第10章 五个大水坑
你们以前有没有想过，一只蚂蚁对我们这些踩到蚂蚁窝的庞然大物会有什么感受，它们对一个小水坑又会有什么感受呢？
美国的北部边境，有五个大水坑，起码来说，它们在地图上看上去就像是水坑，仿佛是一个不可思议的巨人将一把湿漉漉的雨伞立在那里，伞上的雨水流淌到大地上，从而形成了它们似的。我们将这些水坑称为“五大湖区”，尽管一个腿长一英里的巨人可能会觉得它们只是小水坑，很容易就能涉水过去，但它们其实却是美洲最大的湖泊呢。其中有两个湖泊，即面积最小的那两个，我在前面已经向你们介绍过了。它们就是伊利湖与安大略湖。另外两个湖泊也都有个印第安名称，即意思就是“大湖”的密歇根湖，以及休伦湖。大湖区面积最大的湖泊是苏必利尔湖，意思就是“更大的湖”，就像我们说一个技术更好的橄榄球员或者一个得分比别人多的球员“优于”其他球员一样。大湖区里，只有密歇根湖完全属于美国，因为只有这个湖完全位于美国境内。其余四个湖泊，都有一半属于美国北方的那个国家，即那个叫作加拿大的国家，因为这四个湖泊正好位于两国的国界线上。美国拥有美国一侧的那一半，加拿大则拥有加拿大那一侧的一半。
苏必利尔湖非但面积最大，地势也比其他四个湖泊都要高。湖水通过一条叫作
into Lake Huron through a little river called St. Mary's, and in this river are falls.These falls in the St.Mary's River are called St.Mary's Jump, because the water jumps, jumps down.These falls are not nearly as high as Niagara Falls, but they are too high for boats to go over the jump, so men had to build canals with locks around the falls to lower boats down and raise them up from one lake to the other.As there are so many boats that want to go down and up, one canal was not enough to take care of all the boats that wanted to go round the falls, so men have built five canals round St.Mary's Jump.St.Mary's Jump in French is Sault Ste.Marie, and as this is so difficult to say, people simply call the falls Soo, the river Soo, and the canals Soo too.
Some of the boats on the Great Lakes are as big and fine as those on the ocean；and they have to be, for the Great Lakes are like small oceans. When you are out, far out, you cannot see land, and at times there are high waves and storms, just as at sea.The chief difference is that the water in the lakes is fresh, not salt.
“Business before pleasure.”
A great many people take trips on these big lake boats just as they do on the ocean—for pleasure；but the chief reason for the great number of ships that go from one end of the lakes to the other is not pleasure but business. The business is carrying things, which we call freight.It is much cheaper to send things by ship than by train, for one big ship can carry much more than many trains, and ships do not have to have land and tracks to run on, as trains do.When we send freight by train we also call that“shipping，”which seems strange.Every one would ship by ship instead of by train if he could, because it is so much
“圣玛丽”的小河注入休伦湖，一路形成了多道瀑布。圣玛丽河上的这些瀑布，被称为“圣玛丽瀑布”，因为此处的河水，是一级一级地往下跳落的。虽说这些瀑布的落差根本没有尼亚加拉大瀑布那么高，可船只也不可能翻越过去，因此人们也只能开凿带有水闸的运河，绕过这些瀑布，才能让船只下行或者上行，从一个湖泊驶入另一个湖泊。由于下行和上行的船只太多，因此一条运河根本就满足不了所有想要绕过瀑布的船只的需求，故人们修建了五条绕过“圣玛丽瀑布”的运河。在法语里，“圣玛丽瀑布”被称为“苏圣玛丽亚”，但由于这名称太难念了，所以人们只是把这些瀑布叫作“苏”，把圣玛丽河叫“苏”，把那几条运河也叫“苏”。
在五大湖区航行的一些船只，与在大海上航行的那些船只一样庞大、一样精美，而它们也必须这样才行，因为五大湖个个都像是小小的海洋呢。大家坐船出湖的时候，到了很远的地方，不但会看不见陆地，有的时候还会有惊涛骇浪和暴风雨，与大海上的情况一模一样。二者主要的不同之处，就在于湖水是淡水，而不是咸水。
有许多的人，乘着这些大型的湖船往来，就像他们在海上航行一样，只是为了享乐。不过，大量船只在湖泊上来去的主要目的，却是为了做生意。这种生意，就是运送东西，即运送我们所称的货物。用船只来运送货物，要比用铁路运送货物便宜得多，这是因为，一艘大船所运送的货物，要比许多节列车运送的货物多得多，而船只也不像火车，无须陆地和铁轨就能来去。我们用火车运送货物的时候，也将
cheaper, but of course you have to be near the water to ship by ship.
