作者：威廉·S·格雷,威廉·H·爱尔森
出版社：天津人民出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
BASIC READERS:美国学校现代英语阅读教材(BOOK FIVE)(英文原版)试读：
Books Are Storehouses
When Admiral Byrd went down to the bottom of the world to explore the regions of the South Pole,he carried with him a library of one thousand books. Think of it! If you read one book every day,it would take you nearly three years to finish that many. Admiral Byrd must indeed have thought that books were valuable to his men. He needed all the room in his ships for food,gasoline,and other supplies; yet he found a place for this large library.
Admiral Byrd knew that during his stay in the Polar regions there would be a long night of many months,when the sun would not shine. The men would have to stay inside,shut in by the darkness and the fierce storms,with very little to do. Books would give them many pleasant hours. Books would help them to forget that they were shut in.
So we can imagine these forty-two brave explorers quietly reading in the light of their lamps,with the terrific storms raging outside,and their building completely buried in snow. Here is one man reading a story of Africa. His mind is far away from the ice and snow; his book has carried him to a hot,sweltering country of wide grassy plains,sandy deserts,and thick jungles. Another man is reading of a land of great,busy cities full of people; he has for a time forgotten that for a thousand miles and more in every direction there is not another person in all the vast region where he and his comrades are.
Have you ever read about the Little Lame Prince and his magic cloak that took him wherever he wanted to go? Books are like magic cloaks; they can take us wherever we want to go. You could not go to the South Pole with Admiral Byrd; but you can read the book that he wrote. You cannot hunt lions in Africa,but you will read in this book of yours how three Boy Scouts hunted them.
Books can do even more than the magic cloak could do. It could only carry the Little Lame Prince to different places. But books can carry us into people's minds and show us what they have thought and learned. There are men and women who have spent years of hard,patient work finding out the wonderful things that are in this world of ours. All that they have learned and thought we can have for our own—wonderful and interesting facts about the stars,the trees and fl owers,the animals,the great machines that do our work—all the things that are on the earth,in the earth,and even far down in the depths of the ocean waters.
Finally,books can carry us far,far back,thousands of years,and show us how people lived in those days. We can know the kinds of clothes they wore,the food they ate,the games they played,and even some of the jokes at which they laughed. Isn't it strange! Those people never dreamed of us; we could not possibly go back and live in their day. Yet we can know almost as much about them as we know about the people of our own times.
Now do you see why we say that books are storehouses? In them are stored up for us all the things that men and women have thought and done and learned for thousands of years. In them are kept the stories that people have loved through all time.PART ISKYWAYS AND HIGHWAYS
KNIGHTS OF THE AIRJessica Pryse arthur
Up from the airports the swift ships are zooming
Over the cities and countrysides fair,
Off toward the mountains,where snow peaks are looming,
Upward ye! Forward ye! Knights of the Air!
Over Sahara,where hot sands are sliding,
Over each tropical jungle and lair,
Over the forests,where wild things are hiding,
Onward still! Forward still! Knights of the Air!
Over the green glassy seas you are flashing,
Down toward the south polarregions you bear,
Over far oceans,where icebergs are crashing!
Onward ye! Forward ye! Knights of the Air!The World Is Growing SmallerThe world is growing smaller. Perhaps you don't believe it. Well,it took Christopher Columbus sixty-nine days to cross the Atlantic Ocean,when traveling just as fast as anyone could in those days. But Charles Lindbergh crossed the ocean in less than two days. The Atlantic must have grown smaller!When President Lincoln was killed,only about seventy years ago,it was seven days before the people in California learned about what had happened,although the news was rushed across our country with the greatest speed. But today you can sit in your home here in America and listen to a man talking in Germany,or England,or Italy. Admiral Byrd,far down at the bottom of the world,told us almost every day what his men were doing.Yes,it does seem as though our world is growing smaller. It seems also that we are living closer together than people did one hundred years ago. Why? You have probably already guessed the answer. Because men have learned things and invented machines—machines that make it possible for people to move rapidly from place to place and to send messages with lightning speed.You are going to read about how men travel and send messages. You will learn of Admiral Byrd's Antarctic trip,how brave dogs and men carried medicine over ice and snow to save lives in the far North,how the mail was carried before the railroads came,and how Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris. As you read these stories,think of how progress in transportation and communication makes the world grow smaller.01With Admiral Byrd In Little Americacoram Foster
At the bottom of the world,in the South Polar Regions,Admiral Byrd and his men lived for fourteen months where no man had ever been able to stay more than a month or two. During a part of this time it was impossible for them to leave or for anyone to get to them. Yet they listened to music and messages from all over the world,and almost every day they sent out to the world the story of what they were doing.AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD
When the Byrd expeditionsailed from New York City to Antarctica,it carried a library of a thousand volumes. This library was for the most part a collection of adventure stories which Admiral Byrd had selected to give pleasure to his men through the long darkness of the antarctic night.
