Where the Thermometer Freezes Up 溫度計被凍僵的地方

By V. M. Hillyer ——V. M. 希利爾

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名的兒童教育家、科普作家，創建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的世界地理》。

Some thermometers have numbers down to forty degrees （40℃） below zero. There the numbers stop， for when the mercury gets down to that point it freezes up. But there are few places in the World where it ever gets as cold as that. The coldest place in the World is not at the North Pole; the coldest place in the World， where the thermometer does go below 40℃ and freezes up， is called Siberia.

Siberia is a huge area north of China. In the north of Siberia the sun never rises all winter long. It is night， as it is in Norway and Sweden. But there is no Gulf Stream to warm the land， so it gets much colder than 40℃ below zero， and they have to use a different kind of thermometer to measure how cold it is. In one place it goes to 60℃ below zero. People cant grow fur on their skins to keep themselves warm as animals can， so when they go outside they must cover themselves from top to toe with animal skins or they would freeze to death in a few moments.

But all of Siberia is not like this. There is a top， a middle， and a bottom part. Few people live in the northern part， however. It is so cold that no trees grow there and the ground is frozen solid many feet down. In the summer it gets very warm， and the thermometer sometimes goes to above 30℃. The ground then thaws out on top and moss and a few other things grow for a short while， though the ground underneath still stays frozen. Siberia belongs to Russia， but there are people from other countries living there too.

一些溫度計的最低刻度達到-40℃。可是實際上，溫度計里面的水銀柱是走不到那么低的位置的，因為在那個溫度，水銀會結冰。但在我們的地球上，有很少幾個地方會冷到那種程度。世界上最冷的地方并不是北極，而是一個叫作西伯利亞的地方。在那兒，溫度可以降到-40℃，溫度計一定會被凍僵。

西伯利亞在中國以北，是一片廣闊的地帶。在西伯利亞的北部，整個冬天都看不到太陽。這樣極夜的情形，同在挪威和瑞典是一樣的?？墒桥餐０队袕哪鞲鐬沉鬟^來的暖流，而西伯利亞卻完全沒有這樣的條件，因此西伯利亞的氣溫會比-40℃還低得多。那兒的人們必須使用一種特制的溫度計來測量當地的溫度。在西伯利亞最冷的地方，氣溫可以低到-60℃。人的身體不像動物一樣有毛發御寒，所以那兒的人們一旦要出門，就必須全身上下裹上厚厚的動物毛皮。否則，要不了多長時間，人就可能會被凍死。

然而西伯利亞并不是所有地區都那么寒冷。整個西伯利亞可以被分成高緯度（北部）、中緯度（中部）和低緯度（南部）三個地區。西伯利亞北部非常冷，因此居住在那兒的人非常少。由于嚴寒，西伯利亞北部基本上沒有任何樹木生長。而那里的土地，在冬季的時候，從地表到地下數英尺全部被封凍。西伯利亞北方的夏季卻非常熱，最高氣溫可以達到30℃以上。這樣一來，土地表層就會解凍，苔蘚和其他一些植物會長出來。不過，在地表以下，土地依然是封凍的。西伯利亞屬于俄羅斯，但除了俄羅斯人，還有別的國家的人生活在那兒。

word? ?study

thermometer /θ?'m?m?t?（r）/ n. 溫度計

mercury /'m??kj?ri/ n. 水銀

frozen /'fr??zn/ adj. 冰凍的

It was bitterly cold now and the ground was frozen hard.

thaw /θ??/ v.（結冰后）解凍

Thaw it out completely before reheating in a saucepan.

moss /m?s/ n. 苔蘚

The middle part of Siberia is not nearly so cold， and there great forests have grown， and in the forests live wild animals such as foxes， wolves and sable， which have beautiful thick coats of fur to keep themselves warm. Trappers hunt these animals just for their furs， to be made into coats to keep people warm. One small animal， called the ermine， has a snow-white coat and a tail with a black tip. The ermine hates dirt or anything that will soil his white fur， so he keeps himself spotless. It is for this reason that the official robes of judges and kings are made of the fur of the ermine， as a sign that they must be pure and clean in heart and mind. The skins of many such animals are sewn together to make a single cape or coat， which then looks white with little black tails spotted regularly over it.

The longest railway in the World is built through the bottom part of Siberia. It is so long it takes two weeks to go from one end of it to the other. One end of it on the Pacific Ocean is called Vladivostok and the other end in Russia is Moscow. It is called the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Most of the people in Siberia live along this railway， and yet one may travel for hundreds of miles without seeing a town or even a house. Often the towns are far from the railroad， so that there is a long drive from the station to the town. In the early 20th century， the engines that draw the trains are fired by wood instead of coal， and along the railroad there are piles of wood at which the train stops to get fuel， as a car would stop to get gasoline. The chief Siberian cities end in “sk”. They are Omsk， Tomsk， and Irkutsk.

