国家地理 加里曼丹岛的地底洞天(14)

Near the chamber¹'s entrance, Mad Phil began drilling bolts into the wall, working his way around an overhanging ledge² to the roof. The rest of us explored below, pressing forward, sounding the planet's largest known enclosed space.

在洞穴入口附近，疯狂菲尔开始在墙壁上钻眼，用他自己的方式围绕着悬架爬上洞顶。我们其余的人在下方探险、向前推进，探索地球上已知的最大封闭空间。

Overhead the swifts chattered³ and bickered⁴ and called without rest, occasionally dropping down to land on our chests, where they would sit and allow themselves to be petted.

雨燕在我们头顶上不知疲倦地叽叽喳喳，偶尔飞下来落在我们胸口上，停在这里享受我们的抚摸。

At "night" we set our bedrolls on flat rock and strung up lines to air out our socks. The chamber was humid and warm, as though the darkness itself were wet, and beyond the edges of camp a constellation⁵ of little jewels glinted in the lamplight—the eyes of countless⁶ spiders, some as big as my hand.

“晚上”，我们把铺盖卷铺在平坦的岩石上，捆上绳子来晾袜子。砂拉越洞穴潮湿而温暖，好像黑暗都是湿乎乎的，在我们营地外，有一些小小的宝石在灯光下闪闪发光--这是无数只蜘蛛的眼睛，有些蜘蛛甚至和我的手掌一般大。

1 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

2 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

3 chattered   

（人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤

参考例句：

• They chattered away happily for a while. 他们高兴地闲扯了一会儿。
• We chattered like two teenagers. 我们聊着天，像两个十多岁的孩子。

4 bickered   

v.争吵( bicker的过去式和过去分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The afternoon sun bickered through the leaves. 午后的阳光闪烁于树叶之间。 来自辞典例句
• They bickered over [about] some unimportant thing. 他们为芝麻小事争吵。 来自辞典例句

5 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

6 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。