Casey

 

 

 Illusions of Pastoral Peace 寧靜田園生活的遐想

 

The quiet life of the country has never appealed to me. City born and city bred, I have always regarded the country as something you look at through a train window, or something you occasionally visit during the weekend. Most of my friends live in the city, yet they always go into raptures at the mere mention of the country. Though they extol the virtues of the peaceful life, only one of them has ever gone to live in the country and he was back in town within six months. Even he still lives under the illusion that country life is somehow superior to town life. He is forever talking about the friendly people, the clean atmosphere, the closeness to nature and the gentle pace of living. Nothing can be compared, he maintains, with the first cock crow, the twittering of birds at dawn, the sight of the rising sun glinting on the trees and pastures. This idyllic pastoral scene is only part of the picture. My friend fails to mention the long and friendless winter evenings in front of the TV ---- virtually the only form of entertainment. He says nothing about the poor selection of goods in the shops, or about those unfortunate people who have to travel from the country to the city every day to get to work. Why people are prepared to tolerate a four-hour journey each day for the dubious privilege of living in the country is beyond me. They could be saved so much misery and expense if they chose to live in the city where they rightly belong.

 If you can do without the few pastoral pleasures of the country, you will find the city can provide you with the best that life can offer. You never have to travel miles to see your friends. They invariably live nearby and are always available for an informal chat or an evening's entertainment. Some of my acquaintances in the country come up to town once or twice a year to visit the theatre as a special treat. For them this is a major operation which involves considerable planning. As the play draws to its close, they wonder whether they will ever catch that last train home. The city dweller never experiences anxieties of this sort. The latest exhibitions, films, or plays are only a short bus ride away. Shopping, too, is always a pleasure. There is so much variety that you never have to make do with second best . Country people run wild when they go shopping in the city and stagger home loaded with as many of the exotic items as they can carry. Nor is the city without its moments of beauty. There is something comforting about the warm glow shed by advertisements on cold wet winter nights. Few things could be more impressive than the peace that descends on deserted city streets at weekends when the thousands that travel to work every day are tucked away in their homes in the country. It has always been a mystery to me why city dwellers, who appreciate all these things, obstinately pretend that they would prefer to live in the country.

 

寧靜的鄉村生活從來沒有吸引過我。我生在城市，長在城市，總認為鄉村是透過火車車窗看到的那個樣子，或偶爾週末去遊玩一下的景象。我的許多朋友都住在城市，但他們只要一提起鄉村，馬上就會變得欣喜若狂。儘管他們都交口稱讚寧靜的鄉村生活的種種優點，但其中只有一人真去農村住過，而且不足6個月就回來了。即使他也仍存有幻覺，好像鄉村生活就是比城市生活優越。他滔滔不絕地大談友好的農民，潔淨的空氣，貼近大自然的環境和悠閒的生活節奏。他堅持認為，凌晨雄雞第一聲啼叫，黎明時分小鳥吱喳歡叫，冉冉升起的朝陽染紅樹木、牧場，此番美景無與倫比。但這種田園詩般的鄉村風光僅僅是一個側面。我的朋友沒有提到在電視機前度過的漫長寂寞的冬夜——電視是唯一的娛樂形式。他也不說商店貨物品種單調，以及那些每天不得不從鄉下趕到城里工作的不幸的人們。人們為什麼情願每天在路上奔波4個小時去換取值得懷疑的鄉間的優點，我是無法理解的。要是他們願意住在本來屬於他們的城市，則可以讓他們省去諸多不便與節約大量開支。

如果你願捨棄鄉下生活那一點點樂趣的話，那麼你會發現城市可以為你提供生活中最美好的東西。你去看朋友根本不用跋涉好幾英里，因為他們都住在附近，你隨時可以同他們聊天或在晚上一起娛樂。我在鄉村有一些熟人，他們每年進城來看一回或幾回戲，並把此看作一種特殊的享受。看戲在他們是件大事，需要精心計劃。當戲快演完時，他們又為是否能趕上末班火車回家而犯愁。這種焦慮，城里人是從未體驗過的。坐公共汽車幾站路，就可看到最新的展覽、電影、戲劇。買東西也是一種樂趣。物品品種繁多，從來不必用二等品來湊合。鄉里人進城採購欣喜若狂，每次回家時都買足了外來商品，直到拿不動方才罷休，連走路都搖搖晃晃的。城市也並非沒有良辰美景。寒冷潮濕的冬夜裡，廣告燈箱發出的暖光，會給人某種安慰。週末，當成千上萬進城上班的人回到了他們的鄉間寓所之後，空曠的街市籠罩著一種寧靜的氣氛，沒有什麼能比此時的寧靜更令人難忘了。城里人對這一切心裡很明白，卻​​偏要執拗地裝出他們喜歡住在鄉村的樣子，這對我來說一直是個謎。

 

 

Modern cavemen 現代洞穴人

 

 Cave exploration, or pot-holing, as it has come to be known, is a relatively new sport. Perhaps it is the desire for solitude or the chance of making an unexpected discovery that lures people down to the depths of the earth. It is impossible to give a satisfactory explanation for a pot-holer's motives. For him, caves have the same peculiar fascination which high mountains have for the climber. They arouse instincts which can only be dimly understood.

