VOA慢速英语2020 中国和尼泊尔两国正式确定珠峰的新高度

（单词翻译）

China and Nepal have announced a new official height for Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain.

中国和尼泊尔宣布了世界最高峰珠穆朗玛峰（以下称珠峰）官方认可的最新高度。

After new measurements, the two countries reported on Tuesday that Everest's peak stands 8,848.86 meters tall.

在经过新一轮测量后，两国于周二报告称，珠穆朗玛峰的峰顶高达8848.86米。

The mountain runs along the borders of Nepal and China. The new height is a bit more than Nepal's past measurement and about four meters higher than China's.

这座山坐落在尼泊尔和中国边境。该新高度比尼泊尔过去测量的高度略高一点，比中国过去测量的高度高4米。

The result was announced during an online video event led by the foreign ministers of China and Nepal. The two countries agreed to the official height after expert teams completed new surveys of the mountain in 2019 and 2020.

这一结果是在中国和尼泊尔外交部长主持的在线视频活动中宣布的。在专家团队于2019年和2020年完成对这座山峰新的勘测之后，两国认可了这一正式高度。

Everest is an "eternal symbol of ... friendship between Nepal and China," Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said.

尼泊尔外长普拉迪普·库马尔·贾瓦利表示，珠峰是“尼泊尔和中国之间友谊的永恒象征。”

There had been debate over the actual height of the peak and concern that it might have shrunk after a major earthquake in 2015. The quake killed 9,000 people and damaged about 1 million structures in Nepal. It also caused an avalanche¹ on Everest that killed 19 people.

峰顶的实际高度一直存在争议，人们也担心峰顶会在2015年大地震之后变矮。这场地震在尼泊尔造成9000人丧生，还有大约有100万栋建筑物受损。它还导致珠峰发生雪崩，造成19人死亡。

Everest's height was first declared as 8,842 meters by a British team around 1856. But the most widely accepted height has been 8,848 meters, which was decided² by the Survey of India in 1954.

1856年，一支英国团队首次宣布珠峰的高度为8842米。但是，最广泛接受的高度是8848米，这是印度调查局在1954年确定的。

In 1999, a National Geographic³ Society team used GPS technology to come up with a height of 8,850 meters. But in 2005, a Chinese team reported a height of 8,844.43 meters because it did not include the mountain's snow top.

1999年，美国国家地理学会的一个团队采用GPS技术得出了8850米的高度。但是在2005年，一个中国小组报告了一个8844.43米的高度，这个高度并没有包含珠峰的雪顶。

A Nepal government team of climbers and surveyors climbed Everest in May 2019. The team used GPS and satellite equipment to measure the peak and snow depth at the top of the mountain.

尼泊尔政府的一支登山者和测量师团队于2019年5月攀上了珠峰。该团队采用GPS和卫星设备测量了珠峰峰顶的高度以及峰顶的降雪深度。

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Nepal later that year. The leaders of the two countries decided they should agree on an official height.

当年晚些时候，中国国家主席习近平访问了尼泊尔。两国领导人决定，他们应该就珠峰的正式高度达成一致。

A survey team from China then carried out measurements in the spring of 2020, when all other climbing activities had stopped because of the coronavirus crisis.

随后来自中国的一支调查小组于2020年春季进行了测量，当时所有登山活动都因为新冠病毒危机而停止。

Nepal's climbing community welcomed the end of disputes over Everest's height. "This is a milestone⁴ in mountaineering history which will finally end the debate over the height and now the world will have one number," said Santa Bir Lama. He is president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

尼泊尔的登山团体对结束珠穆高度之争表示欢迎。Santa Bir Lama表示：“这是登山历史上的一个里程碑，它将最终结束对珠峰高度的争论，现在全球都认可同一个高度。”他是尼泊尔登山协会的主席。

The first people to officially climb Everest were New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. They reached the peak in May of 1953.

首批正式登上珠峰的是新西兰的埃德蒙·希拉里爵士和尼泊尔的夏尔巴·滕青·诺盖。他们于1953年5月登顶。

Since then, the mountain has been climbed 10,184 times by 5,789 people. Those numbers come from the Himalayan Database, which records climbing activity.

自那时起，已经有5789人对珠峰完成了10184次攀登。这些数字来自于记录登山活动的喜马拉雅数据库。

At least 311 people have died attempting to reach Everest's peak.

至少有311人在试图登顶珠峰时死亡。