历史英文：美利坚民族：美国历史哥伦布与美洲的发现——哥伦布与美洲的发现

The American Nation：A History of the United States

1．1492年10月12日约凌晨两点，特里阿那看到月色朦胧的海平线上闪出一缕白色的微光，大叫起来：“陆地!陆地!”他看到的这块陆地处于西印度群岛，被当地居民称为瓜纳哈尼。从景色和面积来讲，并无出奇之处。但是，当特里阿那的主人哥伦布手举卡斯提尔（古代西班牙中部北部地名）的旗帜登上这块土地时，把它命名为圣萨尔瓦多，或称神圣的救世主。驾着三艘脆弱不堪的船只在海上航行了33天，在三千多英里的航程中从未见到陆地，哥伦布出于感激之情和发现它时的惊喜，才为这块土地选择了这一庄严的名字。站在更长远的历史观点看，这个名字也是再合适不过的。哥伦布和他船员中的任何一个人都对此深信不疑。然而，圣萨尔瓦多的发现，大概是基督诞生以来西方文明史上最重要的事件。

1.At about two o＇clock in the morning of October 12, 1492, a sailor named Triana saw a gleam of white on the moonlit horizon and shouted： ＂Tierra! Tierra! ＂ The land he had spied was an island in the West Indies called Guanahani by its inhabitants, a place distinguished neither for beauty nor size. Nevertheless, when Triana＇s master, Christopher Columbus, went ashore bearing the flag of Castile, he named it San Salvador, or Holy Savior. Columbus selected this imposing name for the island out of gratitude and wonder at having found it--he had sailed with three vessels more than 3 000miles for 33 days without sighting land. The name was appropriate, too, from history＇s far larger viewpoint. Neither Columbus nor any of his men suspected it, but the discovery of San Salvador was probably the most important event in the history of western civilization since the birth of Christ.