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Castles in Spain

WHEN-I-WAS-A-BOY I used to plan the kind of home I would have when I grew up and had plenty of money. It was to havea gymnasium in the attic, a zoo for pets in the cellar, a museum of curiosities in the parlor, and a soda-water fountain in the dining-room. My mother used to say that was my Castle in Spain, and when I asked her what a Castlein Spain was, she said, “Any wonderful home—in your mind.”

But Spain is a real place, a real country, and there are real castles there even now.

The map of Europe is like a puzzle-picture. If you turn it around or look at it sideways you will see a little oldwoman with a big head, a hump-back, and a long leg kicking a football into the sea. The head is called Spain, and the cap that Spain is wearing on the front of her head is called Portugal. Where the head joins France thereis a collar of mountains called the Pyrenees.

At one time Spain not only looked like the head of Europe, she really was the head of Europe, for she owned a greatpart of Europe. Then there came a time just after Columbus discovered America when Spain was the head not only of Europe but of all the World. She then owned a great part of North America and all of South America, except Brazil.So she was the greatest country.. Now, however, Spain doesn’t even own all of Spain. On the map Spain seems to be rubbing her nose against the nose of Africa, as some savages rub noses when they meet. This nose of Spainis called Gibraltar, but Gibraltar does not belong to Spain; it belongs to England.

参考译文

西班牙城堡

我小时候常常会想如果长大后我很有钱，我要住什么样子的房子呢？我的房屋阁楼上要有健身房，地下室要有宠物住的动物园，客厅里要有装满各种珍奇的博物馆，餐厅里要有一个苏打水喷泉。我妈妈常说那是我的“西班牙城堡”，当我问她西班牙城堡是什么时，她说：“你幻想中的任何奇妙的房屋。”

但西班牙是个真实的地方，真实的国家，那里甚至现在还有真正的城堡。

欧洲地图就像一幅智力拼图。如果你把它转过来或者从侧面看过去，你会看到一个小老太太，头大大的，背驼驼的，一条长长的腿正把一个足球踢倒海里去。她的头叫做西班牙，西班牙头上戴的帽子叫做葡萄牙。头和法国相接的地方是一条山脉形成的衣领，叫做比利牛斯山脉。

西班牙不仅在地图上看起来像欧洲的头，而且曾经有一个时期真的是欧洲的首领，因为她拥有一大片欧洲的土地。就在哥伦布发现美洲之后一段时间，西班牙不仅是欧洲的首领，还是全世界的首领。西班牙当时拥有北美洲大部分土地和除巴西之外的所有南美洲土地。因此它是世界上最大的国家。然而现在西班牙甚至不拥有西班牙的全部领土。在地图上，西班牙看起来正在和非洲蹭鼻子，就像有些人在见面时会互相蹭蹭鼻子那样。西班牙的这个鼻子叫做直布罗陀，但直布罗陀不属于西班牙；它属于英国。