The Empire State
帝国州
SEVERAL countries together are called an “Empire.” So New York State is often called the Empire State, because it has as many people, who do as much business and make as much money, as several countries put together.
几个国家合在一起叫做“帝国”，纽约州常被叫做帝国州，因为它人口众多，商业发达，财源滚滚，怎么都抵得上好几个国家。
Down at the corner of New York State is New York City, the second largest city in the World, with more shops, more hotels, more people, and more money than any other city on this side of the World, and with more tall buildings than on any side of the World. It was named after a city across the ocean called York, but New York is now hundreds of times bigger than old York. It is the city of millionaires and millions who are not. People from all over the world come to New York hoping to be millionaires too. Some used to think the streets were paved with gold, and were disappointed when they found them just asphalt.
纽约州南部的一角是纽约市，它是世界第二大城市，是西半球拥有最多的商店、旅馆、人口和财富的城市，也是全球拥有最多高楼的城市。它是以大洋对岸一个叫约克的城市命名的，但是“新约克”（纽约）要比旧约克大上几百倍。它是百万富翁的城市，也居住着数以百万的平民。世界各地的人来到纽约，都梦想成为百万富翁。有些人一直认为这儿的大街都是金子铺的，到了纽约他们才发现这里的街道也不过就是柏油路，不免大失所望。
The main part of New York City is on an island which the Indians called Manhattan. White men bought it from the Indians and paid them about 24 for the whole island—not in money, for the Indians didn't know what money was, but in beads and ornaments worth 24. A piece of ground only large enough to stand on would now cost many times more than what the whole island once cost. That may seem a big price for a small piece of ground, but a plot of ground is not like a sheet of paper, without thickness. The owner owns everything above and below the ground—down to the center of the earth and up to the sky. That is why men in New York build buildings up to the sky—“sky-scrapers” we call them—for a fifty-story building takes up no more land than a one-story building.
纽约市的主要部分在一个印第安人称作曼哈顿的岛上。当时白人从印第安人手里买下了整个岛，只花了大约24美元—不是付的现金，因为那时印第安人还不知道钱是什么东西呢，他们只要了一些珠宝饰品。加起来值24美元左右。现在任何一块立锥之地也要比当时整个岛的价格高出很多倍。就一小块地来说这似乎是个很高的价格，但是一块地不同于一张纸，纸是没有厚度的。而土地的主人则拥有这块地的上下所有东西—下至地心，上至天空。所以纽约人建造了很多高耸入云的楼房—就是人们所说的“摩天大厦”—因为一幢50层的楼房和一幢一层的楼房的占地面积是一样的。
To me there is nothing in the World made by the hand of man more wonderful than New York's giant buildings. They are marvelous, magnificent, awe-inspiring, stupendous, amazing, overpowering, thrilling, Brobdingnagian. Have you read “Gulliver's Travels”? Brobdingnag was the land of the giants. They stand unmoved by thunder and lightning, by wind, storm, or tempest, and they look down on their creaters—mites of men who, with their hands of only five fingers, have built them. New York's motto is “Excelsior,” which means “Higher,” and that is the motto of its builders. There is a saying, “Great oaks from little acorns grow,” and one of the greatest of these buildings—sixty stories high—was built from the nickels and dimes made by Woolworth's Five and Ten Cent Stores. The most marvelous building of all is called the Empire State Building. It is one hundred and two stories high, taller than any other building in New York City, or in America, or in the whole World.
对我来说，世界上没有任何人工的东西会比纽约的大楼更奇异的了。它们蔚为大观，宏伟壮丽，令人敬畏，令人惊叹，令人惊奇，在它们面前你自觉渺小，激动不已，像是到了大人国。你读过《格列佛游记》吗？大人国是故事里巨人们居住的地方。这些摩天大厦在风雨雷电中巍峨耸立，暴风雨也奈何不了它们，它们俯视着它们的创造者—小小的人类，正是他们用仅有十根指头的一双手建造了这些大楼。纽约的座右铭是“Excelsior”，意思是“追求更高”，这也是它的建造者们的座右铭。我们有句谚语说“小小橡果长成参天大树”，这些最高的大楼中有一幢60层的楼房就是用伍尔沃斯的廉价品商店赚的5分、10分的硬币盖起来的。纽约摩天大楼中最了不起的要数帝国大厦了，有102层，比纽约，比美国，比世界上任何其他建筑物都高。