美国学生世界地理教材 第65期:海盗的海洋(2)

 But many of those ships bearing treasure never reached Spain. Pirates—sea robbers—lay in wait to rob the land robbers.  但是很多装满金银财宝的轮船永远没有到达西班牙。海盗——海上的强盗——埋伏以待，抢劫那些陆地上的强盗。

It was better sport to rob robbers than to rob the poor Indians. These pirates were bold and bad and cold and cruel. 和抢劫贫穷的印第安人相比，抢劫强盗是一种更有刺激性的游戏。这些海盗胆大心狠，冷酷凶残。 
They wore blood-red sashes round their waists, blood-red handkerchiefs round their necks, and blood-red handkerchiefs round their heads. 他们腰上系着血红的腰带，脖子上围着血红的围巾，头上裹着血红的头巾。 
They hung huge rings in their ears and huge bracelets 1 on their arms, and they were “armed to the teeth”—whatever that means.  他们耳朵上戴着巨大的耳环，胳膊上戴着巨大的手镯，他们“武装到牙齿”——无论这是什么意思。
They hid behind these little islands in the Caribbean Sea,  他们隐藏在加勒比海这些小岛的后面，
and when they saw a treasure ship coming from afar they hoisted 2 a black flag to their ship’s mast, 当看到一艘载着财宝的船从远处驶来时，他们就在桅杆上升起一面黑色的旗子， 
a flag with a skull 3 and two bones crossed on it, and sailed forth 4 and captured the ship, its treasures, and its crew. 旗上画有一个骷髅头和两根交叉的骨头，然后他们就驶上前去，劫获船只、连同船上的财宝和船员。
They made the crew slaves, or if the pirates didn’t want any more slaves, they made their captives “walk the plank 5” 他们让船员成为奴隶，或者如果海盗不再需要奴隶了，他们就让俘虏去“走跳板”
—that is, walk blindfolded 6 out on a plank set over the ship’s edge. ——也就是，蒙住他们的眼睛，强迫他们在突出船舷外的跳板上行走。
They would reach the end and suddenly step off into the sea and be drowned. 他们走到尽头，就会突然跌落到海里溺水身亡。 
Then the pirate would load the treasure he had captured into a huge iron-bound chest, sail back to his little island,  然后海盗会把俘获的金银财宝装到一个巨大的铁皮包的箱子里，驶回他们的小岛，
and bury the treasure chest in a hole in the sand.  把财宝箱埋入沙子里的一个洞里。
He would mark the spot on a map with an X so that he might find it when he wanted it, and so that no one else could find it. 海盗会在地图上用一个X标出这个地点，以便日后需要的时候可以查找，别人也发现不了。
These pirates are gone long years ago, and the ships that sail the blue Caribbean have now no fear of pirates any more,  这些海盗已经消失很多年了，在加勒比海上航行的轮船现在再也不用害怕海盗了，
and few of these ships carry anything that pirates would want. 而且也没有什么船装载着海盗们想要的东西。 
But the sea is so blue and the weather so warm and the islands so lovely that many people make voyages to the Pirate Seas just for pleasure.  但是这里海水碧蓝，气候温暖，岛上风景优美，因此很多人乘船来到这海盗曾经出没的海洋游玩。
I did once myself.I left New York when it was snowing and in two days I was on an island called Bermuda, where it was warm and sunny. 我自己也去过一次。我在大雪纷飞的时候离开了纽约，两天后到了一个叫百慕大的岛上，那里天气温暖，阳光明媚。 
Easter lilies were growing in the fields, and new potatoes and onions. 那里的田野里长着麝香百合、时鲜马铃薯和洋葱。 
Farmers were raising them to send to shivering New York  农民们种植这些，是要把它们运到寒气逼人的纽约去，这样在寒冷的季节，
so that Americans might have warm-weather flowers and warm-weather vegetables long before warm weather itself came. 美国人就能欣赏到温暖季节的鲜花，吃到温暖季节的蔬菜。