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大西洋 The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americas from being discovered by the people of Europe. 大西洋是把亚、欧、非这个旧世界与南北美洲这个新发现的世界相隔开的一片大沣。若干世纪以来由于有大西洋相隔，使欧洲人一直没能发现南北美洲。 Many wrong ideas about the Atlantic made early sailors unwilling to sail far out into it. One idea was that it reached out to "the edge of the world. " "Sailors were afraid that they might sail right off the earth. Another idea was that at the equator the ocean would be boiling hot. 有关大西洋的很多错误想法使得古时的水手们不愿把帆船开到大西洋中心的海面上去。一种错误想法就是大西洋已经延伸到"世界的边缘"上了。水手们怕帆船会从地球上掉下去。另一种错误想法就是认为位于赤道的大西洋里的海水会像开了锅似的滚烫的。 The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the Pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) wide. This narrowest place is between the bulge of south America and the bulge of Africa. 虽然大西洋的面积只有太平洋的一半大，不过这也已经是很大的了。在哥伦布横渡大西洋的地方，洋面宽达4000多英里（6000公里）。即使在洋面最窄的地方宽度也约有2000英里（3200公里）。这洋面最窄的地方就是介于南美洲的突出点和非洲的突出点之间。 Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. Also, it is the world's saltiest ocean. 有两点使大西洋非同一般。一是，这么大的一片汪洋，里面几乎没有岛屿。二是，这里是世界上海水最咸的大洋。 
大西洋里有很多很多的海水，以致很难让人想像出来到底有多少海水。倡假如现在就不再有雨水落进大西洋，假如一切河流的水现在也都不往大西洋里面流，那么大西洋大约再过4000年就会干涸。大西洋平均水深稍微超过两英里（合3.2公里），不过有些地方却更深得多，最深的地方是在波多黎各附近。这里水深达30246英尺--，几乎是6英里（9。6公里）。 One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises from the floor of the Atlantic. This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean. The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range. 世界上最长的山脉之一就是从大西洋的洋底升起来的。这条山脉在大洋中间，是南北走向的。山脉的几处顶峰向上突出了海平面就形成了岛屿。亚速尔群岛就是中部大西洋山脉的几座山峰的尖端。 Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. In the days of sailing vessels the crew were afraid they would be becalmed here. Sometimes they were. 从佛罗里达半岛往东几百英里，大洋的那一小部分水域被称为马尾藻海。这里海面平静，因为几乎没有风。在使用帆船的那些年代里，船员们都害怕船走到那里就会原地不能动了。有时也真的是这样。 Ocean currents are sometimes called "rivers in the sea." One of these "rivers" in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It is a current of warm water. Another is at he Labrador Current - cold water coming down from the Arctic. Ocean currents affect the climates of the lands near which they flow. 大洋里的海水流动有时被称为"海洋中的洋流"。大西洋中这些潮流之一称为墨西哥湾流。这是一股暖水流。另一股是拉布拉多湾流--从北冰洋下来的一股寒水流。这些海洋潮流影响着所流经过的附近的陆地的气候。 The Atlantic furnishes much food for the people on its shores. One of its most famous fishing regions, the Grand Banks, is near New-foundland.Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the Far North across the paths of ships. 大西洋为岸边的居民提供了丰富的食物。可是，它并不总是平稳安全的航道。暴风雨会横扫过大西洋向上掀起层层巨浪。像冰山一样巨型浮冰块会从北冰洋向南漂浮下来横着阻挡住海船的条条航道。 
