By V. M. Hillyer ——V. M. 希利爾

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名的兒童教育家、科普作家，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術(shù)讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的世界地理》。

In “Through the Looking-Glass” the story of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” starts this way：

The sun was shining on the sea，

Shining with all his might.

...

And this was odd， because it was

The middle of the night.

Sun shining at midnight！ You probably think this cant be true and is only a joke， but it is true up at the top of Norway and Sweden. At the top of Norway is a great rock sticking out into the Arctic Ocean. It is called the North Cape， and although there is no town there， people make long journeys from other lands to the North Cape to see the sun shining on the sea in the middle of the night.

You have always been told that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west， and probably you have never seen it do anything else; but the boys and girls in the north of Norway and Sweden know differently， for up there the sun doesnt rise in the east and set in the west. It goes completely round the house low down in the sky near the ground and keeps on going round and round this way every day for six months and in that time never sets—is never out of sight—there is always daylight for six months. But the sun gradually gets closer and closer to the ground as it goes round the sky and then at last sinks out of sight below the edge of the World， and there it stays out of sight for another six months and for six months it is night.

How can such a thing be？ Isnt it the same sun we see here？

Yes， of course its the same sun; theres only one sun. But we are living on the side of the World and we cant see the sun when it goes round to the other side of the World. If， however， we climb up the side of the World to the top where the North Cape is， we can see the sun go all the way round. It is as if you lived on the side of a hill and some one went round the hill and came back on the other side. You could see him go off one way and come back the other way， but you couldnt see him when he was on the other side. If， however， you went to the top of the hill you could see him all the way round.

在《愛麗絲漫游鏡中世界》里面，有一首詩叫《海象和木匠》。詩的開頭是這樣寫的：

太陽照在海面上，

水波粼粼泛金光：

……

可是事情很稀奇，

因為這是大晚上。

晚上出太陽！你一定會認為這是不可能的事情，只是童話故事里的玩笑話罷了?？墒牵谂餐腿鸬涞淖畋边?，這樣的情形卻是真真實實存在的。在挪威的最北邊，有一大塊伸入北冰洋海中的岬角，叫作北角。北角這個地方?jīng)]有人居住，但是來自世界各地的游客都會到這里來，為的就是看午夜時分的太陽照耀在海面的情景。

你的爸爸媽媽或者老師一定告訴過你，太陽從東邊升起，朝西邊落下。而且在你生活的地方，你看到的日升日落應(yīng)該也總是如此?？墒窃谂餐腿鸬浔辈康暮⒆觽兛吹降奶柶鹇鋮s大不一樣。在那兒，太陽不是從東邊升起，朝西邊落下。一年中有六個月的時間，太陽一直都在離地平線很近的地方低垂著，并不會落下去。一天之中，太陽會圍繞著屋子轉(zhuǎn)個圈，也不會落山。而在這個過程中，太陽繞著屋子轉(zhuǎn)圈，卻會一天比一天離地平線更近一點。最后，有一天，太陽終于整個沉入了地平線以下。這之后就是六個月長的黑夜，在這六個月里，太陽完全不再升起。

這究竟是怎么回事？這樣的太陽還是不是我們每天看到的那個太陽呢？

當(dāng)然是同一個太陽，我們只有這一個太陽。我們居住在地球的一端，當(dāng)?shù)厍蜣D(zhuǎn)到背對著太陽的另一端時，我們就無法看到太陽?？墒牵绻赖降厍虻捻敹?，例如挪威的北角，這里就不存在地球面對或背對太陽的情況，太陽就會始終停留在我們的視野里面。打個比方，就好比你住在一座山上，山腳下有個人圍繞著山兜圈子。如果你在半山腰，那么你會看到這個人從山這邊出現(xiàn)，又消失在山那邊，周而復(fù)始。一旦這個人走到山背后去，你就看不見他了。而如果你爬到山頂上去，那么無論這個人走到山腳的哪個位置，你都能看到他。

The land at the top of the World is often called “The Land of the Midnight Sun”， because the sun shines at midnight. It might just as well be called “The Land of the 10-oclock-at-night Sun”， for the sun shines at every hour of the night as well as every hour of the day. And it also might be called “The Land of the Midday Night，” for when the sun is going round out of sight below the edge of the World it is dark every hour of the day as well as of the night.

