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Though Nineveh and Babylon are gone—their names are not even on the map—there are to-day two big cities onthe Tigris that are very much alive, with people living in them. One of these cities is just across the river from where Nineveh used to be. It is called Mosul. You know what muslin is, don’t you? Well, muslin was first made in Mosul, so this kind of cloth was called “Mosulin,” which became muslin.
Not many years ago people discovered oil in the country round Mosul, enough oil to run all the automobiles in the World. The difficulty was to get the oil to the automobiles. Pipe lines were built from the oil wells to the Mediterranean Sea miles away. The oil is pumped through the pipes and then is loaded on ships. The ships are really floating tanks and so are called tankers. The tankers carry the oil to America and to Europe.
Mosul is a Moslem town. On the great mosque there is a minaret that leans, something like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. People say that Mohammed was once passing this minaret and it bowed to him and was never able to get entirely straight again—it’s still leaning.
Have you ever read the stories of Ali Baba and Sindbad the Sailor? Down the Tigris River below Mosul is another big city called Bagdad. The people you see there on the streets look like the people you see in the pictures in the “Arabian Nights.” Bagdad in summer is one of the hottest places you can imagine. It is sometimes 125°, and you know that 100° is about as hot as we can stand. The streets used to be like narrow alleys, dirty and smelly. But after World War I, England ruled over Iraq and Bagdad and the English made great changes. They built a wide street right through the city and called it New Street. They put in electric lights and ice factories which Bagdad had never had before. Then they had the people vote for a king, and Iraq has been a kingdom ever since. It is still under the protection of England, however, and a few Englishmen stay there to help train the army of Iraq.

参考译文

尽管尼尼微和巴比伦已经不存在了——连它们的名字在地图上也找不到，但是现在，在底格里斯河河边，有两座生气勃勃的大城市，很多人居住在里面。其中一个城市就与尼尼微曾经所在的地方隔河相望，叫做“摩苏尔”。你知道，细平布是什么，对吧？细平布最初就是在摩苏尔生产出来的，所以这种布起先以产地命名为“摩苏尔布”，后来叫做“细平布”。
不久前，人们在摩苏尔附近发现了大量的石油，足以满足全世界汽车的需求。问题是如何将石油运走，提供给汽车。人们在油井和数英里之外的地中海之间铺设了输油管道。石油被泵抽出来，通过管道装到船上。这些船实际上就是漂浮的油箱，所以它们被称作“油轮”。油轮将石油运到美洲和欧洲。
摩苏尔是一个穆斯林城市。在大清真寺上有一个倾斜的宣礼塔，有点像比萨斜塔。据说，穆罕默德曾经经过这个宣礼塔，宣礼塔向他鞠了个躬，就再也挺不直了——它现在还是倾斜的。
你读过《阿里巴巴》和《水手辛巴达》的故事吗？沿底格里斯河向下走，在摩苏尔下方还有另一个大城市，叫巴格达。你在巴格达街道上遇见的人看起来就像《一千零一夜》书里图画中的人。夏日的巴格达是你能想象到的最热的地方，有时，气温高达华氏125度，你知道，华氏100度是我们能忍受的最高温度。过去巴格达的街道像狭窄的小巷，又脏又臭；但是第一次世界大战之后，英国统治了伊拉克和巴格达。英国人让这里产生了很大的变化，他们修建了一条宽阔的大街，称为“新街”，它正好穿过这个城市，还引进了巴格达人未见过的电灯和制冰厂。然后，英国人让巴格达人投票选举了一位国王，从此之后，伊拉克就是一个王国了。不过，伊拉克现在还受英国保护，有些英国人待在那儿帮助训练伊拉克军队。