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EddyCartaya_2013Y-_我的冰川岩发现经过_
So how many of you have ever been in a cave before? 你们之中有多少人去过岩洞？
Okay, a few of you. 当然,只有少数人。
When you think of a cave, most of you think of a tunnel going through solid rock, and in fact, that's how most caves are. 当然,只有少数人。 一个隧道,周围都是岩石。 实际上,大多数岩洞是这样的。
tunnel:n.地下通道;地道;隧道;(动物的)洞穴通道;v.开凿隧道;挖地道;
Around this half of the country, most of your caves are made of limestone . 这个国家的这半部分, 大多数岩洞是由石灰石组成的。
limestone:n.[岩]石灰岩;
Back where I'm from, most of our caves are made of lava rock, because we have a lot of volcanoes out there. 在我的家乡,大多数岩洞是由岩浆岩组成的。 因为那里有很多火山。
lava:n.火山岩浆;火山所喷出的熔岩; volcanoes:n.火山爆发,火山;火山群(volcano复数);
But the caves I want to share with you today are made completely of ice, specifically glacier ice that's formed in the side of the tallest mountain in the state of Oregon , called Mount Hood. 但是我今天与你分享的岩洞是 完全由冰组成的,特别是冰川冰。 位于俄勒冈州最高山—— 胡德山的一侧。
specifically:adv.特别地;明确地; glacier:n.冰河,冰川; Oregon:n.俄勒冈州(美国州名); Mount:n.山;坐骑;山峰;衬纸板;v.登上;爬上;攀登;准备;
Now Mount Hood's only one hour's drive from Portland, the largest city in Oregon, where over two million people live. 只需开一个钟头就可以从波特兰开车到胡德山。 波特兰是俄勒冈州最大的城市, 那里有两百万人。
Now the most exciting thing for a cave explorer is to find a new cave and be the first human to ever go into it. 对于岩洞探险家来说, 最兴奋的事情莫过于发现新岩洞, 并成为第一个走进去的人。
explorer:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;
The second most exciting thing for a cave explorer is to be the first one to make a map of a cave. 第二件兴奋的事情是 为岩洞绘制第一张地图。
Now these days, with so many people hiking around, it's pretty hard to find a new cave, so you can imagine how excited we were to find three new caves within sight of Oregon's largest city and realize that they had never been explored or mapped before. 时下,出外远足的人是如此之多。 发现一个新岩洞还真不容易。 这样你就可以想象当我们发现了三个新岩洞时 是多么的兴奋。 尤其是在俄勒冈州最大的城市发现它们 还没有人探索过这些岩洞, 或者绘制一幅地图。
explored:v.探索;勘探;考察;探险;(explore的过去式和过去分词)
It was kind of like being an astronaut, because we were getting to see things and go places that no one had ever seen or gone to before. 我们有些像宇航员, 去探索并发现一个 从来没有人见过、去过的地方。
So what is a glacier? 什么是冰川？
Well, those of you who have ever seen or touched snow, you know that it's really light, because it's just a bunch of tiny ice crystals clumped together, and it's mostly air. 你们中有些人摸过雪。 雪非常轻。 因为它是由冰晶体多半还是气态的时候凝集而成。
a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆; crystals:n.[晶体]晶体(crystal的复数形式);石英晶体; clumped:adj.集群分布;v.成群(clump的过去分词和过去式);
If you squish a handful of snow to make a snowball, it gets really small, hard and dense . 如果你把雪拧成雪球, 它变得很小、很硬、很重。
squish:n.咯吱声;挤扁;vt.压扁;把...挤扁;vi.发出嘎吱声; dense:adj.稠密的;浓厚的;愚钝的;
Well, on a mountain like Hood, where it snows over 20 feet a year, it crushes the air out of it and gradually forms it into hard blue ice. 像胡德山这样的山。 每年下大概二十英尺雪。 雪把空气压出去, 渐渐形成了坚硬的蓝色冰块。
crushes:v.压坏; n.拥挤的人群; (crush的第三人称单数和复数) gradually:adv.渐渐地;逐步地;
