78 Gold Greed and Glory

CHAPTER 1 The Importance of Gold GOLD SHOWS IMPORTANCE. PEOPLE USE IT IN ART AND IN MONEY. THEY USE IT IN RELIGION AND IN JEWELRY. Olympic Gold Constantina Dita from Romania made history at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At 38 years old, she ran over 42 kilometers in two hours, 26 minutes, and 44 seconds. She became the world's oldest Olympic marathon winner. She won a gold medal. Constantina was not alone. Hundreds of athletes win gold medals at sports competitions. Their gold medals show they are the strongest, the fastest, and the best athletes in the world. Gold is rare and special. A gold medal means "I'm number one."

第一章黄金的重要性黄金显示了重要性。 人们把它用在艺术和金钱上。 他们在宗教和珠宝中使用它。 2008年北京奥运会上，来自罗马尼亚的奥运金牌选手康斯坦蒂娜·迪塔创造了历史。 38岁时，她跑了42公里，用时2小时26分44秒。 她成为了世界上年龄最大的奥运会马拉松冠军。 她得了一枚金牌。康斯坦丁娜并不孤单。 数百名运动员在体育比赛中赢得金牌。 他们的金牌表明他们是世界上最强壮、最快和最好的运动员。 黄金是稀有而特殊的。金牌意味着“我是第一”。

What is gold? Gold is a metal, like silver. Gold, however, is different from most metals because gold does not corrode. Corroding is when the metal is slowly destroyed. Time, air, and water corrode most metals. Compare these two coins. One is ancient silver. It appears dull or dirty. The ancient gold coin shines like new. Gold is heavy. Pure gold weighs 19.3 times more than water. Imagine a ball of gold the size of a basketball. It would weigh 144 kilograms! At 1,064 Celsius, gold melts. Melted gold can be made into many different shapes, and these shapes can be melted again into new shapes. Nothing is lost when gold is melted. Gold can be used over and over again. Much of the gold we have today used to be something else. Perhaps the gold in Constantina's Olympic medal used to be in a king's crown.

黄金是什么？金是一种金属，像银一样。 然而，黄金与大多数金属不同，因为黄金不会腐蚀。 腐蚀是指金属被缓慢地破坏。 时间、空气和水会腐蚀大多数金属。 比较一下这两个硬币。一种是古银。 它看起来很暗或很脏。这枚古老的金币像新的一样闪闪发光。 黄金很重。纯金的重量是水的19.3倍。 想象一个篮球大小的金球。 它将重达144公斤！在1064摄氏度时，黄金会融化。 熔化的黄金可以制成许多不同的形状，这些形状可以再次熔化成新的形状。 金子融化了，什么也没有损失。 黄金可以被反复使用。 我们今天拥有的大部分黄金过去都是别的东西。 也许康斯坦丁那的奥运金牌曾经是在国王的王冠上。

Beautiful Gold Gold has many uses. The color and shine of gold make it perfect for art. And gold is soft. You can cut pure gold with a knife. Imagine hitting pure gold with a hammer. The gold becomes thinner, but does not lose its shine. If you continue hitting the gold, it becomes thinner and thinner. Soon, a small piece of gold can become a large, flat sheet like paper. This flat sheet of gold is called gold leaf. Ancient Egyptians were expert gold workers. They often used gold leaf in their art. They liked to put a thin cover of gold on statues and objects. This is called gilding. Many say Ancient Egypt's gilded art is still the best in the world.

美丽的黄金黄金有很多用途。 黄金的颜色和光泽使它成为艺术品的完美选择。 黄金是软的。你可以用刀切割纯金。 想象一下用锤子敲击纯金。 金子变薄了，但不会失去光泽。 如果你继续敲击黄金，它会变得越来越薄。 很快，一小块金子就能变成一张像纸一样的大而平的纸。 这种扁平的金箔叫做金箔。 古埃及人是黄金专家。 他们经常在艺术中使用金箔。 他们喜欢在雕像和物品上盖上一层薄薄的金子。 这叫做镀金。许多人说古埃及的镀金艺术仍然是世界上最好的。

Today, gilding with gold is very common. In fact, Olympic gold medals are no longer made of pure gold. They are made of silver! In 1920, they decided to make the medals of silver and then gild them with gold. Because gold is soft, it is perfect for gilding; however, it is bad for jewelry making. Imagine a soft ring! It would change its shape. And a beautiful soft necklace would break! The Ancient Egyptians knew what to do. They mixed the gold with other metals. This made the gold stronger. A mix of metals is called an alloy. Today gold alloys are much more common than pure gold. Almost all modern gold jewelry is an alloy. This makes the jewelry stronger. It also allows a small amount of gold to be used in many different pieces. This makes the jewelry less expensive.