 Exploring really deep caves is not a task for the Sunday afternoon rambler. Such undertakings require the precise planning and foresight of military operations. It can take as long as eight days to rig up rope ladders and to establish supply bases before a descent can be made into a very deep cave. Precautions of this sort are necessary, for it is impossible to foretell the exact nature of the difficulties which will confront the pot-holer. The deepest known cave in the world is the Gouffre Berger near Grenoble. It extends to a depth of 3,723 feet. This immense chasm has been formed by an underground stream which has tunneled a course through a flaw in the rocks. The entrance to the cave is on a plateau in the Dauphine Alps. As it is only six feet across, it is barely noticeable. The cave might never have been discovered had not the entrance been spotted by the distinguished French pot-holer, Berger. Since its discovery, it has become a sort of pot-holers' Everest(珠峰). Though a number of descents have been made, much of it still remains to be explored.

 A team of pot-holers recently went down the Gouffre Berger. After entering the narrow gap on the plateau, they climbed down the steep sides of the cave until they came to narrow corridor. They had to edge their way along this, sometimes wading across shallow streams, or swimming across deep pools. Suddenly they came to a waterfall which dropped into an underground lake at the bottom of the cave. They plunged into the lake, and after loading their gear on an inflatable rubber dinghy, let the current carry them to the other side. To protect themselves from the icy water, they had to wear special rubber suits. At the far end of the lake, they came to huge piles of rubble which had been washed up by the water. In this part of the cave, they could hear an insistent booming sound which they found was caused by a small water-spout shooting down into a pool from the roof of the cave. Squeezing through a cleft in the rocks , the pot-holers arrived at an enormous

 cavern, the size of a huge concert hall. After switching on powerful arc lights, they saw great stalagmites -- some of them over forty feet high -- rising up like tree-trunks to meet the stalactites suspended from the roof. Round about, piles of limestone glistened in all the colours of the rainbow. In the eerie（可怕的） silence of the cavern, the only sound that could be heard was made by water which dripped continuously from the high dome above them.

 

洞穴勘查——或洞穴勘探——是一項比較新的體育活動。尋求獨處的願望或尋求意外發現的機會的慾望吸引人們來到地下深處。要想對洞穴探險者的動機作出滿意的解釋是不可能的。對洞穴探險者來說，洞穴有一種特殊的魅力，就像高山對登山者有特殊魅力一樣。為什麼洞空能引發人的那種探險本能，人們對此只能有一種模模糊糊的理解。

探測非常深的洞穴不是那些在星期日下午漫步的人所能勝任的。這種活動需要有軍事行動般的周密佈署和預見能力。有時需要花費整整8天時間來搭起繩梯，建立供應基地，然後才能到一個很深的洞穴裡。作出這樣的準備是必要的，因為無法預見到洞穴探險者究竟會遇到什麼性質的困難。世界上最深的洞穴是格里諾布爾附近的高弗.伯傑洞，深達3,723英尺。這個深邃的洞穴是由一條地下暗泉沖刷岩石中的縫隙並使之慢慢變大而形成的。此洞的洞口在丹芬阿爾卑斯山的高原上，僅6英尺寬，很難被發現。若不是法國著名洞穴探險家伯傑由於偶然的機會發現了這個洞口的話，這個洞也許不會為人所知。自從被發現以後，這個洞成了洞穴探險者的珠穆朗瑪峰，人們多次進入洞內探險，但至今尚有不少東西有待勘探。

最近，一隊洞穴探險者下到了高弗.伯傑洞裡。他們從高原上的窄縫進去，順著筆直陡峭的洞壁往下爬。來到一條狹窄的走廊上。他們不得不側著身子往前走，有時過淺溪，有時游過深潭。突然，他們來到一道瀑布前，那瀑布奔瀉而下，注入洞底一處地下湖里。他們跳入湖中，把各種器具裝上一隻充氣的橡皮艇，聽任水流將他們帶往對岸。湖水冰冷刺骨，他們必須穿上一種特製的橡皮服以保護自己。在湖的盡頭，他們見到一大堆一大堆由湖水沖刷上岸的碎石。在這兒，他們可以聽見一種連續不斷的轟鳴聲。後來他們發現這是由山洞頂部的一個小孔裡噴出的水柱跌落到水潭中發出的聲音。洞穴探險者從岩石縫裡擠身過去，來到一個巨大的洞裡，其大小相當於一個音樂廳。他們打開強力弧光燈，看見一株株巨大的石筍，有的高達40英尺，像樹幹似地向上長著，與洞頂懸掛下來的鐘乳石相接。周圍是一堆堆石灰石，像彩虹一樣閃閃發光。洞裡有一種可怕的寂靜，唯一的可以聽見的聲響是高高的圓頂上不間斷地滴水的嘀嗒聲。