美国小学英语教材6:第60课 从印第安足迹到航空邮政(5)

 Today the railroads¹ go all the way across the continent, 如今，铁路遍及整个大陆，

and only in the far-off corners of the mountains or in Alaska does mail have to go by snowshoes or dog sleds. 只有在边缘的丛山拐角或是阿拉斯加，信件还需要邮递员或是雪橇进行传送。

Sometimes not even the bravest or cleverest man on earth can take your letters where you want them to go, 即使是最勇敢或最聪明的人都无法将信件送达你想去的地方，

because you have not written the address so that anyone can read it, or you have left off part of it. 因为你没有写寄送地址，或者遗留了一部分。

Do you know what Uncle Sam does then? He sends it to the Dead Letter Office in Washington, D.C., 你知道当时的山姆大叔是如何做的吗？他将信件送到华盛顿的死信办公室，

where skillful² people try to find out where to send it or to return it to the sender. 那里的技术人员试图找到寄送地址，或是返回发信人。

Another thing that Uncle Sam does for you is to protect your money in the mails, and this is the way it is done. 另一件山姆大叔为你做的事情是保护信件中的金钱，下面讲述如何操作。

If you wish to send money to anyone, you go to the post office and buy a money order for the amount that you wish to send. 如果你想为某人寄钱，你会前往邮局，购买相应钱数的汇票。

This money order is a slip of paper that can be sent in a letter, 汇票是一张纸，并可以通过信函寄送，

and the person to whom it is sent can take it to the post office in his town and get the money that you sent him. 收信人可以手持汇票前往当地邮局，获得相应金钱。

In this way no money can be lost or stolen. Before Uncle Sam arranged this way of sending money, 通过这种方法，金钱不会丢失或被盗，在山姆大叔使用这种方法之前，

there were hundreds of dollars lost every year. 每年会丢失数百美金。

By means of the post office Uncle Sam also helps people to save money. 通过邮局，山姆大叔还帮助你节省资金。

If you wish to save a little money every week, ask your postmaster about Uncle Sam's way of doing it. 如果你希望每周都可以省钱，询问邮政局张山姆大叔是怎么做的。

He will be glad to tell you. In fact, the post office is your closest connection with Uncle Sam in your town. 他一定会很高兴地告诉你，事实上，邮局是你与山姆大叔联系最紧密的纽带。

The United States flag floats over it to show that it belongs not to the town, 上面飘扬的美国国旗证明，它不属于这个城镇，

not to the county³, not to the state, but to the whole United States, 不是这个郡县，不是这个大州，而是属于全美国，

and the great central post office is in Washington, D. C., the capital of our nation. 中央邮政局在首都华盛顿。

So whenever you go into your post office, you are in Uncle Sam's special property. 所以你无论什么时候前往邮局，你都在山姆大叔的特殊财产中。

 

1 railroads   

n.铁路，铁道( railroad的名词复数 )；铁路系统v.铁路，铁道( railroad的第三人称单数 )；铁路系统

参考例句：

• Water transportation was outmoded by railroads and good pikes. 水上运输已因铁路和良好的税道而变得过时了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A severe snowstorm blocked up railroads. 一场暴风雪使铁路中断。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 skillful   

adj.灵巧的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Soon they became very skillful in answering such questions.很快他们就会很熟练地回答这种问题了。
• It was very skillful of you to repair my bicycle.你修好了我的自行车，技术真好。

3 county   

n.县，郡

参考例句：

• When the good news reached there,the whole county rejoiced.喜讯传到那里时，全县的人都欢欣鼓舞起来。
• In that year county after county fell to the enemy.那一年一个又一个的县城沦入敌人手中。