对宇宙的好奇,对未知的探求一直驱使着人类进行各种各样的探险活动。目前,人类已经完成了许多重大的探险活动,诸如阿波罗登月、到达南极和登上珠穆朗玛峰等。这些壮举改变了人类的世界观,拓展了人类的视野,让人类想要“站得更高,看得更远”!苍茫大地,浩瀚宇宙,的确仍有许多领域有待人类前去探索。下面就一起来看看美国Times 杂志盘点的人类正计划完成的十大探险活动,哪些是你最为期待的呢?
文字难度：★★★☆
1) Marianas Trench in the South Pacific
The deepest point of the world’s oceans, the Mariana Trench, could swallow 2)Mount Everest whole with more than a mile 3)to spare. In 1960, U.S. Navy 4)Lieutenant Don Walsh and Jacques Picard in the 5)bathyscaph “Trieste” reached the bottom of the Trench at 35,840 feet deep. The vessel spent barely 20 minutes on the ocean floor, and only unmanned vessels have been back since. While man’s desire to explore the earth’s bottom is just as great as reaching its top, the ocean floor is no mere curiosity. Previously unknown organisms that can survive extreme pressures and utter darkness could be uncovered, and the Trench could yield new insights into 6)plate tectonics and earthquakes. It’s no exaggeration: four-fifths of the Earth remains largely unexplored and the Mariana Trench is the planet’s deepest mystery.
探测南太平洋马里亚纳海沟
世界所有大洋的最深处就在马里亚纳海沟。就是将喜马拉雅山整个沉入沟底,珠穆朗玛峰峰顶距离海面也还有一英里(约1.6公里)多的距离。1960年,美国海军上尉唐·沃尔什和雅克·皮卡德乘坐的里雅斯特号深海潜测艇到达了35840英尺(约11千米)深的海沟底部。潜艇在海底只待了不到20分钟,在那之后,能到那里探测而成功归来的就只有无人驾驶的潜艇了。尽管人类探测地球之底的欲望与登上世界之巅的一样强烈,但想要到达大洋底部单靠强烈的好奇心还远远不够。人们可能会发现一些此前不为人知的能在极度高压和全然黑暗中生存的生物,而且海沟底部可能会给板块构造与地震研究提供新的视角。毫不夸张地说:地球的五分之四还没有被勘探,而马里亚纳海沟就是这其中最神秘的地方。
7)Extraterrestrial Communication
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project at the University of California is just one of countless endeavors continuously scanning 8)optical, 9)infrared and radio frequencies for signals from distant civilizations in space. Since 1999, more than five million computer users have run the SETI@Home program that recycles unused computing power to analyze data collected from 10)radio telescopes. 11)The International Academy of Astronautics already has established a 12)standing committee to advise political leaders what to do if someone discovers a signal from 13)ET. A confirmed message from another civilization would utterly transform society, taking the planet on an unprecedented journey into the unknown.
接触外星人
加州大学的“外星生物探索工程”(SETI)只不过是人类无数实践中的一个——这一工程包括持续通过扫描光谱、红外线和无线电来探寻遥远文明存在的痕迹。1999年以来,五百多万计算机用户在家用电脑上运行了“SETI@Home”计划,这一计划通过使用家用电脑上闲置的运算能力来分析射电望远镜收集到的信号。国际宇航科学院已经设立了一个常务委员会,来指导各国政治领导人在发现来自外星人的信号后该做些什么。来自外星球的确认回复会从根本上改变我们的社会,并带领我们的星球走上一段不可预知的旅程。
The Darién Gap
If you’ve ever dreamed of driving a car the length of the American continent from Alaska to Chile, you’re out of luck. Near the Panama-14)Colombia border, the 15)Pan-American Highway suddenly ends at the Darién Gap, one of the most remote and inaccessible areas in the Western Hemisphere. The Gap is an 16)untamed wilderness of jungle and 17)swampland with no road infrastructure whatsoever, and it’s officially 18)off-limits to foreign travelers. The Gap also 19)features the crocodile and snake 20)infested Great Atrato Swamp, one of the last 21)uncharted regions on the planet. Oh, and if you’re going, 22)watch out for Colombian rebel groups, who have been known to kidnap would-be adventurers and hold them for ransom. Happy travels!
达连地堑
如果你想一路驾车从阿拉斯加前往智利,那你就要失望了。在接近巴拿马和哥伦比亚边界的地区,泛美高速公路忽然终止于达连地堑——西半球最遥不可及的地区之一。这里是一片未被征服的野生丛林沼泽地,里面既没有道路,也没有任何基础设施,对外国游客来说更是可望而不可及的禁区。地堑里还包括有大批鳄鱼和毒蛇出没的大阿特拉脱沼泽——地球上最后的未知区域之一。哦,如果你要去那里,要小心哥伦比亚反政府组织,他们喜欢绑架那些想前往此地冒险的人并索要赎金。祝你一路顺风!
Deep Earth Exploration
The planet’s interior remains almost as much a mystery as it was when 23)Jules Verne wrote A Journey to the Center of the Earth. The deepest hole ever drilled is the 8-mile deep Kola Superdeep 24)Borehole in Russia, a modest achievement considering that the distance to the Earth’s center is nearly 4,000 miles. Deep Earth holds information that could make earthquake and 25)tsunami prediction a credible science as well as yield new insights into historic climate changes. But human exploration of the Earth’s interior will have to wait until technology can allow adventurers to survive the 26)searing heat and crushing pressure of Deep Earth.
