The End of the Rainbow 彩虹的盡頭

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(chuàng)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(shù)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(shù)史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的世界地理》。

Gold！

It used to be said there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow， though no one has ever found it. Yet men have left their business and their families and homes and gone to the ends of the earth in search of gold and to find a short cut to riches， for gold is used for money all over the world， though small coins are not made of it because they would have to be too small and would easily be lost.

The largest gold mines in the world are in South Africa， and more than half of the gold in the world comes from gold mines near a city there called Johannesburg.

金子！

傳說在彩虹的盡頭有一罐金子?？墒菦]有人真正走到過彩虹的盡頭，找到這罐金子。不過，人們?yōu)榱苏业浇鹱?，拋棄自己的產(chǎn)業(yè)和妻子，走遍世界，走到世界的盡頭，希望能找到金子，一夜之間變成富翁。金子是世界上所有國家的硬通貨幣。過去金子被直接用來做成金幣。只有一些尺寸太小的硬幣不用金子做，因?yàn)檫@些小硬幣很容易丟失。

世界上最大的金礦在南非。世界上超過一半的金子產(chǎn)自南非的一座金礦。這座金礦附近有一個城市，叫作約翰內(nèi)斯堡。

Gold is called the king of metals， for though platinum is more valuable， gold can be used for money and for ornament and for other things， and most people think it more beautiful. Pure gold is stamped 24 karat， but pure gold is so soft it wears away too easily and some other metal is usually mixed with it to make it harder. The finest rings and jewelry are usually 18 karat， which means that eighteen parts are of pure gold and six parts are of another metal. Look on a ring or watch and see if you can find the figures 18 K or 14 K stamped there.

Sometimes gold is found in little lumps which are called nuggets， but usually it is mixed through the rock and doesnt show at all. The rock has to be ground to powder and then the gold separated from the powder.

Almost every family has at least one thing that has come from South Africa—a very small thing but a very valuable one. Can you guess what it is？ The diamond in the wedding ring. Nearly all the diamonds in the world come from a place called Kimberley in South Africa. They are found in a kind of blue clay in what used to be volcanoes.

金子被看作是金屬之王，因?yàn)楸M管鉑金在某種意義上比金子貴重，但是金子用途更廣。金子可以用來做金幣和各種首飾，還有別的用途。不光如此，大多數(shù)人也覺得金子看上去比鉑金更漂亮。人們用“開（K）”來標(biāo)識金子的純度，純金是24K。可是，純金的硬度不高，非常軟，戴在身上很容易磨損，所以人們在純金中添加一些別的金屬，提高其硬度。最好的耳環(huán)和金飾品往往用的是18K的金子。也就是說，這種耳環(huán)中黃金的含量是18份，其他金屬的含量是6份。找找你家的黃金首飾，看看能不能發(fā)現(xiàn)18K或者14K這樣的標(biāo)記。

有時候你能發(fā)現(xiàn)成塊的天然金塊，但更多時候金子是混在石頭里面的，并沒有直接顯露出來。這時候，人們就必須把石頭粉碎，再從中分離出金子來。

不少人家里能找出至少一樣來自南非的東西。這樣?xùn)|西尺寸不大，可是價格很高。你能猜到這是什么嗎？對了，就是結(jié)婚戒指上的鉆石。世界上幾乎所有的鉆石都來自一個叫作金伯利的南非城市。人們在金伯利的一種藍(lán)色黏土中找到了鉆石，這種藍(lán)色黏土曾經(jīng)在火山里。

Word Study

mine /ma?n/ n. 礦;礦井

v. 開礦;采礦

The mine is waiting for opening out.

They were mining for gold.

ornament /'??n?m?nt/ n. 首飾;飾物;裝飾品

There is an ornament made of shells on the wall.

powder /'pa?d?（r）/ n. 粉末

A wide range of cleaning fluids and powders is available.

Most of the diamonds used to be sent to Amsterdam in Holland to be cut and polished. The reason they are sent there rather than to some other country is because the diamond mines were first discovered by Dutch people living in South Africa. Now， however， many of the diamonds are cut in Kimberley and are all finished there before being shipped to other countries.

Diamonds are made out of the same stuff as coal， and if they were put in the fire， they would turn to coal. Sometimes people speak of coal as “Black Diamonds.” When a diamond is held to the light it may look pure white or it may be bluish or yellowish. The pure white diamonds are the most valuable.

