39. Geography of USA
1. The vast expanse of the United States of America stretches from the heavily industrialized, metropolitan1 Atlantic seaboard across the rich flat farms of the central plains, over the Rocky Mountains to the fertile west coast, then halfway2 across the Pacific to the balmy island-state of Hawaii. The American scene awes3 the viewer with both its variety and size. The continental4 United States measures, 4,500 kilometers from its Atlantic to Pacific coasts, 2,575 kilometers from Canada to Mexico. The entire nation covers an area of 9 million square kilometers and has a population of 220 million people.
1、美利堅合眾國的遼闊地域，從高度工業化、遍布大都市的大西洋沿岸，延伸至中部平原肥沃平坦的農場，越過洛磯山脈，到達富饒的西海岸，然后橫跨半個太平洋到達氣候溫和的由群島組成的夏威夷州。來美國觀光的人無不贊嘆這塊土地幅員廣闊、多姿多彩。美國國內從大西洋沿岸到太平洋海岸的距離為4500公里，從加拿大到墨西哥的距離為2575公里。全國50個州的總面積為900萬平方公里，人口為2、2億。
2. The sparsely5 settled, far-northern state of Alaska is the largest of America's 50 states . It is more than two and a half times the size of Sichuan province, Texas, in the southern part of the country, is second in size. Texas is half the size of Alaska.
2、人口稀有的阿拉斯加州坐落于美國的最北部，在全國50個州中，它的面積最大，比中國四川的兩倍半還大。南部的得克薩斯州的面積占第二位，只有阿拉斯加州的一半大。
3. A land of heavy forests and barren deserts, of high-peaked mountains and deep canyons6, America also enjoys bountiful rivers and lakes. The broad Mississippi River system, famed in song and legend, meanders7 6,400 kilometers from Canada to the Gulf8 of Mexico the world's third longest river after the Nile and Amazon. A canal in the north joins the Mississippi to the five Great Lakesthe world's largest inland water transportation route and the biggest body of fresh water in the world.
3、除很多森林、荒蕪的沙漠、多高峰的山脈和深深的峽谷以外，美國還有不少河流和湖泊。為不少民歌和傳聞所傳頌的寬闊的密西西比河水系，從加拿大蜿蜒曲折6400公里，流入墨西哥灣，是除尼羅河、亞馬孫河以外的世界第三大河。北部的一條運河將世界上最長的內河航線密西西比河同世界上最大的淡水群五大湖連接在一塊。
4. America's early settlers were attracted by the fertile land and varied9 climates it offered for farming. Today, with 121 million hectares under cultivation10, American farmers plant spring wheat on the cold western plain; they raise corn and fine beef cattle in the central plains, and rice in the damp heat of Louisiana. Florida and California are famous for their citrus fruits and tropical avocados; the cool rainy northeastern states for apples, pears, berries and vegetables.
4、適于農業的肥沃土地和各種不一樣的氣候吸引了早期來美洲的移民。目前美國的耕地達1、21億公頃。美國農場主在寒冷的西部平原上種植春小麥，在中部平原上種植玉米、飼養良種肉牛，在氣候濕熱的路易斯安那州種植水稻。佛羅里達州和加利福尼亞州以盛產柑橘和熱帶鱷梨聞名，涼爽多雨的東北各州則以蘋果、梨、莓和蔬菜而著稱。
5. Underground, a wealth of minerals provides a solid base for American industry. History has glamorized the gold rushes to California and Alaska, and the silver finds in Nevada. Yet America's yearly production of gold and silver is now valued far less than the oil , copper11, iron, coal and other minerals it mines. Texas, a big oil-producer in the southwest, alone accounts for one-fifth the value of all U.S. mineral production.
5、豐富的地下礦藏是美國工業的堅實基礎。美國歷史雖然曾對加利福尼亞州和阿拉斯加州的淘金熱與內華達州銀礦的發現作過動人的描繪，然而美國當今的黃金年產值和白銀年產值都大大低于石油、銅、鐵、煤及其他開采的金屬。得克薩斯州是西南部主要的產油州，僅該州的石油總產值就占美國礦商品產值的五分之一。
6. America has long been known as a melting pot, for it is a nation of immigrants from all over the world. The first to arrivefrom Siberia, more than 10,000 years ago, it is believedwere the American Indians. Today they number nearly 850,000; half live on land set aside for them in 31 states; the rest have melted in with the rest of America's nearly 220 million population.
