美国学生世界地理教材 第9期:世界是圆的 我围着它绕了一圈(1)

 Chapter 2 The World Is Round, for I've Been Round It 第2章 世界是圆的，我围着它绕了一圈

Did you ever run away from home?  你曾离家出走过吗？我有过，有一次在我比你还小的时候。
I did—once upon a time—when I was younger than you are.I wanted to see the World. 我想要去看这个世界。
My Mother had told me the World was a huge ball and that if I kept on, straight ahead, following my nose,  妈妈告诉我世界是个大球，只要我一直向前走，跟着我鼻子所指的方向，
I would go round the ball and come back to where I started.  我会环绕这个大球一圈，回到我出发的地方。
So early one morning, without telling any one, I set out to go around the World. 于是一天清早我没有告诉任何人就开始出发去环绕世界了。
But I didn't get very far before night came on, and a big kind policeman brought me back home. 但是我还没走多远天就黑了，一个个子高高的好心的警察把我送回了家。
When I was grown up and had no home, I started out once again to go around the World.  当我长大后，还没成家的时候，我开始再次出发去环游世界。
This time I got on a train headed toward 1 the setting 2 sun.  这次我坐上了一列开往太阳落山方向的火车。
Night came on, but no big, kind policeman brought me back home;  夜晚降临了，但是没有个子高高的好心的警察带我回家；
so I kept on and on, day after day, week after week, month after month—sometimes on trains,  于是我一直向前行，一天又一天，一周又一周，一月又一月，有时在火车上，
sometimes on boats, sometimes in automobiles 3, sometimes on the backs of animals 有时在船上，有时在汽车上，有时骑着牲畜，
but always toward the side of the world where the sun sets, the side which the people call the west. 但始终朝向太阳下山的方向，也就是人们称西方的那一边。
I passed broad fields and thick forests, small towns and big cities—I went over bridges, round hills, and through holes in mountains 我跨过了辽阔的田地，穿过茂密的森林，走过小乡镇和大城市—我跨过桥，绕过山，钻过山洞
I reached a great ocean and sailed across it on a big ship to another continent 我到达一片海洋，坐 上一艘大轮船横越海洋抵达另一个大陆；
I came to strange lands where people dressed in strange clothes, lived in strange houses, and spoke 4 strange languages;  我到了一些奇怪的地方，人们穿着奇怪的衣服，住在奇怪的房子里，说着奇怪的语言；
I saw strange animals, trees, and flowers;  我见到了奇怪的动物、树木和花草；
I crossed another great ocean and at last after many, many months, always going in the same direction,  我跨越了另一个海洋，最终在朝着同一方向旅行了好多好多月之后，
I came back here to the exact spot from which I had started.  我准确地回到了我开始出发的那个地点。
So I knew the World was round, for I had been round it—but it was not round and smooth like a tennis ball but humpty and bumpety,  所以我知道世界是圆的，因为我已经围着它绕了一圈。但世界并不是像网球那样又圆又光滑，而是像个蛋形矮胖子，
and so huge that it didn't seem like a ball at all. 而且它太大了，看起来根本不像个球。
It took me nearly half a year to go round the world— that seems like a long time, but then it was a long way— over twenty-five times a thousand miles.  我花了将近半年的时间环绕世界一周—看起来是很长的一段时间，但更是很长的一段路程—超过25个1000英里那么长。
But others have been around the world in much faster times. The airship Graf Zeppelin flew around the World in three weeks.  但是有人以更快的时间环绕过世界。齐柏林飞艇只要三个星期时间就能围绕世界飞一圈。
Two flyers took less than nine days to circle the globe in their airplane and return to their starting point, New York.  两名飞行员用了不到九天的时间驾驶飞机环绕地球一周，最终回到他们的出发点—纽约。
An American Air Force plane flew around the world without stopping in less than four days. 一架美国空军飞机连续不停地飞了不到四天环绕世界一周。