A History of US（美國歷史大全）

★ 英語語言藝術示范性文本

★ 文采斐然

★ 引人入勝

示例1：描述西北海岸的印第安人

These Indians of the Northwest Coast like to pile up their goods and show off. They have good taste. They weave handsome blankets, make beautiful baskets, carve fancy wooden bowls, and fashion spoons of decorated animal horn. Their dress-up clothes are gorgeous. Their houses are spectacular.

這些西北海岸的印第安人喜歡把貨物堆起來炫耀。他們很有品味。他們編織漂亮的毯子，制作美麗的籃子，雕刻精美的木碗，以及裝飾動物角的時尚勺子。他們的盛裝打扮很華麗。他們的房子很壯觀。

示例2：描述北美五大湖

Up there in the northland, near where the Father of Waters begins, it looks as if someone spilled five buckets of shining blue paint. Those five blue puddles are lakes—enormous lakes. If you were a fish swimming in the middle of one of them, you would think you were in an ocean. That is how large they seem.

在北方，靠近“江河之父”（密西西比河）開始的地方，看起來好像有人灑了五桶閃閃發光的藍色油漆。那五個藍色的水坑是湖泊——巨大的湖泊。如果你是一條在其中游泳的魚，你會認為自己在海里。這就是他們看起來有多大。

示例3：描述密西西比州東部到海洋的景觀

From the Mississippi east to the ocean, much of the land is covered with a carpet of trees. And those trees, right now, with the first chill of fall, are like an artist’s palette filled with brilliant reds and yellows and golds. Traveling across the land we have seen natural wonders: towering redwood trees, snow-topped mountain peaks, awesome stone spires in the desert, crashing waterfalls—but nothing is more remarkable than this wondrous display of seasonal color.

從密西西比州東部到海洋，大部分土地都被樹木覆蓋著。現在，隨著秋天的第一縷寒意，那些樹就像藝術家的調色板，充滿了燦爛的紅色、黃色和金色。在這片土地上旅行，我們看到了自然奇觀：高聳的紅木樹、白雪皚皚的山峰、沙漠中令人敬畏的石塔、瀑布——但沒有什么比這種季節性色彩的奇妙展示更引人注目的了。

We’re flying low—between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River—and looking down at a sea of treetops. So thick are the trees that a squirrel might go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River and even beyond—jumping from tree to tree—and never touch the ground.

我們低空飛行，在大西洋和密西西比河之間，俯瞰著樹梢的海洋。樹木如此茂密，以至于松鼠可能會從大西洋到俄亥俄河，甚至更遠的地方——從一棵樹跳到另一棵樹——永遠不會碰到地面。

there are smaller hills, called foothills, then rich, flat land dotted with Indian farms, and then low coastal lands with swamps and marshes where water rises and falls with the ocean tides until, finally, we reach the ocean itself, and the beaches it licks.

有一些較小的山丘，稱為山麓，然后是肥沃的平地，點綴著印第安人的農場，然后是低矮的沿海土地，有沼澤和濕地，水隨著海潮漲落，直到最后，我們到達海洋本身，以及它所舔舐的海灘。

示例4：描述阿茲特克首都

We wandered through gardens where I never tired of looking at the different trees, each with its own scent. There were paths full of flowers and there were orchards and ponds. A lake of clearest water was joined to the grand lake of Mexico by a channel capable of admitting the largest canoes. All was ornamented, painted, and admirably plastered, and delightful with singing birds. When I beheld the scenes around me I thought within myself, this was the garden of the world.

我們漫步在花園里，在那里，我永遠不會厭倦看不同的樹，每棵樹都有自己的香味。那里有開滿鮮花的小徑，還有果園和池塘。一個清澈的湖泊通過一條能夠容納最大獨木舟的通道與墨西哥大湖相連。所有的房間都裝飾過，涂過漆，抹過灰泥，鳥兒們的歌聲令人心曠神怡。當我看到周圍的景色時，我心里想，這就是世界的花園。