听力文本

On the tops of the mountains there are vast fields of snow and ice like frosting on a huge cake, but as this snow and ice sinks down to the valleys it melts and the water falls in streams like rain running off a roof down a waterspout. This water falling is used in Norway and Sweden to turn wheels and the wheels turning are used to run sawmills and machinery, just the same as if the wheels were turned by steam-engines run with coal fires. Norway and Sweden have no black coal, but the waterfalls do much the same thing; they run machines, and so people speak of their waterfalls as “white coal.”

But white coal won’t do one thing that black coal will do—it won’t heat. In the northern part of Sweden there are iron mines. This iron is particularly good for making tools that have to have sharp edges, like knives and razors. But there is no black coal to melt the iron out of the ore, so they ship most of the ore to England, where there is plenty of coal, and there the English make fine cutlery from it.

Perhaps you have seen pictures of pine-trees in the snow or covered with snow. Anyway, pine-trees and snow seem to go together, and a great part of Norway and Sweden is covered with forests chiefly of pine-trees. Pine-trees—tall, straight ones—make fine masts for ships, flag and telegraph poles, and lumber for building. They also make fine match-sticks, and millions of match-sticks can be made out of a single tree. If you will look on a box of matches that you may find at your home, you will probably see the words “Made in Sweden” printed on it. The smaller trees the Swedes grind up into pulp, which is used to make paper, for almost all paper nowadays—whether it is newspaper, wrapping-paper, or the paper you write on—is made of wood-pulp rolled thin. So the people in Sweden cut down trees, saw them up into logs, slide them into the streams, and float them down to the sea, and there they ship them all over the World. But they take good care to plant little trees for every large tree cut down, so that there will always be more trees.

参考译文

山顶有大片大片雪和冰，就像一块巨大的蛋糕上撒满了糖霜。但是，当这些雪和冰下沉到山谷里的时候，就融化了，水川流不息地向下落形成瀑布，就像雨水从屋顶流进排水管一样。挪威和瑞典就利用这些瀑布驱动轮子，转动的轮子又带动大型锯木机和机器，就像烧煤来发动蒸汽机，再用蒸汽机来转动轮子一样。挪威和瑞典没有黑色的煤，但是，瀑布发挥了同样的作用，于是，人们就把瀑布说成“白色的煤”。

但是，有一件事，白色的煤做不到，而黑色的煤却能做到，那就是产生热量。瑞典的北部有铁矿，这儿产的铁品质好，特别适合用来制作有锋利刀刃的工具，如各种刀具和剃刀。但是，没有黑色的煤就不能将铁从铁矿里提炼出来，于是瑞典人就用船将大部分铁矿石运到煤炭资源丰富的英国。在英国人们用提炼出来的铁制造出精美的刀具。

也许，你见过雪地里松树的图片，或是被雪覆盖着的松树的图片。不管怎样，松树和雪似乎总在一起。挪威和瑞典的大部分国土都被森林覆盖着，主要是松树林。松树，长得又高又直，可制成优质的桅杆、旗杆、电线杆和建筑木材；松树还可制成优质的火柴梗，一棵树就可生产出数百万根火柴梗。看看家里的火柴盒，你也许发现上面印着“瑞典制造”。瑞典人把小一点的树木磨碎成浆，用来造纸—现在几乎所有的纸—不论是报纸、包装纸，还是你用来书写的纸—都是树浆制成的。所以，瑞典人将树砍下，锯成圆木，让其滑进小溪，再顺流而下，漂到海里，再用船运到世界各地。但是瑞典人砍伐每一棵大树的同时，还会种上小树苗，细心照料，这样就会有源源不断的木材了。