听力文本

In British Guiana far back in the wilds is a waterfall nearly five times as high as Niagara, yet so far away from everything that hardly any white men have ever seen it or even heard of it. It’s name is Kaieteur. Just for fun ask your father if he knows what Kaieteur is.

The line around the middle of the World, if there were a line—which there isn’t—is like the belt around a very fat man. It is called the Equator. The Spanish for Equator is Ecuador. Ecuador is also the name of a little country in South America that straddles the Equator. We should expect it to be very hot there, for the nearer the Equator one goes the hotter it usually gets; but most of Ecuador is high up in the Andes Mountains, so high up that it is quite cool all the year round. The capital of Ecuador is Quito, pronounced Key-toe. From Quito you can see two of the highest volcanoes in the World. They have names that sound strange to us; both begin with “C.” Chimborazo is the name of the higher, but it no longer smokes or sends forth fire. The other is Cotopaxi, not quite so high but still very much alive, for fires inside have not gone out.

It seems strange that from this far country in the mountains, from Ecuador, something comes which you eat or drink, perhaps every day—chocolate and cocoa. They are both made from beans which grow in a large pod-a pod as big as a melon. These pods grow, not on branches, but right on the trunk of the tree. This tree is called the ca-ca-o tree. Notice how cocoa and cacao are spelled: See-o see-o-a comes from the see-a see-a-o-tree. Cocoa does not come from the cocoanut-tree. The cocoanut-tree is an entirely different tree that bears cocoanuts but not cocoa.

The Indians of Ecuador are very wild and savage. They are called head-hunters. One family or tribe will fight another tribe whenever they want something they haven’t got—wives, perhaps—or simply because they want to fight. When they kill a man they cut off his head and save it for a souvenir, as the American Indians used to cut off a man’s scalp and save it as a souvenir or trophy. The Indian who has the greatest number of heads is considered the greatest fighter.

参考译文

在英属圭亚那偏远的荒野有一个瀑布，几乎有尼亚加拉瀑布五倍高，然而由于它太偏僻了，几乎没有白人见过，甚至听说过它。它的名字叫“凯厄图尔瀑布”。为了好玩，你可以问问你爸爸，看他知不知道凯厄图尔是什么。

环绕世界中间的那条线，如果有线的话—实际上是没有的—就像系在一个胖乎乎的人身上的一根腰带。那条线叫做赤道。“赤道”在西班牙语中叫“厄瓜多尔”。厄瓜多尔也是南美洲一个小国家的名字，这个国家横跨赤道。我们一般都会认为那里会很热，因为通常越靠近赤道就越热；但厄瓜多尔大部分地区都在安第斯山脉上，由于山很高，那里一年四季都很凉爽。厄瓜多尔的首都是基多，发音就像“钥匙—脚趾头”。在基多能看到世界上两座最高的火山。它们的名字听起来很奇怪；两个都以字母“C”开头。高一点的那座山叫做“钦博腊索山”（Chimborazo），但它已经不再冒烟或喷火了。另一座矮一点，是“科托帕克希火山”（Cotopaxi），但仍然是活火山，因为里面的火还没有熄灭。

厄瓜多尔这个国家在离我们很远的群山里，奇怪的是你可能每天吃的或喝的巧克力和可可粉，就产自这个国家。巧克力和可可粉都是由可可豆做的，可可豆长在很大的豆荚里——像甜瓜那么大的豆荚。这些豆荚不是结在树枝上的，而是直接长在树干上的。这种树叫做可可树。注意看英语“可可粉”和“可可树”是怎么拼写的：“cocoa”（可可粉）来自于“cacao”（可可树）上。可可粉并不是出自于椰子树（cocoanut-tree）的。椰子树是一种完全不同的树，树上会结出椰子而不是可可。

厄瓜多尔的印第安人非常野蛮凶狠。他们被称为“猎人头者”。每当他们想要获得自己没有的某种东西—比如妻子——个家族或部落就会和另一个部落大打出手，或者纯粹想打架而已。他们杀了一个人，就割下其头颅留作纪念品。就像美国的印第安人过去把敌人的带发头皮割下来作为纪念物或者战利品一样。拥有最多人头的印第安人被认为是最勇猛的战士。