32．Journey To The Bottoms Of The Pacific Ocean（在线收听） |
| 32．Journey To The Bottoms Of The Pacific OceanThe journey two naval officers made some time ago to the very deepest pointon the earth makes us realize how much of the world still remains to beexplored. The two men went down seven miles to the bottoms of the PacificOcean inside a small steel ball called a 'bathyscaphe'(1) to find out ifthere are any ocean currents(2) or signs of life. Above the ball therewas a special tank full of petrolwhich was slowly emptied(3) into the water to make the bathyscaphe heavyenough to complete its journey. It was necessary to set out early, so that the bathyscaphe would come tothe surface in daylight, and so be easily found by the mother ship(4) whichwould be waiting for it. The divers began preparations at dawn and soonafterwards, when all was ready, the steel ball disappeared under thesurface of the water. The divers felt as if they were going down steps as they passed throughwarm and cold layers of water(5). In time(6), the temperature dropped tofreezing-point and the men shivered inside the ball. They kept in touchwith the mother ship by telephone describing how they felt. Then, at adepth of 3,000 feet, the telephone stopped working and they were quitecut off from the outside world. All went well until some four hours laterat 30,000 feet, the men were startled by a loud, cracking noise: even thesmallest hole in the ball would have meant instant death. Luckily, though,it was only one of the outer windows that had broken. Soon afterwards,the bathyscaphe touched the soft ocean floor raising a big cloud of 'dust' made up of small, dead sea-creatures. Here, powerful lights lit up thedark water and the men were surprised to see fish swimming just above themquite untroubled by the enormous water-pressure. But they did not dareto leave the lights on for long, as the heat from them made the water boil. Quite unexpectedly, the telephone began working again and the faint butclear voices of the officers were heard on the mother ship seven milesaway. After a stay of thirty minutes the men began their journey up,arriving three hours later, cold and wet through, but none the worse(7)for theirexperience. |
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