“San Francisco, open your Golden Gate,” sang the girl in the theatre. She never finished her song. The date was 18th April, 1906. The earth shook and the roof suddenly divided, buildings crashed to the ground and people rushed out into the streets. The dreadful1 earthquake destroyed the city that had grown up when men discovered gold in the deserts of California. But today the streets of San Francisco stretch over more than forty steep hills, rising like huge cliffs2 above the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The best way to see this splendid city, where Spanish people were the first to make their homes, is to take one of the old cable3 cars which run along the nine main avenues4. Fares5 are cheap; they have not risen, as it's told, for almost a hundred years.
You leave the palm6 trees in Union Square— the heart of San Francisco—and from the shop signs and the faces around you, you will notice that in the city live people from many nations—Austrians, Italians, Chinese and others —giving each part a special character. More Chinese live in China Town than in any other part of the world outside China. Here, with Chinese restaurants, Chinese post-boxes, and even odd7 telephone-boxes that look like pagodas8, it is easy to feel you are in China itself.
Fisherman's Wharf9, a place all foreigners want to see, is at the end of the ride. You get out, pause perhaps to help the other travelers to swing the cable car on its turntable10 (a city custom), and then set out to find a table in one of the gay little restaurants beside the harbor11. As you enjoy the fresh Pacific sea food you can admire the bright red paint of the Golden Gate Bridge in the harbor and watch the traffic crossing beneath12 the tall towers on its way to the pretty village of Tiberon. When you've finished your meal, you may decide to take a boat-trip around the bay to look at the sights. You can stare, for example, at the famous, now empty, prison of Alcatraz. Then why not go to the fishing village of Sansalito—a little like London's Chelsea or New York's Greenwich Village— to see people painting and to look at their pictures. You will be able to enjoy a view of the city from the sea and take pleasure in the soft red and blue Spanish-type houses shining in the bright Pacific light. If you have time you might like to go by bus to Carmel, a hundred miles south of San Francisco, where you will discover a wild and wonderful coast with high cliffs.
Although the people of San Francisco prefer riding to walking, you may like to climb up the steep streets. Handrails13 are provided so that you can pull yourself up. You can enjoy the splendid shops, the view from Telegraph Hill, the houses with fountains and garden: You can also look at the Stage Coach14, a familiar sight from Western films, which is in the window of the Wells Fargo Bank in Montgomery Street, near the business centre of the city.
It's expected you'll notice that all over the city the cars are left with their wheels turned towards the side walk so that they can't roll away. Wherever you walk you'll find it hard to lose yourself. At most of the important crossings there is a plan of the streets (Lombard Street; Ohio Street; Market Street; and so on) cut into the stone of the sidewalk so that you can look down and see where you are.
After so much walking you may feel tired and sticky15 and ready for a swim. There is often a thick morning mist16 from the sea in summer, but the weather can be very hot. Yet nobody swims in the Pacific. It is too risky. There are miles and miles of smooth hard sand, empty because of sharks—those dreadful big man-eating fish—and the high and dangerous waves of the sea. So take a street car from the city centre to the wonderful swimming pool on the edge of the ocean. Afterwards you can go to the neighboring zoo. Later, while you wait to catch a street car returning to your hotel, you may even see the sign“Doggy17 Diner18”—a restaurant for dogs!
But what about meals for people? As in most of the big cities, the restaurants offer delicious food from almost every country. You could have dinner in Chinatown and then, on the way back to your hotel, catch the last cable car after midnight: it's not unusual for passengers who arrive late to have to hang on to the sides of the last car for the whole journey.
On Sundays parents often take their children to look at the strange trees in the pretty Japanese Tea Garden in the huge spaces of Golden Gate Park.
With its hot sun and gay night life, San Francisco is a fine place to live in or to visit. It is the most European of all American cities and you'll be sure to grow fond of it immediately.. So tell yourself in the words of a song from the last century, “San Francisco, here I come!”
