国家地理 加里曼丹岛的地底洞天(1)

Late on a sweltering morning in April, two slim British cavers named Frank and Cookie lowered themselves into a slick, humid pit deep below Borneo's rainforest.

2017年4月的某一天，在酷热难耐的近午时分，两名身材纤瘦的英国洞穴探险家弗兰克和库奇下探进入加里曼丹岛雨林地底深处一个湿滑的坑洞里。

Climbing down past an ancient heap of bird guano and pushing through a gallery of gleaming pillars the color of old bone, the pair were hoping to make history. They had crawled into Cave of the Winds, deep inside a cave system known as Clearwater, where they would search for a passage to Racer Cave, part of the Racer-Easter system.

他俩往下爬，经过长年沉积的鸟粪堆，挤过骨白色石柱闪烁的洞廊，一心想创造历史。他们匍匐爬进位于知名的“清水洞”洞穴系统深处的“风洞”，要从那里寻找通往“黑蛇洞”的通道，而黑蛇洞则是“黑蛇—复活节洞穴系统”的一部分。

Connecting the two would create a "super system," one of the longest subterranean¹ labyrinths² on the planet. As the men wormed down, drilling and hammering bolts into the slick rock to hold their climbing ropes, their odds³ of success seemed good.

若是将这两处洞穴系统接通，将会形成一个“超级洞穴系统”，成为地球上最长的地底迷宫之一。他们不断往下钻，在滑溜的岩石上钻孔、钉螺栓来固定登山绳，成功似乎在望。

1 subterranean   

adj.地下的，地表下的

参考例句：

• London has 9 miles of such subterranean passages.伦敦像这样的地下通道有9英里长。
• We wandered through subterranean passages.我们漫游地下通道。

2 labyrinths   

迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 )； （文字，建筑）错综复杂的

参考例句：

• I was engulfed in labyrinths of trouble too great to get out at all. 我陷入困难的迷宫中去，简直无法脱身。
• I've explored ancient castles, palaces, temples, tombs, catacombs and labyrinths. 我曾在古堡、古皇宫、古神庙、古墓、地下墓穴和迷宫中探险。

3 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？