雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界地理26 盎格魯人的土地(續(xù))

     I ONCE asked an Englishman if he lived in London.
     "Why does every American think that every Englishman lives in London?" he replied-and he sounded rather vexed. "There are other places in England besides London.
     There is Chester and Manchester,
     There is Norwich and Harwich,
     There is Oxford and Guildford,
     There is Birm ingham and Nottingham,
     There is Cambridge and Tunbridge,
     There is Northampton and Southampton,
     There is Plymouth and Yarmouth and Weymouth..."
And as he gasped for breath I cried, "Please don't tell me all the 'wiches and 'fords and'mouths in England."
     "Well," said he, "there are over thirty million people in England who don't live in London and I am one of them."
     But nearly every Englishman, no matter where he does live, goes to London some time in his life. You can get to London in a day from any place in England, for the island is so small and trains are so fast.


     Railroads were invented by an Englishman, and some of the fastest trains i. t. w. W. run in England. Their trains look different from ours. They seem much smaller and lighter and the cars are divided into rooms instead of being one long room like ours. Each room has half the seats facing forward and half facing backward, so that half of the people have to ride backward. Some of these rooms are labeled "lst class," but most are "3rd class." People pay more to ride in a lst class room than they do in a 3rd class room. The 1st class has cushioned seats and there is more space for each person. The 3rd class has wooden seats without cushions, and more people are put in a room. The English railroad trains run on the left hand side of the road. Most Americans are right-handed, and we say "Keep to the Right," but most Englishmen are right-handed too, yet they say "Keep to the Left." You would be arrested in England if you drove or rode on the right hand side as we do here.
     Our country roads usually have fences alongside, but in England the country roads usually have hedges. Sometimes the hedges are like those that grew up round Sleeping Beauty's castle, so thick and so high that you cannot see through them or over them, and the houses behind them are hidden, all except perhaps the roof. Sometimes the roofs are quite different from ours-made of piles of straw, which are called "thatch." You would hardly think thatch roofs would keep the rain out, but they do; and you would think they would burn up easily, but they don't. The houses themselves are seldom built of wood, because there is very little wood in England to build them of. Almost all of them are built of stone which comes out of the ground, or brick made out of the ground. In America there is a great deal of wood, but in England there is little wood, for there are very few forests, hardly any big ones, and they are usually kept like a park. The country is so old the trees have nearly all been cut down. The trees that are left are so valuable that people do not often cut them down to use them for building houses. In America a wood house is cheaper than a stone or brick house. In England a stone or brick house is cheaper than one made of wood.
     Among the sights which people go to see in England are the churches and cathedrals. Few churches in America are a hundred years old. There are few churches in England that are not a hundred years old, and many of the cathedrals are more nearly a thousand years old. Most of the people in England are Episcopa-lians, so most of the churches in England are Episcopal. In fact, the Episcopal Church is called the Church of England.
     Two of the greatest universities in the world are in England. They play each other football, but not baseball. Instead of baseball they play a game called cricket, and they have rowing matches. One of these universities is on River Thames where oxen used to wade across or "ford" the river, and so is called Ox-ford; the other university is by the River Cam where a bridge crosses, so this is called Cam-bridge.
     Many of the World's greatest writers whose stories you read and whose poetry you have learned lived in England, and the greatest English writer i. t. w. W. , William Shakspere, lived there at a place called Stratford-on- Avon.
     But the chief business of England is "making things"-as the chief business of New England in America is "making things." In New England there is neither coal nor iron to make the things with; both have to be brought from somewhere else; but in Old England there is a great deal of both coal and iron. Coal makes the fire to run the machinery and iron makes the things; so in England they make everything that can be made of iron, from huge engines to small penknives. At Sheffield they make a great quantity of table knives and silver-plated ware called "Sheffield." Look at your own table knives and silver-plated ware and see if any of them have the label "Made in Sheffield" stamped on them.


     In England they also make a great deal of cloth-cloth made of wool from the backs of sheep that are raised in England, and cloth made from cotton which is not grown in England but brought there all the way from the United States.
     There are farms in England too, but not enough is raised on the farms to feed the English people one day a week. Most of the food has to be brought to them from other countries across the sea. The English eat a great deal of mutton and roast beef. "The Roast Beef of Old England" has been celebrated in song and story. One story is that a certain King of England thought steak from the loin of the beef was so good that he called it "Sir Loin," as he would a knight or a lord, and that's why we still call it sirloin steak to-day. It's a good story but I'm afraid it isn't a true story.
     The King of England is king of many more people than just those who live in Great Britain. Englishmen explored and conquered and settled in far-off places all over the World in times gone by. England owned countries in every continent and at first the laws for all these countries were made in London. Now, however, many of these countries that belonged to England govern themselves and make their own laws. They have become independent countries but they have kept the King of England as their king. This big family of countries all over the World with the same king, the king of England, is called the British Commonwealth of Nations. The country of Canada, that I told you about earlier, is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.