雙語(yǔ)+MP3|美國(guó)學(xué)生世界地理47 新月之國(guó)

     EVERY place is east of some other place. America is east of China. Europe is east of America. But the only place called "THE East," with a capital THE, is the land east of Europe. This land east of Europe is the continent of Asia. It's the biggest continent of all.
     Long years ago in fairy-tale days a god in Asia was in love with a beautiful girl whose name was Europa. Now a god was not supposed to love a human being, so the god turned himself into a snow-white bull and, persuading Europa to get on his back, he ran away with her. At last the bull came to a strait of water and swam across it with Europa still on his back. On the opposite side of the strait where the bull landed with Europa on his back was a great new continent, and to-day we call this continent Europe-after Europa.
     People who do not believe in fairy-tales say, however, that Europe is a name that simply means The Land Where the Sun Goes Down, and they say that Asia, the land from which Europa and the bull came, means The Land Where the Sun Gets Up.


     The strait across which the bull carried Europa we still call Bull-Carry Strait, for in the Greek language "bull-carry" is Bosporus, and Bosporus is the name on the map.
     People built a city where Europa landed, and about a thousand years afterward a Roman Emperor named Constantine, who was the first Christian emperor, moved his capital from Rome to this city and it was called after him, Constantinople.
     After another thousand years Constantinople was captured from the Christians by some people from Asia called Turks, who had a ruler called the Sultan. Most of the people in Europe are Christians, but the Turks are not Christians. They do not believe in Christ. They believe in a god whom they called Allah and a man named Mohammed who they say was Allah's messenger on earth. So we call the people who believe in Mohammed Mohammedans or Moslems.
     One dark night many years ago an army was approaching Constantinople, but it was so dark the people in the city did not see it and did not know they were about to be attacked. Suddenly the moon shone out from behind a cloud. By the light of the moon the watchmen saw the enemy, sounded the alarm, and the city was saved. Ever since then the Turks have used the new moon on their churches as we do a cross and a new moon and a star on their flag, as these had brought good luck. A new moon is called a "crescent." The Turks have a society, the same society as our Red Cross; but as a cross is a Christian sign, they don't use it, so they call their society the Red Crescent.
     One of the largest churches in the World was built in Constantinople before the Turks came. It was called the church of Holy Wisdom, which in Greek is Santa Sophia. Perhaps you may know a girl named Sophie. Well, she may be wise or she may not, but her name means wise. When the Turks captured the Christian city of Constantinople they changed Santa Sophia and all the other churches in the city to Mohammedan churches, which are called mosques, and they tore down the crosses on top of the churches and put up in the place of each a crescent. There are now over eight hundred mosques in the city. Finally not very many years ago they changed Constantinople's name to Istanbul.


     You might think it would be better if I hadn't told you the old name of Istanbul. Then you would have one less long name to remember. But Constantinople was the name of the city for a much longer time than Istanbul has been. Even now Constantinople is a better-known name than Istanbul. I won't, however, tell you what the city was called before it became Constantinople. Two names are enough to learn about any city. So if you want to know Istanbul's earliest name you'll have to ask some one or find it in some other book.
     The Turks also built, close to each mosque, one or more candle-shaped towers, called minarets. About midway of a minaret is a balcony, and five times a day a priest appears on this balcony and calls the people of the city to prayer. This is done instead of ringing church bells as they do in Christian churches, for Mohammedans do not use bells, even in their own homes. When they want to call a servant they clap their hands. The first call to prayer is about five o'clock in the morning-sort of an alarm clock-when the priest says, "Come to prayer. Prayer is better than Sleep."
     Not many people get up at that time to pray, however. When he calls out, a very good Mohammedan goes into the nearest mosque to pray, or he gets down on his knees and bows his head till it touches the ground. Whenever he goes into a mosque he must first wash his face, hands, and feet, so almost every mosque has a pool or fountain, sometimes on the steps, sometimes in the courtyard, where the people can wash before they enter. For this reason also there are a great many fountains throughout Istanbul. They are not for drinking-they are not for beauty; they are for washing. The mosques are for men only. Women used to be allowed in little hidden cells in the mosque, where they could not be seen, for women and children were supposed neither to be seen nor heard. The Mohammedans' Sunday is our Friday. The Mohammedan goes to the mosque every day if he can, but always on Friday.


     An inlet from the Bosporus cuts into Istanbul in the shape of a horn. It is called the Golden Horn, and across the entrance a great chain used to be stretched to keep out ships which the Sultan did not wish to enter. Across the Golden Horn is a bridge called Galata. I have told you of some of the most famous bridges in the World: Brooklyn Bridge, London Bridge, the Rialto and the Ponte Veechio. Galata bridge is one of the oldest and most famous bridges of the World. All day and all night people of every nationality, every color, every dress, and every language pass in an unending stream. Every one on one side seems to want to get to the other side, which makes me think of the old riddle, "Why does a chicken cross the road?"
     Turkish writing looks something like shorthand and is very hard to read and to write. But because it is so difficult and so different from the letters of Europe, Turkey began to use an alphabet like ours, and every one under forty years of age is now required to learn the new writing.


     In fact, Turkey has been made over into a new Turkey. The old ruler of Turkey, the Sultan, ruled alone and whatever he said had to be done whether it was right or wrong. Turkey now has a ruler who rules not alone but with others chosen by the people to rule with him. The women used to think it immodest to go out on the street with their faces uncovered, so they wore veils. Now, however, they wear hats and dresses as Christian women do. The Turks used to have many wives, and every house had a separate apartment, called the harem, where all the wives lived together.
     You may wonder why the bird we eat at Thanksgiving and Christmas is called a turkey. Turkey was first brought to our country from Mexico, but people thought it had come from Turkey, so they called it a Turkey bird.