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Tasmania At the World’s End 塔斯马尼亚：世界的尽头

 

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In this part of Australia, as rugged and old as the ages, every turn offers a new adventure and a step back in time  澳洲的这个地区，地形崎岖，年代久远，每个转角都会带来新的冒险，也更靠近昔日一步

 

Tasmania, this triangle of land 250 miles off Australia’s southern coast and no bigger than Southern California, has long been thought of as the world’s end. England transported its convicts to these shores.

塔斯马尼亚是离澳洲南端海岸两百五十哩外的一块三角形土地。面积不会比南加州大的这块土地，一直被视为世界的尽头，英国过去曾将罪犯移送到这里。

 

We knew enough about Tasmania – its rugged, beauty, its dark history – to want to step beyond the familiar. Our plan was ambitious: hike 50 miles in 10 days among the island’s peaks and rain forests in the west and along its wave-tossed coast in the east.

我们对塔斯马尼亚已经有所了解──包括它的粗犷之美，以及黑暗的历史──因此这回想要一探比较陌生的地区。我们的计划野心十足：包括在十天内健行五十哩，行经岛上西部的高峰和雨林，以及浪潮拍岸的东部沿岸。

 

Surprise around every corner  转角处处有惊奇

 

Quamby Estate, our lodging for the first night, was as elegant a place as we had ever stayed, so it surprised us when the son of the owner offered to show us the convict quarters. We would soon realize that nothing in Tasmania is ever quite what it seems.

匡比庄园是我们第一晚下榻之处，和我们住过的其他地方相比，它的优雅毫不逊色，因此当庄园主人的儿子提议带我们去看昔日罪犯的住宿处时，我们都很惊讶。我们很快就了解到，在塔斯马尼亚，事情往往和表面上所见不尽相符。

 

In the early decades of the 19th century when Quamby was built, Tasmania was called Van Diemen’s Land, and nearly half the felons transported to Australia ended up in this farthest-flung corner of the British Empire. Once the “transportation” ended, Tasmania became Tasmania, and its citizens went from feeling shame over this chapter of their past to accepting it as their heritage.

匡比庄园建于十九世纪初的数十年间，当时塔斯马尼亚被称为「范迪门之地」（译注：因当年荷兰探险家Abel Tasman发现该岛后，便以荷属东印度群岛总督Anthony van Diemen来命名，但英国殖民后又改名为塔斯马尼亚），被移送到澳洲的重刑犯中，有近半数落脚在这大英帝国偏远的一隅。当「遣送」罪犯的行动终止时，塔斯马尼亚就成了今日的塔斯马尼亚，而原本以这段过去为耻的居民，也变得接受了这段历史传承。

 

So far from home, the early settlers tried to shape this country into something they might recognize – even if it meant waging war against the Aborigines and tearing down the forests. Yet the island still spoke its mind. The sun, the moon and the tides were the same, but there were trees that shed bark, not leaves; strange animals that roamed at night; and a wilderness too encompassing to destroy.

早期的移民因为远离了家乡，因此就试着将这块土地形塑成他们熟悉的模样──即便是要与当地原住民作战，另外还得铲除森林。然而这座岛屿仍把自己坦然表露无遗（译注：speak one’s mind原指直言不讳，但用在此处是把岛屿拟人化的比喻性用法）。太阳、月亮、潮汐还是一样，但有的树掉的是树皮，而不是叶子；奇异的动物在夜晚徘徊；整个野地太广大了，无法摧毁。

 

That evening we walked the grounds and watched lightning in the west streak across the night sky, illuminating the piles of clouds that had built up over the mountains. We slept restlessly to the sounds of the wind, the distant storm and owls calling through the trees.