This “Land of the Midnight Sun” is the land of the Reindeer—Santa Claus Land. In this land of snow and ice very little grows except moss， and the Reindeer is the only animal that can live on moss. The people that live there are called Lapps. They look something like Eskimos， and both look like the Chinese， so we think they probably were Chinese long， long ago. The Lapps and the Reindeer live together in the same hut—the Reindeer is like a horse， a cow， a sheep， and a dog all in one. The Lapp harnesses the Reindeer to his sled， he gets milk from her， he kills her and eats the meat， and then he uses her skin to make himself and his family fur coats and tents.

I know a Swede who speaks twelve languages， I know of a Swede who invented a way of separating cream from milk without skimming it， and I know of two Swedish boys who invented a machine for making ice.

Sweden and Norway used to be one country with one king， but now they are separate countries and each has a separate king and a separate capital.

The capital of Norway was named Christiania， but the name was changed. You will find it on the map way down the throat of the whale. It is now called Oslo. The capital of Sweden is Stockholm. Both Oslo and Stockholm are on the water， but they are not touched by the Gulf Stream， so the water in their harbors is frozen over nearly all winter and ships cannot go and come at that time. Stockholm is often called the Venice of the North， because like Venice it has many streets of water.

地球最高的地方被稱作“午夜時太陽照耀的地方”，因為太陽在午夜依然停留在地平線之上。這地方也可以叫作“晚上十點太陽照耀的地方”，因為太陽不分白天黑夜地照射著這里。這地方也可以稱作“正午之夜的地方”，因為當(dāng)太陽轉(zhuǎn)到世界的另一面時，這里不分白天黑夜地都是一片漆黑。

這個“午夜時太陽照耀的地方”，是馴鹿生活的地方。傳說中的圣誕老人也生活在這里。地面上除了苔蘚，這是一塊常年覆蓋著冰雪的地方。而馴鹿是唯一能夠靠吃苔蘚就生存下來的動物。在這片土地上生存的原住民叫作拉普人。拉普人看上去有點像因紐特人。而拉普人和因紐特人看上去都很像中國人。人們認為，拉普人和因紐特人的祖先可能是中國人。拉普人和馴鹿生活在同一頂帳篷里面。馴鹿長得像是馬、牛、羊和狗四種動物的集合體。拉普人用馴鹿來拉雪橇，擠馴鹿奶喝，也殺馴鹿吃肉。拉普人用馴鹿皮給自己或家人做皮衣，以及他們住的帳篷。

我認識一個瑞典人，他能說12種語言。我認識的另一個瑞典人想出了一個辦法，可以不用經(jīng)過煩瑣的脫脂程序，就能把奶油從牛奶中分離出來。我還知道兩個瑞典學(xué)生，他們發(fā)明了一種制冰的機器。

在歷史上，瑞典和挪威曾是一個國家，由一位國王統(tǒng)治。而現(xiàn)在，它們成了兩個獨立的國家，有各自的國王和首都。

挪威的首都原來叫作克里斯蒂安尼亞，不過，現(xiàn)在改成了奧斯陸。從地圖上看，奧斯陸在那條“大鯨”的喉嚨部位。瑞典的首都叫作斯德哥爾摩。奧斯陸和斯德哥爾摩這兩座城市都是海濱城市，可是墨西哥灣的暖流都到不了這兩座城市，所以到了冬天，這兩座城市的港口都會被冰封凍起來，所有的船只能待在港口里，外面來的船也進不了港。斯德哥爾摩常被人們稱為“北方的威尼斯”，因為同威尼斯一樣，斯德哥爾摩也有很多由河流形成的街道。

Word Study

moss /m?s/ n. 苔蘚，青苔

hut /h?t/ n. 簡陋的小房子（或棚、舍）

harness /'hɑ?n?s/ v. 給（馬等）上挽具

We harnessed two ponies to the cart.

skim /sk?m/ v. 撇去（液體上的油脂或乳脂等）

Skim the scum off the jam and let it cool.

Mary and John are the commonest English names. Ole is one name the Scandinavians like especially well. Hans is another， and Eric and Peter are others. Americans sometimes make a family name by adding “son” to John to make Johnson. The Scandinavians add “son” or “sen” to their names to make family names， as Ericson， Oleson， Hansen， Petersen， Nansen， Amundsen. If you were in Wisconsin or Minnesota you would find thousands of such names. That is because many， many Swedes and Norwegians have come to the US and settled in that part of the country which is most like their country.

