雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界地理57 白象

     THERE was once an Indian prince named Gautama. Gautama was rich and had everything in the World he wanted, so he grew up gay and light-hearted. He had never seen any poor people, nor known any misery in his life, so he thought every one in the World was just as well off and just as happy as he. Then one day when he was grown up he went on a trip and, to his amazement, saw for the first time in his life people who were sick, poor, and unhappy. The sights he saw filled him with such pity that he gave up all he had and spent the rest of his life helping the needy. As Gautama went about from place to place he preached that certain things were right and certain things wrong. People began to call him Buddha, which meant "the one who knows," and to worship him, and thus started a religion called Buddhism. This was about five hundred years before Christ.


     After Buddha died, Buddhists sent missionaries to other countries to teach the people Buddhism too, just as Christians now send missionaries to other lands to teach Christianity. After a long while most of the people in India got tired of Buddhism and took up other newer religions. Many became Mohammedans, but in the countries east of India they still held to Buddhism, although now this worship has become chiefly a worship of idols.

     The two countries next door to India are Burma and Thailand. A Mohammedan church is called a mosque, a Buddhist church is called a pagoda. In the capital of Burma-a city called Rangoon-is one of the largest and most wonderful of these pagodas. This pagoda is called the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. It looks like a giant ice cream cone turned upside down and is nearly as high as the Washington Monument. It is built of brick, but the outside is covered with sheets of solid gold-a glorious, dazzling sight in the sunlight. Around the bottom of the pagoda are little cell-like rooms in each of which is an idol, and underneath the center of the pagoda is a box in which, it is said, there are eight hairs from the head of Buddha. On the tip top of the pagoda is-what do you suppose? A church would have a cross, a mosque a crescent, but the pagoda has an umbrella!-with little tinkling bells hanging to it.

     Rice is the chief and almost the only food of most of the people in Asia. They eat boiled rice just so, without sugar or cream, and they eat it for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. Rangoon is the chief rice market of the World.
     The people in Burma and Thailand are more like the Chinese than like the people in India. Burma is a republic but Thailand is a kingdom. Until after World War II, Thailand was named Siam. Then the people changed the name of this country of Siam to Thailand. If a man suddenly changed his name from Mr. Jones to Mr. Baker some people would still think of him as Mr. Jones and call him Mr. Jones instead of Mr. Baker. Many people still call Thailand, Siam.

     Once, the King of Siam could do anything he wanted with his people. That is what is called an absolute monarchy. When-I-was-a-boy, if any one acted very "bossy" or ordered others around, we used to say, "Who do you think you are? The King of Siam?"
     But now the King of Thailand has to rule according to the laws of the country and cannot do just as he pleases the way his ancestors used to do.

     The Buddhists believe that when they die their souls go into the bodies of animals. The kings' souls they think go into the bodies of white elephants, so in Thailand the White Elephant is sacred. The white elephants are, however, more gray than white. Once any white elephant found in a herd had to be presented to the King to bring good luck to him and to the kingdom. Because these royal white elephants did no work, we have come to call something we may have that is of no use, and yet we must keep and take care of, "a white elephant." A friend of mine has an old worn-out automobile that will not run, that he can neither sell nor give away, and as it takes up space in his garage he calls it his "white elephant."

     In Burma the ordinary gray elephant is used as we use an automobile, truck, or tractor and costs about the same as an automobile does. An elephant carries people, he carries loads, he lifts logs, he plows. A driver sits on the elephant's head and taps him on one side or the other to let him know just what he is to do and he does it. He works regular hours and knows when it's time to start work and when it's time to quit. It is as if he belonged to a labor union, and he will not work at all unless he has had one or more baths each day!
     We always say wood will float, but there is a kind of wood in Burma that is so heavy it will not float. It is called "Teak." They use teak instead of other woods in making furniture, for white ants eat up and destroy anything made out of softer woods. One of the jobs that elephants are used for is hauling, lifting, and loading the heavy logs of teak. I thought I should like to have an elephant myself, so I bought a nice one and brought it all the way home. There it is on my table now. It's made of bronze.

     Stretching down from Thailand like an elephant's trunk is a long peninsula known as the Malay Peninsula. Just about half a mile offshore from the top of this "trunk" is a bit of an island called Singapore. It was at one time nothing but a jungle in which poisonous snakes and terrible tigers lurked. The owner tried to give it away to get rid of it and couldn't. Later, however, he sold it to an Englishman named Raffles for almost nothing, and England built a city there. Why do you suppose England wanted such a place at all? Because this spot was another gateway for ships going east or west. There is, as you will see, a narrow passageway between the islands, and this was the only good way for ships to go. Just as in the case of Gibraltar, Suez, and Aden, England wanted to control it. In World War II the Japanese captured Singapore, not with ships from the sea, but with soldiers from the land side of the city. When the Japanese were finally beaten in the war, England again took control of Singapore. Singapore is now one of the most important stopping-places for ships, and in the lobby of the great hotel called "Raffles" you may now see people from all nations of the earth.

     Singapore is almost on the Equator-it is almost half-way between the North and South Poles. Sailors call the Equator "The Line." When you cross "The Line" for the first time you are supposed to be baptized by Father Neptune, the god of the sea. So I was baptized when I crossed it and this was the way it was done. As I stepped out on deck a sailor suddenly appeared on each side of me. One caught me by my arms and the other by my legs and, lifting me in the air, they threw me, with all my clothes on, into a big pool of water that had been made out of canvas on the deck of the ship. Then when I clambered out of the pool, sputtering for my breath, they shoved me into the end of a long canvas pipe, through which I had to crawl. When I came out at the other end they gave me a whack on the back with a paddle. Then I was taken before Father Neptune, a man seated on a throne and dressed up in a bath-robe with a pasteboard crown set on the side of his head, a pitchfork in his hand. He handed me a diploma, as if I were graduating from college, saying that I had been duly baptized and initiated and was now "a regular fellow" in the society of those who had crossed "The Line."


     Near the Malay Peninsula are the East Indies and the Spice Islands, which Columbus tried to reach. Sumatra, which is shaped something like a fat cigar, is where the tobacco is grown for making the covers for cigars. Java, another one of the East Indies, was once famous for its coffee. I had looked forward to getting a good cup here, but I tried in a number of places and finally got a cup, but the coffee had come from Brazil!
     In Java I saw bats as big as eagles and butterflies as big as your two hands.