国家地理 一次翻越世界屋脊的历史性旅行(5)

My walk is a circle, albeit¹ one with the radius² of the world.

我的旅程也是一个环，虽然只是世界的半圆弧。

On the morning of September 23, in a coarse ice mist, we set out with two pack donkeys to climb Irshad Pass, a high and desolate³ gateway⁴ close to where the Hindu Kush meets the Karakoram Range, dividing Afghanistan from Pakistan.

9月23日的早晨浓密的冰雾中，我们赶着两头驮驴出发，要爬伊尔沙德山口，那是一座高高而荒凉的门户，紧靠兴都库什山脉和喀拉昆仑山脉交会的地方，是阿富汗和巴基斯坦的分界。

Climbing a mountain under such conditions is a strange and disorienting experience. It was like scaling a frozen and crazily tilted⁵ sea. Windblown ridges⁶ rippled⁷ the surface of the snow. We punched toeholds into the diamond waves with our ridiculous summer shoes. We tottered⁸ along ice-rimed cliffs. Snow hid fatal crevices⁹. Sometimes the donkeys fell through the crust and refused to get up. We reached under their steaming bellies¹⁰ and lifted the animals to their feet. This exhausting ritual happened again and again. We were often lost.

在那么样的条件下爬山是一种新奇而无从辨识方向的经历，就像攀登一座冰冷且陡得令人发狂的海洋。风吹成的山脊在白皑皑的雪地上起伏，我们用自己可笑的夏鞋使劲在钻石般的冰碛上踩出立足点，我们沿着结满冰霜的悬崖蹒跚前行，雪花掩盖了致命的裂缝，有时驮驴都觉得踩穿了冰壳而不肯站起来。我们把手伸到它们冒着热气的肚子下，抬起驴子让它站起来。这种令人筋疲力尽的仪式一次又一次反复上演。我们还经常迷路。

By midday a blizzard¹¹ was in full gust¹².

到中午的时候，一场暴风雪一阵阵地使劲吹。

"Hello, Arthur, can you do me a favor?"

“喂，亚瑟，能帮我个忙吗？”

Paley was shouting into the satellite phone. We couldn't see a hundred steps ahead, much less the peaks far above. Paley's brother in Paris googled and read out to us the GPS coordinates¹³ for Irshad.

佩利对着卫星电话大喊大叫。我们看不见100步之外，更不用说上面的山峰了。佩利的哥哥在巴黎用Google搜索并给我们读出伊尔沙德山口的GPS坐标。

1 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

2 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

3 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

4 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

5 tilted   

v. 倾斜的

参考例句：

• Suddenly the boat tilted to one side. 小船突然倾向一侧。
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。

6 ridges   

n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊

参考例句：

• The path winds along mountain ridges. 峰回路转。
• Perhaps that was the deepest truth in Ridges's nature. 在里奇斯的思想上，这大概可以算是天经地义第一条了。

7 rippled   

使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The lake rippled gently. 湖面轻轻地泛起涟漪。
• The wind rippled the surface of the cornfield. 微风吹过麦田，泛起一片麦浪。

8 tottered   

v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠

参考例句：

• The pile of books tottered then fell. 这堆书晃了几下，然后就倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wounded soldier tottered to his feet. 伤员摇摇晃晃地站了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 crevices   

n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It has bedded into the deepest crevices of the store. 它已钻进了店里最隐避的隙缝。 来自辞典例句
• The wind whistled through the crevices in the rock. 风呼啸着吹过岩石的缝隙。 来自辞典例句

10 bellies   

n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童

11 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

12 gust   

n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发

参考例句：

• A gust of wind blew the front door shut.一阵大风吹来，把前门关上了。
• A gust of happiness swept through her.一股幸福的暖流流遍她的全身。

13 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》