国家地理 加里曼丹岛的地底洞天(10)

Two weeks later, when I joined him in Mulu, that faith had been tempered. The expedition was divided into three main teams. Two of them searched for new passages in a remote area of the rainforest while the third, called the "connection team," pored over maps, looking for spots where different cave systems might be linked.

两周后，当我来到姆鲁跟他们一起探险时，艾维斯的自信大打折扣。大家分成三队，两队在雨林偏远处寻找新的通道，第三支队伍是“连接队”，负责仔细查看地图，并寻找可能连接不同洞穴系统的地点。

So far, Eavis said, the pace of discovery had been slow and the holy grail of connections -- the one Frank and Cookie would later probe for -- had eluded¹ them. Eavis acknowledged disappointment, but his teams still had found more than seven miles of fresh passage, and more lay ahead.

艾维斯表示，到目前为止，探索的步伐十分缓慢，寻找连接处（也就是弗兰克和库奇后来去寻找的那个连接处）这一伟大目标也很难实现。虽然艾维斯对此很失望，但他的团队还是找到了超过七英里长的新通道，并且前方还会有更多的通道。

The morning after my arrival I joined Eavis and a small crew headed for a cave called Gua Nasib Bagus -- the Good Luck Cave -- which holds the otherworldly Sarawak Chamber². Eavis, with other British explorers, had discovered the cave and the chamber in 1981, by following a river into the side of a mountain.

在我到达的那个早晨，我和艾维斯，还有一支小队去了一个名叫幸运洞的洞穴，里面有超自然的砂拉越洞穴。1981年，艾维斯和其他英国探险者顺着流进侧山的河流，发现了幸运洞和砂拉越洞穴。

After climbing, pulling, and crawling upstream for hours, the cavers arrived at a still, calm place where the river vanished into the earth. The men unfurled measuring tapes and began surveying into the gloom, expecting to reach the rear wall soon.

在向上攀爬拉拽了几小时后，探险者们到达了一个宁静祥和的地方，在那里，河流流进了土壤。队员们拉出卷尺，开始在昏暗中勘察，希望尽快抵达后墙。

1 eluded   

v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到

参考例句：

• The sly fox nimbly eluded the dogs. 那只狡猾的狐狸灵活地躲避开那群狗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The criminal eluded the police. 那个罪犯甩掉了警察的追捕。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 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。