第15章　最遥远的西部

有一个地方，那里的人们拥有整个世界上最好、最大、最优、最高、最美的一切，比如，他们说，那里有最好的橙子、最大的李子、最优质的葡萄、最高的树木、最高的山脉、最令人愉快的天气。不，这里并不是天堂，而是美国最遥远的西部地区。

加利福尼亚这个州，是用古老童话里一个岛屿的名称来命名的，而从许多方面来看，现实中的加利福尼亚也确实是一个童话般的地方。人们在加利福尼亚的河流当中发现了黄金，这种说法听上去就像是童话故事里才有的事情，可结果却表明，这的确是一个现实版的童话故事。如今，当地人述说的许多经历，在美国东部的人听来，仍然像是一个个童话呢。谁会相信，加利福尼亚的大树会高耸参天；谁会相信，那里有一些树硕大无比，人们甚至在树干里凿出隧道，供汽车通行；谁又会相信，那里有些树极其古老，甚至是基督降生之前长出来的呢！可事实的确如此，那里有这样的树。这些树，叫作“巨型红杉”。要是那些树能够说话，给我们讲述其漫长的一生当中发生的真实故事的话，该比童话故事精彩多少啊！

我们不妨来数一数，看加利福尼亚究竟拥有多少个“最”吧。

加利福尼亚是美国最长的一个州。假如你们能把整个加利福尼亚拿起来，放到

California has the highest mountain in the United States. It is called Mount Whitney.That's two'ests.

California has the lowest place in America. It's a valley, and the valley is more than two hundred feet lower than the ocean.It is so dry and so hot down in this hollow—this lowest spot—that nothing can live there, either animal or vegetable, except horned toads and lizards, both of which animals love heat—the more heat the better for them.Some people say they can even live in fire—but that's a fairy-tale.This low hot valley is called Death Valley.People usually keep away from it, but some men have strayed into it looking for gold and have lost their way, or some who wanted to get to the other side tried to cross it and before they could get out or reach the other side they have died of heat or thirst.That's why it is called Death Valley.That's longest, highest, lowest—three'ests.

Besides Death Valley, California has another valley—but this is one of the loveliest valleys. It is called the Yosemite.It is a very deep trough, and streams of water fall over the edge into the trough from many high places.One of these falls turns to mist before it reaches the ground and looks like a huge veil of a bride, so it is called Bridal Veil Falls.Half a dozen of these waterfalls in the Yosemite Valley are higher than Niagara, and two of them tumble headlong a quarter of a mile from the top to the bottom of the valley, the highest falls in America—loveliest valley, highest falls；that makes two more'ests.

California has, beside these'ests, the sweetest oranges, the sourest lemons, the biggest grape-fruit, so they say, but they didn't come from California；they went there. There

大西洋沿岸去比一比的话，它会从佛罗里达一直延伸到纽约呢。这是一个“最”。

加利福尼亚有美国最高的一座山峰。那座山，叫作“惠特尼峰”。这就有了两个“最”。

加利福尼亚有一个地方，是美国海拔最低之处。那是一个峡谷，比海平面还要低两百多英尺。这个峡谷的谷底（即整个峡谷最低的地方）非常干燥、非常炎热，因此除了角蟾和蜥蜴，其他动植物都无法在那里生存，角蟾和蜥蜴都喜欢高温炎热的环境，并且越热越好。有些人吹牛说，他们甚至可以在火中生存，可那不过是神话罢了。这个海拔低、温度又很高的峡谷，叫作“死亡谷”。人们一般都对“死亡谷”敬而远之，但也有一些人曾经进去，到峡谷里去寻找黄金，后来却迷了路；还有一些人则想要越过峡谷，到另一边去，可还没等走出峡谷或者到达峡谷的另一边，他们就热死或者渴死了。这里之所以叫作“死亡谷”，原因就在于此。最长、最高、最低，加起来就有三个“最”了。

除了“死亡谷”，加利福尼亚州还有另一个峡谷，不过，这里却是美国风景最优美的峡谷之一。这个峡谷，叫作“优胜美地”。这是一个非常深邃的峡谷，一条条溪流从许多地势较高的地方顺流而下，在峡谷边缘下落，形成一道道瀑布，注入峡谷之中。这些瀑布里面，有一道甚至还没有到达地面就化成了水雾，看上去像是一匹巨大的婚纱似的，因此被人们称为“婚纱瀑布”。“优胜美地”峡谷里，有六道瀑布的落差都超过了尼亚加拉大瀑布，其中还有两道瀑布水流湍急，从顶端下落到峡谷底部，距离竟达四分之一英里，属于美国落差最大的瀑布。最美的峡谷、落

were no oranges and no lemons growing in America at all before white men came to this country. The first white people to settle in California came from the country of Spain on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.In Spain oranges and lemons grew, and the people from Spain, called Spaniards, brought over orange and lemon plants and started them growing in California and also in Florida.

The Spaniards built houses like those back in Spain, with white stucco walls and red tile roofs and with the“back yards”in the center of the house. They gave their cities Spanish names—Los Angeles, which means The Angels；and they named many of their cities after saints—San Francisco after St.Francis, Santa Barbara after St.Barbara—for many of the Spaniards were priests, who built mission churches up and down the land.

