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For some reason or other, every now and then some man tries to jump the falls in a barrel, and at least one man has done it and lived. But boats on Lake Erie that wanted to go to Lake Ontario couldn’t jump the falls, So men dug a river around Niagara Falls from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and put water steps in it so that boats could go downhill to Lake Ontario or uphill to Lake Erie. This man-made river is called the Well and Canal.

It may seem strange for a boat to step downhill, but it not only can step downhill, it can step up too. A water step down a hill is called a “lock,” and a lock is like a huge bathtub set in the canal. Perhaps you have floated toy boats in your bathtub. If you have, you know that as you fill the tub the boat rises as the water rises, and as you let the water run out of the tub the boat lowers as the water lowers.

Now a canal lock works the same way with large boats as the bathtub with small boats. If a boat wants to go downhill it sails into the lock. The water in the lock is then let out and the boat lowers as the water lowers. When the boat is at the bottom, doors at the end of the lock are opened and the boat sails out on the lower canal. If a boat wants to go uphill it sails into the bottom of the lock through the open doors, the doors are then closed, and the water is turned on. As it fills the lock the boat rises with it, for water will lift anything that ill float, no matter whether it be the smallest chip or the biggest ship. Water, just plain water, has more power to lift and lower the largest steamship than even giant machinery would have. It lifts the largest battle-ship as easily and softly as it would the lightest feather floating on the surface—as easily as you might lift a snowflake on your hand.

Boats that wanted to go to New York City—and almost all boats did want to go to New York—once had to go down through the Welland Canal and locks to Lake Ontario, then all the way out the St. Lawrence River, which runs from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean, then sail down the coast to New York. To avoid this long detour, this long way round, men dug a canal all the way across New York State from Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson River, so that big boats can now cut across from Lake Erie to New York City. This is called the Barge Canal. It’s one of the longest canals in the World.

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不时有人以这样或那样的理由要尝试坐在桶里跳下瀑布，还真有一个人这么做了，而且还幸存下来了。但是在伊利湖上要想开到安大略湖的船舶是不能过瀑布的。于是人们在尼亚加拉瀑布周围从伊利湖到安大略湖开凿了一条河，里面造了一些水中台阶，这样船就能从伊利湖开到下面的安大略湖，或者从安大略湖开上去。这条人工河叫做韦兰运河。

让一艘轮船沿台阶朝下坡行似乎很奇怪，但它不但能下坡，还能上坡。水中的台阶叫做“船闸”，船闸就像放在运河里的大浴缸一样。或许你在浴缸里玩过玩具船，把它漂在水面上。如果玩过的话你就知道当你往浴缸里灌水的时候，小船会随着水面的上升而上升；当你把浴缸里的水放掉的时候，小船也会随着水面的下降而下降。

船闸和大船之间的关系就像浴缸和小船之间的关系一样。如果一艘船想要从上游到下游去，它先驶进船闸，然后船闸里的水会被放掉，船就随着水面的下降而降低。当船到达底部的时候，船闸另一端的门就打开，船就可以驶到水位较低的运河中了。如果一艘船想要从下游开到上游去，它会由敞开的大门驶进船闸的底部，闸门随后关上，水就放进来。随着闸内的水不断上涨，船也会升高，因为水可以举起任何能漂浮的东西，不管是块小木屑还是大轮船。水，就是这普普通通的水，比大型的机器还有力量，可以举起或放低最大的轮船。它可以轻而易举地托起一艘最大的战舰，就像托起一片漂在水面上的最轻的羽毛，就像你轻轻托起手上一片雪花。

想去纽约市的船——几乎所有的船都想去纽约——以前得经过韦兰运河，通过那些船闸，进入安大略湖，然后进入圣劳伦斯河，再一直到大西洋，沿海岸最后到达纽约。为了避免绕这么个大弯子，人们横贯整个纽约州开凿了一条运河，把伊利湖的布法罗市与哈得逊河连接起来。这样大船就可以走近路从伊利湖直接航行到纽约市。这条运河叫做驳船运河。它是世界上最长的运河之一。