6、美國歷來以熔爐而著稱，由于這個國家的人口是由世界各地來的移民所組成的。最早的移民是美洲印第安人，據信是一萬余年前從西伯利亞宋的。如今印第安人約有85萬，其中一半人居住在31個州內為他們專門劃出的土地上，其余的人已融入全美國的近2、2億人口中。、
7. Europe, the major source of immigration, began sending colonists12 to America in the early 17th century. Tens of millions flooded to America's shores from Europe between 1880 and the First World War. The next largest group of Americans trace their ancestry13 to Africa, black people now constitute over 11 percent of the population. The melting pot has also absorbed nearly 600,000 Japanese, half a million Chinese and 340,000 Filipinos. Many live in Hawaii, more than two-thirds of whose people boast on Asian or Polynesian heritage.
7、歐洲這個移民的主要來源在17世紀初就開始輸送殖民地發展者來到美洲。從1880年到首次世界大戰，有幾千萬人從歐洲涌上美洲海岸。美國第二大族群的祖先可追溯到非洲；黑人目前占美國人口的百分之十一。這個多種族融合的國家還吸收了近60萬日本人、50萬中國人和34萬菲律賓人。不少移民生活在夏威夷，超越三分之二的夏威夷居民自稱為亞洲人和波利尼西亞人的后裔。
8. once a nation of farmers, the United States has become increasingly urban since the turn of the last century. Today three out of four Americans live in towns, cities or suburbs. Two-thirds of all families live in separate households, and 65 percent own their homes.
8、美國一度曾是農場主的國家，自進入上世紀以來日益城市化。現在，四分之三的美國人居住在城鎮、城市及市郊。三分之二的家庭獨立成戶，百分之六十五的家庭擁有我們的住宅。
9. Americans are always on the move. Each year, one in every five Americans leaves home and job to find new ones somewhere else. The population is shifting ever westward14. California recently passed New York as the most populous15 state, although New York City and Chicago are still larger than California's largest city, Los Angeles.
9、美國人口的流動性非常大。每年，每五個美國人中就有一個離開家和工作到別處去安家和找新的工作。人口一直流向西部。加利福尼亞州近期已超越紐約州成為美國人口最多的一個州，雖然紐約市和芝加哥市的人口仍然多過加利福尼亞州最大的城市洛杉磯。
10. The nation's capital, Washington, is ninth in size, with a population of over 700,000. Laid out by French architect Pierre L'Enfant in the late 18th century, it was the world's first city especially planned as a center of government.
From Facts Figures USA by USICA
10、美國首都華盛頓的面積在全國的城市中為第九位，人口70余萬。它在18世紀末由法國建筑師皮埃爾朗方設計，是世界上專門作為一個政府中心而規劃設計的第一個城市。選自美國國會新聞署《美國的事實與數字》。
1. The vast expanse of the United States of America stretches from the heavily industrialized, metropolitan1 Atlantic seaboard across the rich flat farms of the central plains, over the Rocky Mountains to the fertile west coast, then halfway2 across the Pacific to the balmy island-state of Hawaii. The American scene awes3 the viewer with both its variety and size. The continental4 United States measures, 4,500 kilometers from its Atlantic to Pacific coasts, 2,575 kilometers from Canada to Mexico. The entire nation covers an area of 9 million square kilometers and has a population of 220 million people.
1、美利堅合眾國的遼闊地域，從高度工業化、遍布大都市的大西洋沿岸，延伸至中部平原肥沃平坦的農場，越過洛磯山脈，到達富饒的西海岸，然后橫跨半個太平洋到達氣候溫和的由群島組成的夏威夷州。來美國觀光的人無不贊嘆這塊土地幅員廣闊、多姿多彩。美國國內從大西洋沿岸到太平洋海岸的距離為4500公里，從加拿大到墨西哥的距離為2575公里。全國50個州的總面積為900萬平方公里，人口為2、2億。
2. The sparsely5 settled, far-northern state of Alaska is the largest of America's 50 states . It is more than two and a half times the size of Sichuan province, Texas, in the southern part of the country, is second in size. Texas is half the size of Alaska.
2、人口稀有的阿拉斯加州坐落于美國的最北部，在全國50個州中，它的面積最大，比中國四川的兩倍半還大。南部的得克薩斯州的面積占第二位，只有阿拉斯加州的一半大。
3. A land of heavy forests and barren deserts, of high-peaked mountains and deep canyons6, America also enjoys bountiful rivers and lakes. The broad Mississippi River system, famed in song and legend, meanders7 6,400 kilometers from Canada to the Gulf8 of Mexico the world's third longest river after the Nile and Amazon. A canal in the north joins the Mississippi to the five Great Lakesthe world's largest inland water transportation route and the biggest body of fresh water in the world.