Many common Norse words look like English words misspelled：

lamp is lampe

house is hus

cow is ko

They havent copied English words. English words have copied them， for long ago Norse sailors settled in England， and after thousands of years people speaking English still use some Norse words changed very little.

Long years ago the men of Scandinavia were fierce fighters， who drank a strong liquor called “mead” and used the skulls of their enemies for cups. They believed in fairytale gods and goddesses. Thor， they believed， was a god who made the thunder and lightning. Tiu was the god of war. So they named some of the days of the week after their gods; Tius day， Thors day， Wodens day， Frias day. Four of the seven days of the week in English are still named after these Scandinavian gods， for those people are the great-great-grandfathers of many of Westerners. Tuesday is Tius day， Thursday is Thors day， Friday is Frias day and Wednesday is Wodens day.

Dynamite， you know， is something used to blow up things. It was invented by a man who lived in Sweden. When he died he left a lot of money and said that the interest from this money was to be given every year to the men or women who， no matter in what country they lived， had done the most for the World during that year. So each year judges go over all the things that have been done and choose those men or women who have done the most for the good of the World and give them the money. This man was named Nobel and the money is known as the Nobel Prize. You yourself could win the Nobel Prize if you ever did something big enough and fine enough. Do you think you ever will？

“瑪麗”和“約翰”是非常普通的英文名字。在斯堪的納維亞，“奧勒”是人們最喜歡的一個名字，還有“漢斯”“埃里克”和“彼得”。在美國，人們有時候會在“約翰”后面加上一個“遜”字，用作他們的姓。斯堪的納維亞人在他們的名字后面加上“遜”或者“森”，構(gòu)成一個家族的姓，比如“埃里克遜”“奧勒遜”“漢森”“彼得森”“南森”，還有“阿蒙森”。如果你在美國的威斯康星州或者明尼蘇達州住過，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)有很多人叫前面提到的這些名字。這是因為很多挪威人和瑞典人移民到美國的時候，選擇在這兩個州定居。這兩個州的環(huán)境和他們的祖國最相似。

斯堪的納維亞語中有很多單詞看起來很像拼寫錯了的英語單詞。比如下面這些例子：

英語中的“燈”是lamp，在斯堪的納維亞語中是lampe;

英語中的“房子”是house，在斯堪的納維亞語中變成了hus;

英語中的“牛”是cow，在斯堪的納維亞語中寫作ko。

其實，不是斯堪的納維亞語模仿英語，而是英語模仿它。在很久以前，挪威水手航行到英格蘭，并在那兒定居下來。幾千年之后，講英語的人們?nèi)匀辉谑褂眠@些只有微小變化的斯堪的納維亞詞語。

在很古老的時代，斯堪的納維亞人是野蠻的戰(zhàn)士。他們用敵人的頭蓋骨當(dāng)酒杯，喝一種叫蜂蜜酒的烈性酒。他們信仰很多神話中的神祇，如雷電之神托爾和戰(zhàn)神蒂烏。他們用這些神的名字來給一周當(dāng)中的日子命名，比如“蒂烏之日”“托爾之日”“沃登之日”“弗蕾婭之日”等等。在英語中，一周有四天的名字都還是依從斯堪的納維亞神祇的名字，這是因為這些斯堪的納維亞人是今天歐美人的曾曾曾祖父?！暗贋踔铡睂?yīng)的是英文中的星期二，“托爾之日”對應(yīng)的是星期四，“弗蕾婭之日”對應(yīng)的是星期五，而“沃登之日”對應(yīng)的是星期三。

我們都知道炸藥這種東西。人們可以使用炸藥來開山修路什么的。炸藥是一個瑞典人發(fā)明的。當(dāng)他去世的時候，他留下一大筆錢。在他的遺囑中，他決定把這筆錢每年所得利息分發(fā)給那些為人類社會的進步做出貢獻的人。不論這些人的性別和國籍，只要他們的貢獻足夠大，就可以獲得這筆獎金。因此，評獎委員會每年會認真審查這一年有哪些人對人類社會做出了哪些貢獻，然后從中評選出貢獻最大的人，給他們發(fā)放獎金。設(shè)立這個獎項的人名叫諾貝爾，這個獎項就叫諾貝爾獎。如果你將來做出一番事業(yè)，沒準(zhǔn)也能獲得諾貝爾獎呢！你覺得會不會呢？

Word Study

fierce /f??s/ adj. 兇狠的;兇殘的

interest /'?ntr?st/ n. 利息

The money was repaid with interest.