Now each year, more and more ice stacks up on top of it, and eventually it gets so heavy that it starts to slide down the mountain under its own weight, forming a slow-moving river of ice. 现在每年有越来越多的雪层层叠起 它变得非常重。 以至于由于它的重力作用 而滑下山。 形成缓慢移动的冰体。
stacks:n.堆叠;[图情]书库(stack的复数);进程堆栈应用; eventually:adv.最后,终于; slow-moving:adj.滞销的;动作缓慢的;
When ice packed like that starts to move, we call it a glacier, and we give it a name. 我们把这种开始移动的冰体 叫做冰川,并给它命名。
The name of the glacier these caves are formed in is the Sandy Glacier. 这三个岩洞所在的冰川是 桑迪冰川。
Now each year, as new snow lands on the glacier, it melts in the summer sun, and it forms little rivers of water on the flow along the ice, and they start to melt and bore their way down through the glacier, forming big networks of caves, sometimes going all the way down to the underlying bedrock . 每年,新的雪落在冰川上。 在夏天的太阳下融化。 形成了一条小河沿冰流过。 它们一边融化,一边凿穿冰川。 形成大岩洞网。 有些部分深入到了伏基岩。
melts:n.[冶]熔体(melt的复数);v.熔化(melt的第三人称单数形式); bore:v.钻孔;使烦扰;n.孔;令人讨厌的人; underlying:adj.根本的; v.构成…的基础; (underlie的现在分词) bedrock:n.[地质]基岩;根底;基本原理;
Now the crazy thing about glacier caves is that each year, new tunnels form. 疯狂的是,这些冰川岩洞 每年都形成新的隧道。
tunnels:n.[交]隧道; v.凿隧道;
Different waterfalls pop up or move around from place to place inside the cave. 岩洞里的不同瀑布不时喷起 或从这里移动到那里。
waterfalls:n.[水文]瀑布;悬瀑(waterfall的复数形式); pop up:v.突然出现; move around:v.走来走去;绕着…来回转;
Warm water from the top of the ice is boring its way down, and warm air from below the mountain actually rises up, gets into the cave, and melts the ceilings back taller and taller. 冰体顶部的温暖水流 渐渐凿入冰体。 吹过山的暖风自然上升, 进入岩洞。 融化岩洞的天花板,使它越来越高。
boring:adj.无聊的;令人厌烦的;n.钻孔;v.使厌烦;钻孔;(bore的现在分词) ceilings:n.[建]天花板(ceiling的复数);
But the weirdest thing about glacier caves is that the entire cave is moving, because it's formed inside a block of ice the size of a small city that's slowly sliding down the mountain. 但是冰川岩洞最怪诞的是 整个岩洞是移动的。 因为它形成于冰块之中。 像一个小城市那么大、 慢慢从山上滑下的冰块。
weirdest:adj.奇异的;不寻常的;离奇的;(weird的最高级)
Now this is Brent McGregor, my cave exploration partner. 这是Brent McGregor, 我岩洞探险的搭档。
Brent:n.黑雁;布伦特(英国英格兰东南部城市); exploration:n.探索;勘探;探险;[医]探查术;
He and I have both been exploring caves a long time and we've been climbing mountains a long time, but neither one of us had ever really explored a glacier cave before. 他和我都探索过很长时间的岩洞, 爬过很长时间的山。 但我们谁都没有真正探索过一个冰川洞穴。
exploring:v.探索:考察:探查;(explore的现在分词)
Back in 2011, Brent saw a YouTube video of a couple of hikers that stumbled across the entrance to one of these caves. 2011年,Brent在You Tube上看到一个视频。 一对徒步旅行者蹒跚走过上述三个岩洞之一的洞口。
hikers:n.背包客;徙步旅行者(hiker的复数); stumbled:v.绊脚;跌跌撞撞地走;蹒跚而行;(stumble的过去分词和过去式)
There were no GPS coordinates for it, and all we knew was that it was somewhere out on the Sandy Glacier. 那里没有GPS坐标。 我们只知道它是Sandy冰川 的某个地方。
coordinates:n.[数]坐标;相配之衣物;v.使协调;使调和(coordinate的第三人称单数形式);
So in July of that year, we went out on the glacier, and we found a big crack in the ice. 那年七月,我们去了冰川上, 发现了一道裂缝。