那天晚上我们在庭园散步，望着西边的闪电划过夜空，照亮堆积在山头的云层。夜里我们辗转反侧，陪伴的是风声、远处的暴风雨声，还有穿透树丛的猫头鹰叫声。

 

 

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convict [ˋkɑnvɪkt] n.【律】（服刑的）囚犯，已决犯

wave-tossed 被浪潮冲打的；被海水冲刷的 awash

lodging [ˋlɑdʒɪŋ] n. 住所，寓所

offer [ˋɔfɚ] v. 提议[Y][+to-v]

felon [ˋfɛlən] n. 重罪犯  a person who is guilty of a serious crime

fling [flɪŋ] v.（用力地）扔，掷，抛，丢(pt :flung)

shame [ʃem] v & n. 羞辱，耻辱

aborigine [æbəˋrɪdʒəni] n. 土著居民   a member of any of the groups of people who first lived in Australia

tear down 拆毁 to demolish

speak one’s mind 坦率地说出自己的想法 to say exactly what one think or feel

encompassing [ɪnˋkʌmpəsɪŋ] adj. 包罗万象的

streak [strik] v. 疾驶，闪现，飞奔

illuminate [ɪˋlumə͵net] v. 照亮；照射

 

 

 

 

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Walking the Overland Track  跨越陆路的纵走

 

The first thing you need to know about bushwalking is not to be afraid of the mud, and there is plenty of mud on the Overland Track. We hit it on the second day.

丛林健行的第一条守则是，不能怕泥巴。我们在第二天抵达「跨越陆路的路线」，而这条路线泥巴处处。

 

Twenty-four hours earlier, after breakfast and introductions, [travel company] Anthology had shuttled us – 10 strangers and two guides – to the trailhead. Stretching almost 50 miles from the island’s most iconic peak to Australia’s deepest lake, the Overland Track crosses the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park and is one of the premier hiking circuits in the Southern Hemisphere.

二十四小时之前，我们吃完早餐，听完简介，文选旅行社把我们──十名陌生人与两名导游──载到路线起点。「跨越陆路的路线」从岛上最具代表性的山巅绵延近五十哩至澳洲最深的湖泊，跨越摇篮山-圣克莱尔湖国家公园，是南半球首选的健行路线之一。

 

We shouldered our backpacks and covered 7 1/2 miles, stopping in early evening at one of the six huts Anthology owns in the park. The sun had been bright and clear and hot, but that night the clouds poured in, nothing more than a mild storm front from the Southern Ocean.

我们背上背包，走了七哩半的路，在傍晚时到达文选旅行社的小屋．旅行社在公园里有六间小屋。太阳本来既明亮又炎热，到了晚上却乌云密布，原来是一道从南冰洋来的小型暴风雨锋面所导致。

 

One day, four seasons  一日四季的体验

 

They say you can experience four seasons in one day in western Tasmania, and we weren’t far-off. The next morning we were hit with a pelting mist. Gusts of wind blew us sideway. But the discomforts of the trail disappeared amid the vistas and tableaux: tall dolerite peaks jutting over forested valleys and alpine plateau, ancient forests unfolding in carpets of imperial green.

据说在塔斯马尼亚西部可以在一天内历经四季，而我们的体验也差不多。次日早上大雾突然来袭，阵风将我们吹得东倒西歪。但路上的不适消失在一片如画美景中：高耸的粗粒玄武岩峰顶突出于林木密布的山谷与高山台地之上，古老森林在遍地的蔓绿绒（译注：植物名）中开展。

 

Side trips became our diversions, a chance for some to explore an abandoned copper mine, a series of waterfalls and, on one sun-brightened afternoon, Mt. Ossa, the highest peak on the island at 5,295 feet.

附带的行程成了我们的余兴节目，让一些人有机会去探索废弃的铜矿坑、连串瀑布，还在一个艳阳高照的午后，登上海拔五千两百九十五呎的岛上最高峰奥沙山。

 

But we were game. We carved through talus and threaded the Gates of Mordor, two spires of stone. From the summit we breathed deeply of our accomplishment, stunned by the sight of the Du Cane Range to the south rising and falling in a succession of valleys, glacier-carved more than 10,000 years ago.