These books were all at hand whenever a man had a few hours off for candy eating and reading. There had been provided for every man on the expedition a hundred pounds of candy—about a quarter of a pound for each day the party remained in Antarctica. This amount of candy was at least four times what the men would have eaten back home,but it was no more than enough for them. The terrific cold of Antarctica compelled
every man to keep up in his body more heat than would have been necessary in warmer lands,and candy makes great heat in the body. Admiral Byrd believed in taking the best care of his party; for this reason his men always had candy to eat and books to read during leisuremoments.
And certainly there was plenty of leisure after the dark months arrived,following the constructionof the village of Little America upon Ross Ice Field. The buildings of this little settlement,arranged in three groups,formed the largest and the most nearly complete communitythat had ever been built in the Polar regions. They also provided both homes and workshops for Admiral Byrd's men.
Of the chief group,the Administration Building was most important. Besides living quarters for a number of the party,including Admiral Byrd,it contained a radio laboratorywith instruments for sending and receiving messages. Directly behind this building were the house for medical supplies and that which contained the food supplies. These two were separated from each other to reduce loss in case of fire. It was,indeed,the danger of fi re which made it necessary to separate all of the main buildings from each other.
Chief among the buildings of the second group was the Mess HallHere were more living quarters,a radio station,a storehouse,and a photo workshop,all under one roof. A little distance away were the quarters for the dogs,and the sledgerepair and blacksmith shop.
The third group of buildings included the aviation repair shop and storage space for the gasoline supply.THE LONG DARKNESS
None of Admiral Byrd's important work in Little America was done between late March and the middle of October,1929. This does not,of course,mean either that the sun vanishedfor all that period of time or that work stopped completely. As a matter of fact,the sun was still a daily visitor in April,and it again became a daily visitor in late August. Moreover,even without the light of the sun,some outdoor activitywas possible. There were always the twilight hours of noon-time provided by the moon.
No air flights could be made,however,and only the most necessary travel with dog sleds was attempted; for even with the aid of the moon,the light at best was poor. There was another,even more important,reason why little work could be done during these months: this was the time of the winter storms. These,in their full strength,brought winds that no man could stand against,and such snows as are unheard of elsewhere in the world.
When Little America was fi rst set up on the Ross Ice Field,its tiny buildings made black spots against the surrounding whiteness. Long before the winter was over,however,snow had banked and drifted over all except the tallest points. A bit of the roof of the Mess Hall could be seen at times. Some of the tall radio towers managed to stay clear. But the rest of the buildings could be located only by the unevenness of the snow's surface where an airplane hangar,the dogs' quarters,the Mess Hall,the gymnasium,or some other building lay buried.
No small part of those winter months was lived underground by Byrd and his men,or nearly underground. They went by tunnel from the Administration Building to the Mess Hall. By tunnel,too,they could reach others of the most important buildings. Poking their heads out of doors into the gray blackness of the night,Byrd's men were almost sure at times that they heard the singing of birds. Often two of the men would look sharply at each other in wondering surprise as their ears caught sounds which were strangely like the shrill,sharp cries of animals.
At other times there were curiousgroans and moans. And even in the shelter of their quarters sometimes the men caught a rumbling,rolling murmurwhich could have been nothing but a trolley car in the distance,except that they knew that there were no such things as trolley cars about. All these magic sounds,and more,were made by the restless shifting of the ice upon which their houses stood; by the pressure of the water beneath the ice; and by the furiouswinds which tore constantly at the roofs.
