近在咫尺，远在天涯
N-A-M-E-R-I-C-A and S-A-M-E-R-I-C-A are two names printed in large letters across my map of North America and South America.Namerica and Samerica sound like brothers：Nam and Sam Erica.They look as if the Creator had pulled them just as far apart as He could without pulling them quite in two.They are held together by a little piece of land called Central America，and the very thinnest part of Central America—the part as thin as a leaf stem—is called the Isthmus of Panama：spelled “isthmus，”but sounded “ismus.”
On one side of the Isthmus is the Atlantic and on the other side the Pacific Ocean，so near to each other and yet so far.Ships that wanted to get from one ocean to the other couldn’t get across this little strip of land—they had to go the long way round，all the way round the bottom of Samerica，thousands of miles out of the way.There was no way at all round the top of Namerica，for both land and ice were in the way up there.It seemed a terribly long distance for a ship to have to go just because it couldn’t cross this little strip of land.It was as if you were motoring and the road came to a river and there was no bridge，and a sign said “Detour 10，000miles.”It was the longest detour i.t.w.W.Naturally，people tried to find a way not to make that detour.Some men suggested wheeling ships across the Isthmus.They said，“Let us lift a ship out of the water on a kind of huge elevator，then put it on a huge truck，push it across the Isthmus to the other ocean，then lower it into the water again by another huge elevator.”But it seemed simpler to cut a canal across the Isthmus so that a ship might sail straight through from one ocean to the other.On the map this looked easy enough—just a snip with the scissors or a nick with a knife；but that little
stem of land was over thirty miles across and there were mountains in the way too.
They have many earthquakes in Central America，and if one of these earthquakes had only cracked the Isthmus of Panama across and broken Namerica and Samerica apart it would have been very convenient；but earthquakes don’t do helpful things like that—they make cracks where you don’t want them.
Why did ships want to get from one ocean to the other，anyway？Why shouldn’t those on one side stay on that side，and those on the other side stay on the other side？Well—your mother goes downtown shopping for things to wear and things to eat and furniture for the house；so ships go shopping—shipping，shopping—around the World.Ships from the countries around the At-lantic Ocean go shopping to countries around the Pacific Ocean for tea and China dishes and silk stockings.And ships from countries around the Pacific Ocean go shopping to the countries around the Atlantic Ocean for things they want and haven’t got.That’s one reason why ships wanted to get from one ocean to the other，and they didn’t want to go the long way round，ten thousand miles out of the way，if they could possibly help it.So at last a company of men from France on the other side of the ocean，who knew how to dig canals—for they had already dug a long canal—started to dig a canal across the Isthmus.
Now the Isthmus of Panama used to be the most unhealthful place i.t.
w.W.The Indians and black men who lived there didn’t seem to mind it，but with white men it was different.One out of every three white men who went there died of fever.The company of men from France set to work and worked for several years on the canal，but so many of their men died and so much money was spent and so little canal was dug that at last they gave it up，stopped digging.
Later the United States rented from the little country of Panama a piece of land forever，a piece of land ten miles wide like a belt right across the Isthmus.This belt of land is called the Canal Zone.But before the United
States started to dig the canal they said，“We must make the Canal Zone a healthful and fit place for white people to work so that they won’t die as soon as we send them down there.”So they sent a famous doctor down to the Canal Zone to see if he could make the Zone a more healthful place for white men to live in.
This doctor found out that what made the Isthmus so unhealthful was—what do you suppose？—nothing but little mosquitos.These mosquitos were different，however，from those we have that merely leave an itchy spot where they bite.The mosquitos down there were of an entirely different kind.Some of them were town mosquitos and some were country mosquitos.The country mosquitos gave people malaria，which was bad enough，but the worst kind of mosquitos were the town mosquitos.They gave people a terrible disease called yellow fever—a disease that turned people yellow and killed almost every one who caught it.So the doctor said I’ll find out how to get rid of the mosquitos and keep them from killing the people.Accordingly，he went after the mosquitos first，and this is the way he killed them.The town mosquitos he killed with sulphur smoke—sulphur from Popocatepetl—and the country mosquitos he killed with oil—oil from Mexico too.Then he cleaned up the marshes and other places where the mosquitos lived and raised their enormous families，so that they had no place to live，and in these ways he changed the Canal Zone from the most unhealthful place i.t.w.W.to one of the most healthful places i.t.w.W.
Then，and not until then，the United States went ahead and made the Canal.They didn’t cut the land straight through，however，as the French had started to do，so that the Atlantic and Pacific could run together—that would have meant too much digging，even with dynamite，for dynamite blows up land，and the land has to be carried away after it is blown up.So the United States dug a ditch across the Isthmus on top of the land and used a river and a lake already there to keep this ditch filled with water.At each end of this ditch or canal they made locks to raise ships from the sea at one end，and to lower them to the sea at the other.So ships now go across
from one ocean to the other，but most of the way they sail on fresh water，for neither ocean runs into the other.Namerica and Samerica are not cut apart—they are still joined and always will be，until the Creator does the separating.