The City of the Angels is now the largest city on the Pacific coast. Near the City of the Angels is Hollywood, the greats（another'est）moving-picture place i.t.w.W.There are 365 days in the year, as you know, but in Hollywood they say the sun shines on 400 days a year—fairy-tale land！At any rate, the weather is fine most of the time for taking moving pictures.This is one reason why it is such a good place for making movies, but another is that there are so many different kinds of natural scenery near-by.If they want to make a picture of a ship scene or shipwreck, there is the ocean.If they want to make a picture of the desert with camels and Arabs, there is the seashore.If they want to make a picture in the hot countries, there are palms and flowers.If they want to make pictures of winter scenes, all they have to do is to go to the mountains near-by and there is snow and ice all 差最高的瀑布，加起来就又多了两个“最”。

除了上述这些“最”，人们说加利福尼亚州还出产最甜的橙子、最酸的柠檬和最大的葡萄；不过，这些东西的原产地都不是加利福尼亚州，而是从别的地方引进加利福尼亚州的。在白人到来之前，美国根本就没有橙子和柠檬。最早到加利福尼亚殖民的白人，都来自于大西洋彼岸的西班牙。西班牙国内原本种植有橙子和柠檬，因而西班牙殖民者便把橙子树和柠檬树带到了加利福尼亚和佛罗里达，开始种植这两种果树。

西班牙殖民者所建的房屋，风格跟西班牙国内的建筑差不多：墙壁刷成白色，屋顶铺有红瓦，并且房屋的中央部位还有个所谓的“后院”。他们兴建起城市，并给这些城市起了西班牙名称，比如洛杉矶，意思就是“天使之城”。并且，许多城市都是用圣徒的名字来命名的，比如用圣方济各的名字命名的圣佛朗西斯科，根据圣巴巴拉命名的圣巴巴拉市。由于许多西班牙殖民者都是牧师，因而他们还在这片土地上修建了许多的使命教堂。

洛杉矶这座“天使之城”，如今已经成了太平洋沿岸最大的城市了。离洛杉矶不远，就是好莱坞，这里可是世界上最大的电影生产基地呢（又有一个“最”了）。大家都知道，一年有三百六十五天，可在好莱坞，人们却说一年中有四百天是阳光普照，所以这里真是个童话般的地方啊！反正，那里的天气绝大部分时间都

the year round.

The city of San Francisco on the coast north of Los Angeles is nearly as large as Los Angeles. It might have been larger, but not so many years ago a terrible earthquake shook down the city.The quake only lasted a few minutes, but in that few minutes it rocked the city, cracked open the ground, and knocked down buildings as if they were houses of children's blocks, and hundreds and hundreds of people were killed.But the worst thing the earthquake did was to upset stoves and lamps that started one of the worst fires ever known—fires that burned up most of the city.Were the people discouraged?Not at all.They collected their insurance money—and they built the city up again.

San Francisco has one of the finest harbors in the World. Its harbor is a long bay—fifty miles long.Ships enter the harbor from the Pacific Ocean through an opening called the Golden Gate.The city is built on many hills so steep that it is difficult for automobiles to climb them, but houses built on them have lovely views of the ocean, the bay, or the

是晴朗无云的，很适合于拍摄电影。这就是好莱坞极其适合于拍摄电影的一个原因；而另一个原因则是，好莱坞附近地区还有许多不同类型的自然景观。假如需要拍摄一艘轮船或者一场船只失事的镜头，就可以到太平洋上去拍摄。如果想要拍摄有骆驼和阿拉伯人的沙漠场景，就可以到海滩上去拍摄。要是想拍热带国家的镜头，那里就有棕榈树和鲜花。如果想拍冬景，只需到附近的山上去就行了，因为那些山峰上，终年都覆盖着冰雪呢。

位于洛杉矶以北沿海地区的圣弗朗西斯科这座城市，大小与洛杉矶差不多。它本来应该比洛杉矶大，只是多年以前，这里发生了一场可怕的大地震，将这座城市毁坏了。那次地震只持续了几分钟的时间；可就在那几分钟之内，整座城市都地动天摇，地面开裂，建筑物就像孩子们用积木搭成的房子似的纷纷倒塌，并且导致了成百上千人丧生。不过，此次地震最大的破坏，还是打翻了炉子和灯具，引发了有史以来最大的一场火灾，从而将这座城市的绝大部分都烧成了平地。经此灾难之后，那里的人气馁了没有呢？根本就没有。他们领取到了保险金，于是再次建好了这座城市。

圣弗朗西斯科拥有世界上最好的港口之一。那座港口，是一条长达五十英里Golden Gate.Across the Golden Gate is a huge suspension bridge much bigger than the Brooklyn Bridge.

Ships enter and leave San Francisco for all the countries on and across the Pacific Ocean. Across the Pacific Ocean are China and Japan, and in days gone by so many Chinese came to the United States and landed in San Francisco that there is a part of the city called Chinatown, where there are Chinese houses and shops and theaters.Many Japanese too came to the United States from Japan, and bought farms where they raised fruits and vegetables.

的海湾。太平洋上的船只，都是穿过一个叫作“金门海峡”的通道，进入这个海湾的。虽说该市建在许多陡峭的山坡上，连汽车都很难爬上去，但把房屋建在山上，却能观赏到大海、海湾或金门海峡的美景呢。金门海峡的上方，横跨着一座巨大的悬索桥，这座桥，比纽约的布鲁克林大桥还要大得多。

进出圣弗朗西斯科的船只，可以到达太平洋沿岸或者对岸的所有国家。太平洋的对岸，是中国和日本。随着时间的推移，许多中国人都来到美国，抵达了圣弗朗西斯科，因此，该市如今还有一个区，叫作“唐人街”，那里遍布着中式房屋、商店和戏院呢。许多日本人也背井离乡，来到了美国，买下了许多的农庄，种植水果和蔬菜。