Although the Po is known to every Italian schoolchildschoolchild n.学童 as the country，s longest river， at 405 miles (652 kilometers) long and 1，650 feet (503 meters) across at its widest point it，s a mere rivulet compared with the Nile or the Yangtze. But size is not the story. The Po，s waters， fed by 141 tributariestributary adj.进贡的， 附庸的， 从属的， 辅助的， 支流的 n.进贡国， 附庸国， 支流 draining a catchment basin of 27，000 square miles (70，000 square kilometers)， created the Val Padana， the plain that stretches across northern Italy from the French border on the west to the Adriatic Sea on the east. More than 16 million people nearly a third of all Italians live in this fertilefertile adj.肥沃的， 富饶的， 能繁殖的 expanse， some of the most heavily cultivated land in Europe. Their settlements range from Turin， a major manufacturing town and headquarters of Fiat， the automotive conglomerate， to some of the country，s most beautiful and historic towns： Piacenza， Pavia， Cremona， Mantova， and Ferrara. Il grande fiume， the great river， is clearly worthy of respect， if not， it would seem， affection.
Still， for everything the Po may have done to man， man has done at least as much to it. Nearly 25 percent of the land along its banks has been denudeddenude vt.使裸露， 剥下， 剥夺， 脱毛 of natural vegetation to make way for sterile plantations of poplars harvested for cellulosecellulose n.纤维素； the river is dammed for hydroelectric power and tainted by agricultural and industrial chemicals， to say nothing of the daily effluent from Milan， a city of 1.3 million with no sewage treatment plant situated on two of the Po，s tributaries. (Ironically， another city of its size reprimanded by the European Environment Agency for its sewage problem is Brussels， seat of the European Union.) The illegalillegal adj.违法的， 不合规定的 gouging out of 33 million cubic yards (23 million cubic meters) of sand and gravel every year for construction has left huge holes in the riverbed， some of its natural meandering curves have been straightened to aid navigationnavigation n.航海， 航空， 导航， 领航， 航行， and more than half its total length is immured by manmade earthen embankments called argini that protect towns and fields， all of which have only made the Po，s floods fiercer and more disastrous.
Yet beneath the incessant recitation of the river，s real problems you can discern murmurs of love. They are like the wordless voice of the river itself， a sound that is half water， half wind， or like the tiny ripples that are caused not by the breeze on the surface but by the undulationsundulation n.波动 of the hidden riverbed far beneath. “There are people who are rooted in the Po，” one man said， “so that even if he hits you， you turn the other cheek.” This passion for the river is the story.
The Grand Canal
威尼斯大运河
大运河(Grand Canal) 是意大利威尼斯的最大运河，市内最重要的水上通衢。全长3800米，宽从30米到70米不等，深一般为5米左右。从高处俯瞰，呈横“S”型，自西北流向东南，经市区心脏地带，将威尼斯一分为二，有斯卡尔奇大桥、里阿托大桥和学院大桥横跨河上。三桥之中，里阿托大桥以莎士比亚的《威尼斯商人》一剧中提到的商人与高利贷者的集中之地而有名。现在附近仍留有土耳其商栈、日耳曼栈房这些古建筑和几所历史久远的银行。中世纪，威尼斯为地中海最繁华的贸易中心，到14、15世纪文艺复兴初期，进入鼎盛时期。大运河两岸现尚有宫殿府邸200座。其中许多处还留有一些世界名人的遗迹。雷佐尼科大厦是英国诗人罗伯特·勃朗宁逝世的地方。福斯卡利大厦，以威尼斯共和国执政官福斯卡利的名字命名。执政官宫的富丽堂皇，位列这些宫殿建筑之首，科尔纳宫、卡瓦利·弗朗切蒂宫，也都是各具一格的代表之作。现在大运河两岸，仍留存有教堂10余所。在宫殿、教堂门前的大运河畔，都设雕刻、彩绘的画桩，供系船之用，同时也成了河上的点缀品。每当大运河潮水高涨，水波拍岸，岸上富丽堂皇的宫廷与巍峨高大的教堂的建筑造型，投影河上，给河面渲染上金色异彩，胜似海市蜃楼。有46条长短、大小不一的小运河从大运河两岸枝蔓全市。河面上，有1000多年历史的“贡多拉”游船，首尾高翘，全身漆黑，在河面上荡漾，周围衬托着五彩缤纷的建筑物，显现出古朴典雅的身姿。
The Grand Canal (italian： Canal Grande) is Venice，s largest waterway. It forms one of the major watertraffic corridors in the city.
Running through most of the city， it starts from the lagoon at the train station， makes a large Sshape through the central parts of Venice， and ends by the Canal of San Marco at Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark，s Square). Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute stands at the junctionjunction n.连接， 接合， 交叉点， 汇合处 between the two canals.
Its banks are lined with some of the most beautiful buildings of the city， amongst the many palazzos and churches are the Ca， Rezzonico， Ca d，Oro， Ca， Foscari， Palazzo Barbarigo and the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni， housing the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Because most of the city，s traffic goes along the Canal rather than across it， there are only three bridges： the Ponte dei Scalzi， the Ponte dell，Accademia and most famously the covered Rialto Bridge.
The Grand Canal curves in a great “S” through the heart of the red tile roofs of Venice， Italy， in this Ikonos image， acquired on April 2， 2001. The Canal is the main thoroughfare through the city， which is built on 118 tiny islands linked by canalscanal n.运河， 小道， 导管， 槽， 沟渠 vt.开运河 and bridges. The city sits in the center of the Laguna Venetta， three kilometers from the Italian mainland and three kilometers from the Adriatic Sea. Boats， the primary form of transportation， can be seen as small white strips in the Grand Canal and the water around the island. In the large image， the causewaycauseway n.堤道， 铺道 leading to the mainland stretches northwest from the island. The narrow length of land east of Venice， which is covered by the city of Lido， separatesseparate adj.分开的， 分离的， 个别的， 单独的 v.分开， 隔离， 分散， 分别 the Laguna from the Adriatic.
Mount Etna
埃特纳火山
埃特纳火山是欧洲最高的活火山，位于意大利西西里岛东北部，海拔3290米（1980）。地质构造下层为古老的砂岩和石灰岩，上层为海成泥炭岩和黏土。地质史上喷发始于第三纪末。史籍记载首次大喷发始于公元前475年。危害最大的一次喷发开始于1669年3月8日，星期五夜间。一阵地震后，从埃特纳火山内传出轰鸣声。在接下来的那个星期一，一天内就发生了3次猛烈的喷发。重达136千克的巨砾被抛入几千米高空。炽热的火山渣落在周围乡村地区，毁灭了几个村庄。人们发现，在埃特纳火山的侧面，裂开了一条约宽2米、长16千米的狭长口子，熔岩流从裂缝中涌出，朝着附近的卡拉布里亚城流去。正式公布的死亡人数为2万，但据有关方面估计，死亡总人数达10万之多。
1981年3月17日的喷发，是近几十年来最猛烈的一次，掩埋了数十公顷树林和许多葡萄园，数百间房屋被毁。山坡植被分布：最低带，布满果树种植园；中间带，多山毛榉、栎树和松树；最高带，有稀疏分散的灌木和藻类。山上有纪念罗马皇帝登山的古迹。
古罗马人认为，埃特纳火山发出隆隆巨响和喷发是火神Vulcan（武尔坎）发怒的表现，于是“volcano”（火山）一词开始进入语言。