬蘭”了。如今，紐芬蘭也隸屬于加拿大。

But the Banks are under the water. It is a great fishing ground, but men go fishing there, not for pleasure, but for business.Thousands of small boats go off and stay off and do not return until they have caught all the fish they can carry.It is often very foggy on the Grand Banks, and sometimes big ocean steamships coming over from across the Atlantic Ocean cannot see the small fishing boats and run into them and sink them with all on board.

Canada is big in size but small in number of people. There are not as many people in all of Canada as there are in the State of New York.Most of the people in Canada live as close along the edge of the United States as they can, because it gets very cold in winter farther north than that.Close to the United States people do pretty nearly the same things and raise the same things as people south of the border in the United States.For instance, Canada raises more wheat than any other country in the World except the United States.

One of the biggest concerns in Canada is a railroad company called the Canadian Pacific. The railroad runs all the way across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada.But it doesn't stop at the Oceans.It has big steamers that cross the Atlantic Ocean and it has big steamers that cross the Pacific Ocean.The Canadian Pacific owns all the hotels along the railroad, too.Along one part of the railroad there is very wonderful scenery—beautiful mountains and lakes.Lake Louise, in the Rocky Mountains, is so beautiful that many people go there on their vacations or on their wedding journeys.

No woman likes a wild animal such as a fox or wolf close to her, but as soon as the

紐芬蘭島海岸外，有一片淺海區(qū)，叫作“大淺灘”。不過，這片淺灘卻位于水下。那里是一處了不起的漁場，人們到那里去捕魚，并不是為了消遣，而是為了生意。成千上萬條小船來到大淺灘，停在那里，直到捕獲的魚兒再也裝不下，才會回去。大淺灘上經(jīng)常濃霧彌漫，因此，有的時候橫渡大西洋的那些巨型遠洋輪船看不到小漁船，就會撞上去，使得漁船連同上面的漁民一起沉入大海。

加拿大國土面積廣袤，可人口卻不多。加拿大的全國總?cè)丝冢€不及美國紐約這一個州的人口呢。絕大多數(shù)加拿大人都盡可能地居住在靠近美國邊界的附近地區(qū)，因為再往北去，冬季就會變得極其寒冷。居住在靠近美國邊界地區(qū)的加拿大人，從事的工作、種植的作物，跟邊界以南的美國人差不多是一樣的。比如說，加拿大的小麥產(chǎn)量就位居世界第二，僅次于美國呢。

加拿大最大的企業(yè)，是一家叫作“加拿大太平洋”的鐵路公司。該公司運營的那條鐵路橫跨整個加拿大，從大西洋沿岸一直通到了西海岸的溫哥華。不過，這條鐵路并非是兩端分別到達大西洋和太平洋沿岸就止步了。該公司既有橫渡大西洋的巨型輪船，也有橫渡太平洋的巨輪。鐵路沿線的旅館，也都歸“加拿大太平洋”鐵路公司所有。在鐵路沿線的一個地區(qū)，一路上都是非常奇妙的風(fēng)景，既有壯美的山脈，又有秀麗的湖泊。落基山脈中的路易斯湖風(fēng)景非常瑰麗，因此還有許多人前去度假或者度蜜月呢。

沒有哪個女子，會喜歡讓狐貍或者狼這樣的野獸近身，可一旦這些野獸死了，她們卻很喜歡用野獸皮毛制成的衣服，愿意花高價錢去購買。加拿大有一個巨大的

animals are dead she loves their skins close to her and will pay high prices to get them. There is a big bay in Canada, almost as big as the Gulf of Mexico；it is called Hudson Bay and named after the man who discovered it.He is the same man who discovered the Hudson River, but Hudson Bay and Hudson River have no other connection.Hudson Bay is filled with ice all winter long, and all around Hudson Bay the winters are so cold that men do not live there unless they have to.The chief reason some men do live there is to hunt animals.The animals in that cold country can't buy overcoats, so they grow overcoats on themselves—fur overcoats, which are the very best kind of overcoats.Hunters trap and kill wolves, foxes, and other animals, skin them of their overcoats, and sell them to ladies who can pay big prices for them.This company of people who trap animals and sell furs is called the Hudson's Bay Company.

As we have States, Canada has provinces, but there are only ten provinces in Canada. The chief one is called Ontario, after Lake Ontario.Ontario, however, borders all the other Great Lakes too, except Michigan.In Ontario is the capital of Canada.It is called Ottawa.England sends a man across the ocean to Canada, called the Governor-General, but the people in Canada send men to Ottawa to make their own laws.

