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Argentina is so much like the United States in a great many ways that it is often called the United States of South America. Both countries are alike in this—that they have hot weather part of the time and cold weather part of the time. But there is this big difference: in Argentina they have winter when the United States is having summer, and summer when the United States is having winter. In Argentina Christmas comes in hot weather and snow and ice in July and August. They have flowers and vegetables and vacations in January and February, and snow and ice and sledding and skating in July.

The capital of Argentina is often called the New York of South America, as it is the largest city of South America, as New York is the largest city of North America. Its name, however, is not New York but “Good Airs,” or, in Spanish, “Buenos Aires.” It is on the Plata River, which is another name that means silver. So we have the city of Good Airs on the Silver River in Silver Land.

In most of the other countries of South America there are many more Indians and Indians mixed with white men than there are white people, but in Argentina most of the people are white. That’s another reason why it is like the United States; but Argentina was settled by people from Spain, not from England, so the people speak Spanish and not English.

Up the Silver River from Argentina, tucked in between the larger countries are two little countries called Uru- and Para- guay. Uruguay and Paraguay are similar to Argentina in many ways. They raise sheep and cattle and gauchos with ponchos. In Para guay they raise a tree from the leaves of which a kind of tea is made. It is called Paraguay tea or maté. It is the chief drink of the gauchos, and many people in South America drink it instead of real tea. It was thought so good that they tried to sell it to other countries. But other countries didn’t care for it as much as for regular tea or coffee. Grown people are like children: what they like they like; what they think they won’t like they don’t like. Most people in the United States like soda-water, but people in other countries usually do not.

参考译文

阿根廷在很多方面很像美国，所以常被叫做“南美洲的美国”。两个国家在这一点就很相像—一年中都是一段时间天气炎热，一段时间天气寒冷，四季分明。不过，还有一个很大的不同之处：阿根廷冬季的时候美国正是夏季，夏季的时候美国正是冬季。圣诞节时，阿根廷夏日炎炎，而七八月份则冰天雪地。一二月份鲜花盛开，新鲜蔬菜大量上市，人们也开始过暑假，七月份冰雪来了，人们就能滑雪溜冰了。

阿根廷的首都经常被叫做“南美洲的纽约”，因为它是南美洲最大的城市，正如纽约是北美洲最大的城市一样。然而它的名字不是纽约，而是“清新的空气”，或者用西班牙语说就是“布宜诺斯艾利斯”。它位于拉普拉塔河畔，“拉普拉塔”在西班牙语中也是“银子”的意思。因此白银之国有一条白银之河，白银之河河边有座“清新的空气”之城。

在南美洲大多数国家，印第安人以及印第安人与白人的混血人种都比白人多很多，但是在阿根廷大部分人都是白人。这是阿根廷像美国的另一个原因；但是阿根廷曾是西班牙人建立的殖民地，而不是英国人建的，因此阿根廷人说西班牙语，而不是英语。

从阿根廷沿白银之河往上走，有两个小国夹在大国之间，叫做乌拉圭和巴拉圭。乌拉圭和巴拉圭在很多方面和阿根廷都很像。他们都放牧牛羊，都有穿着披风的加乌乔牧人。在巴拉圭，人们种植一种树，树叶可以制成一种茶，叫做巴拉圭茶。那是加乌乔牧人的主要饮料，南美洲许多人都喝巴拉圭茶而不喝真正的茶叶。当地人觉得它非常好喝，曾设法将它卖到其他国家去。但其他国家的人对这种茶不怎么感兴趣，他们还是喜欢普通茶或咖啡。成人和孩子一样：喜欢的就喜欢；觉得不喜欢的就是不喜欢。美国的大部分人喜欢喝苏打水，但是其他国家的人一般都不喜欢。