These magic sounds would have been even more disturbing than they were if the inside of the Mess Hall and the Administration Building had been as dark as was the icy snow-field without. Happily,the Byrd expedition brought with it a complete outfi t of electric equipmentto brighten its antarctic home.
With the last of April the sun disappeared,leaving only a faint glint of brightness now and then along the horizon. Inside the huts,however,a fl ood of light for all purposes was provided by an electric generator,which was run by a gasoline engine. This was the fi rst machine of its kind ever carried into the antarctic regions. It was by electric light that the storekeeper checked his goods. The cook turned an electric switch when he went into his kitchen to prepare a meal.
Not only did the men of Little America have electricity for lighting,but they had it for medical purposes as well. There was enough electricity to run the two powerful sun lamps which Doctor Francis D. Codman,chief physician of the party,had brought along. Each member of the expedition was required to bathe regularly in the light rays of these lamps. This rule was followed throughout the entire time of the long winter night,while the sun was not present to furnish a natural healthgiving light.IN TOUCH WITH THE WORLD
The electrical equipment,too,ran the radio. Other Polar explorers had carried radios,but none ever had provided such equipment as Byrd took. So complete was his preparation in this direction that all through his stay in Little America he lived with his fi nger tip on an electric bell,by which he could practically ring up the entire world. Nothing like it had ever been done before. At almost a moment's notice Byrd could call New York,South America,Europe,San Francisco,Australia,and practically any spot upon the world's surface. Each day he was able,if he wished,to inform the world what was happening in Little America.
By radio Byrd was able to tell the outside world when he started out men with dog teams to lay supplies of food and gasoline southward in order to prepare for his flight to the South Pole itself. He was able to inform his vastaudience when the first supplies had been placed a hundred miles or so from Little America; when the second supplies had been placed a hundred miles beyond the fi rst; when the third supplies had been left,and the fourth. He was able to let the world know that he was doing this work with four teams of dogs,and that each team carried about a thousand pounds of provisions. These supplies were to be used in case Byrd's plane was forced to land somewhere on the fl ight to the Pole and back to Little America.
Radio,too,carried amusement and information to Little America as easily as it carried news from Little America to the world. Sometimes a theater would broadcast its program for Byrd's men. While gathered around the receiving set in the Administration Building one afternoon,Byrd's party heard the welcome word that a supply of athleticequipment from the University of Pennsylvania was on its way to Little America.
Once,when Admiral Byrd was puzzled about the problem of comfortable sleeping conditions,the radio brought him the advice of other polar explorers. Fitzhugh Green and Captain Bob Bartlett,two famous explorers and adventurers,sent suggestions by radio as to how the party in Antarctica could avoid frozen clothes and other inconvenienceswhile sleeping. Every holiday which arrived while the expedition was at Antarctica was made cheerful by the radio. The day of the anniversaryof Byrd's fl ight across the Atlantic brought messages of congratulationfrom all the world. On Easter,music fi ttingto the day was sent on from New York. On the Fourth of July there were addresses and music. And,finally,it was the radio which told the waiting world that the long darkness at Little America was at an end. This news was fl ashed out into space on August 25,1929.THE SUN RETURNS TO LITTLE AMERICA
For days the twilight hours which had numbered less than four in the middle of the long southern night had been lengthening,a little at a time. One week,there were fi ve hours of twilight; the next six. Then there were ten,and down along the horizon could be seen for a space each day a promising golden tint. Finally there came a day when the sun itself was actually visiblefor a minute or so. This was not a true sunrise,however. But only a few days later,the sun itself rose majesticand bright one morning above the horizon. The little village in Antarctica was like another world!
For the stalwartcrew and their slim,quiet commander,that must have been a time of great excitement which followed the return of the sun to the vast whiteness that made up the Ross Ice Field. There was,to begin with,the change from the glow of electricity inside the houses and the gray blackness of the outof-doors to the sparkling beauty which the new sunlight made of the ice and snow.
But there was much more than that. There was,for example,the little thaw which every day of sunlight brought,gradually uncovering roofs to break the snowy stretches of Little America. Now a man could get out of the houses to stretch his legs,for the storms,or at least the most terrible storms,were past,and one dared to walk out in the open. There was work; and work,after the long days of idleness,was highly welcome to Byrd's men.
