評論
打印
Casually I asked if any one could tell me why it was called the “Bridge of Sighs”.One boy said, "Because it is of big size" A little girl scorning his ignorance, said, "Because it has sides." A boy from the country, with a far-fetched imagination, suggested it might be because they used "scythes"; and a fourth child said, “Because it belonged to a man named 'Cy.'”
我隨口問了一句：有誰知道它為什么叫“嘆息橋”嗎？一個男孩說：“因為它很大。”一個小女孩對他的無知嗤之以鼻，說：“因為它有幾個邊。”另一個鄉下來的男孩的想象更加牽強附會，他說可能是因為那些囚犯用大鐮刀。第四個孩子說：“因為它屬于一個名叫賽伊的男人。”
The study of maps is interesting to almost all children. A map is like a puzzle picture --but new names are hard. And yet geography without either name or place is not geography at all. It is only fairyland. The study of maps and names is therefore absolutely essential and large wall maps most desirable.Geography lends itself admirably to research on the part of the child. A large scrap-book arranged by countries may easily be filled with current pictorial news, clippings from magazines and Sunday newspapers, and from the circulars of travel bureaus. There is a wealth of such scrap-book material almost constantly being published-pictures of temples in India, pagodas in China, wild animal hunts in Africa, parks in Paris-from which the child can compile his own Geographic Magazine. Furthermore, the collection of stamps offers a most attractive field, particularly for the boy just reaching the age when such collections are as absorbing as an adult hobby.
研究地圖對所有的孩子都是一件很有趣的事。地圖就像拼圖游戲一樣，但是新地名很難學。然而沒有名字或地點的地理就不能稱其為地理了，那只是童話故事中的仙境。因此研究地圖和地名是絕對必要的，掛在墻上的大幅地圖是最受歡迎的。小孩子學地理很容易不知不覺地自己去探索。按國家分類的大剪貼本很容易就被貼得滿滿的，有時事圖片新聞，取自雜志和星期日報上的剪報以及旅游局的宣傳廣告。大量適合剪貼的材料幾乎不斷地發行出來—有各種各樣的圖片：印度的寺廟、中國的寶塔、非洲野生動物的追獵和巴黎的公園。從這些材料中，孩子可以編一本自己的地理雜志。除此以外，集郵也提供了一個非常有吸引力的領域，尤其是對到了一定年齡的男孩，這樣的收藏就像成年人的愛好一樣有吸引力。
Of course, the best way to learn geography is by travel but not like that of the business man who landed in Rome with one hour to see the city. Jumping into a taxi and referring to a slip of paper, he said: “There are only two things I want to see here-- St. Peter's and the Colosseum. Drive to them as fast as you can and back to the station.” He was accordingly driven to St. Peter' s. Sticking his head out of the window he said to the driver,“Well, which is this?”
當然學習地理的最好方式是旅行，但不是像商人那樣旅行，商人到了羅馬，只有一個小時的時間去游覽這個城市。他跳上一輛出租車，一邊看著手里的紙條一邊對司機說：“我只想去看兩個地方——圣彼得大教堂和羅馬斗獸場。以最快的速度帶我到那里去然后送我回車站。”于是他被帶到了圣彼得大教堂，他把頭伸出車窗外問司機：“噯，這是我說的兩個地方中的哪一個？”