现在我们有很多非常快速的方法到国外旅行，以致这个大西洋使我们觉得比以前小多了。哥伦布用了两个多月才横渡了大西洋。现在用现代的快轮用不了四天就能完成这段航程。飞机从纽约飞到伦敦只用八个小时，而从南美洲飞到非洲只用四个小时就行了。 The Moon 月球 We find that the moon is about 239,000 miles (384,551 km) away from the earth, and, to within a few thousand miles, its distance always remains the same. Yet a very little observation shows that the moon is not standing till. Its distance from the earth remains the same, but its direction continually changes. We find that it is traveling in a circle - or very nearly a circle - round the earth, going completely round once a month, or, more exactly, once very 27 1/3 days. It is our nearest neighbour in space, and like ourselves it is kept tied to the earth by the earth's gravitational pull. 我们发现月球距离地球约23万9千英里（38万4千551公里）。月球与地球总保持这个距离，变化不超过两三千英里。虽然它离地球的距离仍然是那么远，但是它运转的方向却不断地在变。我们发现月球环绕地球的轨道总是圆周形--或很近似圆周形。每一个月，或者更确切些说是每27又1/3天就环绕地球转一圈。在太空中月球是我们最近的邻居。正像我们本身摆脱不了地心吸引力一样，月球也摆脱不了地球的吸引力。 Except for the sun, the moon looks the biggest object in the sky. Actually it is one of the smallest, and only looks big because it is so near to us. Its diameter is only 2,160 miles (3,389 km), or a little more than a quarter of the diameter of the earth. 除了太阳而外，月球好像天空中最大的天体了。可是实际上它却是最小的天体之一。只是因为它距离我们太近了，所以看起来才显得大。月球的直径只有2160英里（3389公里）仅仅比地球直径的1/4稍多一点。 Once a month, or, more exactly, once every 29 1/2 days, at the time we call "full moon," its whole disc looks bright. At other times only part of it appears bright, and we always find that this is the part which faces towards the sun, while the part facing away from the sun appears dark. Artists could make their pictures better if they kept this in mind - only those parts of the moon which are lighted up by the sun are bright. This shows that the moon gives no light of its own. It merely reflects the light of the sun, like a huge mirror hung in the sky. 每一个月或者更精确些说每29又1/2天有一次有个我们称之为"望月"的时候。这个时候整个月亮的园盘看起来很明亮。在其他一些时候，月亮的园盘只有一部分看起来觉得亮。我们总是发现这亮的部分是面向着太阳的、面背着太阳的那一部分看起来就黑暗。如果画家们能记住这一点，即只有被太阳照射得发高的那部分月球是明亮的，那他们作起画来就会画得更好。这就表明了月球本身是下发光的。月球就像悬在画龙点睛的一面巨型的大镜子一样，它只能反射出太阳光。 
但是月球表面上黑暗的部分并不上绝对黑的。一般地这一部分也能有足够的光让我们能勉强刚刚能看清月球的轮廓，这就是我们所说的"新月抱着旧月"的现象。我们用来看到旧月轮廓的光并汪是来自太阳，而是来看地球。我们都清楚地知道，海水的表面、雪地的表面，甚至下雨天的路面都会把很强的太阳光反射到我们的脸上，照得我们很不舒服。同样道理，整个地球的表面也足可以让我们看清月球的轮廓，如果没有地球的反射光，那月球的这一部分将会是黑暗的。 If there were any inhabitants of the moon, they would see our earth reflecting the light of the sun, again like a huge mirror hung in the sky. They would speak of earthlight just as we speak of moon-light. "the old moon in the new moon's arms" is nothing but that part of the moon's surface on which it is night, lighted up by earth light. In the same way , the lunar inhabitants would occasionally see part of our earth in full sunlight, and the rest lighted only by moon-light; they might call this "the old earth in the new earth's arms." 假定月球上也有居民，他们就会看到，地球也像一面高悬在天空中的巨型的镜子一样，反射太阳光到月球上。"月球居民们"也会谈到地球光，正像我们地球人谈到月亮光一样。"新月抱旧月"只不过就是月球表面上正处于黑夜的那一部分被地球的反射光反照的结果。同理，月球上的居民偶尔也会看到我们地球一部分完全处在阳光的照射下，而地球的其余的部分只能照到月光；月球的居民们或许也会把这种现象称作"新地球抱着旧地球"吧。
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