但我们乐意接受挑战。我们艰苦地在碎石堆中跋涉，又穿越两座石锥形成的摩多之门（译注：小说《魔戒》中通往邪恶之地摩多的防御之门，此处引喻为路程艰险之意），然后在山顶上深深品味我们的成就，并震慑于南边杜甘山脉的景观，山峰在超过一万年前由冰河侵凿而成的连串山谷间起伏。

 

 

单词发音

 

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overland [ˋovɚ͵lænd] adj. 陆路的；陆上的；横越大陆的

bushwalking ['bʊʃˌwɔkɪŋ] n. 丛林步行; 丛林徒步旅行 walking through Australia’s rural areas, which are mostly grassless and wooded

anthology [ænˋθɑlədʒɪ] n. 名诗选集；名言集；文选

shuttle [ˋʃʌt!] v. 往返运送

trailhead [ˈtrelˌhed] n. 小道的起点

hut [hʌt] n.（简陋的）小屋

nothing more than 仅仅, 只不过 simply, merely

front [frʌnt] n.【气】锋

far-off [ˋfɑrˋɔf] adj. (距离)远的，遥远的 at a great distance, absolutely or relatively.

gust [gʌst] n. 一阵强风（或狂风）

sideway [ˋsaɪd͵we] adv. 向旁边；斜地里；向侧面地

vista [ˋvɪstə] n.（从两排树木或房屋等中间看出去的）狭长的景色；远景

tableau [ˋtæblo] n. 引人入胜的场面 tableaux (pl.)

dolerite [ˋdɑlə͵raɪt] n.【矿】【英】辉绿岩；粗粒玄武岩

carpet [ˋkɑrpɪt] n. 地毯状覆盖物

game [gem] adj. 情愿的，对……有意的

talus [ˋteləs] n.【地】碎石堆   a sloping mass of rock fragments that have accumulated at the base of a cliff

thread [θrɛd] v. 通，通过；穿过[（+with/through）]

spire [spaɪr] n. 尖塔；尖顶；锥形体

succession [səkˋsɛʃən] n. 一连串，一系列

 

 

 

 

 

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The Bay of Fires  火焰湾

 

In 2008, Lonely Planet had pulled out all the stops topraise these secluded beaches on Tasmania’s east coast as among the 10 best destinations.

《寂寞星球》曾在二００八年千挑万选出（译注：pull out all the stops指尽最大努力、竭尽全力）塔斯马尼亚东岸僻静的海滩，盛赞它是十大最佳旅游景点之一。

 

More than 200 years ago, an English navigator named the region “Bay of Fires” for the pyres set burning by the Aborigines along the coast. Estimates put their population between 5,000 and 6,000, and in less than one generation upon the arrival of the English, they were killed off or removed.

两百多年以前，一位英国航海探险家将这个地区命名为「火焰湾」，因为原住民在沿岸堆柴生火。据估计当时原住民约有五千至六千人，结果英国人来临后不到一个世代，这些原住民不是被杀就是迁徙了。

 

Today these crescents of sand are empty. We walked slowly across them. To the left was the ocean, a thousand shades of blue, and to the right, bluffs held tight by marram grass and coastal heath.

如今这些弦月形的沙堆已空无一物。我们慢慢走过它们，左手边的大海呈现千变万化的蓝色，右手边则耸立着滨草及海岸石南丛生的峭壁。

 

The next day, we became experts in deciphering the mysteries of sea foam, wandering among the jetsam of bull kelp and jellyfish, exploring the hieroglyphic trails of birds and animals left in the dry inland sand.

次日我们变成解读海浪泡沫秘密的专家，在巨藻及水母的残骸间漫步，探索鸟儿和动物在离岸干燥沙地上留下的宛如象形文字的足迹。

 

Aquatic adventures on our final day  最后一天的水上探险

 

The sun sparkled off the water. Some of us decided to go swimming. Lost in the aquamarine water, I saw a dark shadow move beneath the waves. I didn’t know whether to swim or to run.

水面上阳光闪耀，有些人决定去游泳。置身在蓝蓝的茫茫大海上，我看到一个黑影在波涛下移动，不知道是该游还是该逃。

 

But nothing in Tasmania is ever exactly as it seems, and a black dorsal fin broke the surface and disappeared, a bottlenose dolphin, then a pod, lingering for a moment just beyond the break.

