2010年6月11日,第十九届世界杯足球赛决赛周将在南非的九个城市的十座球场举行。本届世界杯是首次在非洲举行的世界杯比赛,共有来自世界各地的32支球队参加赛事,将进行64场比赛来决出冠军队伍。不论你身处何方,也不论你是不是足球迷,这个六月,世界的目光将聚焦南非——一个被誉为“黄金之国”的国度。除了感受世界杯的火热激情外,我们还可以跟随本文作者一起开启一次南非之旅,去领略它的多姿多彩和无穷魅力!
文字难度：★★★☆
Within minutes of pulling out of 1)Johannesburg airport on to the motorway heading north, I am hit by a sense of freedom as powerful as the warm air flooding through the window. The wide open plains of the 2)Highveld stretch to the horizon, with the occasional tree among the tall, 3)blanched grass. 4)Paul Simon’s Graceland is playing on the stereo, cliché I admit, but every road trip needs a soundtrack, and nothing could fit the mood better.
从约翰内斯堡机场出来,车子沿着高速公路向北行驶不一会儿,一股如从窗外涌进的暖和空气般强烈的自由感向我袭来。高地草原上那宽广的平原延伸至地平线,那些高而发白的草中不时冒出一棵树。车内音响正播着保罗·西蒙的《雅园》,我承认这首歌很老土,但每段路程都需要伴有一首歌,没有别的歌更符合那时的心情了。
Our first stop is Cybele Forest Lodge, a5)retreat 6)tucked away on 300 acres of dense forest. It is only a three-hour drive from Johannesburg but the scenery is dramatically different, with deep green woodland and rivers and lakes replacing the arid grasslands. We pull into the drive and park under a large 7)turpentine tree that reaches across the courtyard. Inside, the lodge walls are painted in red; antiques are scattered around the rooms and heavy rugs on the old farmhouse’s stone floor. In the morning, we wake up late and have a lazy breakfast in the shade of the 8)bright purple9)jacaranda tree as butterflies dance around us.
我们的第一个落脚点是西布莉森林度假酒店—— 一个隐藏在300英亩浓密森林中的幽静之地。它距离约翰内斯堡不过三个小时的车程,但景致却极其不同,葱郁的林地以及河流、湖泊取代了贫瘠的草原。我们把车停在一颗巨松下,它的枝丫伸向了整个庭院。酒店里的墙被刷成红色,房间里分散摆设着古董,老农舍式的石板地上铺着厚重的地毯。早上,我们醒来得比较晚,在茂盛的紫蓝花楹树的树阴下慵懒地用餐,蝴蝶绕着我们飞舞。
After two nights we reluctantly leave this 10)blissful retreat to head for 11)Kruger National Park. It has the advantage of being home to the Big Five—lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, and 12)rhino—which not all parks offer and certainly not in such numbers. I’m particularly keen to see leopards and have chosen to stay at Tinga Lodge, which is in an area with the highest recorded density of the predator in Africa. Getting out of the huge, elephant-sized bed for the early morning 13)game drive is not easy. Frankie, our guide, claps his hands together like a football coach, encouraging us with the news that he has a good feeling about this morning. He’s not wrong. We see 14)plodding elephants, giraffes 15)nibbling on trees, a lioness with her 16)cubs tumbling around in the long grass and even wild dogs, which are rarely seen. But Frankie saves the best for last, spotting a leopard up a tree. It takes me a few moments to place it but when I do I find its face, and its eyes, yellow-green and piercing, looking right back at me. After some time, sitting 17)nonchalantly looking back at us, it rises elegantly, pauses, then 18)bounds effortlessly down the trunk before disappearing into the bush.
住了两晚后,我们依依不舍地离开了这个让人无比享受的幽静之地,前往克鲁格国家公园。其优势就在于那里住着五大野生动物——狮子、大象、花豹、非洲水牛和犀牛——并非在所有公园里都能看到这些动物,即使能看到,数量也肯定没这么庞大。我特别渴望看看豹,于是选择住进庭加酒店,这个酒店地处非洲食肉动物数量密度最大的一个地区。一大早从如大象体积般巨大的床上爬起来精神抖擞的驾车去看动物并不是件易事。我们的导游弗兰克像个足球教练般拍手催促我们,说他今早有种好的预感。他说的没错。我们看到了大象迈着沉重缓慢的步伐走着,长颈鹿啃着树上的叶子,一头母狮带着她的幼狮在长草中四处翻滚,甚至还看到了罕见的野狗。但弗兰克把最精彩一幕留到最后才揭盅——他指着树上的一头花豹。我好一阵才反应过来,顺着他所指之处望去,但当我终于发现它的脸孔时,它那黄绿色的双眼正回头盯着我看,眼神凌厉。过了一会,它坐下来,冷漠地回头看着我们,然后优雅地起身停顿了一会儿,接着毫不费力地跳下树干,消失在灌木丛里。
It’s a surprise to wake up to the sound of rain on our 19)deck, but it clears by the time we set off on our long journey to Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse in the 20)Drakensberg Mountains. For large 21)stretches of the journey there is very little traffic on the road, which takes us from the north to the heart of South Africa, across countryside that seems to change constantly. It reminds us of the flat 22)landscape of Holland one minute and the rolling hills of 23)Tuscany the next. At last, after 10 hours of driving, we reach the farmhouse. The air is 24)crisp and chilly, but our cottage is25)toasty and there is a bottle of sherry waiting for us. In the morning, I open our door and am hit by the magnificence of the Drakensberg Mountains. Named “mountains of the dragon” by the original settlers, they smoke with clouds that swirl above them. With a six-26)course dinner to come, my wife, Jules, suggests some exercise would not be a bad idea so we decide to climb the mountain. The only problem, which hits me halfway up as I get stuck in the 27)boggy bank of a stream, is that my 28)deck shoes are made for boats rather than mountains. But eventually we reach the summit from where we can see across to other ranges, mighty and awe-inspiring.