crack:v.使破裂;打开;变声;n.裂缝;声变;噼啪声;adj.最好的;高明的;
We had to build snow and ice anchors so that we could tie off ropes and rappel down into the hole. 我们要定好锚。 这样就可以顺着绳子垂直降入洞中。
rappel:n.绕绳下降;坐式下降法;vi.用绳索下降;
This is me looking into the entrance crevasse . 这是我从裂缝入口望到的。
crevasse:n.裂缝;破口,崩溃处;
At the end of this hole, we found a huge tunnel going right up the mountain underneath thousands of tons of glacier ice. 在这个洞的尾端,我们发现了一个大隧道。 向上通入山中, 在数千吨冰川冰的下面。
underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的;
We followed this cave back for about a half mile until it came to an end, and then with the help of our survey tools we made a three-dimensional map of the cave on our way back out. 我们沿着这个岩洞往后半英里, 直到最深处。 然后在我们的勘测工具的帮助下, 我们在出洞的路上做了一张 洞穴的三维地图。
survey:n.调查;测量;审视;纵览;vt.调查;勘测;俯瞰;vi.测量土地; three-dimensional:adj.三维的;立体的;真实的;
So how do you map a cave? 那么怎样去制作一张地图？
Well, cave maps aren't like trail maps or road maps because they have pits and holes going to overlapping levels. 洞穴地图不像一个步道地图或路线图。 因为洞穴有坑和洞在不同层交叠。
trail:v.(被)拖,拉;疲惫地走,磨蹭;落后,失败;n.痕迹;踪迹;小路;路线; pits:n.维修区(pit的复数); v.除去…的核; overlapping:v.(物体)部分重叠,交叠;使部分重叠;(overlap的现在分词)
To make a cave map, you have to set up survey stations every few feet inside the cave, and you use a laser to measure the distance between those stations. 为了做一张洞穴地图, 你要在洞中每几英尺设一个勘测台。 用激光测出勘测台之间的距离。
Then you use a compass and an inclinometer to measure the direction the cave is headed and measure the slope of the floor and the ceilings. 然后用指南针和测斜仪 测量洞穴的朝向 和岩顶与地面的坡度。
compass:n.罗盘;指南针;圆规;范围;界限;v.理解;领悟;将…包围;成功办到 slope:n.斜坡;坡度;坡地;山坡;v.倾斜;有坡度;悄悄地走;潜行;
Now those of you taking trigonometry , that particular type of math is very useful for making maps like this because it allows you to measure heights and distances without actually having to go there. 现在你要用三角函数。 这种特别的数学知识 在做一张岩洞地图的时候特别有用。 因为它可以让你在不走过去的情况下 衡量高度和距离。
trigonometry:n.三角法;
In fact, the more I mapped and studied caves, the more useful I found all that math that I originally hated in school to be. 实际上,我越画地图研究洞穴 实际上,我越画地图研究洞穴 当你做完这些勘测,
originally:adv.原来;起初;
So when you're done surveying , you take all this data and you punch it into a computer and you find someone that can draw really well, and you have them draft up a map that looks something like this, 当你做完这些勘测, 你把这些数据都放进电脑里。 找画画很好的人, 让他们画逼真的地图。 看起来就像这样
surveying:n.(土地)测量;考察; punch:n.冲床; v.拳打; (用打孔器等)打孔; draft:n.草案; v.起草; adj.供役使的;
and it'll show you both a bird's-eye view of the passage as well as a profile view of the passage, kind of like an ant farm view. 它展示给你鸟瞰图 和像蚂蚁农场一般的剖面图。 我们把这个岩洞叫做雪龙洞。
as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且; profile:n.轮廓;简介;形象;外形;v.扼要介绍;概述;写简介;
We named this cave Snow Dragon Cave because it was like a big dragon sleeping under the snow. 我们把这个岩洞叫做雪龙洞。 因为它就像一只睡在雪下面的龙。
Dragon:n.龙;悍妇;母夜叉;
