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Lesson 6 A GLASS OF WATER
第六課 一杯水
Let us look at the water in this glass, and see what we can find out about it. It has no colour, so we say that the water is colourless.
咱們來看看這個杯子里的水吧。這杯水是什么樣的呢? 是沒有顏色的, 所以我們說, 水是無色的（colourless）。
But there is very little water in the glass. If we were to look through a very great thickness of water, we should see that it really has a pale blue colour. The water of the deep sea looks blue, you know.
但是, 杯子里的水實在太少了。要是咱們看著一層特別厚的水, 就會發現, 其實這層水是淺藍色的。小朋友們知道, 深深的大海里的水, 就是藍色的。
The water in the glass has no smell and no taste. That is a very good thing, for we drink a great deal of water, and we should soon get tired of any taste or smell, however nice it might be.
杯子里的水, 聞起來沒有氣味, 喝起來也沒有味道。這是一件非常好的事, 因為我們要喝很多水, 不管水的氣味和味道多么好, 我們都會很快喝膩的。
Yet there are some animals that can smell water a long way off. One of these is the camel. Men crossing the hot, sandy desert seek for the green spots where springs of water are found. Long before they have seen one of these spots, they know that they are near it by their thirsty camels rushing on, however tired they may be. The camels must have smelt the water far off.
可是, 有一些動物, 隔著很遠就能聞到水的氣味。駱駝是這些動物其中的一種。古時候穿越炎熱沙漠的人, 都要尋找有泉水的綠洲。他們還遠遠沒有看到這些綠洲的時候, 就知道綠洲已經近了。因為駱駝渴壞了, 不管有多累, 都拼命往前跑。這些駱駝就是在很遠的地方聞到了水的氣味。
When I hold up the glass, you can see my fingers through the water. For that reason we call the water transparent or clear. Never drink any water which is not clear. Muddy water can be made clear by letting it run through a filter. The filter is full of little holes, but these holes are so small that the bits of sand and mud cannot pass through them.
我舉起杯子, 你就能透過水, 看見我的手指頭。所以我們說, 水是清澈的, 或者是透明的（transparent）。小朋友可不要喝不干凈的水啊！但是, 泥水也可以用過濾器, 變得清澈透明。過濾器上面有很多小孔, 這些小孔特別小, 泥沙通不過去。
Who would try to set fire to the water and make it burn? If you saw any one trying to do so, you would only laugh at him, for you know very well that water will not burn. If your house were on fire, men would come with a fire-engine and pour water on the fire to put it out.
誰會想把水點著了, 讓水燃燒起來呢? 小朋友如果看見, 有人想把水點著, 肯定會笑話他傻。因為你很清楚, 水是不會燃燒的。如果你的家不幸著了火, 人們會開來消防車, 把水噴到火上來滅火。
Let me slant to one side the glass which holds the water. Now the water runs out, and flows down to the floor in a stream. Because the water will flow, we call it a fluid. "Men would come with a fire-engine. "（"人們會開來消防車。"）
我把這杯水歪到一邊兒, 水就會流出來, 沿著一條線流到地板上。因為水是會流動的, 所以我們把水叫做"流體"（fluid）。
There are many other fluids besides water, such as milk and oil. These fluids are also called liquids.
除了水以外, 還有好多別的東西也是流體, 比如牛奶啊, 油啊什么的。這些流體也叫做"液體"（liquid）。
The water in the glass has a certain size, but it has no shape of its own. It takes the form or shape of any glass into which it is poured.
玻璃杯里的水有一定的大小, 但是沒有一定的形狀。水倒進什么杯子里, 就是什么杯子的形狀了。
Is water of any use? Why, it is so useful that we could not live without it. The water we drink forms a great part of our blood and of our bodies.
水有用嗎? 哎呀, 實在太有用了, 我們沒有水就活不下去。我們身體和血液的好大一部分, 都是喝下去的水呢！
Then we need water to wash ourselves with, and to wash our clothes and our houses. No liquid will do this so well as water. We also need water for cooking our food.
我們還要用水來洗澡, 洗衣服, 打掃屋子。在所有液體中, 水是做這些事兒做得最好的。我們還要用水做飯。
Water is used to make the steam that works our steam-engines. And we sprinkle it over our streets and roads to keep down the dust.
蒸汽機里的蒸汽也是水。水還用來灑在街道上, 不讓塵土飛起來。
Without water there would be no rivers, or ponds, or seas; without water, no trees, or plants, or flowers could live. The world would look very dull without the pretty little brooks and the wide blue ocean. SUMMARY Water is colourless, and it has neither smell nor taste. It is transparent, and because it flows it is called a fluid. Water forms a great part of our blood and our bodies. We wash with it, we cook with it; it makes our steam-engines go; it forms our rivers, our ponds, and our seas. Without it neither plants nor animals could live.
沒有水, 江河湖海就都沒有了。沒有水, 花草樹木就都不能活了。沒有蔚藍的大海, 清澈的小溪, 這個世界會多么難看呀！
