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LESSON 31 Thentiday bore of the Tsien-tang
第三十一課 錢塘江大潮
In the open expanse of the Southern Ocean, as well as over a large portion of the Pacific, the tidal wave 1 rarely exceeds five or six feet in height,
在南大洋寬闊的海面上和太平洋大片海域，潮水的高度很少能超過5-6英尺；
and in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans perhaps eight or ten.
印度洋和大西洋的潮水也許能達到8-10英尺。
In bays and gulfs, however, opening broadly to its course, and narrowing towards their interior recesses—such as the Bay of Bengal,
然而，在河道寬闊，縱深狹窄的港灣和海灣里——如孟加拉灣，
the Bristol Channel, and the Bay of Fundy in America—it may rise to twenty, thirty, or, under favourable circumstances of wind and season, even to fifty or sixty feet in height!
布里斯托爾海峽和美洲的芬迪灣——潮水有可能漲到二三十英尺高，如果天氣正好有風，潮水甚至能借風勢漲到五六十英尺高！
And where such seas terminate in river-estuaries, the wave, still converging, forms a high head or wall of water, termed a Bore,
在河口處，潮水能匯聚成一道高水頭或一道水墻，我們將其稱為大潮。
which ascends the river with sudden and destructive force.
大潮會突如其來地從河中沖起，威力巨大。
Tidal bores of considerable magnitude occur in many rivers, such as the Severn, Garonne, Amazon, and Hoogly;
諸如塞文河，加倫河，亞馬遜河和胡格里河等許多河流都會爆發大量級的漲潮；
but that of the Tsien-tang in China appears to excel them all in grandeur, especially at spring-tides and during strong easterly gales.
但是中國的錢塘江大潮卻以雄偉壯麗而遠勝這些所有河流的漲潮，春潮和遇上強勁的東風時更是如此。
Dr. Macgowan gives the following graphic account of it in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society:
麥高恩博士在皇家亞洲協會的圖文會報中對錢塘江大潮給出了如下描述。
"Between the river and the city walls, which are a mile distant, dense suburbs extend for several miles along the banks.
“錢塘江離城墻有一英里，河岸兩邊密集的郊區綿延數英里。
As the hour of flood-tide approached, crowds gathered in the streets running at right angles with the Tsien-tang, but at safe distances.
大潮即將來臨之時，街上就會擠滿了人，都朝著錢塘江前去觀潮，但是大家都與潮水保持著安全的距離。
My position was a terrace in front of the Triwave Temple, which afforded a good view of the entire scene.“
我站在特立威寺廟前，能看見整個漲潮的景象。”
"On a sudden all traffic in the thronged mart was suspended;
“一瞬間，集市上水泄不通；
porters cleared the front street of every description of merchandise, boatmen ceased lading and unlading their vessels, and put out into the middle of the stream,
搬運工們只能靠喊穿過人群，船家停止載貨并開始卸下船上的貨物，將船停在河流中間，
so that a few minutes sufficed to give a deserted appearance to the busiest part of one of the busiest cities of Asia.
為接下來這座亞洲最繁忙城市最繁忙地段萬人空巷的情景做準備。
The centre of the river teemed with craft, from small boats to large barges, including the gay 'flower-boats'.”
河中間出現了許多船筏，有小船也有駁船，還有裝飾艷麗的‘花舟’。”
