美国学生世界地理教材 第175期:产生《一千零一夜》的国家(4)

 I have told you of a White Sea and a Black Sea. Here is a Red Sea. It is a long, narrow sea bordering Arabia. 我介绍过白海和黑海，现在要讲红海了，它是与阿拉伯毗连的一个狭长的海。

I don't know why it's called Red, unless it is because it's red hot, for I have been there, and the water is as blue as the Mediterranean 1. 我不知道为什么它叫红海，因为我去过那里，那儿的海水与地中海一样蓝。
There is a little strip 2 of land that used to separate the Red Sea from the Mediterranean, 有一小块狭长的陆地以前将红海和地中海隔开，
but men have dug a canal through this strip of land so that ships may pass from the one sea to the other. 但是人们在这块陆地上开凿了一条运河，这样轮船就可以从一个海航行到另一个海了。
This strip of land is the Isthmus 3 of Suez and the canal across it is called the Suez Canal. 这块陆地叫苏伊士地峡，通过它的运河就叫苏伊士运河。
The Suez Canal is one of the most important canals ever dug. 苏伊士运河是世界上最重要的运河之一。
It is important because, before it was dug, this little isthmus that tied together the two big continents of Africa and Asia, 之所以重要是因为运河开通之前，这个连接了亚非两大陆的小小地峡却堵住了船只航行的路，
barred the way to ships and they had to go all the way round Africa to get to the east side of the World. 船只不得不绕过整个非洲才能到达世界的东边。
It is a water gateway 4 to the east part of the World and England owns it. 这是通向世界东方的水上通道，现在归英国所有。
The driest city in the World is at the lower end of the Red Sea. 世界上最干燥的城市在红海南端，叫亚丁。
It is called Aden. Aden is often called the Gibraltar of the East, for the English own Aden too, and they hold on to it even though it is so dry, 亚丁常被称作“东方的直布罗陀”，也归英国所有。即使亚丁这么干燥，英国也紧紧控制这个地方，
because then they can say who shall or shall not pass through the Red Sea. 因为有了亚丁，英国就能决定谁可以从红海经过，谁不可以。
Three gateways 5 for ships between the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans—Gibraltar, Suez, Aden—and England owns all three! 在大西洋和印度洋之间，有三条水上通道供船只通行——直布罗陀、苏伊士、亚丁——全都归英国所有！
There are no springs nor lakes nor rivers at Aden, and often it does not rain there for years, 亚丁没有泉水，没有湖泊，也没有河流，常常几年都不下雨。
so the people cannot get drinking-water in any of the usual ways. 因此人们不能以通常的方法得到饮用水。
But the English have found a way. 但是英国人发明了一个方法。
They boil the sea water to get the salt out of it and store it in huge tanks so that they have plenty of fresh water all the time. 他们把海水煮沸，将盐提取出来，然后将水储存在一个大罐子里，这样人们就能随时有很多淡水喝了。
You may never have heard of Arabia till now, yet you write Arabic every day of your life, for all the figures we use are Arabic—1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 在这之前，你可能从未听说过阿拉伯。但一生中的每一天，你都在写阿拉伯语。我们所用的所有数字都是阿拉伯数字——1、2、3、4、5。
There are only ten figures, as you know, but with those ten figures you can make any number from one to a billion, or more. 你知道，只有从0到9十个数目字，但是用这十个数目字，我们就能写出从一至亿中的数字，或更大的数字。
Arabia seems far away—a dry and desolate 6 land that could have no connection with us 阿拉伯似乎很遥远——一个干燥而荒凉的国度，原本可能与我们一点联系都没有，
and yet if there had been no Arabia we should have no figures and no "Arabian Nights." 但是如果没有阿拉伯，我们就没有数目字，也没有《一千零一夜》故事集了。