The biggest diamond ever found was about the size of my fist. It was called the Cullinan diamond. It was too large and too valuable to be used as a single jewel， so it was broken into two pieces and each piece was cut and polished. The next largest diamond ever found was called the Great Mogul. But the Great Mogul was stolen. Of course， the thief could not sell such a large diamond， for， as there was only one such diamond in the world， every one would know he was the thief. It was something like stealing the picture of Mona Lisa. But the Great Mogul has never been seen since， so the thief must have broken it up into smaller diamonds and sold the pieces.

在南非開采出來的鉆石會被送往荷蘭的阿姆斯特丹進(jìn)行切割和打磨。之所以鉆石都要被送去阿姆斯特丹，而不是世界上別的什么城市，是因?yàn)槟戏堑倪@些鉆石礦最開始是由生活在南非的荷蘭人發(fā)現(xiàn)的。當(dāng)然，今天也有很多鉆石直接在金伯利切割加工，在完成了所有的工序之后，它們被賣到世界各地。

鉆石的成分同煤炭的成分是一樣的，所以如果你把鉆石拿去燒，最終就會變成煤炭。有時候人們也管煤炭叫作“黑色鉆石”。當(dāng)你把鉆石拿到燈下去仔細(xì)觀察，就會看得出來，有些鉆石是純白色的，有些偏藍(lán)，有些偏黃。純白色的鉆石價值最高。

世界上發(fā)現(xiàn)的最大的鉆石有我的拳頭那么大，叫作庫利南鉆石。由于尺寸太大，價格太高，不適合做成一件單獨(dú)的飾品，所以這塊鉆石被切割成兩大塊，分別進(jìn)行了加工。比庫利南鉆石小一點(diǎn)的另一塊鉆石叫作大莫臥兒鉆石。不過這塊鉆石失竊了。當(dāng)然，偷去這塊鉆石的人不可能把它拿出來售賣。因?yàn)橄襁@么大一塊鉆石，世界上絕無僅有，只要一拿出來，人們就知道這個人是偷鉆石的賊。這就像是偷竊名畫《蒙娜麗莎》，誰敢拿出來賣呢？可是大莫臥兒鉆石再也沒有現(xiàn)世，估計偷它的賊把這塊鉆石碎成了小塊，一點(diǎn)一點(diǎn)賣掉了。

The owners of the diamond mines take extraordinary care to prevent the people who dig the diamonds from stealing at least some of those they find. The mines are closed in with a high fence which is closely guarded， and the laborers are not allowed to go home at night but must live inside of the fence for three or four months. When they do leave， the guards， for they are guarded as if in prison， strip them and search their hair and ears and mouths to see that they have not hidden any diamonds away， for even a single diamond would be worth a fortune to one of the people. They have found so many diamonds at Kimberley that， if they sold them all， diamonds would be too common and too cheap. In order to keep up the price， therefore， the owners of the diamond mines lock up millions of dollars worth and only sell them when people are willing to pay a good price.

鉆石礦山的擁有者投入了大量的精力防止采礦的工人順手牽羊。鉆石礦四周用高高的籬笆圍起來，還有專門的人員把守。采礦的工人必須住在籬笆圈起來的范圍里面，就算是晚上也不能回家。這樣工作一次就是三四個月。等結(jié)束了一次工作，工人們要離開礦山的時候，必須一個一個地接受檢查，就像監(jiān)獄里面對待犯人一樣。這些工人得脫光衣裳，然后有人來檢查他們的頭發(fā)、耳朵和嘴巴，以確保他們沒有把鉆石藏起來帶走。的確，一顆鉆石對工人來說就是一筆巨額財富。人們在金伯利發(fā)現(xiàn)了數(shù)量巨大的鉆石，如果把這些鉆石都開采出來的話，市場上的鉆石就會太多，從而降低鉆石的價值。為了讓市面上的鉆石保值，礦山的擁有者封存了價值不可估量的鉆石，只在人們愿意出大價錢的情況下才賣一批。