Fortunately, eight out of our forty-eight States are on the Great Lakes, although some of the States have only a small“frontage”on a lake. Michigan has the most frontage, by far.It fronts on four of the Great Lakes, all except Lake Ontario.
You remember that the Potomac Indians were great traders, paddling their canoes up and down the river, and swapping things they had for things they wanted. The Indians of the Great Lakes used to do the same thing.Nowadays the white man's huge ships—thousands of times bigger than the Indians'canoes made out of a single log—do the trading.They carry huge loads of freight from one end of the Great Lakes to the other, unloading at different places along the way the things that people want, and loading up with other freight to go back.
Most of the ships start at the far end of Lake Superior at a place called Duluth. Trains loaded with wheat come to Duluth from the wheat-lands west of that city, and other trains loaded with iron ore from mines near-by.Then huge machines on the shores of the lakes, with giant hands of iron, lift whole cars of wheat and ore and dump them into the ships waiting to be filled, as you would lift a toy car of your toy train and empty its load with two fingers.Other ships collect copper ore and also iron from that part of Michigan which is on Lake Superior.They then carry their loads through the Soo Canal and unload at a place called Detroit, between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, or carry their iron ore to Cleveland and Buffalo on Lake Erie.Most of the ships do not go past Niagara Falls.
这种方式称为“货运”，看起来似乎有点儿奇怪。只要做得到，大家都会利用船运，而不会去用铁路运输，因为前者要的成本要低得多，不过，人们当然也得在距水边很近的地方，才能用船只来进行运输。
幸好，美国的四十八个州中，有八个州位于大湖地区，但其中有些州，在湖区实际上只有一小片“临湖地块”。其中，密歇根州的临湖土地面积最大。该州濒临五大湖泊中的四个，只有安大略湖除外。
你们都还记得吧，波托马克河两岸的印第安人都是些很了不起的商人，他们划着独木舟在河上来去，用他们已有的东西，换取他们想要的东西。大湖地区的印第安人，过去也经常这样干。如今，这里则是白人制造的巨型船只在进行贸易了，这些船只，比印第安人用一根圆木制成的独木舟都要大上好几千倍呢。它们把巨大的货物量从大湖地区的一端运送到另一端，一路上在不同的地方将人们想要的东西卸下来，然后再装上其他的货物返回去。
绝大多数船只，都是从苏必利尔湖最西端一个叫作德卢斯的地方出发的。有些火车会将德卢斯市以西产麦区的小麦运送到该市，而其他一些火车又把附近铁矿开采出的铁矿砂运来。然后，湖边一些巨大的机器便用它们那些巨型的铁臂，将整车的小麦和铁矿砂提起来，倒进等待装货的船只中去，就像你们用两个手指拎起玩具火车的一节车厢，将里面的东西倒出去那样。其他一些船只，则会装上密歇根州濒临苏必利尔湖那个地区出产的铜矿，还有铁矿。然后，它们便运送着货物，穿过“苏运河”，再在休伦湖和伊利湖之间一个叫作底特律的地方把货物卸下，或者将They load up again with things that have been made in New England, or in the east of the United States, or with coal from Pennsylvania, and go back to Duluth.
But when winter comes, all this trading up and down the lakes has to stop, for this part of the country is very cold and ice forms and stops the ships.
A baby is born every second, but in Detroit an automobile is born every minute. Most of the automobiles in the World are made in Detroit.Into one end of a Detroit factory go iron and wood, leather, etc.，and out at the other end comes an automobile.Every hour of the day hundreds of automobiles are finished and run out of the factories, to be shipped over the whole World.
I am sitting in a chair that was made from a tree that grew in Michigan, a thousand miles away, before I was born. The upper part of Michigan used to be covered with forests of trees especially suited for making furniture—and more furniture was made there, especially at a place called Grand Rapids, than at any other place in the World.You probably have some Grand Rapids furniture in your own home.Look on the bottom and see if you can find a label“Made in Grand Rapids.”So much furniture was made there that men have cut down and used up most of the trees, and only stumps are left.But the people had learned how to make furniture, and so they kept on making furniture, though now much of the lumber has to be brought to Michigan from other parts of the country.
