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Up in the Sierra Madre Mountains, in a bowl-shaped valley, is the capital of Mexico. It is called Mexico City, so you don’t have to learn a new name. The farther north you go the colder it gets, but not always. The farther south you go the warmer it gets, but not always. But the higher up you go in the mountains the colder it gets—always. Mexico City is so far south you would think it would be very hot, but it is not, because it is so high up in the mountains. They have mild weather in Mexico City all the year round.

Near Mexico City is an old volcano with the peculiar name: Po-poca- tepetl. It sounds something like Po-poca-teakettle. Why didn’t they give it an easy name, you may wonder. They did, for in the language of the Indians who named it, Popocatepetl means “smoking mountain.” Popocatepetl is so far south we should expect it to be warm, but it is so high that its top is cold and is covered with snow all the year round. Popocatepetl is no longer firing up, but clouds of sulphur smoke pour out of it all the time and sulphur collects in its mouth. Indian workmen climb up the sides of Popocatepetl and climb down inside to get the sulphur, which is used in making matches and medicine and other things.

On the Gulf side of Mexico, along the shore, it is very warm indeed, very damp and unhealthful, so no one would live there if he didn’t have to; but great lakes of oil were found down under the ground, along the shore near a city called Tampico, and men have dug wells through the ground to get the oil. It is so close to the sea that tank ships can fill up with the oil and carry it to the United States and other places in the World. It is much cheaper to send oil by ship than by train, for one tank ship will carry as much as a thousand tank cars.

The thumb-like piece of Mexico is called Yucatan. In Yucatan grows a plant with tall swords-haped leaves. From these leaves a fiber that looks like long gray hair, called sisal, is obtained. It is used to make rope and twine. From the juice of another plant that grows in Yucatan, chewing-gum is made.

参考译文

在马德雷山脉上有一个碗形的山谷，里面坐落着墨西哥的首都，叫做墨西哥城，因此你不用再学一个新名字了。通常，越往北就越冷，但并不总是这样；越往南就越暖和，但也并不总是这样；但是上山，越高就越冷—总是如此。墨西哥城在往南很远的地方，你会以为那里很热，但实际上并不是这样，因为它在高高的山上。墨西哥城一年四季气候都很温和。

墨西哥城附近有一座古老的火山，它有一个奇怪的名字：波波卡特佩特。听起来就像是波波卡水壶。你也许会想：为什么不给它取个简单的名字呢？这其实就是个简单的名字，因为在给火山命名的印第安人的语言中，“波波卡特佩特”的意思是“冒烟的山”。波波卡特佩特在南部那么远的地方，我们会认为那里该是很温暖的，但是它海拔很高，山顶非常寒冷，终年积雪覆盖。波波卡特佩特不再喷发，但是成团的硫黄烟一直从里面喷出来，硫黄不断堆积在火山口。印第安工人顺山坡爬上波波卡特佩特火山，然后进入火山口去采集硫黄，硫黄可以用于制造火柴、药物和其他东西。

墨西哥沿海湾这一带的气候炎热潮湿，不利于健康，因此除非是不得已，没有人愿意住在那儿；但是在这沿岸有个城市叫做坦皮科，人们在附近的地下发现了大油池，于是打井深入地下开采石油。这里离海很近，所以油船可以装满石油运送到美国和世界其他地方。用船运油远比火车便宜得多，因为一艘油船装运的石油和一千辆铁路罐车一样多。

墨西哥那块像大拇指的地方叫做尤卡坦。尤卡坦生长着一种植物，叶子形似长剑。从这些叶子里可以提取出一种看起来就像灰色长头发的纤维，叫做波罗麻纤维。这种纤维可以用来做粗绳和麻线。尤卡坦还生长一种植物，它的汁水可以做口香糖。