今天，用金子镀金是很常见的。 事实上，奥运会金牌不再是纯金制成的。 它们是银做的！1920年，他们决定用白银制作奖牌，然后再用黄金镀金。 因为黄金很软，非常适合镀金；然而，它不利于珠宝制作。 想象一个柔软的戒指！它会改变它的形状。 一条美丽柔软的项链会断裂！古埃及人知道该怎么做。 他们把金和其他金属混合在一起。 这使得黄金更加坚挺。 金属的混合物称为合金。 今天，金合金比纯金普遍得多。 几乎所有的现代黄金首饰都是合金。 这使珠宝更坚固。 它还允许少量的黄金用于许多不同的作品。 这使得珠宝更便宜。

CHAPTER 2 The Dark History of Gold FOR 6,000 YEARS, PEOPLE HAVE COLLECTED AND USED GOLD. MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED WHILE LOOKING FOR IT, OR TAKING IT FROM OTHERS. Looking for Gold Gold can be very tiny pieces, like a powder, or it can be a small rock called a nugget. It can be found anywhere, but some areas have more gold than others. South Africa, Canada, the United States, Russia, China, Brazil, and Australia all have large amounts of gold. Even today, people find gold in these places. In 2008, a boy in California, USA, went fishing with his father. Instead of fish, he found 170 grams of gold in the lake. It was worth $5,500. He was very lucky. Some people in history, however, were not so lucky. Coronado and the Cities of Gold In 1540, a Spanish explorer named Francisco Våzquez de Coronado was not just looking for a gold nugget in a lake. He was looking for a golden city. Coronado was a conquistador.

黄金的黑暗历史六千年来，人们一直在收集和使用黄金。 许多人在寻找它或从别人那里拿走它时死亡。 寻找黄金黄金可以是非常小的碎片，像粉末一样，也可以是一块叫做金块的小岩石。 它可以在任何地方找到，但有些地区比其他地区拥有更多的黄金。 南非、加拿大、美国、俄罗斯、中国、巴西和澳大利亚都拥有大量黄金。 直到今天，人们还能在这些地方找到黄金。 2008年，美国加利福尼亚州的一个男孩和他的父亲一起去钓鱼。 他在湖里发现的不是鱼，而是170克黄金。 它值500美元。他很幸运。 然而，历史上有些人就没有这么幸运了。 科罗纳多和黄金之城1540年，一位名叫弗朗西斯科·瓦斯奎兹·德·科罗纳多的西班牙探险家不仅仅是在湖中寻找金块。 他在寻找一座黄金之城。 科罗纳多是一个征服者。

Conquistadors were Spanish or Portuguese explorers and soldiers who came to the Americas looking for land, adventure, and gold. Coronado had heard a story about a place called Cibola. The story said Cibola had seven cities made of gold. Excitement for gold made many Europeans come to the Americas. When the conquistadors arrived, they met many native people. The Europeans killed many of them for their gold. Other times, they enslaved the native people and made them dig for the gold. They stole the native people's land and other valuable things. Coronado formed a group of more than 300 soldiers and about 1,000 Indians. Together, they looked for Cibola. Many people died while they were looking, and Coronado's men fought many battles. Of course, Coronado never found a golden city. Instead, he learned Cibola was just an ordinary village.

征服者是西班牙或葡萄牙的探险家和士兵，他们来到美洲寻找土地、冒险和黄金。 科罗纳多听说过一个叫西博拉的地方的故事。 传说西博拉有七座金城。 对黄金的兴奋使许多欧洲人来到美洲。 当征服者到达时，他们遇到了许多土著人。 欧洲人为了他们的黄金杀死了许多印第安人。 其他时候，他们奴役当地人，让他们挖金子。 他们偷走了当地人的土地和其他贵重物品。 科罗纳多组建了一支由300多名士兵和约1000名印第安人组成的队伍。 他们一起寻找Cibola。 很多人在寻找的过程中死去，科罗纳多的士兵打了很多仗。 当然，科罗纳多从来没有找到一座黄金之城。 相反，他了解到Cibola只是一个普通的村庄。