As you go north in Canada the country gets colder and colder, till at last it gets so cold that it is too cold even for trees to grow. The trees that grow farthest north hold their leaves and stay green the year round like the pine and spruce.They are called“evergreens.”The wood of evergreens is soft.The trees that cannot grow as far north as evergreens drop their

海灣，幾乎有墨西哥灣那么大，那里叫作哈德遜灣，是用發(fā)現(xiàn)此處的那個人的名字命名的。那個人還發(fā)現(xiàn)了哈德遜河，可“哈德遜灣”和“哈德遜河”除了名稱之外，就沒有什么別的聯(lián)系了。哈德遜灣整個冬季都會封凍，而附近地區(qū)冬季也非常寒冷，因此除非萬不得已，否則是沒有人愿意在那里居住的。而人們之所以到那里生活，最主要的原因就是，他們要在那里獵殺野獸。那片寒冷之地里的野獸由于不可能買來大衣穿上，因此干脆身上都長出一件“大衣”，長出一件“毛皮大衣”來，這種毛皮，可是最好的大衣呢。獵人用陷阱捕殺狼和狐貍，以及其他的野獸，將它們的皮毛剝下來，再將皮毛賣給那些出得起高價的貴婦。這些捕殺野獸并出售獸皮的人，便成立了“哈德遜海灣公司”。

就像美國分成了一個個州那樣，加拿大也分成了一個個省，不過，整個加拿大只有十個省。其中最重要的一個，就是安大略省，它是根據(jù)安大略湖的名稱來命名的。然而，安大略省實際上卻瀕臨了五大湖中的四個，只有密歇根湖除外。加拿大的首都也在安大略省，叫作渥太華。英國派遣一個人跨洋過海，到加拿大來擔任總督，而加拿大人民則派遣代表來到渥太華，代表他們制定法律。

在加拿大境內(nèi)向北而去，氣候會變得越來越寒冷，冷到連樹木也無法生長。最北方生長的樹木四季都不落葉，像松樹和云杉那樣，一年到頭都郁郁蔥蔥。這種樹木，叫作“常綠植物”。常綠植物的木質(zhì)都非常柔軟。而那些無法像常青樹一樣在遙遠的北方生長的樹木，比如橡樹和楓樹，冬季里則會落葉。這種樹木的木質(zhì)通常都很堅硬。硬木樹主要用于制作家具，而軟木樹則被碾碎制成紙張。

leaves in the winter, like the oak and maple. Their wood is usually hard.The hard-wood trees are used chiefly to make furniture, but the soft-wood trees are ground up to make paper.

The paper on which this book and almost every other book is printed and all the paper used for newspapers is made from wood. A great city newspaper will use up many acres of trees in a single day.It takes as many trees as grow in a space the size of a city block to feed a single paper a single day.So you see how fast trees are being cut down in Canada to keep the presses in the United States going.Day after day miles upon miles of trees are cut down, ground into pulp, made into paper, and shipped to us in large rolls, that we may have the news—only to be burned up the day after.As people are fed wheat, and animals corn, printing presses must be fed trees for their daily meal, year in and year out, without ceasing.

One of the first geography lessons I ever had was about Eskimos, who lived in snow houses and fished through a hole in the ice. One of the homes of the Eskimos is Labrador on the northeastern corner of Canada.The Eskimos are related to the Indians, I'll tell you more about them later.

本書以及幾乎其他所有圖書所用的紙張，連同一切報紙所用的紙張，都是用木材制成的。一份大型的城市報紙，一天內(nèi)就要用掉好幾英畝的樹木呢。需要像一個城市街區(qū)那么大面積內(nèi)生長的樹木，才能滿足一份報紙一天的用紙量。因此，你們不難看出，加拿大境內(nèi)樹木的砍伐速度需要有多快，才能滿足讓美國的印刷機開動下去的要求呢。日復(fù)一日，樹木被大量砍伐，碾成紙漿，制成紙張，然后大卷大卷地運到美國，我們才看得到新聞，可當天過后，這些報紙就毫無用處，只能付之一炬了。就像人們以小麥為食、牲畜以玉米為食那樣，印刷機每天必須以樹木為食，并且年復(fù)一年，無休無止。

我以前在地理課上最先學(xué)到的一課，就是關(guān)于因紐特人的情況，他們住在冰雪建造的房子里，并且在冰面上鑿洞來捕魚。因紐特人的家園之一，就在加拿大東北角的拉布拉多地區(qū)。因紐特人與印第安人有親緣關(guān)系，過一會兒我還將給你們介紹這兩個人種的情況。