The part of the World that isn't patches of shadow or snow is water.The water all around the continents is the ocean, and though of course there are no walls nor fences dividing it into different parts, its different parts are called by different names.Do you know your right hand from your left? Of course you do if you're over six years old.But do you know the west side from the east side? If you are over nine years old you should.The east is where the sun rises, the west is where it sets.And if your right hand is east, your left hand is west your face is north and your back is south
環繞著大陸的水叫做海洋,盡管并沒有圍墻或者籬笆把它們分成不同的部分,海洋的不同部分還是有它們自己不同的名字。你能分清自己的左右手嗎?當然能,如果你超過6歲的話。但你能分清東西方向嗎?如果你超過9歲了,就該分得清了。東方是太陽升起的地方,而西方是太陽落山的地方。如果你的右手是東方,你的左手是西方,那么你的臉就是北方,你的后背就是南方。
The Atlantic Ocean is on the east side of North and South America.The Pacific Ocean is on the west.The ocean entirely in the Eastern Hemisphere is called “Indian.” No, it is not named for our Indians.At the top of the World is the Arctic Ocean.At the bottom, all around Antarctica, is the Antarctic Ocean.The Arctic and Antarctic Oceans are mostly ice, for it is so cold there the water freezes and stays frozen.If we wanted to put names on the oceans so that a man off in the sky could read them, we would have to stick huge signs in the water, as we can't paint letters on the ocean.
大西洋位于南北美洲的東邊,太平洋在西邊。全部在東半球 的海洋叫做印度洋,起這個名字不是指美國的印第安人。在世 界的最頂部是北冰洋。在最底部,環繞著南極洲的是南冰洋。北冰洋和南冰洋大部分都是冰,因為那里太冷了,水都結冰了,一直處于冷凍狀態。如果我們要在這里的海洋上寫上字讓天空中的人能看得到,我們得在水上貼上巨大的標志,因為沒人能在海洋上畫上字。
There is no reason why I should show you the World turned this way with North America on top.I might just as well show it upside down or sideways, for there is no upside nor downside on the World.I suppose the reason the north side is always shown on top is because the people who made maps and geographies all lived in the north part of the World and they wanted their part of the World on top.
并沒有什么特別的原因讓我把這個世界以北美洲在上的方式展示給你們看。我當然也可以把它上下顛倒過來或者斜向一邊放,因為世界上根本就沒有上部和下部之分。我想北半邊總是 被放在上面是因為繪制地圖研究地理的人都住在北半邊,他們 想讓他們那邊在上邊。
So this is our World.You may wonder, "Are there any other Worlds besides ours?" Some have guessed that there may be—that some of those sparks in the sky that look like stars at night may be other Worlds like ours with people living on them.But no one knows, for the strongest telescope is not strong enough for us to see what is on those far off sparks, so we can only guess about them.
這就是我們的世界。你也許會想:“除了我們的世界之外,還有其他世界嗎?”有人猜也許會有—夜晚的天空中閃閃發光的像星星一樣的亮點也許就是其他的世界,像我們的一樣,上面住著人。但是沒人知道,因為就是最高級的望遠鏡也不足以讓我們看清離我們那么遠的小亮點上有些什么,所以我們只能猜猜而已。