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.
兩周后,當(dāng)我來(lái)到姆魯跟他們一起探險(xiǎn)時(shí),艾維斯的自信大打折扣。大家分成三隊(duì),兩隊(duì)在雨林偏遠(yuǎn)處尋找新的通道,第三支隊(duì)伍是“連接隊(duì)”,負(fù)責(zé)仔細(xì)查看地圖,并尋找可能連接不同洞穴系統(tǒng)的地點(diǎn)。
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 eluded them. Eavis acknowledged disappointment, but his teams still had found more than seven miles of fresh passage, and more lay ahead.
艾維斯表示,到目前為止,探索的步伐十分緩慢,尋找連接處(也就是弗蘭克和庫(kù)奇后來(lái)去尋找的那個(gè)連接處)這一偉大目標(biāo)也很難實(shí)現(xiàn)。雖然艾維斯對(duì)此很失望,但他的團(tuán)隊(duì)還是找到了超過七英里長(zhǎng)的新通道,并且前方還會(huì)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 Chamber. Eavis, with other British explorers, had discovered the cave and the chamber in 1981, by following a river into the side of a mountain.
在我到達(dá)的那個(gè)早晨,我和艾維斯,還有一支小隊(duì)去了一個(gè)名叫幸運(yùn)洞的洞穴,里面有超自然的砂拉越洞穴。1981年,艾維斯和其他英國(guó)探險(xiǎn)者順著流進(jìn)側(cè)山的河流,發(fā)現(xiàn)了幸運(yùn)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.
在向上攀爬拉拽了幾小時(shí)后,探險(xiǎn)者們到達(dá)了一個(gè)寧?kù)o祥和的地方,在那里,河流流進(jìn)了土壤。隊(duì)員們拉出卷尺,開始在昏暗中勘察,希望盡快抵達(dá)后墻。