醒来听到从我们露台那传来的雨声时,我们很是吃惊。但当我们展开前往位于德拉肯斯堡山脉的克利奥帕特拉山林农庄的漫长旅程时,雨已经停了。从北部驶往南非中心地带的大半行程中,我们很少看见车辆。车子驶过乡野时,景致变换不断,这会儿让我想起荷兰平坦的地势,那会儿又让我想起意大利托斯卡纳那起伏的丘陵。最后,行驶了10个小时后,我们到达了那个农庄。空气干爽而寒冷,但我们的住处暖和舒适,还有一瓶雪利酒等着我们。清晨,我打开房门,被德拉肯斯堡山脉的宏伟庄严惊呆了。最早聚居于此的人们称之为“龙山”,一脉峰岭弥漫在烟霭中,其上空更有流云飞旋。吃下一顿含有六道菜的午餐后,妻子朱尔斯提议做些运动,这主意不错,于是我们决定去登山。爬山途中,当我的脚陷进溪流边上的泥沼时,唯一困扰我的是我的帆布平底鞋只适合在船上穿,而不适合用来登山。但我们最终到达了山顶,在那上面,我们看到了其他山脉,气势磅礴,让人油然心生敬畏之情。
Leaving the lodge is a 29)wrench, but after the mountains and tranquility of the Drakensberg we head for the sea and excitement of 30)Cape Town. We are staying just outside 31)Hout Bay, a fishing village that hums to the noise of idle chatter in the cafés and boats 32)rattling in the harbor. A few streets back from the powdery white beach, the road curves around up to 33)Chapman’s Peak, which offers stunning views across the bay towards 34)the Sentinel, a rock that 35)juts out like the horn of a rhinoceros. At night, we can hear the ocean lapping against the shoreline.
离开那个农庄也是件让人难过的事,但看过德拉肯斯堡山脉,感受过其宁静后,我们出发前往开普敦,感受那边的壮阔海景和热闹纷呈。我们就住在豪特湾外围的一个渔村里,这里充斥着咖啡馆里人们闲谈时汇集而成的嘈杂声以及港口渔船的鸣响。与细白流沙覆盖的海滩相隔几条街外,一条弯弯曲曲的小路通往查普曼峰,在那上面,你可以看到从海湾至像犀牛角般突出的哨兵岩那整片壮观的景象。夜晚,我们可以听到海浪拍岸的声音。
Easy though it is to lose track of time here, we 36)retire at a decent hour as I have planned a small tour of the wine-lands and don’t fancy doing this with a 37)hangover. Starting out along the leafy avenues in 38)Constantia, we drive first to the large, traditional farms, such as Rustenburg in 39)Stellenbosch, with their 40)Cape Dutch architecture. Then on to Tokara, a more modern 41)winery that overlooks a 42)vista of breathtaking beauty—perfectly lined rows of vines cover the slopes of 43)purple-tinged mountains that 44)tower over the countryside.
尽管在这里,我们丧失了时间的概念,但我们晚上并不晚睡,因为我计划了一次葡萄园短途旅行,我可不喜欢以宿醉状态去度过这段旅程。我们沿着康斯坦莎树叶茂密的林荫大道出发,先驾车去那些大型的传统农场,比如斯泰伦博斯的勒斯滕堡,里面有开普荷兰式建筑。接着去了托卡拉——一个更为现代的葡萄酒酿造厂,从那可以俯瞰一片醉人景象——一行行排列极其整齐的葡萄树覆盖着耸立在乡野之上的淡紫色山脉坡地。
Back in the car, we begin our long journey into the 45)Cederberg Mountains. 46)Craggy and sharp, they cut across the arid landscape like broken teeth as we pass giant rust-colored47)boulders balanced 48)precariously on flat rocks. Dust swirls around us as we 49)negotiate the 50)potholes on the deserted road towards Bushman’s Kloof—a hotel made up of a series of Cape Dutch cottages in the middle of 18,000 acres of wilderness. By day, the landscape glows red with an ancient, almost mystic quality, and by night it is covered with the brightest stars I’ve ever seen, shimmering with a dazzling intensity.
回到车里,我们展开了前往塞德堡山脉的漫长旅程。这些崎岖险峻的山脉像断齿般横切贫瘠的土地,途中,我们看见扁平的岩石上有一些摇摇欲坠的深褐色巨石。在通往布须曼克鲁夫酒店幽僻的路上,我们驶过一个个坑洞,尘土飞扬。布须曼克鲁夫酒店位于占地18000英亩的荒野中央,由一群开普荷兰式小别墅组成。白天,那里的大地一片通红,带着一丝久远而近乎神秘的特质,而到了晚上,天空布满了我见过的最闪亮的星星,它们闪烁着耀眼的光芒,让人眼花缭乱。
After two weeks on the road, and more than 2,000 miles, we head for the airport. The car, once white, is now light brown, and is missing a 51)hubcap, while I’ve gained a few pounds, a52)taste for South African wine, and a love of this beautifully diverse country.
持续两周,行程2000多英里的旅行结束后,我们前往机场。曾经白净的车子如今蒙上了一层淡褐色的尘土,还弄丢了一个毂盖。而我则重了几磅,爱上了南非的葡萄酒,也爱上了这个景色多样的美丽国度。
