Within the span of a hundred years, in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a tide of emigration -one of the great folk wanderings of history-swept from Europe to America. 46) This movement, impelled (命題人改寫(xie)為(wei)driven) by powerful and diverse motivations, built a nation out of a wilderness and, by its nature, shaped the character and destiny of an uncharted continent.
受到各種(zhong)強大的動機(ji)所驅(qu)使，這場運動在(zai)荒野中開創了一個國家;本(ben)質使然，它也塑造了這片未知大陸的性(xing)格和命運。
47) The United States is the product of two principal forces-the immigration of European peoples with their varied ideas, customs, and national characteristics and the impact of a new country which modified these distinctly European cultural (命題人(ren)刪除了這(zhe)三個(ge)詞)traits. 有(you)兩股主要力量形成了美(mei)國：一是歐洲移民(min)帶來(lai)的各式思想、風俗和(he)民(min)族特征(zheng)，二是這(zhe)個(ge)新(xin)國家本身在(zai)融合上述(shu)特征(zheng)之后帶來(lai)的影響(xiang)。Of necessity, colonial America was a projection of Europe. Across the Atlantic came successive groups of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Scots, Irishmen, Dutchmen, Swedes, and many others who attempted to transplant their habits and traditions to the new world. 48) But, inevitably,(命題人(ren)刪掉了這(zhe)個(ge)詞) the force of geographic conditions peculiar to America, the interplay of the varied national groups upon one another, and the sheer difficulty of maintaining old-world ways in a raw, new continent caused significant changes. 但是，美(mei)國特有(you)的地理條件、不(bu)同種族間的相(xiang)互影響(xiang)、以及在(zai)這(zhe)片原始的新(xin)大(da)陸(lu)上維持(chi)舊秩序的艱難，帶來(lai)了巨大(da)的變(bian)化(hua)。These changes were gradual and at first scarcely visible. But the result was a new social pattern which, although it resembled European society in many ways, had a character that was distinctly American.
49)The first shiploads of immigrants bound for the territory which is now the United States crossed the Atlantic more than a hundred years after the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century explorations of North America.十五世紀(ji)和十六世紀(ji)的(de)探(tan)索發現(xian)了北美洲，又過(guo)了一百多(duo)年，第一艘滿載移民的(de)航船跨過(guo)大西洋(yang)駛向這片土(tu)地，即(ji)現(xian)在的(de)美國。 In the meantime, thriving Spanish colonies had been established in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. These travelers to North America came in small, unmercifully overcrowded craft. During their six- to twelve-week voyage, they subsisted on meager rations. Many of the ships were lost in storms, many passengers died of disease, and infants rarely survived the journey. Sometimes tempests blew the vessels far off their course, and often calm brought interminable delay.
To the anxious travelers the sight of the American shore brought almost inexpressible relief. Said one chronicler, "The air at twelve leagues' distance smelt as sweet as a new-blown garden." The colonists' first glimpse of the new land was a vista of dense woods. 50) The virgin forest with its profusion (命題人把這個詞改為richness) and variety of trees was a veritable (命題人把這個詞改為real) treasure-house which extended over 1,300 miles from Maine in the north to Georgia (命題人把這個部分改為：from Maine all the way down to Georgia) 原始的森林，有著種類繁多的林木，從緬因州往南一直綿延到喬治亞州，的確是一座寶庫。in the south. Here was abundant fuel and lumber. Here was the raw material of houses and furniture, ships and potash, dyes and naval stores.