A stranger once asked a man on the street of Irkutsk how far it was to the railway station. The man replied， “If you keep on going the way you are headed it is twenty-five thousand miles， but if you turn round its two blocks.”

西伯利亞中部地區不像北方那么冷，所以那里有面積很大的森林。森林里有不少野生動物，如狐貍、狼和貂。這些動物的皮毛又厚又漂亮，能夠幫助它們抵御西伯利亞冬季的嚴寒。獵人們捕獵這些動物，目的就是獲取它們的皮毛。這些皮毛最終會被做成衣服，供生活在地球上嚴寒地區的人們御寒。小體型的雪貂有一身雪白的皮毛，長長的尾巴尖上有一撮黑色的毛。雪貂很愛干凈，容不得它雪白的“大衣”上有一點點臟，所以雪貂始終保持身體潔凈。而這也是為什么大法官的法袍和國王的袍子都要用雪貂皮毛來縫制的原因，干凈的雪貂皮毛象征著大法官和國王必須有純凈無瑕的心靈。人們將很多條雪貂皮縫在一起，做成一件法袍或者王袍。這件袍子是白色的，上面均勻地點綴著黑色的小斑點，那是雪貂的尾巴。

西伯利亞的南部有一條世界上最長的鐵路，從這條鐵路的一頭到另一頭，需要兩個星期的時間。這條鐵路的一頭在太平洋岸邊，始發站叫符拉迪沃斯托克，另一頭的終點站是俄羅斯的首都莫斯科。這條鐵路的名字叫作西伯利亞大鐵路。

西伯利亞大多數居民生活在這條鐵路的沿線地區，可是這些居民住得非常分散。經常有這樣的情況，你走上好幾百英里，都看不到一個城鎮甚至一棟房子。西伯利亞大鐵路沿線的城鎮實際上離鐵路還遠得很。從火車站到某個城鎮，得開上很長時間的車才行。20世紀初，在這條鐵路上運行的火車車頭不是靠燒煤來發動的，而是燒木頭。因此，在鐵路旁邊，有非常多的木柴儲藏點?；疖囬_到一個儲藏點，就會停下來加點木柴。這就像我們把車開到加油站加油一樣。西伯利亞的主要城市都叫“某某克”，像鄂木斯克、托木斯克、伊爾庫茨克。

曾經一個外地人在伊爾庫茨克的大街上問一個當地人火車站有多遠。那個當地人回答道：“如果你朝現在面對的方向一直走，走25 000英里就能到。不過，如果你轉個身，往回走，兩個街區以外就是火車站?！?/p>

How far do you suppose it is to Siberia from the US？—eight thousand？—ten thousand miles？ As a matter of fact， it is only about fifty miles—yes， thats right， fifty miles—for the short way is across to Alaska. Between Siberia and Alaska is a narrow strip of water called Bering Strait， and when this is frozen over， one could walk across from Asia to America. On the map there is also a long string of islands that look like stepping-stones， but one would have to be a giant to walk across that way. Some say that the Eskimos in Alaska and Indians in the US may have come across Bering Strait from Asia long， long ago， and that they look something like the Chinese because they once came from that country.

Before World War I， when Russia had a czar， people who hated the czar or were supposed to hate the czar， or who had said anything against the czar， were made prisoners， torn away from their families and friends， and sent to far-off Siberia to work in the mines. Many of them perished before reaching there.

你猜猜從美國到西伯利亞有多遠——8 000英里，10 000英里？實際上，只有50英里。是的，沒錯，就是50英里。從西伯利亞到美國的阿拉斯加，是這兩地之間相距最短的地方。這兩個地方隔著一條窄窄的海峽，叫作白令海峽。白令海峽結冰的時候，人甚至可以從冰面上走過去——從亞洲走到美洲。在地圖上，你還能在白令海峽上看到一連串的島嶼。這些島嶼看起來就像是漂浮在海面上的踏腳石，不過能走到上面的人一定得是個巨人才行。有人認為，阿拉斯加的因紐特人和美洲的印第安人就是在很久很久以前，在白令海峽結冰的時候，從亞洲走到美洲去的。這些人之所以看上去那么像中國人，就是因為他們來自中國。

第一次世界大戰以前，在俄羅斯被沙皇統治的時期，憎恨沙皇的人，或者沙皇認為對他有敵意的人，或者是說了反對沙皇的話的人，都會被關起來。他們被迫離開自己的家人和朋友，被送到遙遠的西伯利亞去開礦。很多人在去西伯利亞的路上就死掉了。

trapper /'tr?p?（r）/ n. 捕殺動物者（尤指為獲取毛皮）

spotless /'sp?tl?s/ adj. 非常潔凈的

She keeps the house spotless.

sew /s??/ v. 縫制;縫補

Can you sew a button on for me？

chief /t?i?f/ adj. 最重要的;主要的

prisoner /'pr?zn?（r）/ n. 囚犯;犯人

perish /'per??/ v.（因惡劣條件或事故）死亡

Most of the butterflies perish in the first frosts of autumn.