美国学生世界地理教材 第67期:海盗的海洋(4)

 Almost all vegetables and fruits in the World have sugar in their juice; they are sweet.  世界上几乎所有的植物和水果的汁液里都含糖，是甜的。

Some have a great deal, some have very little.  有些含有大量的糖分，有些则含量很少。
But two vegetables have such sweet juice that they are raised for the sugar that can be made out of their juice. 但是有两种植物的汁液含糖量极高，人们种植它们就是为了提取它们汁液中的糖。 
These vegetables are the beet 1 and sugar-cane 2. You know what a beet looks like. Sugarcane looks something like stalks of corn. 这两种植物是甜菜和甘蔗。你一定知道甜菜是什么样子的。甘蔗看起来有点像玉米秆。 
Men press the juice out of the cane and boil it to make sugar. In Cuba they grow more sugar-cane than any other place  人们榨出甘蔗汁，把它熬成糖。古巴种植的甘蔗比世界上其他任何地方都要多。
The Island of Haiti—the tat of the tit-tat-to islands—although it is not large, has two little countries on it.  海地岛——排在第二的岛——尽管不大，上面却有两个国家。
Both these countries are republics like the United States, with presidents and senators and representatives chosen by the people, 这两个国家都是像美国那样的共和政体，总统、参议员和众议员都由人民选举产生，
but their presidents are colored and their senators and representatives are also colored.  但是他们的总统都是有色人种，他们的参议员和众议员也是有色人种。
That may seem strange until I tell you that the people on the island are colored too. 你可能觉得这似乎有点奇怪，那么我告诉你，岛上的居民全是有色人种，你还觉得奇怪吗？
When Columbus died he was buried on this island of Haiti.  很多年以后，人们挖出了一副骸骨，
Many years after, men dug up what they thought were Columbus’s bones and sent them back to Spain, 认为那是哥伦布的遗骨，将其运回了西班牙， 
where they are kept in a great cathedral.  哥伦布死后就埋在这个海地岛上。
But many people say they were not Columbus’s bones at all that they took back,  存放在一个大教堂里。但是很多人说他们运回的根本就不是哥伦布的遗骨，
but some one else’s, and that Columbus’s body still lies in Haiti. 而是别人的，他们说哥伦布的遗体还在海地。
Puerto Rico, the third of the tit-tat-to islands of the West Indies, belongs to the United States.  波多黎各岛，是西印度群岛排在第三的岛，属于美国。
In Puerto Rico they raise tobacco too, but there seems to be some difference in the land,  波多黎各人也种植烟草，但似乎土壤成分有些不同，
for they can’t seem to raise quite as good tobacco as the people in Cuba do. 因为他们好像种不出像古巴人种的那么好的烟草。
Jamaica is a small island south of the tit-tat-to islands.  牙买加是三大岛南面的一个小岛。它属于英国。
It belongs to England. In Jamaica they grow many of the bananas that we eat. 在牙买加，人们种植很多我们吃的香蕉。 
They are picked when they are still green, 香蕉刚摘下来时是绿色的， 
but by the time they have been shipped to the United States and are put in the fruit shops on sale they are yellow and ripe—sometimes.  但是被运到美国摆到水果店里出售的时候就变黄变熟了——并不总是这样。
If you eat them before they are ripe, you may need a little Jamaica ginger 3, which is good for “tummy aches”—that comes from Jamaica too. 如果你吃了不成熟的香蕉，可能需要一点牙买加生姜，这种姜对治疗“肚子痛”很有效——也是产自牙买加的。
Tobacco and sugar, sponges and early vegetables, bananas and lilies! 烟草和糖，海绵和时鲜蔬菜，香蕉和百合花！
—pirates would have turned up their noses in disgust if they had captured a ship laden 4 with such a cargo 5! ——海盗们如果劫夺了一艘装载着这些货物的轮船肯定会对此不屑一顾，气不打一处来。