地心之旅
地球的内部现在仍然和儒勒·凡尔纳写《地心游记》时一样神秘莫测。目前在地球表面上钻孔最深的记录是俄罗斯8英里(约13千米)深的科拉超深孔。考虑到从地表到地心的距离大概有4000英里(约6437千米),这点深度实在算不上什么成就。地球内部深处储存的信息可以让地震和海啸预测成为一门可信度高的科学,也将为对全球气候变化的研究提供新的视角。但要等到人类的技术发展到能帮助探险人员经受住高温与超高压的考验后,对地球内部的探索才能成为可能。
Northeast 27)Greenland
Zoom in on Google Earth’s satellite image of Greenland and this message pops up: “We are sorry, but we don’t have imagery at this zoom level for this region.” Large sections of northeast Greenland remain unexplored, mainly because accessing the region is so expensive. There are mountains in Greenland’s Watkins range that have never been climbed; some peaks don’t even have names. New islands off the coast of Greenland are still being discovered as huge blocks of 28)glacial ice break away. Greenland also happens to offer a front row seat to the effects of global warming; ice is crumbling off the edge of the island at a rate of 20 billion tons a year, raising sea levels worldwide.
格陵兰岛东北部
将“谷歌地球”的卫星地图拉到格陵兰岛然后放大,这时会突然弹出一条信息:“很抱歉,这一地区没有这种放大比例的图片。”格陵兰岛东北部的大片地区仍然没有被探测过,这主要是由于要到达这一地区成本实在是太高。格陵兰岛沃特金斯地区的山脉从来没有被攀登过;有些山峰甚至连名字都没有。随着冰川巨块的崩解,格陵兰岛的海岸线上还不时有新的岛屿被发现。格陵兰岛也是观测全球变暖影响的前哨站;每年格陵兰岛边缘崩塌的冰川达到200亿吨,全球海平面高度因而进一步上升。
29)Subglacial Antarctica
We haven’t really been to Antarctica, we’ve only walked on top of the vast sheet of ice covering the continent. The interesting stuff is hidden beneath the two-mile thick continental 30)ice sheet. We know from satellite images that the world’s second largest lake lies beneath the Antarctic ice, as well as wide rivers, stony hollows, and 31)soggy land. Antarctica features a vast network of subglacial waterways that that could contain previously unknown forms of life. A team of Russian scientists is currently drilling through the ice sheet in an effort to take samples from one of the largest subglacial bodies of water, Lake Vostok. Finding a way to get a human explorer under the ice will be considerably more challenging, but just as there was a race to the Antarctic in the early 1900s, there may well be a race underneath the Antarctic in the future.
冰川覆盖的南极洲
我们并没有真正的到过南极洲,我们只是在覆盖于南极大陆表面的大片冰川上行走过。有趣的东西都藏在两英里(约3千米)厚的大陆冰原下面。我们通过卫星图片得知,世界第二大湖就在南极洲的冰层下面,冰层下还有大河、石洞、以及沼泽地。南极洲的冰层下存在着庞大的水系,里面可能存在着未知的生命形式。一组俄国科学家最近正在最大的一块大陆冰川——沃斯托克湖冰川上进行钻探并试图提取样本。想出方法将探险者送进冰层之下则更具挑战性,但正如20世纪早期大家争相到南极探险那样,未来在南极冰层下探险可能也会形成一场竞赛。
Time Travel
It’s 32)a long shot, but some of the world’s top physicists don’t think time travel is impossible. Einstein’s 33)special theory of relativity combines space and time into a single entity, space-time, which does not prohibit the notion. 34)Stephen Hawking has proposed using 35)wormholes to connect our universe with an infinite number of parallel universes, while others have 36)advanced 37)black holes or 38)cosmic strings as possible time-travel 39)portals. Of course, just because the laws of physics don’t prohibit time travel doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. But a journey in time would be the ultimate adventure, an utterly transformative experience for the universe.
时间旅行
这是一件成功希望不大的事,但一些世界顶尖的物理学家并不认为时间旅行不可行。爱因斯坦的狭义相对论将空间和时间结合成了一个整体——时空,它并不排除“时间旅行”这一想法的可能性。斯蒂芬·霍金认为可以通过虫洞将我们的宇宙和其他平行宇宙连接起来,其他科学家则提出黑洞和宇宙弦可作为时间旅行的门户。当然,物理法则不排除时间旅行的可能性并不意味着时间旅行就可以马上实现。但是时间旅行一旦实现将成为终极的探险,成为宇宙中一种极具变革意义的体验。
小链接：十大最具突破性的探险 The 10 Most Groundbreaking Adventures
1. 1969年，阿波罗十一号登上月球。
2. 1911年，英国人斯科特和挪威人阿蒙森比赛谁先到达南极点，最后阿蒙森带领的小队成功了，而斯科特及其同伴则死于探险途中。
3. 1953年，新西兰人埃德蒙·希拉里征服珠穆朗玛峰。
4. 1835年，博物学家查尔斯·达尔文乘坐皇家海军小猎犬号探索加拉帕克斯群岛——一串横跨赤道远离大陆的火山群岛。
5. 1927年，美国飞行英雄查尔斯·林德伯格独自飞跃大西洋。
6. 1961年，前苏联宇航员尤里·加加林飞上太空。
7. 1909年，美国海军的一位机械师罗伯特·皮尔利到达北极点。
8. 1947年，挪威人类学家托尔·海尔达尔用麻绳捆绑西印度轻木建造了一艘简易的筏子（“太阳号”），从秘鲁卡拉俄港出发，航行了101天，最终到达波利尼西亚。
9. 1943年，瑞士科学家阿尔伯特·霍夫曼不小心在指尖粘了一点麦角酸二乙基酰胺，在不到一小时的时间里，他看到“一连串不连续的奇异画面，各种出奇怪异的图形和千变万化的颜色”，从而进行了一次意料之外的“迷幻剂之旅”。
10. 1875年，27岁的前英国海军军官马修·韦伯上尉横渡英吉利海峡。
