北極星和指南針North star and compass

春假的時候，青青全家到山上露營。During spring break, Qingqing’s family went camping in the mountains.

吃完晚飯，爸爸、媽媽和青青一邊談天，一邊看天上的星星。After dinner, dad, mom and Qingqing were chatting while looking at the stars in the sky.

爸爸指著天空說：看！Milky Way，中文叫什麼？叫牛奶路嗎？

Dad pointed to the sky and said: Look! Milky Way, what is it called in Chinese?Is it called Milk Road right?

媽媽笑著說：不對！叫銀河.No, it’s called the silver river. Said Mom laughing.

媽媽說：他像一條閃閃發銀光的河，裡面有數不清的星星。Mom said: He is like a sparkling silver river (shimmering river) filled with countless stars in it.

爸爸說：這個名字取得很有道理。Dad said: This name makes sense to me.

媽媽又說：看！靠近北方天空有七顆星，排成鬥的樣子，叫北鬥七星，就是Big Dipper它的右上方就是北極星了。

Mom said again: Look! Near the northern sky seven stars line up like a dipper, It is the Big Dipper, which is called the NorthDipper in Chinese. On the upper right is the North Star.

爸爸說：青青，你知道嗎？北極星永遠在北極的上方，它在地球的正北方，英文叫North Star又叫Polaris。

Dad said: Qingqing, do you know? Polaris is always above the North Pole. It is in the true north of the earth. It is called North Star or Polaris in English.

青青說：老師說，如果迷路，找到北極星就能知道方向。Qingqing said: The teacher said that if you get lost, you can know the direction by finding the North Star.

爸爸，古代的人只靠北极星任方向吗？Dad, did people in ancient times only rely on the North Star to determine their direction?

爸爸回答：不是，他們靠指南針認方向。Dad replied: No, they rely on the compass to know the direction.

指南針就是compass它是兩千多年前中國人發明的。The compass is a compass, which was invented by the Chinese more than 2,000 years ago.因為有指南針，所以中國古代的人，不怕到很遠的地方去;

Because of the compass, people in ancient China were not afraid to travel to faraway lands.

船在海上走，也不會迷失方向，後來指南針經過絲路，傳到亞洲其他國家和歐洲去。 世界的海運才發達起來。ships would not lose their way while traveling on the sea. Later, the compass spread to other Asian countries and Europe through the Silk Road. The world’s maritime transport has just developed.

青青說：真有趣！Qingqing said: How interesting! That’s really fascinating!

爸爸拿出一個指南針。他說：你看，裡面這根針，白色指南，紅色指北。 很有趣吧！

He said: Look, the white end of the needle inside points to the south, and the red end points to the north. Very interesting!

爸爸說：明天清早，我們全家去山上探險吧！Dad suggested: Early tomorrow morning, let’s go exploring in the mountains as a family!

青青拍拍手說：好極了，我們一定要帶著它。Qingqing clapped her hands and said: Marvelous!( Great,) we must take it. Be sure to bring the compass.