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LESSON 13 Round the world
第十三课 环游世界
To be read before a Map of the World
阅读时请参照世界地图
A Voyage round the world can be made only through the Southern Seas; for though there exists a north-west passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it is so obstructed with ice as to be practically useless. Vessels leaving the coast of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick sail south-eastward to the Cape of Good Hope, cross the Indian Ocean to Australia and New Zealand, and continue their course through successive groups of sunny isles till they reach Cape Horn and re-enter the Atlantic, and sail homeward to some Canadian port. The reverse course may be followed. A vessel from Halifax or St. John may sail down past the West Indies and the South American coast, double Cape Horn, and thence cross the Pacific to China, Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope, and homeward through the Atlantic. Such ocean voyages are tedious, being liable to long delays on account of calms and storms.
环游世界的航行只能经由南部海域，虽然大西洋和太平洋之间有一条西北通道，但是它几乎被冰堵死了。船只只能从新斯科舍海岸（加拿大）或新不伦瑞克海岸（加拿大）出发往东南方向驶向好望角（南非），穿过印度洋到达澳大利亚和新西兰，之后继续航行穿过一片生机勃勃的群岛，直到到达霍恩角并再次驶进大西洋，最后再驶回加拿大的某个港口。相反方向的航线也是如此，船只可以从哈利法克斯港或者圣约翰岛顺流而下穿过西印度群岛和南美海岸、双合恩角、然后穿过太平洋进入中国、锡兰（印度以南一岛国）、好望角、之后再驶回大西洋。这样的航行是冗长乏味的，航行时间易受无风和风暴的影响从而被迫延长。
The tourist who wishes in these days to make the tour of the world under the most advantageous circumstances usually starts from London, the throbbing centre not of the British Empire only, but of the whole world; the largest, the wealthiest, the most influential of cities. The route is partly by sea, partly by land. Swift steamers, and swifter railway trains, contribute to make the journey rapid, safe, and delightful. Early in the nineteenth century, vessels sailing between England and Canada often had to battle with waves and winds for fifty or sixty days; today, by the Canadian Pacific route, the traveller can go round the world in sixty days.
那些希望近期能在最有利的条件下环游世界的旅行者们通常都会选择从伦敦出发，伦敦不仅仅是大英帝国跳动着的心脏，更是整个世界的中心，也是最大、最富裕、最有影响力的城市。环游世界的伦敦路线为半海上路线和半陆地路线，乘坐速度较快的轮船和火车能使整段旅程费时更短、更安全、也更愉悦。19世纪早期，航行于英格兰和加拿大之间的船只总是要花上五六十天的时间大战海浪和海风，而今天的加拿大—太平洋航线旅行者们只需花上六十天的时间便能完成整段环球旅行。
