49 L5-Transportation Then and Now

Introduction Transportation is the movement of people or goods from one place to another. We can transport things in the water, in the air, or over land. We can use animals, vehicles, or just our feet. Sometimes we travel for work, and sometimes for vacation or just for fun. What transportation can you see here? What transportation have you used? What other transportation do you know? Discover! Now read and discover more about transportation!

交通运输是人或货物从一个地方到另一个地方的运动。 我们可以在水中、空中或陆地上运输东西。 我们可以用动物、交通工具，或者只用脚。 有时我们旅行是为了工作，有时是为了度假或只是为了好玩。 你在这里能看到什么交通工具? 你用过什么交通工具? 你还知道其他什么交通工具吗? 发现!现在阅读和发现更多关于交通的信息!

Chapter 1 Then and Now Until about 7,000 years ago, people had to walk everywhere. Then they started to use animals for transportation. Later, people invented vehicles. Animals People used horses and donkeys for transportation in lots of places. People also used camels in Africa, elephants in Asia, and llamas in South America. People still use animals for transportation today. The First Vehicles People made rafts from tree trunks. They floated on their rafts along rivers and on lakes. It was easier than swimming, and they didn't get wet. These were the first vehicles. Sleds were like rafts, but they were used on land. They were useful because it's easier to pull heavy things than to lift them. The Wheel About 5,500 years ago, people added wheels to sleds. Farmers and traders made carts with two or four wooden wheels. Cows and horses pulled the carts. Carts with wheels were much faster than sleds. The wheel is one of the most important inventions in history, and today you can see wheels everywhere. Cars, buses, trucks, trains, bicycles, motorcycles, and planes all have wheels. Wheels are important in engines, too. Discover! A truck with a lot of trailers is called a road train. The longest road train was Australian. It had 117 trailers with 2,126 wheels!

第一章过去和现在直到大约7000年前，人们还得走路去任何地方。 然后他们开始用动物来运输。 后来，人们发明了交通工具。 在许多地方，人们用马和驴作为交通工具。 在非洲，人们还使用骆驼，在亚洲使用大象，在南美洲使用美洲驼。 今天人们仍然用动物作为交通工具。 第一批交通工具人们用树干做木筏。 他们乘着木筏沿着河流和湖泊漂流。 这比游泳容易，而且他们也不会被弄湿。 这些是最早的运载工具。 雪橇和木筏很像，但它们是在陆地上使用的。 它们很有用，因为拉重物比举起重物容易。 大约5500年前，人们在雪橇上安装了轮子。 农民和商人制造有两个或四个木轮的车。 牛和马拉车。 有轮子的车比雪橇快得多。 轮子是历史上最重要的发明之一，今天你到处都能看到轮子。 汽车、公共汽车、卡车、火车、自行车、摩托车和飞机都有轮子。 车轮在发动机中也很重要。 发现!有很多拖车的卡车被称为公路火车。 最长的公路列车是澳大利亚的。 它有117个拖车和2126个轮子!

International Transportation Until about 10,000 years ago, people lived in small family groups and they didn't travel a lot. Then, as villages and towns became bigger, people had to travel to find food. People used animals to carry goods like meat and fur. Then about 6,000 years ago, people started to travel long distances to trade metals, salt, and spices. Ships began trading in the Middle East 4,500 years ago. People used ships because animals could not travel over water. Soon, people were trading all around Europe and Asia. Discover! Traders took Chinese silk to Europe along the Silk Road 2,500 years ago. They used horses and camels to carry the silk more than 3,000 kilometers. Transportation Today Today, every country in the world uses water, air, and land transportation to trade food, fuel, clothes, and other goods like cars and televisions. Tourists started to go on vacation by train and boat 200 years ago. From about 1960, with the invention of large passenger planes, tourism became very popular. Today, about 900 million tourists travel to another country every year. In 2001, an American called Dennis Tito was the first space tourist. He flew in a Russian spaceship to the International Space Station. Will tourists travel to the moon one day?

直到大约1万年前，人们生活在小家庭群体中，他们不经常旅行。 然后，随着村庄和城镇变得越来越大，人们不得不去旅行寻找食物。 人们用动物来运送像肉和毛皮这样的货物。 大约6000年前，人们开始长途跋涉，进行金属、盐和香料的贸易。 4500年前，船只开始在中东进行贸易。 人们使用船只是因为动物不能在水上行走。 很快，人们开始在欧洲和亚洲进行贸易。 发现!2500年前，商人们沿着丝绸之路将中国的丝绸带到了欧洲。 他们用马和骆驼把丝绸运送了3000多公里。 今天的交通今天，世界上每个国家都使用水、空气和陆地运输来交易食品、燃料、衣服和其他商品，如汽车和电视。 200年前，游客开始乘火车和轮船去度假。 大约从1960年开始，随着大型客机的发明，旅游业变得非常受欢迎。 如今，每年约有9亿游客到另一个国家旅游。 2001年，一位名叫丹尼斯·蒂托的美国人成为第一位太空游客。 他乘坐俄罗斯宇宙飞船飞往国际空间站。 有一天游客会去月球旅行吗?

Chapter 2 Boats and Ships We use boats and ships to transport passengers and freight. Boats and ships can travel along rivers and across lakes and oceans. What boats or ships have you traveled on? The First Boats The first vehicles that people used on water were rafts made from tree trunks. Then more than 5,000 years ago, people made canoes. They used paddles to power their canoes. People still use canoes today. Discover! In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl built a raft similar to the ancient rafts. He sailed Kon-Tiki 8,000 kilometers from Peru to an island in the Pacific Ocean. The First Ships Egyptian traders sailed the first ships about 4,500 years ago on the River Nile. Later, the Ancient Greeks sailed larger ships around the Mediterranean Sea. Their ships were fast because they used sails, and at the same time men rowed with oars. Traders sailed between the Middle East and India in small ships with triangular sails. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese traders had large ships with square sails. Chinese people invented the compass about 2,000 years ago. Compasses point to north, and they help people to sail in the right direction across oceans. They are still important for sailors today.

第二章船和船我们用船和船运送旅客和货物。 船只可以沿着河流、湖泊和海洋航行。 你乘坐过什么船? 第一批船人们在水上使用的第一批交通工具是用树干做成的木筏。 5000多年前，人们制造了独木舟。 他们用桨给独木舟提供动力。 今天人们仍然使用独木舟。 发现!1947年，托尔·海尔达尔建造了一个类似古代木筏的木筏。 他从秘鲁航行了8000公里到达太平洋上的一个岛屿。 大约4500年前，埃及商人在尼罗河上航行了第一艘船。 后来，古希腊人驾着更大的船绕地中海航行。 他们的船很快，因为他们使用帆，同时人们用桨划船。 商人们乘坐三角帆的小船在中东和印度之间航行。 中国、韩国和日本的商人都有宽大的方帆船。 中国人大约在两千年前发明了指南针。 指南针指向北方，帮助人们在海洋中朝着正确的方向航行。 它们对今天的水手来说仍然很重要。