【中文阅读】
我有一张北美洲和南美洲的地图，从地图的一边横穿到另一边，印着用很大的英文字母拼的两个名字：N-A-M-E-R-I-C-和S-A-M-E-R-I-C-A。这两个名字“Namerica”和“Samerica”听起来就像一对兄弟：纳姆艾瑞卡和萨姆艾瑞卡。从地图上看好像造物主尽可能地把这对兄弟拉开来却又没有完全分开。它们被一小块叫做中美洲的土地连在一起，中美洲最细的那一部分——就像树叶的梗那么细的一块地方——叫做巴拿马地峡：“地峡”英语拼写是“isthmus”，但它发音却是“ismus”。
巴拿马地峡的一面是大西洋，另一面是太平洋，两个海洋近在咫尺，却又远在天涯。想从一个海洋驶往另一个海洋的轮船却跨不过这一小块狭长的陆地——轮船不得不绕行很长的路，一直要绕过南美洲最南端，偏离直道走数英里的路程。要绕过北美洲最北端是不可能的，因为那里都被陆地和冰雪挡住了，根本无法通行。就是因为不能越过这小块狭长的地方轮船就得绕那么远的路，似乎太不方便了。就好像你正在路上开车，来到一条河边，却没有桥，河边牌子上写着“请绕10000英里”。那可是世界上要兜的最大的一个圈子。们自然要想办法避免兜这个大圈子。有人提议用车把船运过地峡。他们说：“我们用一种巨大的起重机把船吊出水面，然后把它放在一个巨型卡车上，运到地峡另一边的海洋，再用巨大的起重机把船放到海里。”但是开凿一条穿过地峡的运河似乎更简单，那样轮船就能直接从一个大洋开到另一个大洋。开凿运河地图上看起来很容易——只需要用剪刀咔嚓剪一下或者用小刀划个缺口；但是那块像树叶梗的地方足有3多英里宽，中间还有高山。
中美洲发生过很多次地震，如果其中有一次地震能把巴拿马地峡震断，把英语“南美洲”的简称——译者注。
南北美洲分开的话，就会方便很多了；但是地震不会做这样有益的事——它们偏要在你不需要它断裂的地方震出裂缝。
轮船为什么非要从一边海洋到另一边海洋去呢？为什么两边的轮船不能各自在自己一边的大洋里航行呢？你想，你妈妈会到市中心去购物，买穿的、吃的和家里用的家具；轮船也是去购物——运货，采购——到世界各地去购物来自大西洋沿岸的国家的轮船到太平洋沿岸的国家去购买茶叶、中国餐具和丝袜。而来自太平洋沿岸国家的轮船则到大西洋沿岸的国家去买他们想要的和己没有的东西。这是轮船要从一边海洋驶到另一边海洋去的一个原因，如果能有办法的话他们不想绕行那么远的路，漫长的一万英里。最后一伙来自大洋彼岸的法国人开始开凿一条穿过地峡的运河——法国人知道怎么挖运河，因为们已经挖过一条很长的运河。
巴拿马地峡曾是世界上最有害于健康的地方。住在那里的印第安人和黑人似乎并不在乎，但对白人来说就不一样了。到那里去的白人，每三个人中就一个死于热病。那伙来自法国的人开始工作，干了几年，但是死了很多人，了很多钱，却只挖了一点点运河，所以最终他们放弃了，不再开凿运河了。
后来美国从巴拿马这个小国家永久性租用了一块土地，这块土地有10英宽，就像横系在地峡上的一条腰带。这片土地叫做“运河区”。但是美国人在开凿运河前说：“我们必须把运河区变成一个有益于健康的、适合白人工作的地方，这样我们派去的人就不会一到那里就生病死掉。”于是他们派一个著名的医生前往运河区，看他能不能把运河区变成一个有益于健康、适宜白人生活的地方。
这个生发造成地如有害于康的魁祸是—你猜什么呢？——竟然只是小小的蚊子。然而，这种蚊子和我们平时遇到的那种叮一让人有点痒的蚊子不一样。那里的蚊子是一种完全不同的品种。它们分成两类，一类是城镇蚊子，一类是乡村蚊子。乡村蚊子让人染上疟疾，这已经够害的了，但最厉害的是城镇蚊子。它们会让人染上一种叫做“黄热病”的可怕疾病——患这种病的人皮肤变黄，几乎都会死。在这种情况下那名医生说他要找到消灭这种蚊子的方法，让它们不再害死人。于是，他先去追踪蚊子，然后他是这样消灭蚊子的：他用硫黄烧的烟杀死城镇蚊子——波波卡特佩特产的黄——他用石油杀死乡村蚊子——也是墨西哥产的石油。然后他清理了沼泽地和其他一些适宜蚊子居住和大量繁殖的地方，这样蚊子就没有地方生存了。通过这些方法他把运河区从世界上最有害于健康的地方变成了世界上最有益于康的地方之一。
直到完成以上这些工作，美国才去开凿运河。然而他们并没有像法国人开始干的那样把陆地直接挖通，那样的话大西洋和太平洋就会流到一起——那就意味着开凿工作量太大，即使是用炸药也减轻不了。因为炸药会把土炸开，炸开后的土必须得运走。于是美国人在地峡的最高处挖了一条横越过去的渠道，利用那里原本就有的一条河和一个湖把渠道灌满水。在这个渠道或者叫运河的两端都建起水闸，一端把船从海面上举起，到了另一端再把船放到海里去。样轮船就可以从一个大洋驶到另一个大洋，但运河里的水大部分都是淡水，因为两个海洋并没有流到一起。北美洲和南美洲没有被分开——它们仍然连在一起，也将永远连在一起，直到造物主把它们分开。