LESSON 31 Thentiday bore of the Tsien-tang

第三十一课 钱塘江大潮

In the open expanse of the Southern Ocean, as well as over a large portion of the Pacific, the tidal wave 1 rarely exceeds five or six feet in height,

在南大洋宽阔的海面上和太平洋大片海域，潮水的高度很少能超过5-6英尺；

and in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans perhaps eight or ten.

印度洋和大西洋的潮水也许能达到8-10英尺。

In bays and gulfs, however, opening broadly to its course, and narrowing towards their interior recesses—such as the Bay of Bengal,

然而，在河道宽阔，纵深狭窄的港湾和海湾里——如孟加拉湾，

the Bristol Channel, and the Bay of Fundy in America—it may rise to twenty, thirty, or, under favourable circumstances of wind and season, even to fifty or sixty feet in height!

布里斯托尔海峡和美洲的芬迪湾——潮水有可能涨到二三十英尺高，如果天气正好有风，潮水甚至能借风势涨到五六十英尺高！

And where such seas terminate in river-estuaries, the wave, still converging, forms a high head or wall of water, termed a Bore,

在河口处，潮水能汇聚成一道高水头或一道水墙，我们将其称为大潮。

which ascends the river with sudden and destructive force.

大潮会突如其来地从河中冲起，威力巨大。

Tidal bores of considerable magnitude occur in many rivers, such as the Severn, Garonne, Amazon, and Hoogly;

诸如塞文河，加伦河，亚马逊河和胡格里河等许多河流都会爆发大量级的涨潮；

but that of the Tsien-tang in China appears to excel them all in grandeur, especially at spring-tides and during strong easterly gales.

但是中国的钱塘江大潮却以雄伟壮丽而远胜这些所有河流的涨潮，春潮和遇上强劲的东风时更是如此。

Dr. Macgowan gives the following graphic account of it in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society:

麦高恩博士在皇家亚洲协会的图文会报中对钱塘江大潮给出了如下描述。

"Between the river and the city walls, which are a mile distant, dense suburbs extend for several miles along the banks.

“钱塘江离城墙有一英里，河岸两边密集的郊区绵延数英里。

As the hour of flood-tide approached, crowds gathered in the streets running at right angles with the Tsien-tang, but at safe distances.

大潮即将来临之时，街上就会挤满了人，都朝着钱塘江前去观潮，但是大家都与潮水保持着安全的距离。

My position was a terrace in front of the Triwave Temple, which afforded a good view of the entire scene.“

我站在特立威寺庙前，能看见整个涨潮的景象。”

"On a sudden all traffic in the thronged mart was suspended;

“一瞬间，集市上水泄不通；

porters cleared the front street of every description of merchandise, boatmen ceased lading and unlading their vessels, and put out into the middle of the stream,

搬运工们只能靠喊穿过人群，船家停止载货并开始卸下船上的货物，将船停在河流中间，

so that a few minutes sufficed to give a deserted appearance to the busiest part of one of the busiest cities of Asia.

为接下来这座亚洲最繁忙城市最繁忙地段万人空巷的情景做准备。

The centre of the river teemed with craft, from small boats to large barges, including the gay 'flower-boats'.”

河中间出现了许多船筏，有小船也有驳船，还有装饰艳丽的‘花舟’。”