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The Andes Mountains separate Argentina from a very long and narrow country on the Pacific shore named Chile.

Argentina is called the Silver Land. Chile is so long and thin it is sometimes called the Sliver land. Chile doesn’t mean chilly; it means Land of Snow, for most of Chile is mountains, and the mountains are so high there is snow on their tops all the time. Chile and Argentina were once going to war in spite of the wall of mountains between them, but they made an agreement, as Canada and the United States did, that they would not fight. They set up on top of the Andes Mountains a huge bronze figure of Christ holding a cross—they melted their cannons to make it—and on the base they put words which say something like this: “Sooner shall these mountain crags crumble to dust than Chile and Argentina shall go to war with each other—they have sworn it at the foot of Christ.” They have had no fights since. What a pity such an easy way to stop fighting cannot be used everywhere!

Chile is so long and so thin and has so many mountains it hardly seems a country worth fighting for, but in spite of what seems to be, Chile makes a lot of money. This may seem still more surprising when I tell you that the northern part of Chile is a desert where it often does not rain for ten years at a time. That doesn’t sound like very good land, but it is one of the richest lands in the World. You would never guess why. Of course, nothing will grow there because it is a desert, and there are no diamonds nor gold. It is on account of something you probably never heard of. This something you never heard of is called Nitrate of Soda. It is a kind of salt that was once in the sea. The reason it is so valuable is because farmers all over the World buy it to put on their fields, as it makes vegetables grow so much better. Strange it doesn’t grow anything where it is found; but that is because there is no rain there and nothing will grow without rain. But it is lucky there is no rain, for if there were rain the Nitrate of Soda would melt. This part of Chile is like a long narrow trough. It was once under the sea, then there was an earthquake, and this part of the bottom of the sea rose up and made land; the water in the trough evaporated and left this rough kind of sea salt called Nitrate of Soda. Iodine comes from there too; and who doesn’t know that stinging brown stuff that your mother puts on cuts?

参考译文

安第斯山脉把阿根廷和位于太平洋沿岸的一个非常狭长的国家分隔开来，这个国家叫做智利。

阿根廷被叫做白银之国。智利又长又细，有时被叫做棉条之国。智利并不是寒冷的意思；“智利”的意思是“白雪之国”，因为智利大部分地区都是山脉，山很高，山顶终年都有积雪。尽管两国之间隔着一道高山之屏，智利和阿根廷曾经差点兵戎相见，但是他们后来达成协议，就像加拿大和美国那样，约定永不交战。他们在安第斯山脉顶峰竖立了巨大的基督铜像，铜像手持一个十字架——他们把大炮熔化造了这尊铜像——底座上写着这样的话：“除非安第斯山脉山崩地裂，碎成灰尘，否则智利和阿根廷绝不交战——两国在基督脚下以此为誓。”两国之间从此以后再没有发生过战争。如此简单的方法就阻止了战争，但却不能用在世界各地，真是可惜！

智利地域这么狭长，又有很多的高山，撕毁不值得为之而战，但尽管不像是个好地方，智利却财源滚滚。如果我告诉你智利北部是个沙漠，往往连续十年不下雨，你可能会更吃惊了。这片土地听起来不怎么样，但它却是世界上最富饶的地区之一。你肯定猜不出为什么。当然，那里什么也不长，因为那里是沙漠，那里也没有钻石或黄金。之所以富饶是因为一种你也许从未听说过的东西。这种你从未听说过的东西叫做硝酸钠。它是一种以前在海里的盐。它之所以值钱是因为世界各地的农民都买硝酸钠，作为肥料施到田里，使蔬菜长得更好。奇怪的是能找到这个东西的地方却什么都不长；不过这是因为那里不下雨，而没有雨水什么都不长。但是幸亏那里不下雨，因为如果有雨水，硝酸钠就溶化了。智利这一地区就像一个又长又窄的槽。它曾经在海底，后来发生了地震，这部分海底隆起形成了陆地；槽里的水蒸发之后留下了这种叫做硝酸钠的粗糙的海盐。那里还产碘；你受了点伤，妈妈就往伤口上涂抹一种让人刺痛的褐色的东西，有谁不知道那是什么呢？