The Bear熊国

V. M. 希利尔 （汤敏　译）

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、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》。

When I was a boy the story I liked best was one about wolves in Russia. Some Russians in a sleigh were driving across the snow， when they were attacked by a pack of hungry wolves. The men whipped up their horses， but the wolves drew nearer and nearer. When the wolves were just about to spring upon the sleigh the men threw out food， which the wolves stopped a moment to devour， allowing the sleigh to get ahead. But the wolves caught up and again food was thrown out and again and again， till there was no food left. See if you can guess the end of the story， or make up an ending of your own.

Naturally， I used to think of Russia as a land of wolves， though for some reason people call Russia “The Bear.”

我小的时候，最喜欢听的一个故事，是关于一群俄罗斯人遭遇狼群的可怕经历。这群俄罗斯人驾驶雪橇穿过雪原，没想到遇上了饥饿的狼群。雪橇上的人不停地驱赶马快跑，可是狼群一直跟在雪橇后面，并且慢慢接近。每当狼群蠢蠢欲动想要扑上雪橇的时候，人们就扔出一点食物。这样狼群就会停下来抢食物吃。雪橇可以暂时跑出一段距离。可是当狼群吃完了食物，又会慢慢跟上来，这样人们只好又扔出一点食物。可是食物越来越少，最后全部都扔完了。但是狼群依然没有放弃，还是跟在雪橇后面。这个故事的结局我不告诉你，你猜猜最后发生了什么事情。当然你也可以运用自己的想象，给这个故事续写一个你喜欢的结局。

因为读了这个故事，自然而然地，我那时候认为俄罗斯遍地都是狼群。可是，不知出于什么原因，人们却喜欢把俄罗斯叫作“熊国”。

Russia is a huge country—it is the largest country in Europe—it is as large as all the other countries of Europe put together， and in the far north there are wolves， snow， and sleighs. But there is also a middle Russia which is not so cold and a southern Russia which is quite warm.

In the north of Russia it is so cold that even in summer when the snow has gone and the ground has thawed out on top， the ground underneath remains frozen stiff， and， though grass and even flowers grow above， the ground below remains hard and icy. These frozen lands are called “tundras”， and there are thousands of miles of such tundras across the north of Russia.

At the top of Russia is a sea called “White” and at the bottom of Russia a sea called “Black”. The White Sea， I suppose， is called “White” because it is frozen over most of the year and covered with snow—and yet， during a few months of the summer when the ice in it has melted， great ships sail into the White Sea， bringing in loads of all sorts of goods to the one great port on this sea—a city called Archangel—a name that makes one think of heaven.

俄羅斯有庞大的国土——它是欧洲面积最大的国家——它的面积比欧洲其他所有国家加起来都要大。在俄罗斯偏远的北边，那儿确实有狼群、冰雪和雪橇。可是在俄罗斯中部，天气并不是那么冷。而在俄罗斯南部，天气则是非常温暖和煦的。

在广袤的北俄罗斯，气候非常寒冷。即使是到了夏天，冰雪消融，也只是地表的一层解冻，有花草长出来。可在地表以下，土地依然冻得结结实实的。这种全年结冰的土层叫作“冻土”。在俄罗斯北部，有数千英里连绵不绝的冻土地带。

在俄罗斯最北端，有一片海域叫作白海。而在俄罗斯最南端，有另一片海域叫作黑海。我猜，白海之所以被叫作“白”海，大概是因为它一年中绝大多数时候都被冰雪封冻着，看上去就是白茫茫的一片。在白海，只有夏季的很少几个月中，冰雪会解冻。也只有在这时候，大型轮船才可以驶到白海边一个叫作阿尔汉格尔斯克的港口城市。这些轮船满载着各种物资，把货物卸在阿尔汉格尔斯克的码头。

Word Study

sleigh /sle?/ n. 雪橇

devour /d?'va??（r）/ v. 狼吞虎咽地吃光;吞没;毁灭

The big fish continued to devour the little ones.

thaw /θ??/ v. 解冻，融化;变暖

Leave the meat to thaw completely before cooking.

stiff /st?f/ adj. 僵硬的;硬的

tundra /'t?ndr?/ n. 冻原，苔原

melt /melt/ v. 熔化，融化

The snow showed no sign of melting.

