評論
打印
LESSON 13 Round the world
第十三課 環游世界
To be read before a Map of the World
閱讀時請參照世界地圖
A Voyage round the world can be made only through the Southern Seas; for though there exists a north-west passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it is so obstructed with ice as to be practically useless. Vessels leaving the coast of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick sail south-eastward to the Cape of Good Hope, cross the Indian Ocean to Australia and New Zealand, and continue their course through successive groups of sunny isles till they reach Cape Horn and re-enter the Atlantic, and sail homeward to some Canadian port. The reverse course may be followed. A vessel from Halifax or St. John may sail down past the West Indies and the South American coast, double Cape Horn, and thence cross the Pacific to China, Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and homeward through the Atlantic. Such ocean voyages are tedious, being liable to long delays on account of calms and storms.
環游世界的航行只能經由南部海域，雖然大西洋和太平洋之間有一條西北通道，但是它幾乎被冰堵死了。船只只能從新斯科舍海岸（加拿大）或新不倫瑞克海岸（加拿大）出發往東南方向駛向好望角（南非），穿過印度洋到達澳大利亞和新西蘭，之后繼續航行穿過一片生機勃勃的群島，直到到達霍恩角并再次駛進大西洋，最后再駛回加拿大的某個港口。相反方向的航線也是如此，船只可以從哈利法克斯港或者圣約翰島順流而下穿過西印度群島和南美海岸、雙合恩角、然后穿過太平洋進入中國、錫蘭（印度以南一島國）、好望角、之后再駛回大西洋。這樣的航行是冗長乏味的，航行時間易受無風和風暴的影響從而被迫延長。
The tourist who wishes in these days to make the tour of the world under the most advantageous circumstances usually starts from London, the throbbing centre not of the British Empire only, but of the whole world; the largest, the wealthiest, the most influential of cities. The route is partly by sea, partly by land. Swift steamers, and swifter railway trains, contribute to make the journey rapid, safe, and delightful. Early in the nineteenth century, vessels sailing between England and Canada often had to battle with waves and winds for fifty or sixty days; today, by the Canadian Pacific route, the traveller can go round the world in sixty days.
那些希望近期能在最有利的條件下環游世界的旅行者們通常都會選擇從倫敦出發，倫敦不僅僅是大英帝國跳動著的心臟，更是整個世界的中心，也是最大、最富裕、最有影響力的城市。環游世界的倫敦路線為半海上路線和半陸地路線，乘坐速度較快的輪船和火車能使整段旅程費時更短、更安全、也更愉悅。19世紀早期，航行于英格蘭和加拿大之間的船只總是要花上五六十天的時間大戰海浪和海風，而今天的加拿大—太平洋航線旅行者們只需花上六十天的時間便能完成整段環球旅行。
