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吉米‧卡特 (Jimmy
Carter) 總統於1977年9月7日簽署巴拿馬運河條約 (Panama
Canal Treaty)
在1914年巴拿馬運河正式開通之前，來往大西洋與太平洋的船隻必須要繞行至南美洲長達8000海裡危險的航程。如果能從巴拿馬最狹窄的地方直接通過，那麼會省下很多時間。但是在那之前必須要先挖一條10英里寬的河道，才能建造一條運河。為了建造這條運河，工程師設計了許多湖泊與水閘來防堵水流，使船隻不但能夠升到與靠近巴拿馬地峽 (Isthmus
of Panama) 之蓋統湖 (Gatum
Lake) 一樣高的水位，也能夠降到與海平面一樣的高度。
美國在1915年於舊金山舉辦之巴拿馬—太平洋博覽會 (Panama-Pacific
Exposition) 慶祝運河的開通。其間有超過1千8百萬人參觀了這個長達11個月的博覽會，有更多的旅人穿越巴拿馬運河這條捷徑。你是不是其中之一呢？
Before the Panama Canal opened in 1914, ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans had to travel a precarious 8,000 nautical miles around the tip of South America. It would be much faster to travel across the narrowest part of Panama, but a canal would have to be dug through the 10-mile wide strip of land. To build the canal, the engineers designed a series of lakes and locks that trap water, raising ships to the height of Gatum Lake near the middle of the Isthmus (a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas) of Panama, and then lowering them again to sea level.
America celebrated the opening of the canal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. More than 18 million people came to the 11-month fair. Many more people have traveled the shortcut through Panama. Will you be one of them?
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