Now thirteen is generally considered an unlucky number, but these 13 States were not afraid of bad luck.In fact, as the new country had to have a flag, they made a flag with 13 stripes— seven red stripes and six white—and they put a white star for each State in a blue corner of the flag.Other parts of North America thought they'd like to join the club too, and more and more pieces kept on joining until there were forty eight States, and these States that were united stretched from the Atlantic Ocean on one side to the Pacific Ocean on the other—that is, from where the sun rises from the ocean on one side to where it sets over the ocean on the other.Each time a piece joined the U.S., another star was put in the corner of the flag, but the number of stripes was not changed, for there would have been too many; so now there are forty-eight stars —that means forty eight States united into one country.That's why there are on our coins the words “ e pluribus unum,” which means “one from many.'
现在13通常被认为是个不吉利的数字，但是这13个州并不害怕什么坏运气。甚至想到一个新的国家总得有国旗，他们还制作了一面有13道条纹的旗子—七红六白—并在旗子蓝色一角用 13颗白色的星星代表13个州。北美的其他地区也想要加入进来，于是越来越多的地方加入进来，直到一共有48个州，这些州连起来从大西洋东侧的岸向西延伸到西侧的太平洋—也就是 从 海洋一边太阳升起的地方到海洋另一边太阳落下的地方。每次有新州加入，旗子一角的星星就会添加一颗，但是条纹不再增 加，不然就太多了；所以现在国旗上有48颗星一一意味着48个州 联合成一个国家。这就是为什么我们的硬币上有“e pluribus unum”这样的拉丁语字样，意思是“合众为一”。

Not all of America joined the club, however.The country north of the U.S.called Canada and the country south of the U.S.called Mexico did not join.And yet the people in Canada are Americans, and the people in Mexico are Americans, too, but both Canada and Mexico have different rulers from what we have, for they are different countries.
然而并不是整个美洲所有地区都加入了这个俱乐部。美国北部的国家加拿大和南部的国家墨西哥都没有加入。不过加拿大人也是美洲人，墨西哥人也是美洲人，但加拿大和墨西哥都有着和 我们不一样的统治者，因为他们是不同的国家。
Though there are very few Indians left in the U.S., we still use some of their names in naming our States.See if you can pick out some of the States on the map that have Indian names.Maryland and Virginia, of course, are not—for they are girls'names.States beginning with “New” —like New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire—of course are not Indian.They are named after old places in another country.But Minnesota, which means “sky blue water”；Ohio, which means “beautiful river” or “great”； and many others are Indian.
尽管美国现在只有极少数印第安人，我们仍然用他们的名字来命名一些州。看看你能不能在地图上找出几个有印第安名的州。马里兰和弗吉尼亚当然不是—因为它们是女孩的名字。以“ 新”字开头的州—比如说纽约[1]、新泽西、新罕布什尔—当然也不是。它们是按别的国家的老地名来取名的。但是像明尼苏达（意思是“天蓝色的水”），俄亥俄（意思是“美丽 的 河”或“伟大的”）等许多其他州—都是印第安语。