国家地理 加里曼丹岛的地底洞天(4)

Not far above them, I sat in a large gallery, listening for their drills. The gallery was pristine¹; it had been discovered only days before, and I was one of the first ever to enter it. But where I sat, surrounded by towering stalagmites and colossal² mushrooms of stone, the cavern³ was alive with other sounds. At my elbow, water tinkled⁴ into limpid⁵ basins, while overhead, thousands of swiftlets—tiny black birds that spend much of their lives in the pitch-black chambers—twittered and clicked and echolocated toward nests made of saliva⁶, moss⁷, and mud.

我坐在他们上方不远处的大型洞廊里，聆听他们钻壁的声音。这个廊道很原始，几天前才刚被发现，而我是首批进入这里的人。不过，当我坐在那儿——周围石笋高耸、巨型蕈状岩林立，却能听到洞穴里充满了各种声音。在我肘旁有水潺潺流入清澈的水洼，头顶则是成千上万只金丝燕，这种黑色小鸟大半辈子生活在漆黑洞室里，它们啁啾尖叫，利用回声定位飞向以唾液、苔藓和泥土做成的巢。

If Frank and Cookie were making history somewhere below my feet, I wasn't going to hear it. But that was fine. More than any other sport, caving is about secrets and the things we endure to find them out. Sometimes all you can do is wait to see what the darkness reveals. So I lay back, turned out my light, and listened as the swifts swooped⁸ low, coming so close I could feel wingbeats on my cheeks.

如果弗兰克和库奇在我脚下这个地方创造了历史，我不会去听。但这无所谓。与其他运动不同，洞穴探险是有关秘密和其他需要探索的事物的运动项目。有时，你只能等待，并发现黑暗所展示的东西。所以我躺下，关掉灯光，听着雨燕俯冲的声音，它们离我很近，近到我的脸颊上能感受到它们在振翅。

1 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

2 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

3 cavern   

n.洞穴，大山洞

参考例句：

• The cavern walls echoed his cries.大山洞的四壁回响着他的喊声。
• It suddenly began to shower,and we took refuge in the cavern.天突然下起雨来，我们在一个山洞里避雨。

4 tinkled   

（使）发出丁当声，（使）发铃铃声( tinkle的过去式和过去分词 )； 叮当响着发出，铃铃响着报出

参考例句：

• The sheep's bell tinkled through the hills. 羊的铃铛叮当叮当地响彻整个山区。
• A piano tinkled gently in the background. 背景音是悠扬的钢琴声。

5 limpid   

adj.清澈的，透明的

参考例句：

• He has a pair of limpid blue eyes.他有一双清澈的蓝眼睛。
• The sky was a limpid blue,as if swept clean of everything.碧空如洗。

6 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

7 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

8 swooped   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来，并把它杀死。