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So Peter looked East.
于是彼得只好向东扩张
Ivan the terrible had begun the exploration of Siberia nearly a century earlier.
早在一个世纪以前，伊凡大帝就开始征服西伯利亚的进程
And while Siberia added no farmland to the Russian empire, it did bring in tremendous wealth with its furs.
虽然西伯利亚无法增加俄国的农田面积，但是那里的皮草能给俄国带来不少财富
The 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk had granted Russia trading rights with China,
1689年的涅尔琴斯克条约允许俄国与中国通商
but it also closed Russia off from the Sea of Okhotsk, forcing Peter to find another outlet to the Pacific.
但是这也阻断了俄国通往鄂霍次克海之路，迫使彼得寻找另一个通往太平洋的出口
Just before his death in 1725, Peter dispatched the explorer Vidus Bering to find this outlet to the Pacific.
就在他1725年去世之前，彼得派遣了一位使者维图斯·白令去寻找太平洋的出口
16 years later, after several attempts, Bering discovered a route to North America, which was the modern day state of Alaska.
16年后，经过许多尝试，白令发掘了一条通往北美的路线——也就是现在的阿拉斯加州
The Siberian fur trade and trade with China brought great wealth to the Tsar's government, brought great wealth to nobility.
与西伯利亚的皮草生意和与中国人的贸易，给沙皇政府带来了巨大收益，同时也富了一帮贵族阶层
But it brought hardly any benefit at all upon the hungry and land-starved peasantry.
而那些饥肠辘辘的农奴却几乎享受不到任何好处