然而在塔斯马尼亚，没有一件事情和表面上看起来一模一样。一道黑色背鳍划破水面然后消失无踪，先是一条瓶鼻海豚，后来又来了一小群，在离水面划破处不远徘徊了片刻。

 

Later on the shore, I lay in the sand and stared into the blue sky. For nearly two weeks we had wandered Tasmania’s mountains, rain forests and beaches, and with each step we had fallen back in time. The evidence of creation and discovery surrounded us. We were exhausted and exhilarated.

后来在岸上，我躺在沙滩上望向蓝天。我们在将近两星期的时间里，漫游过塔斯马尼亚的高山、雨林及海滩，每一刻都带我们深入通往过去的时光隧道。造物及发现的证据围绕着我们。我们既精疲力尽，又精神振奋。

 

“Everyone has a preconceived notionof where they need to go and where they need to be,” said one local man. “Here in Tassie, we just follow the wind.”

「每个人对自己应该去哪里和应该在哪里都胸有定见，」一名当地人这么说：「但在塔斯马尼亚，我们跟着风走就对了。」

 

−by Thomas Curwen

 

 

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pull out all the stops【口】竭尽全力; 全力以赴 to do everything you can to make something successful

secluded [sɪˋkludɪd] adj. 与世隔绝的；隐退的，隐居的

navigator [ˋnævə͵getɚ] n. 航海者；航海探险家

pyre [ˋpaɪr] n.（尤指火葬用的）柴堆

kill off 杀光；灭绝 to destroy in such large numbers as to render extinct

crescent [ˋkrɛsnt] n. 新月状物

shade [ʃed] n.（色彩的）浓淡，色度

bluff [blʌf] n. 陡岸；悬崖，峭壁 a steep headland, promontory, riverbank, or cliff

marram [ˋmærəm] n.【植】滨草

heath [hiθ] n.【植】石南，石南植物

jetsam [ˋdʒɛtsəm] n. 漂流到海岸的货物(引申为残骸) pieces of broken wood and other waste materials found floating on the sea

bull [bʊl] adj. 大号的

kelp [kɛlp] n. 海草；巨藻

hieroglyphic [͵haɪərəˋglɪfɪk] adj. 象形文字的; 难解的  referring to a system of writing which uses pictures instead of word 

inland [ˋɪnlənd] adj. 内地的，内陆的

sparkle [ˋspɑrk!] v. 使发光；使闪耀

aquamarine [͵ækwəməˋrin] adj. 浅蓝色的

dorsal [ˋdɔrs!] adj. 背部的；背侧的

bottlenose [ˋbɑt!͵noz] n. 宽吻海豚

pod [pɑd] n.（海豹、鲸等的）一小群[C][（+of）]

lingering [ˋlɪŋgərɪŋ] adj. 逗留不去的

preconceived [͵prikənˋsivd] adj. 已先入为主的，已有成见的

Tassie <澳口>塔斯马尼亚岛 the colloquial expression of Tasmania

 

 

 

单词发音

 

Vocabulary Focus

quarter [ˋkwɔrtɚ] n. 住处；军营 a room or house that has been provided, especially for servants or soldiers and their families, to live in

wage [wedʒ] v. 进行，从事[（+on/against）] to fight a war

iconic [aɪˋkɑnɪk] adj. 标志性的 having the characteristics of something very famous

pelting [ˋpɛltɪŋ] adj.（雨等）急降的，猛落的 referring to something happening rapidly and in an unceasing manner

jut [dʒʌt] v. 突出；伸出 to stick out, especially above or past the edge or surface of something

diversion [daɪˋvɝʒən] n. 娱乐，消遣 an activity done for entertainment

decipher [dɪˋsaɪfɚ] v. 破解（密码等）to discover the meaning of something written badly or in a difficult or hidden way

exhilarated [ɪgˋzɪlə͵retɪd] adj. 高兴的；兴奋的 very excited and happy

preconceived notion 胸有定见 an idea or an opinion formed too early, especially without enough thought or knowledge

 

 

The Overland Track, Tasmania Australia (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

 

 

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park