英國語文第三冊(雙語):西印度群島(上)

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Lesson 52 The west India islands

第五十二課 西印度群島

More than three hundred years ago, there stood near a small town on the coast of Spain an ancient convent. It still stands there, on a height above the sea, surrounded by a forest of pine trees.

三百多年前，在西班牙海岸小鎮(zhèn)附近有一座古老的修道院。它現(xiàn)在依然高高屹立于海平面之上，處于松樹林之中。

A stranger, travelling on foot, with a little boy, one day stopped at the gate of the convent, and asked the porter to give him a little bread and water for his child.

一天，修道院門口來了一個(gè)陌生的徒步旅行者，帶著一個(gè)小男孩。它請求守門人給他孩子一小片面包和一點(diǎn)水。

Poor and friendless though he was, when he stood at the convent gate, he afterwards became one of the most famous of men. That stranger was the great Christopher Columbus; and the little boy was his son Diego.

當(dāng)時(shí)站在修道院門前的他雖然可憐，無依無靠，但是日后他卻變成了一個(gè)家喻戶曉的人。他就是偉大的克里斯多弗·哥倫布；他帶著的小男孩就是他的兒子迪亞哥。

Seven years afterwards, he was befriended by Isabella, Queen of Spain; and, on the 3rd of August 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain with three small ships, on the great voyage which ended in the discovery of America.

七年后，哥倫布得到西班牙女王伊麗莎白的贊助，于1492年8月3日率領(lǐng)由三只小船組成的船隊(duì)從西班牙起航，這次航行的結(jié)果是發(fā)現(xiàn)了美洲大陸。

He wanted to find out a new way to India. He believed that the world was round, though few people knew it at that time. Columbus was not aware that there was such a country as America. He thought that if he sailed on and on, always keeping to the west he would at last come to India.

他本想找一條新通道去往印度。雖然在當(dāng)時(shí)很少人信服，但他認(rèn)為地球是圓的。哥倫布并未意識到還有一個(gè)叫美國的國家。他認(rèn)為，只要不斷向西航行，最終會到達(dá)印度。

Look at the Map of the World, and you will see that, if there had been no such country as America, he would have been right. At that time, no one in Europe knew anything about America. So Columbus sailed into what was then an unknown sea. Many thought that he would never come back. On and on he went with his ships, not knowing where he was going!

看看世界地圖，如果當(dāng)時(shí)沒有美國，他的想法就是對的。那時(shí)，所有的歐洲人都對美洲一無所知，所以哥倫布駛?cè)肓艘黄粗Ｓ颍芏嗳苏J(rèn)為他再也回不來。他和他的船隊(duì)不停前進(jìn)，他們并不知道要去向何處！

For a long time there was no sign of land— nothing but the wide waters all around him. Day after day, and night after night passed by. The men who were with him became alarmed, and tried to compel him to return. But he held bravely on his course, and would not turn back. At last the great Atlantic Ocean was crossed, and the ships came in sight of one of the West India Islands.

過了很久，還是沒有看到陸地——在他周圍全是水域。這種情況日復(fù)一日，夜復(fù)一夜地持續(xù)，他的船員們開始驚慌，并試圖強(qiáng)迫他返航。但是，哥倫布毫不畏懼，依舊堅(jiān)持路線，不愿返航。最后他們跨越了大西洋，到達(dá)了西印度群島。