有一位英國人名叫塞西爾·羅茲，他因?yàn)榻】翟虻侥戏侨ク燄B(yǎng)。他運(yùn)氣很好，當(dāng)他到南非的時候，正趕上了開采鉆石礦。于是這位羅茲不但找回了健康，還找到了財富。南非有一個地方就以羅茲的名字命名，叫作羅得西亞。羅茲去世之后，留下了巨大的財富。這些錢的一部分被設(shè)立為獎學(xué)金，資助各國優(yōu)秀的青年到英國牛津大學(xué)去念書。這些優(yōu)秀青年被稱為羅茲獎學(xué)金獲得者。

An Englishman named Cecil Rhodes went out to South Africa for his health. He happened to be there when diamonds were discovered and fortunes were being made， and he found his health and found wealth too. A part of South Africa was named after him： Rhodesia. When Rhodes died he left a great deal of money， part of which was to be used to send some of the best young men chosen from our country and other countries to the great university of Oxford in England. These boys are called Rhodes Scholars.

Cecil Rhodes wanted to build a railroad from the top of Africa to the bottom of Africa， from Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town at the southern point. Most of the railroad has been built since he died. It is called the “Cape to Cairo” Railroad， but more is still to be built. Rhodes was one of the few Englishmen who didnt ask to be sent home when he died. He chose a place in Africa on the top of a mountain to be buried. It was such a high point he called it “The World View.”

The capital of South Africa， Tshwane， is like an English city. The chief city is Cape Town， and it too is just like an English city. Only about a hundred years ago these cities were jungle in which only black men lived.

If you collect stamps you may have heard of a famous stamp called “A Mauritius” that a collector paid $20，000 for， enough money to buy a good house and lot， yet the only thing he can do with it is put it in a stamp album. Why should he pay so much money for it？ Just to show others something he has that no one else has. Mauritius is a little island off the east coast of Africa. There are other islands near Africa. Madagascar is the biggest. Mauritius is one of the smaller ones. Zanzibar is another small one. Pictures of their stamps you will have in your album， if not the stamps themselves. From Zanzibar come the cloves your mother uses to spice baked apples， pickles， and hams. Cloves look like little burnt match heads， and I dont believe you would ever guess what they really are. They are tiny flower blossoms that grow on the clove-tree！

塞西爾·羅茲有一個愿望，希望修建一條貫通非洲南北的鐵路，從北邊的開羅一直修到南邊的開普敦。在他去世之前，這條被叫作開羅—開普敦鐵路的大部分都已經(jīng)修好了，只有少部分路段還沒有竣工。羅茲是少數(shù)幾個不要求死后被送回英國安葬的英國人。他選擇了非洲的一座高山山頂為自己的墳?zāi)?，那里地勢很高，風(fēng)景很好，他把那里稱為“世界的景致”。

南非的首都茨瓦內(nèi)，是一個英國風(fēng)格的城市。而南非的重要城市開普敦，也是一個英國風(fēng)格的城市。而就在100年前，這些地方還都只是一片叢林，只有黑人出沒。

如果你集郵，你可能會聽過一張非常著名的郵票——毛里求斯郵票。曾經(jīng)有一位集郵愛好者愿意出兩萬美元買這張郵票。兩萬美元可是一筆不小的錢了，能買一所好房子和很多好東西呢。而這位集郵愛好者只是把這張毛里求斯郵票放在他的郵票簿里。為什么他愿意花這么大一筆錢來買一張郵票呢？其實(shí)也很簡單，只為了向他人炫耀他擁有的這張絕無僅有的郵票。毛里求斯是非洲東邊的一個島國。非洲還有好幾個島，馬達(dá)加斯加是最大的一個，毛里求斯是較小的一個，其他的小島還有桑給巴爾島。如果你沒有辦法得到這些地方發(fā)行的郵票，那么這些郵票的圖片你也值得收集。桑給巴爾島出產(chǎn)丁香。你媽媽做烤蘋果、腌黃瓜和火腿的時候，都要用丁香來調(diào)味。用作調(diào)味料的丁香看起來像是燒過的火柴頭，我打賭你不知道它是什么樣子的。在沒有經(jīng)過加工之前，丁香是長在丁香樹上的花！

Word Study

polish /'p?l??/ v. 磨光;擦光

He polished his glasses with a handkerchief.

fortune /'f??t?u?n/ n. 大筆錢;運(yùn)氣

A car like that costs a small fortune.