You may wonder why people live in such faroff places， why they dont move to other places that are more comfortable. But people live where they can make a living， and cities usually start with a few houses and more and more houses are built until there is a city. But there is a great city farther south than Archangel which was built all at once—to order. It was built by a man named Peter， who was one of the rulers of Russia. They were called “czars”. Peter wanted to live by the water so that he could sail ships， just as you might like to go to the seashore to sail boats， so he built a city by the sea， with streets， shops， houses， and palaces， and then， as he was a czar who could make people do what he wanted， he made people come and live in this city. Peter had been named for St Peter， so he called his city St Petersburg， which meant St Peters City. That was two hundred years ago.

你也许会好奇，为什么人们要在如此偏远的地方修建城市，住在这里。为什么他们不到另外更加舒服的地方去生活呢。嗯，其实，城市建在哪里是个自然选择的过程。人们能在哪里求得生存的基本条件，就会在哪里慢慢发展起来。一开始的时候，可能只是几间小房子，当这里变得越来越繁荣的时候，房子也就会越建越多，城市也就逐渐形成并且壮大起来。不过，在离阿尔汉格尔斯克更南的地方，却有一座城市是因为人为的原因，受命而建的。下令修建这座城市的人叫作彼得，他当时是俄罗斯的统治者之一。俄罗斯的统治者有个特别的尊称，叫作沙皇。这位彼得就是一个沙皇。彼得想要在海边居住，这样可以方便他出海游玩。我想很多人都希望居住在海边，这样能够随时去航海。彼得也是这样。于是他下令在海边修建了这座城市，城市里有街道、商店、各色房屋以及供他居住的宫殿。因为彼得的沙皇身份，所以他可以动用整个国家力量来办这件事。当城市修好之后，他还下令让人们迁居到这座城市来生活。这位沙皇彼得曾被封圣，又称为圣彼得，因此他就把这座奉他之命修建的城市叫作圣彼得堡，意思是“圣彼得的城市”。那是两百年（距作者写作本书——编者注）前的事了。

When Russia was fighting in World War I the people of St Petersburg said that they wanted a real Russian name for their city， for “burg” was the German name for city， and they were fighting the Germans， so they called it Petrograd， which was the Russian name for Peters City. But the people got tired of the war and all of a sudden they said they would not fight any more; they had a revolution， killed the czar and set up a government of their own. They wanted the city of Petrograd called for the leader of the revolution， a man named Lenin， so they changed the name of the city again to Leningrad， which meant Lenins City. St Peterburg， Pertrograd， Leningrad was built to be the capital of Russia， but it was so cold there they moved the capital to a city still farther south near the center of Russia that had been the capital before. This city is called Moscow.

第一次世界大戰期间，俄罗斯同德国是交战国。圣彼得堡的人说，他们要给这座城市重新起一个名字，因为“堡”也是一个德国词，在德语里也是“城市”的意思。圣彼得堡的人希望给自己的城市起一个纯正的俄罗斯名字。于是他们把城市改成彼得格勒，在俄语中就是“彼得的城市”的意思。但人们已经厌倦了战争，他们说不想再打仗了。但一战之后没过多久，俄罗斯发生了革命，人们杀了沙皇，建立起了自己的政权。人们又希望用革命领导人的名字来为这座城市命名。革命的领袖叫作列宁，于是这座城市又改名为列宁格勒，意思是“列宁的城市”。于是，圣彼得堡、彼得格勒、列宁格勒在历史上都曾是俄罗斯的首都。可是，这个地方还是太冷了，于是人们继续往南，在俄罗斯中部，一个曾经成为过俄罗斯首都的地方，重新建都。这个地方就是今天的莫斯科。

Word Study

faroff /'fɑ?r??f/ adj. 遥远的

czar /tsɑ?/ n. 沙皇;独裁者;独揽大权者

revolution /'rev?'lu??n/ n. 革命;巨变;大变革

A revolution in information technology is taking place.