The dogs were mad with delight at being free from their winter quarters. They yelped and tugged joyfully as they were harnessed again to the sleds. The photographersbrought out their cameras,and when nothing better off ered,took pictures of the penguinswaddling along,upright,like dignifiedold gentlemen; or of the killer-whaleswhich began to push their long,slender snouts through the melting ice of the bay; or of a seal spinning in a frenzywith his mouth full of a halfswallowed fish that would neither go in nor out; or of the airplane hangars and their machine shops slowly coming out from under their coverings of snow. Little America had become a whirlpool of activity!NOTES AND QUESTIONS1. Name three ways of travel that Admiral Byrd and his men used from the time they left New York.2. To see whether you know what Little America was like,write on your paper the words that belong where the letters are in the lines below. Your answer for the first letter is (a) Ross Ice Field.Little America was built on the ___(a)___ in the ___(b)___ polar region. In June it is ___(c)___ in Antarctica,while it is ___(d)___ in our country. The buildings were arranged in ___(e)___ to avoid the danger from ___(f)___. After the snows came,only the high ___(g)___ of the ___(h)___ could be seen. Then the men passed from one building to another through ___(i)___. Except for the moonlight,it was dark during the months of ___(j)___. During the long night the men could do little out of doors because of the ___(k)___ and ___(l)___. 3. Which of these animals and birds did the men see?Eagles,wolves,seals,walruses,whales,horses,penguins. 4. Below are eight words,and eight sentences with letters in them. Choose the right word for each letter.vanished community fitting frenzyleisure equipment visible compelledHunger ___(a)___ them to eat grass and roots.During vacation we have plenty of ___(b)___.The village of Lakeside is a pleasant little ___(c)___.The automobile ___(d)___ in the darkness.Father bought all kinds of camping ___(e)___ for our trip.The night was so dark that the road was not ___(f)___.America is a ___(g)___ song to sing on the Fourth of July.Elephants threw the horses into a ___(h)___ of excitement.02Balto,The Best Lead-Dog In AlaskaFrances margaret Fox
Perhaps you think that dogs are used only as pets. Do you know that for hundreds of years dogs have been helpers of man? They have hunted food for him,carried his loads and messages,and guarded his home. In this story you will read how faithful dogs helped brave men in a time of great need.
Balto was a dog of the United States Postal Servicein faroff Alaska. In the city of Nome,one black morning,he stepped into the world's Story-Book of Shining Deeds. That picturebook opened wide and took him in forever.
It was mid-winter,and an epidemicof diphtheria had broken out in Nome. They called it the “Black Death” up there,for the diseasecarried off not only the children but their fathers and mothers. Indeed,whole families were swept away during the time of that dreadful sickness. If the disease could not be stopped in Nome,it was likely to spread over all the territory of which that city was the center—to the east one thousand miles,and north even as far as the Arctic Ocean. In this region there lived eleven thousand people. To care for them there was in Nome but one doctor,who with his little band of nurses belonged to the United States Public Health Service.
Far away in the United States there was a cure for diphtheria,called antitoxin serum. The doctor sent out a franticappeal for help. A twenty-pound package of the precious serum for fighting diphtheria would save the children,the families at Nome,and all the surrounding territory from the Black Death. Immediately the serum was rushed toward Alaska. Without loss of time the railroad carried the package of serum from Seward to Nenana. Dog-teams must continue the journey six hundred and sixty-fi ve miles by trail westward to Nome. Never before that time had the journey from Nenana to Nome been made in less than nine days. The heroicdrivers of the dogteams risked their lives by taking cross-cuts,never attempted in such weather before. The serum reached Nome in fi ve and onehalf days!
But for the glorious deed of the dog,Balto,in the last sixty miles of the dash for Nome,this remarkable featcould not have been accomplished. However,if it had not been for the work of other heroic dogs and their drivers,big black Balto would not have had his chance to reach Nome with the serum and thus save hundreds of lives.
It was the driver Leonard Seppala who chose to cross the entrance to Norton Bay,instead of following the long shoreline around the bay. Because a hurricane was raging and the ice was breaking up and drifting out to sea,Seppala was warned not to try the short-cut across the bay. He thought of the long bay stretching up into the land,with a shore-line requiring days to travel,while children were dying
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