An hour later we arrived at the mouth of Good Luck Cave, where a river emerged from a tall cleft in a wall of limestone. We waded in and pushed ahead, the clear warm water reaching first to our calves, then swelling over our hips, then shoving into our chests.
一小時后,我們到達了幸運洞洞口,在那里,一條小河從石灰?guī)r壁高處的裂縫中涌出。我們涉水前行,清澈溫暖的水流先沒過小腿,然后漲到臀部,又沒過胸膛。
The passage widened and grew, opening like a train tunnel above us. Bats and birds commuted through it, occasionally dipping into our headlamp beams, and soon the river became whitewater, blasting through sharp channels of limestone, forcing us onto boulders slick with spray and guano.
通道變得寬闊起來,像火車隧道一般在我們頭頂鋪開。蝙蝠和鳥兒穿梭其間,時不時地穿過照明燈的光束。沒過一會兒,小河就變得湍急,沖進石灰?guī)r的縫隙。我們不得不爬上光滑的大卵石。被浪花沖刷的大卵石沾滿了鳥糞。
The route was so treacherous that in certain places previous cavers had bolted ropes to the walls so they could drag themselves forward against the current.
這條路線很危險。先前的探險者需要在幾處地方把繩索固定在巖壁上,讓繩子拽著他們前行,沖過湍流。
After a wild and sodden mile, the river disappeared into the earth, and Sarawak Chamber swallowed us into its vastness.
過了這驚險的一英里,隊員們渾身都濕透了。小河流入了土壤,我們被無比寬闊的砂拉越洞穴吞沒了。
Even when every lamp focused upward, we could see only the dim suggestion of its massive dome. And if we turned our lamps toward the back of the cave, we saw nothing at all. It was easy to imagine Eavis and his friends lost, years before, in the void.
就算每盞照明燈都照向上方,我們也只能模糊地看見大穹頂。而如果我們把照明燈照向洞穴后方,就什么都看不見了。不難想象艾維斯和他的朋友們幾年前迷失在這黑暗空間的情景。
"If you look around, you might find our old boot prints," Eavis said, laughing. "Stumbling around like blind mice we were."
“環(huán)顧四周,你可能會看到我們以前的腳印。”艾維斯笑著說。“你們跌跌撞撞的樣子和我們當初一樣,像一群瞎眼鼠?!?/p>