Now later this summer, as more snow melted off the glacier, we found more caves, and we realized they were all connected. 今年夏末,随着更多的雪融入冰川。 我们发现了更多的岩洞,它们都是连通的。
melted:v.(使)熔化,融化;(使)软化,变得温柔;(melt的过去分词和过去式)
Not long after we mapped Snow Dragon, 我们给雪龙洞画地图后不久,
Brent discovered this new cave not very far away. Brent在不远的地方发现了这个新洞穴。
The inside of it was coated with ice, so we had to wear big spikes on our feet called crampons so we could walk around without slipping . 洞里表面覆盖着冰, 我们在脚上穿了叫做冰爪的长钉。 这样移动的时候就不打滑。
spikes:n.钉鞋(spike的复数);v.把…钉牢(spike的第三人称单数); crampons:n.攀岩用鞋底钉;[机]起重吊钩;(防滑的)带钉鞋底; slipping:n.滑动;adj.渐渐松弛的;v.滑动;(slip的现在分词);
This cave was amazing. 这个洞很神奇。
The ice in the ceiling was glowing blue anad green because the sunlight from far above was shining through the ice and lighting it all up. 洞顶的冰发着蓝色和绿色的光。 因为远上处的日光 穿过冰层映亮了它。
glowing:adj.灼热的;热情洋溢的;鲜艳的;v.发光;容光焕发;发热;(glow的现在分词) sunlight:n.日光;
And we couldn't understand why this cave was so much colder than Snow Dragon until we got to the end and we found out why. 我们不明白为什么这个洞 比雪龙洞冷得多。 直到我们走到洞尾才发现了原因。
There was a huge pit or shaft called a moulin going 130 feet straight up to the surface of the glacier. 那里有一个大坑或轴叫冰川锅穴。 深130英尺直到冰川表面。
shaft:n.拍杆;[机]轴;箭杆;杆状物;v.利用;在…上装杆; moulin:n.冰川锅穴;
Cold air from the top of the mountain was flowing down this hole and blasting through the cave, freezing everything inside of it. 山顶的冷空气 沿着这个洞流下,吹进洞穴。 让里面的东西都结了冰。
blasting:v.(用炸药)炸毁,把…炸成碎片;严厉批评;(blast的现在分词)
And we were so excited about finding this new pit, we actually came back in January the following year so we could be the first ones to explore it. 我们很高兴发现这个凹洞。 我们事实上第二年一月才回来。 这样我们就是第一个探索洞穴的人之一。
It was so cold outside, we actually had to sleep inside the cave. 外面非常冷。 我们要在洞里睡觉。
There's our camp on the left side of this entrance room. 这是我们在这个（不会翻）左侧的帐篷。
The next morning, we climbed out of the cave and hiked all the way to the top of the glacier, where we finally rigged and rappelled this pit for the very first time. 第二天早上,我们爬出了洞 徒步走到冰川的顶部。 走到我们难忘的第一次 操作和垂降到这个洞穴的地方。
hiked:vi.远足;徒步旅行;上升;vt.提高;拉起;使…高涨;n.远足;徒步旅行;涨价; finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; rigged:v.操纵,控制;(给船只)装帆;(秘密地)安装,装配;(rig的过去分词和过去式) rappelled:n.绕绳下降;坐式下降法;vi.用绳索下降;
Brent named this cave Pure Imagination , Brent把这个洞穴叫做“纯洁幻境”。
Imagination:n.想象;想象力;创造力;想象的事物;
I think because the beautiful sights we saw in there were beyond what we could have ever imagined. 我猜是因为我们在洞里见到的美景 远远超出了我们的想象。
So besides really cool ice, what else is inside these caves? 这些洞穴里除了冰块还有什么？
besides:adv.此外;而且;prep.除…之外;
Well not too much lives in them because they're so cold and the entrance is actually covered up with snow for about eight months of the year. 里面生物很少,因为非常冷。 入口一年中有大约八个月 是雪覆盖起来的。
But there are some really cool things in there. 那里确实有些新奇的事情。
There's weird bacteria living in the water that actually eat and digest rocks to make their own food to live under this ice. 水中生活着一种奇怪的菌 食用和消化岩石 作为它们在冰层下的食物 这个夏天,科学家收集了
