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05The 13 Club
05十三俱樂(lè)部
A man may pay millions of dollars to have a hospital, a library, or a museum named after him, and another who has paid nothing, done nothing, deserved nothing, and asked nothing has two of the biggest things in the World—the two continents North and South America—named after him, and people will go on forever calling them America after him—an unimportant, almost unknown man named Amerigo.
一個(gè)人也許要花上幾百萬(wàn)美元才能讓一家醫(yī)院、一個(gè)圖書(shū)館或者一個(gè)博物館以他的名字命名，但是有個(gè)人卻沒(méi)花一分錢(qián)， 沒(méi)做任何事，沒(méi)有任何功勞，也沒(méi)提出任何要求，卻讓世界上兩個(gè)最大的東西—北美和南美兩塊大陸—以他的名字命名， 叫亞美利加，而且人們會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)這樣叫下去，這個(gè)微不足道的人，名叫亞美利哥。
Do you know the song that begins, “My Country, ' Tis of Thee”? What do you mean by “My Country”? It is a part, the smaller part, of North America.Have you a buffalo nickel in your pocket—a 5-cent piece ? If not, perhaps you can borrow one just to look at.On the head side is the picture of an Indian with feathers in his hair.Why do you suppose our country has the picture of an Indian instead of a white man on the nickel? On the tail side is the picture of a buffalo, why do you suppose our country has a picture of a buffalo on the nickel instead of a horse or a cow?
你知道那首歌嗎？開(kāi)頭唱道：“我的祖國(guó)，這屬于你。”你知道“我的祖國(guó)”指的是什么嗎？它是北美洲的一部分，較小的那一部分。 你口袋里有一枚水牛硬幣嗎？就是5分的硬幣。沒(méi)有的話你可以借一枚來(lái)看看。硬幣的正面是一個(gè)頭發(fā)上插著羽毛的印第安人的畫(huà)像。你能猜出為什么我們國(guó)家硬幣上的畫(huà)像是印第安人，而 不是白人嗎？硬幣的反面是一個(gè)水牛的畫(huà)像。你想想為什么不是一匹馬或者一頭奶牛呢？
Well, long before there were any white men here at all, or any horses or cows, there were a great many Indians and a great many buffaloes in this country.Now there are very few Indians and very few buffaloes in America, so these pictures on the nickel are to remind us that the Indian is the first American man and the buffalo is the first American animal.
原來(lái)，很久以前，這里根本沒(méi)有白人、馬或奶牛，而是有很多很多的印第安人和許多許多的水牛。現(xiàn)在在美國(guó)，印第安人和水牛己經(jīng)非常少了，因此硬幣上的這些圖像是提醒我們印第安人 是最早的美國(guó)人，水牛是最早的美國(guó)動(dòng)物。
If you will look at the printing on the nickel you will see it says “United States of America." That' s the full name of our country, but it is too long for us to say United States of America every time, so we usually say just United States or just America or use just the initials U.S.A.
如果看一下硬幣上的字，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)上面寫(xiě)著：美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)。這是美國(guó)的全稱，但是每次都說(shuō)美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)就太長(zhǎng)了，所 以我們通常就說(shuō)美國(guó)，或簡(jiǎn)稱為U.S.A.。
Have you ever seen a picture of a tall man with a suit of clothes that looked as if it had been made out of a flag, with red and white striped breeches, a long- tailed coat, and a tall hat with stars on it? There never was such a man really, but he is supposed to be the picture of the United States.
你有沒(méi)有看過(guò)這樣一個(gè)人的圖片？他個(gè)子高高的，穿著一套好像是用美國(guó)國(guó)旗做的衣服，紅白條紋的馬褲，長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的燕尾服， 戴著一頂滿是星星的高帽子。實(shí)際上從來(lái)沒(méi)有這樣一個(gè)人，但是 他被認(rèn)為是美國(guó)的化身。
