雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界地理45 鐵幕國家

     THERE are thousands of cities and towns in the World that neither you nor I have ever heard of, yet millions of people call these cities and towns home. These same people probably have never heard of the town or city where you yourself live.
     Between Russia and the rest of Europe are nine little countries, some of them not very important, but all of them most important to the people who live in them; and yet many people may live their whole lives and perhaps never hear of some of these places-unless they collect postage stamps. Six of these countries end in "ia" and two end in "land."
     The two countries next to Russia that aren't run by Communists are Finland and Austria. Finland is the largest of these in-between countries. It lies between Russia and the Scandinavian Peninsula. Finland means Marsh Land, for it is a land of marshes and lakes. It is like Norway and Sweden in some ways-it has fiords and it makes paper and matches. It is a republic with a president.
     The other "land" country is Po-land, which means Flat Land. It is almost as large as Finland. Poland has much farm land and there are iron and coal mines. Many famous musicians have been Poles.
     Are you a good speller? How would you spell a cough or a sneeze? South of Poland is a long thin country with a name which sounds funny to us-something between a cough and a sneeze-Czechoslovakia. I have a set of china dishes that has stamped on the bottom MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, for there they used to make a great deal of china, and glassware too.
     There used to be a country called Austria-Hungary. Now there are two countries-Austria and Hungary. Through Austria and Hungary runs a famous river-almost as famous as the Rhine. It is called the Danube; and, like the Rhine, the Danube has castles overlooking it, castles in which once lived robber barons. Fairy-tales and poems and music have been written about the Danube too. One of the most famous waltzes ever written is called "The Blue Danube." The Blue Danube runs into the Black Sea. The capital of Austria is Vienna. Vienna used to be famous for its restaurants and cooking. Perhaps you have eaten Vienna rolls or been to a Vienna restaurant, even if you have never been to Austria, for we have Vienna rolls and restaurants in the United States too.
     The name Hungary makes you think of food, or rather lack of food, but the name doesn't mean hungry. It means Land of the Huns. In fact, Hungary should not be hungry, for a great deal of wheat for making bread is raised there. Have you ever eaten a kind of hash called Hungarian goulash? It is very highly seasoned with pepper and spices, and some restaurants in our country serve it. In some of these restaurants orchestras play Hungarian music. It is a kind of music such as the Gypsies dance to-slow and sweet, then fast and furious, with a hop, skip, and jump time. In Hungary many of the people are, strange to say, related to the Chinese way back. They are called Magyars.


     Have you ever had your palm read or your fortune told? Gypsies are people who wander over the country doing that for a living. Most of the Gypsies come from a country next to Hungary and bordering on the Black Sea called Romania-nowadays frequently spelled Rumania. It is supposed that long ago people from Rome settled in that country and called it Romania from Rome. The language of Romania is still something like the Roman or Italian.
     Bulgaria is an Iron Curtain country next to the Black Sea. It has forests and mountains as well as farm land. In the forests live bears, wild-cats, and wild boars. The ibex, a kind of wild goat, lives there too. And in the mountains there is a goat-like antelope called the chamois. We get our name for chamois or "shammy" cloths, used for washing automobiles, from this animal. Once chamois cloths were really soft leather from the skin of the chamois, but now we make the cloths from other materials.
     An important business of the Bulgarians is perfumery. They raise fields of roses from which they make a very fine and expensive perfume called "attar of roses." It takes a whole roomful of rose petals to make only a tiny bottle of attar of roses, so you can see why attar of roses is expensive.
     Albania is a little country where most of the people raise farm crops or cattle and sheep. In parts of Albania the men wear skirts that reach to their knees and stick out all around like a dancer's. The skirts that the men wear in Scotland are made of dark-colored cloths but the skirts worn by Albanian men are white.
     Jugoslavia is a country just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It has many forests. It also has copper mines. In fact more copper is mined in Jugoslavia than in any other European country.
     When I hear the name of a place or a person, some one thing usually pops into my head, though that thing may not be at all important.
     If I hear "George Washington," the first thing that pops into my head is "cherry-tree."
     If I hear "New York," the first thing I think of is "sky-scrapers."
     So when I hear "Finland," I think of marshes.
     When I hear "Poland," I think of music.
     When I hear "Austria," I think of Vienna rolls.
     When I hear "Hungary," I think of the Blue Danube.
     When I hear "Romania," I think of Gypsies.
     When I hear "Bulgaria," I think of chamois and perfumes.
     When I hear "Albania," I think of men with skirts.
     When I hear "Czechoslovakia," I think of china and glass.
     When I hear "Jugoslavia," I think of copper.