By V. M. Hillyer ——V. M. 希利尔

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名的儿童教育家、科普作家，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的世界地理》。

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.

一些温度计的最低刻度达到-40℃。可是实际上，温度计里面的水银柱是走不到那么低的位置的，因为在那个温度，水银会结冰。但在我们的地球上，有很少几个地方会冷到那种程度。世界上最冷的地方并不是北极，而是一个叫作西伯利亚的地方。在那儿，温度可以降到-40℃，温度计一定会被冻僵。

西伯利亚在中国以北，是一片广阔的地带。在西伯利亚的北部，整个冬天都看不到太阳。这样极夜的情形，同在挪威和瑞典是一样的。可是挪威海岸有从墨西哥湾流过来的暖流，而西伯利亚却完全没有这样的条件，因此西伯利亚的气温会比-40℃还低得多。那儿的人们必须使用一种特制的温度计来测量当地的温度。在西伯利亚最冷的地方，气温可以低到-60℃。人的身体不像动物一样有毛发御寒，所以那儿的人们一旦要出门，就必须全身上下裹上厚厚的动物毛皮。否则，要不了多长时间，人就可能会被冻死。

然而西伯利亚并不是所有地區都那么寒冷。整个西伯利亚可以被分成高纬度（北部）、中纬度（中部）和低纬度（南部）三个地区。西伯利亚北部非常冷，因此居住在那儿的人非常少。由于严寒，西伯利亚北部基本上没有任何树木生长。而那里的土地，在冬季的时候，从地表到地下数英尺全部被封冻。西伯利亚北方的夏季却非常热，最高气温可以达到30℃以上。这样一来，土地表层就会解冻，苔藓和其他一些植物会长出来。不过，在地表以下，土地依然是封冻的。西伯利亚属于俄罗斯，但除了俄罗斯人，还有别的国家的人生活在那儿。

word   study

thermometer /θ?'m?m?t?（r）/ n. 温度计

mercury /'m??kj?ri/ n. 水银

frozen /'fr??zn/ adj. 冰冻的

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

thaw /θ??/ v.（结冰后）解冻

Thaw it out completely before reheating in a saucepan.

moss /m?s/ n. 苔藓

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.”

西伯利亚中部地区不像北方那么冷，所以那里有面积很大的森林。森林里有不少野生动物，如狐狸、狼和貂。这些动物的皮毛又厚又漂亮，能够帮助它们抵御西伯利亚冬季的严寒。猎人们捕猎这些动物，目的就是获取它们的皮毛。这些皮毛最终会被做成衣服，供生活在地球上严寒地区的人们御寒。小体型的雪貂有一身雪白的皮毛，长长的尾巴尖上有一撮黑色的毛。雪貂很爱干净，容不得它雪白的“大衣”上有一點点脏，所以雪貂始终保持身体洁净。而这也是为什么大法官的法袍和国王的袍子都要用雪貂皮毛来缝制的原因，干净的雪貂皮毛象征着大法官和国王必须有纯净无瑕的心灵。人们将很多条雪貂皮缝在一起，做成一件法袍或者王袍。这件袍子是白色的，上面均匀地点缀着黑色的小斑点，那是雪貂的尾巴。

西伯利亚的南部有一条世界上最长的铁路，从这条铁路的一头到另一头，需要两个星期的时间。这条铁路的一头在太平洋岸边，始发站叫符拉迪沃斯托克，另一头的终点站是俄罗斯的首都莫斯科。这条铁路的名字叫作西伯利亚大铁路。

西伯利亚大多数居民生活在这条铁路的沿线地区，可是这些居民住得非常分散。经常有这样的情况，你走上好几百英里，都看不到一个城镇甚至一栋房子。西伯利亚大铁路沿线的城镇实际上离铁路还远得很。从火车站到某个城镇，得开上很长时间的车才行。20世纪初，在这条铁路上运行的火车车头不是靠烧煤来发动的，而是烧木头。因此，在铁路旁边，有非常多的木柴储藏点。火车开到一个储藏点，就会停下来加点木柴。这就像我们把车开到加油站加油一样。西伯利亚的主要城市都叫“某某克”，像鄂木斯克、托木斯克、伊尔库茨克。

曾经一个外地人在伊尔库茨克的大街上问一个当地人火车站有多远。那个当地人回答道：“如果你朝现在面对的方向一直走，走25 000英里就能到。不过，如果你转个身，往回走，两个街区以外就是火车站。”

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.

你猜猜從美国到西伯利亚有多远——8 000英里，10 000英里？实际上，只有50英里。是的，没错，就是50英里。从西伯利亚到美国的阿拉斯加，是这两地之间相距最短的地方。这两个地方隔着一条窄窄的海峡，叫作白令海峡。白令海峡结冰的时候，人甚至可以从冰面上走过去——从亚洲走到美洲。在地图上，你还能在白令海峡上看到一连串的岛屿。这些岛屿看起来就像是漂浮在海面上的踏脚石，不过能走到上面的人一定得是个巨人才行。有人认为，阿拉斯加的因纽特人和美洲的印第安人就是在很久很久以前，在白令海峡结冰的时候，从亚洲走到美洲去的。这些人之所以看上去那么像中国人，就是因为他们来自中国。

第一次世界大战以前，在俄罗斯被沙皇统治的时期，憎恨沙皇的人，或者沙皇认为对他有敌意的人，或者是说了反对沙皇的话的人，都会被关起来。他们被迫离开自己的家人和朋友，被送到遥远的西伯利亚去开矿。很多人在去西伯利亚的路上就死掉了。

trapper /'tr?p?（r）/ n. 捕杀动物者（尤指为获取毛皮）

spotless /'sp?tl?s/ adj. 非常洁净的

She keeps the house spotless.

sew /s??/ v. 缝制;缝补

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.（因恶劣条件或事故）死亡

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