bacteria:n.[微]细菌; digest:n.摘要;文摘;概要;汇编;v.消化;领会;领悟;理解;
In fact, this past summer, scientists collected samples of water and ice specifically to see if things called extremophiles , tiny lifeforms that are evolved to live in completely hostile conditions, might be living under the ice, kind of like what they hope to find on the polar icecaps of Mars someday. 这个夏天,科学家收集了 这些水和冰的样本。 特别是想看看叫做极端微生物的 进化到在极端环境中生存的微小生命 是否能在冰下生存。 就像他们期望某天在火星冰帽上发现的生物
extremophiles:n.极端微生物(extremophile的复数); evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式) hostile:adj.敌意的; n.敌对分子; polar:adj.极地的;南极(或北极)的;n.极线;极面; icecaps:n.冰盖;常积不消的冰; Mars:n.火星
Another really cool things is that, as seeds and birds land on the surface of the glacier and die, they get buried in the snow and gradually become part of the glacier, sinking deeper and deeper into the ice. 另外一件非常酷的事情是, 种子和鸟类落在冰川上死亡后, 它们被埋入雪中。 渐渐成为冰川的一部分。 在冰中越沉越深。
As these caves form and melt their way up into the ice, they make these artifacts rain down from the ceiling and fall onto the cave floor, where we end up finding them. 这些岩洞形成时融入了进入冰中的通道。 这些艺术品从洞顶降下 落在岩洞地面上,我们最后在那里发现它们。
artifacts:n.史前古器物;人工产品;
For example, this is a noble fir seed we found. 例如,这是我们发现的一个宝贵的冷杉种子。
noble:adj.高尚的;贵族的;惰性的;宏伟的;n.贵族;
It's been frozen in the ice for over 100 years, and it's just now starting to sprout . 它在冰中冻了超过100年。 现在刚刚开始发芽。
sprout:v.发芽;生长;出现;(使)涌现出;n.新芽;嫩枝;
This mallard duck feather was found over 1,800 feet in the back of Snow Dragon Cave. 这是野鸭羽毛。 在雪龙洞背1800英尺处发现的。
mallard:n.野鸭;野鸭肉;
This duck died on the surface of the glacier long, long ago, and its feathers have finally made it down through over 100 feet of ice before falling inside the cave. 这只野鸭很久很久以前死在冰川表面上。 它的羽毛在落入洞穴之前 在冰中下降了100英尺。
And this beautiful quartz crystal was also found in the back of Snow Dragon. 这个漂亮的石英晶体 也是在雪龙洞背发现的。
quartz:n.石英;
Even now, Brent and I find it hard to believe that all these discoveries were essentially in our own backyard , hidden away, just waiting to be found. 甚至现在,Brent和我觉得很难相信 所有这些发现实质上就在我们自己的后院里。 深深地隐藏着,等待着被发现。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; backyard:n.后院;后庭;
Like I said earlier, the idea of discovering in this busy world we live in kind of seems like something you can only do with space travel now, but that's not true. 像我早前说过的, 在我们生存的忙碌的世界里发现一些东西, 你似乎只能通过太空旅行了。 但这不是事实。
Every year, new caves get discovered that no one has ever been in before. 每一年都有新的洞穴被发现。 从来没有人去过的洞穴。
So it's actually not too late for one of you to become a discoverer yourself. 对于你们中的某个人来说还不是太晚 来成为一个发现者。
discoverer:n.发现者;
You just have to be willing to look and go where people don't often go and focus your eyes and your mind to recognize the discovery when you see it, because it might be in your own backyard. 只要你愿意 看和去人经常不去的地方。 集中你的目光和意识 来辨认出新的发现。 因为它可能就在你家后院。
recognize:v.认识;认出;辨别出;承认;意识到;
Thank you very much. 谢谢。
(Applause) （鼓掌）