1

　　徐霞客一生周游考察了十六個(gè)省，足跡幾乎遍及全國。他在考察的過程中，從來不盲目迷信書本上的結(jié)論。他發(fā)現(xiàn)前人研究地理的記載有許多很不可靠的地方。為了進(jìn)行真實(shí)細(xì)致的考察，他很少乘車坐船，幾乎全靠雙腳翻山越嶺，長途跋涉;為了弄清大自然的真相，他總是挑選道路艱險(xiǎn)的山區(qū)，人跡稀少的森林進(jìn)行考察，發(fā)現(xiàn)了許多奇山秀景;他常常選擇不同的時(shí)間和季節(jié)，多次重游各地名山，反復(fù)觀察變換的奇景。

　　Xu Xiake toured and investigated 16 provinces in his lifetime, covering almost the whole of China/ the whole country. When he was carrying out his investigations, he never took blind belief in the conclusions in the books. Instead he found a lot of unreliable points in the geographic records taken by his predecessors. In order to make his investigations reliable and thorough, he seldom traveled by carriage or boat. Instead, he took long, arduous trips on foot almost all the time, climbing mountains and hills. In order to learn about the truth of nature, he always chose to conduct investigations in mountainous areas with dangerous roads and in lonely / untraveled woods, where he discovered a lot of magnificent peaks and beautiful sights.

　　2

　　可是我卻哭了�？弈悄吧�的、但卻疼愛我的賣灶糖(candy)的老漢。

　　后來我常想，他為什么疼愛我呢?無非我是個(gè)貪吃的、因?yàn)槌舐�而又少人疼愛的吧�?/P>

　　等我長大以后，總感到除了母親，再沒有誰能夠像他那樣樸素地疼愛過我——沒有任何希求，也沒有任何企望的。

　　我常常想念他，也常常想要找到我那個(gè)像豬肚子一樣的煙荷包�？墒�，它早已不知被我丟到哪里去了。

　　But I cried for the strange old candy peddler who had been so fond of me.

　　Later on, I wondered why. For no other reason than that I was a foolish little thing who loved candy, with few to love me because of my plain face.

　　When I glow up, I could never forget that apart from my own mother, no one had loved me so fondly and so disinterestedly, with no expectations whatever.

　　I often think of him now, and have tried to find that tobacco pouch that had looked like a piece of pork liver. But I don’t know what became of it.

　　3

　　多少年來，我養(yǎng)成了一個(gè)習(xí)慣：每天早晨四點(diǎn)在黎明以前起床工作。我不出去跑步或散步，而是一下床就干活兒。因此我對黎明前的北京的了解是在屋子里感覺到的。我從前在什么報(bào)上讀過一篇文章，講黎明時(shí)分天安門廣場上的清潔工人。那情景必然是非常動人的，可惜我從未能見到，只是心向往之而已。

　　For many years, I have been in the habit of getting up before daybreak to start work at four. Instead of going out for a jog or walk, I’ll set about my work as soon as I’m out of bed. As a result, it is from inside my study that I've got the feel of predawn Beijing. Years ago, I hit upon a newspaper article about street cleaners in Tian’anmen Square at daybreak. It must have been a very moving scene, but what a pity I haven’t seen it with my own eyes. I can only picture it in my mind longingly.

　　4

　　長沙是一個(gè)有3000多年歷史的美麗古城。城市的西邊是秀美的岳麓山，山下有千年書院“岳麓書院”等眾多古跡。市區(qū)中心的古城樓天心閣，距今有1000多年的歷史。千百年來水質(zhì)清純，終年不斷的白沙古井也坐落在長沙城中。今天的長沙市民還常常在這里打水飲用。湘江中的橘子洲頭，是當(dāng)年毛澤東先生經(jīng)常漫步思考的地方，后來還寫了一首非常著名的詩來贊美她。

　　Changsha is a beautiful ancient city with a history of over 3,000 years. West of the city is the beautiful Yuelu Hill, at the foot of the hill, are many historic sites such as Yuelu Academy. In the center of the city is the ancient city gate tower --Tianxin Tower, which was first built 1000 years ago. Also located in the city is the ancient Baisha Well, from which clear and pure water has been gushing out nonstop throughout the year for thousands of years. Inhabitants in Changsha today still come here to fetch water for drinking. Orange Island in the Xiang River was where Mr. Mao Zedong often rambled and meditated. Later he wrote a very famous poem in its praise.

　　5

　　洞庭湖是中國第二大淡水湖。洞庭湖畔的岳陽樓，是中國三大名樓中唯一保持原址原貌的國家重點(diǎn)保護(hù)文物。岳陽樓所處的位置極好，它屹立于岳陽古城之上，背靠岳陽城，俯瞰洞庭湖，遙對君山島，北依長江，南通湘江。自古以來，就是人們觀光旅游的好地方。

　　Lake Dongting is China’s second largest freshwater lake. Yueyang Tower, which is located on its shores, is a national key cultural relic for protection as the only one of China’s famous towers that is kept in its original condition at its original site. The tower is very favorably located, standing as it does on Yueyang’s ancient city wall with the city behind and overlooking Lake Dongting to the distant Junshan Isle; to its north is the Yangtze River and to the south the Xiang River. Since ancient times, the tower has been a good place for sightseeing and touring. (Picture)