Side by side, like two children trying to peek out of one small window, are two States looking out on Lake Michigan. They are Illinois and Indiana, written“Ill.and Ind.”for
铁矿砂运送到伊利湖畔的克里夫兰和布法罗去。绝大多数船只都不会航行到尼亚加拉大瀑布下游去。它们会再次装上新英格兰地区或美国东部地区制造出来的产品，或者装上宾夕法尼亚州出产的煤炭，然后回到德卢斯去。
不过，到了冬天后，湖泊上下游之间进行的这种贸易，就得停下来了，因为这一地区的冬季非常寒冷，湖泊上面会结冰，从而让船只无法航行。
世界上，每时每刻都有婴儿出生，可在底特律，却是每一秒钟都会生产出一辆汽车来。世界上绝大多数汽车，都是在底特律生产的。在底特律的一家工厂里，从这头进去的是钢铁、木材、皮革等东西，从那头出来的就是一辆汽车了。每天的每一个小时里，都有数百辆汽车生产出来，驶出各家工厂，等待着运送到世界各地去呢。
我现在坐的一张椅子，正是用我出生前就生长于一千英里之外的密歇根州的一种树木制成的。密歇根州的北部地区，以前都覆盖着树木茂密的森林，其中的树木尤其适合用来做家具，那里生产出的家具，比世界上其他任何地方都要多，特别是在一个叫作“大急流城”的地方。你们自己家里，很可能就有一两件产自“大急流城”的家具呢。找一找家具的底下，看能不能找到“大急流城制造”的标签吧。由于生产了太多的家具，因此人们砍伐并用光了那里的大部分树木，只留下了一个个树桩。不过，由于那里的人已经学会了制造家具，因此他们便一直在生产家具，只是如今所用的许多木材，都只能从美国的其他地区运送到密歇根州来了。
此地有两个州并排着，就像两个试图从一扇小窗户向外偷看的小孩一样，面对着密歇根湖。这两个州，就是伊利诺伊州和印第安纳州，分别缩写为“伊利州”
short. The second largest city in the country is in the State of Illinois on the lower end of Lake Michigan.It has an Indian name—Chicago.More trains of cars come into and go out of Chicago than any other city in the World.Most trains going across the United States stop there and start there—freight trains carrying things and passenger trains carrying people.
There are a great many kinds of animals in the World, and yet of all these animals there are only three kinds that people generally eat. These three are the cow, the sheep, the pig.It takes millions of these animals every year to feed all the people in the United States, and millions of these animals are raised in the States near-by and far from Chicago.These animals have to be fed, and the food that is best to make them fat is corn, so whole States grow corn, just to feed cows and sheep and pigs.The State of Iowa grows more corn than any other State, so it is called the Corn State.Some of the corn is shipped to Chicago, but most of it is shipped“on the hoof”—that is, it is fed to the animals and the animals are sent alive to Chicago to be killed.They are kept in big pens called stock-yards until they are killed.From Chicago they are sent in refrigerator cars or ships, everywhere, even to Europe.Chicago is the greatest butcher-shop in the World.The bacon I had for breakfast, the ham sandwich I had for luncheon, and the roast beef I had for dinner came from Chicago.
和“印第州”。美国的第二大城市便在伊利诺伊州内，位于密歇根湖的南端。该市也有一个印第安名称，叫作芝加哥。芝加哥市进出的一列列运送汽车的火车数量，比世界上其他任何一个城市都要多。其中绝大多数跨越整个美国的火车，都是在这里停留，然后再从这里出发的，其中既有运送货物的货运列车，也有运送旅客的列车。
虽说世界上有各种各样的动物，可所有这些动物当中，人们通常吃的都只有三种。这三种动物，便是牛、羊和猪。每一年，全美国的人都要吃掉数百万头牛、羊和猪，而其中的数百万头牛、羊和猪，又都是在美国距芝加哥或近或远的地方养殖出来的。这些动物得吃食，而能将它们喂肥的饲料则是玉米，因此整个美国都种玉米，目的就是为了喂养牛、羊和猪。爱荷华州出产的玉米，比其他各州都要多，因此该州还被誉为“玉米之州”呢。该州出产的玉米，一部分被运往了芝加哥，而其中的绝大部分，却都是运给了那些“待宰之物”，即喂了动物，以及那些活着被运送到芝加哥去屠宰的牲畜。在屠宰之前，那些牲畜都被关在一种叫作“畜场”的大型围栏里。屠宰后，它们又被装到冷冻车或者冷冻船上，从芝加哥出发，运送到各地，甚至是运送到欧洲去。因此，芝加哥是世界上最了不起的屠宰场。我早餐所吃的培根，中饭所吃的汉堡三明治，以及晚餐时所吃的烤牛肉，可全都来自芝加哥呢。