“旧金山，敞开你金色的大门吧……”，剧院里的女孩这样唱道，然而，她永远没有唱完这首歌。这是1906年4月18日。地震使地动山摇，屋顶崩裂，建筑物纷纷倒塌，人们相继逃上街头。可怕的地震摧毁了继加利福尼亚沙漠中发现金矿后成长起来的这座城市。如今，旧金山的街道遍及四十多座陡峭的小山，犹如太平洋蓝色的海面上突兀的巨大峭壁。
游览这座最初为西班牙人定居的城市，最好的方法是乘坐旧式缆车，沿着九条主要街道运行。车费很便宜，据说近一百年来都没涨过价。
离开位于旧金山中心地带联合广场的棕榈树，从商店的招牌和周围人的面貌上，你会注意到这儿居住着各色人种——奥地利人，意大利人，中国人和其它国家的人——使每一地段都各有特色。在海外，华人大多居住在唐人街。这儿，有中国风味的餐馆，中国式的邮筒，甚至还有看起来象宝塔似的奇异的公用电话亭，使你很容易感觉到就像是置身于中国境内。
渔人码头位于行程的终点，这是所有外国人都想观赏的景点。下车后，稍许停顿一下，依照当地风俗，帮助其他游客推动转台上的缆车，然后在海港旁边某家装饰华丽的小饭馆里找张桌子坐下来。品尝可口的太平洋海鲜，同时欣赏海港中漆得鲜红的金门大桥，观赏高塔下众多车辆赶往美丽的“蒂伯龙”村。用完餐，你可能会决定乘船绕着海湾去看看周围的景色。例如，你可以凝望那著名而如今却空无一人的阿尔卡特拉兹监狱，然后，何不再去桑萨利托渔村转转？那儿有点类似于伦敦的切尔西区或纽约的格林威治村，看看人们如何作画，欣赏他们的作品。那时你还可以从海上远眺市容，包揽在太平洋上明媚的阳光照耀下熠熠生辉的色调柔和，红蓝色的西班牙式房屋。如果有时间，你可以乘车到位于旧金山南部一百多里的卡梅尔，在那儿，你会发现粗犷而神奇的海岸线边矗立着高高的礁石。
虽然旧金山人喜欢乘车代步，但是你可能更愿意爬上陡峭的街道。街上设有栏杆，你可以抓住栏杆爬上去，你能观赏到华美的店铺和电报山的景致，还有带有喷泉和花园的房子。你也能见到在西部影片中熟悉的马拉大篷车，陈列在韦尔斯法戈银行的橱窗里。这家银行位于城市的商业中心蒙哥马利街上。
我想你会注意到全市的汽车在停靠时为防止滑动，车轮总是向着人行道。此外。无论你走到哪儿，你都不会轻易迷路。在大多数重要的十字路口，都有一幅街道的平面图（朗巴德街，俄亥俄街，市场街等等）刻在人行道的石头中。只要低一下头，你就会知道身处何地。
走了很长的路后，你很可能感到疲倦，身上粘乎乎的， 很想洗个澡。这里夏天清晨虽常有来自海上的浓雾，但是天气却非常炎热。就这样，也没人敢在太平洋里游泳，因为那太冒险了。连绵许多英里的平坦坚硬的沙滩上空无一人，因为那里有可怕的吃人大鲨鱼，还有海上卷起的汹涌巨浪。所以，唯一的办法只有从市中心乘坐电车到海边舒适的游泳池里去尽情洗一洗。之后，再到旁边的动物园去转一圈，然后，在等待电车回旅馆的同时，你甚至可能看到“狗饭店”的招牌——一家专门为狗服务的餐馆。
有什么样的饭菜提供给旅客呢？这儿，与多数大城市一样，餐馆提供各国的美味佳肴。你可以在唐人街用完餐，然后，在午夜去赶最后一班缆车回旅馆。对于那些迟来的旅客，只有抓着车侧走完全程了，这很常见。
每到星期天，家长们经常带着孩子去美丽的日本茶园，它位于宽阔的金门公园内，观赏那里稀奇古怪的树木。
拥有炙热的阳光和热闹的夜生活，旧金山确实是一处居住和游览的好地方。可以说，它是美国最具欧洲特色的一座城市了，你肯定很快就会喜欢上它。因此，默诵一句源于十九世纪的一首歌中的歌词吧：“旧金山，我来了！”
1. dreadful adj．可怕的, ＜口＞讨厌的
2． cliff [klif] n．悬崖, 绝壁
3． cable ] n．电缆
4． avenue n．林荫道, 大街
5． fare n．费用
6． palm n．手掌, 棕榈
7． odd adj．奇怪的，古怪的
8． pagoda n．宝塔
9． wharf n．码头
10． turntable n．转车, 转盘
11． harbor n．海港
12． beneath prep．在……之下
13． handrail n．栏杆, 扶手
14． coach n．四轮大马车
15． sticky adj．粘的, 粘性的
16． mist [mist] n．薄雾
17． doggy n．小犬, 小狗
18． diner n．用餐者