3、除很多森林、荒蕪的沙漠、多高峰的山脈和深深的峽谷以外，美國還有不少河流和湖泊。為不少民歌和傳聞所傳頌的寬闊的密西西比河水系，從加拿大蜿蜒曲折6400公里，流入墨西哥灣，是除尼羅河、亞馬孫河以外的世界第三大河。北部的一條運河將世界上最長的內河航線密西西比河同世界上最大的淡水群五大湖連接在一塊。
4. America's early settlers were attracted by the fertile land and varied9 climates it offered for farming. Today, with 121 million hectares under cultivation10, American farmers plant spring wheat on the cold western plain; they raise corn and fine beef cattle in the central plains, and rice in the damp heat of Louisiana. Florida and California are famous for their citrus fruits and tropical avocados; the cool rainy northeastern states for apples, pears, berries and vegetables.
4、適于農業的肥沃土地和各種不一樣的氣候吸引了早期來美洲的移民。目前美國的耕地達1、21億公頃。美國農場主在寒冷的西部平原上種植春小麥，在中部平原上種植玉米、飼養良種肉牛，在氣候濕熱的路易斯安那州種植水稻。佛羅里達州和加利福尼亞州以盛產柑橘和熱帶鱷梨聞名，涼爽多雨的東北各州則以蘋果、梨、莓和蔬菜而著稱。
5. Underground, a wealth of minerals provides a solid base for American industry. History has glamorized the gold rushes to California and Alaska, and the silver finds in Nevada. Yet America's yearly production of gold and silver is now valued far less than the oil , copper11, iron, coal and other minerals it mines. Texas, a big oil-producer in the southwest, alone accounts for one-fifth the value of all U.S. mineral production.
5、豐富的地下礦藏是美國工業的堅實基礎。美國歷史雖然曾對加利福尼亞州和阿拉斯加州的淘金熱與內華達州銀礦的發現作過動人的描繪，然而美國當今的黃金年產值和白銀年產值都大大低于石油、銅、鐵、煤及其他開采的金屬。得克薩斯州是西南部主要的產油州，僅該州的石油總產值就占美國礦商品產值的五分之一。
6. America has long been known as a melting pot, for it is a nation of immigrants from all over the world. The first to arrivefrom Siberia, more than 10,000 years ago, it is believedwere the American Indians. Today they number nearly 850,000; half live on land set aside for them in 31 states; the rest have melted in with the rest of America's nearly 220 million population.
6、美國歷來以熔爐而著稱，由于這個國家的人口是由世界各地來的移民所組成的。最早的移民是美洲印第安人，據信是一萬余年前從西伯利亞宋的。如今印第安人約有85萬，其中一半人居住在31個州內為他們專門劃出的土地上，其余的人已融入全美國的近2、2億人口中。、
7. Europe, the major source of immigration, began sending colonists12 to America in the early 17th century. Tens of millions flooded to America's shores from Europe between 1880 and the First World War. The next largest group of Americans trace their ancestry13 to Africa, black people now constitute over 11 percent of the population. The melting pot has also absorbed nearly 600,000 Japanese, half a million Chinese and 340,000 Filipinos. Many live in Hawaii, more than two-thirds of whose people boast on Asian or Polynesian heritage.
7、歐洲這個移民的主要來源在17世紀初就開始輸送殖民地發展者來到美洲。從1880年到首次世界大戰，有幾千萬人從歐洲涌上美洲海岸。美國第二大族群的祖先可追溯到非洲；黑人目前占美國人口的百分之十一。這個多種族融合的國家還吸收了近60萬日本人、50萬中國人和34萬菲律賓人。不少移民生活在夏威夷，超越三分之二的夏威夷居民自稱為亞洲人和波利尼西亞人的后裔。
8. once a nation of farmers, the United States has become increasingly urban since the turn of the last century. Today three out of four Americans live in towns, cities or suburbs. Two-thirds of all families live in separate households, and 65 percent own their homes.
8、美國一度曾是農場主的國家，自進入上世紀以來日益城市化。現在，四分之三的美國人居住在城鎮、城市及市郊。三分之二的家庭獨立成戶，百分之六十五的家庭擁有我們的住宅。
9. Americans are always on the move. Each year, one in every five Americans leaves home and job to find new ones somewhere else. The population is shifting ever westward14. California recently passed New York as the most populous15 state, although New York City and Chicago are still larger than California's largest city, Los Angeles.
9、美國人口的流動性非常大。每年，每五個美國人中就有一個離開家和工作到別處去安家和找新的工作。人口一直流向西部。加利福尼亞州近期已超越紐約州成為美國人口最多的一個州，雖然紐約市和芝加哥市的人口仍然多過加利福尼亞州最大的城市洛杉磯。
10. The nation's capital, Washington, is ninth in size, with a population of over 700,000. Laid out by French architect Pierre L'Enfant in the late 18th century, it was the world's first city especially planned as a center of government.
From Facts Figures USA by USICA
10、美國首都華盛頓的面積在全國的城市中為第九位，人口70余萬。它在18世紀末由法國建筑師皮埃爾朗方設計，是世界上專門作為一個政府中心而規劃設計的第一個城市。選自美國國會新聞署《美國的事實與數字》。