Америка в прошлом и настоящем. Часть I. Горчакова Е.П - 7 стр.

17. The Pueblo were fortunate. They enjoyed a warm, sunny climate. But
much farther north, in the frozen Arctic, nature was the greatest enemy of the
people. Yet these natives, including groups like the Inuit, had managed to
survive since prehistoric times.
18. Because much farming was impossible, the Inuit remained a hunting and
fishing people. Hunters had to race down cold and dangerous rivers. They
needed fast, watertight1 boats. So the Inuit invented kayaks, wooden boats
covered with sealskin.
19. Travel across the huge fields of snow was another difficulty. But Inuit
people had to be efficient. They taught teams of dogs to pull them in long
sleds. The Inuit also made an oil lamp which burned animal fat. Today, in the
dark Arctic nights, soft lights from oil lamps still shine in some Inuit ice
houses.
20. Other successful Native American groups lived in Mexico, Central
America, and South America. The Spaniards arrived in this area in the
sixteenth century. They could not believe what they saw. The Aztec capital,
Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) was a wonderland of stone palaces and
canals2. The Maya of present-day Mexico and Central America had already
made a calendar far more advanced than anything used in Europe. The Incas
of South America had built stone cities high in the Andes mountains.
Long roads through the mountains and valleys connected their cities.
Miles of canals brought water to the dry earth. To keep water from running
off the mountains, farmers dug many steps into the mountainsides. Wealthy
Inca families wore beautiful clothing and jewelry of precious stones.
Treasures of gold and silver decorated their temples.
21. The kingdom of the Incas was one of the high points in Native American
history. This history had been developing for at leas3t 12,000 years. It began with
the discovery of the New World by America's first pioneers.

                                      Selections
The following poem gives us the thoughts of a Taos Pueblo on life and death. It
shows the great love the Pueblo people felt for the natural world around them. It
also shows how the Pueblo peacefully accepted their place in the beautiful design of
nature. All living things, the poem tells us, share in one life. When we die, we give
back to nature what we have borrowed. Read the poem and try to translate it
from English into Russian in a poetic style, if it is possible.




1
  watertight: completely dry
2
  canals: a man-made waterway
3
  at least: not less than

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