TED演讲:探索世界最深洞穴(2)

 From the entrance, this is nothing like a commercial cave.  从洞口看，这绝不像个商业旅游的山洞。

You're looking at Camp Two in a place called J2, not K2, but J2.  你看到的是二号营地，它搭在J2,不是K2(世界第二高峰）,而是J2.

We're roughly two days from the entrance at that point.  在那里我们大约距出口两天路程。

And it's kind of like a high altitude mountaineering trip in reverse,  它就像一场反方向的高海拔登山之旅，

except that you're now running a string of these things down.  不同的是你用绳子往下走

The idea is to try to provide some measure of physical comfort while you're down there, otherwise in damp, moist, cold conditions in utterly¹ dark places.  这是让人们在这种地下环境中稍微觉得舒服些，要不然周围就是完全潮湿，寒冷而且漆黑的地方了。

I should mention that everything you're seeing here, by the way,  我应该提一下，你在这儿看着的每一件东西，

is artificially illuminated² at great effort.  都是费了很大劲儿人为照亮的。

Otherwise it is completely dark in these places.  否则，在这些地方全都是黑的。

The deeper you go, the more you run into a conflict with water.  你越深入，就越要费力气抵抗地下水问题。

It's basically like a tree collecting water coming down.  它基本上就像是一棵向下吸水的树。

And eventually you get to places where it is formidable and dangerous and unfortunately slides just don't do justice.  最终你会到达了一个可怕的危险的地方，不幸的是这些幻灯片并不能充分显示（这些地方有多么可怕）。

So I've got a very brief clip here that was taken in the late 1980s.  所以我找了一个1980年代末拍的小短片。

So descend³ into Huautla Plateau in Mexico.  这是在墨西哥瓦乌拉特高原。

Now I have to tell you that the techniques being shown here are obsolete⁴ and dangerous.  现在我要提醒你们这里所用的技术，已经过时而且危险。

We would not do this today unless we were doing it for film.  现今除非是为了拍电影，否则我们不会这样做。

Along that same line, I have to tell you that with the spate⁵ of Hollywood movies that came out last year,  同样地，我还要说我们在底下从未见过，

we have never seen monsters underground， 象去年新出的大量好莱坞电影中的怪兽，

at least the kind that eat you.  至少没见到吃人的怪兽。

If there is a monster underground,  如果有地下怪兽，

it is the crushing psychological remoteness that begins to hit every member of the team once you cross about three days inbound from the nearest entrance.  那一定是心中的能致命的孤寂，一旦你从最近的洞口深入三天，这种孤寂感就开始侵袭队中的成员。

Next year I'll be leading an international team to J2.  明年我要带领一支国际队伍去J2.

1 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

2 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

3 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

4 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

5 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。