从智利骑往阿根廷 From Chile to Argentina by 1)Bike
阳春三月，春暖花开的日子，正是出游好时节！一直觉得旅行的魅力就在于可以暂时忘却一切喧嚣和烦恼，无拘无束地拥抱自己向往的那方风景，尽情享受那份行在路上的轻松自在……现在就让我们跟随本文的作者Mike一起骑上摩托车，畅游南美吧！本文虽生词较多，但语言优美，描写细致，值得细读一番！
We flew across the Chilean Altiplano until, like the world had been bleached, there lay ahead of us nothing but white. 2)Flamingos looked on. We passed through the Valley of the Moon as the light faded and the sun went through its 3)valedictions, washing the rocks 4)vermilion then gold then 5)ochre. In the distance, a string of cartoon volcanoes, perfect 6)calderas, and beyond, the High Andes, the brilliant white 7)bonnets fading to grey.
我们飞速穿越智利高原，直到天地间一片白茫茫，前面除却白色别无其他。火烈鸟在空中俯瞰着我们的车队。我们途经月亮谷，天色渐暗，白日依山，夕阳依次把山岩染成朱红、金色、赭色。远处是一排看似卡通画中的火山，完美的火山口清晰可见。在火山背后是高高耸立的安第斯山，其炽白色山冠在暮霭中已经转为灰色。
We rolled into 8)San Pedro de Atacama, kicking up a trail of dust. It’s the 9)Dodge City of one’s imagination, a 10)Paramount 11)backlot come to life, albeit with internet cafés and 12)poncho shops. Upon entering a door I was surprised to find that there was actually a restaurant beyond, and not just wooden 13)joists holding up the walls. We ordered some food. 14)Tamales and 15)llama steaks and beer that came in litre bottles. I was loving South America. In the middle of the room was an 16)open fire. Above it a large circular hole in the ceiling, through which we gazed at the stars like diamonds. I asked the waiter what happened when it rained. It doesn’t, he said.
我们驶进圣彼得阿卡塔马镇，扬起一路风尘。尽管街上有网吧和出售南美披风的商店，它仍是人们想象中存在于西部电影里的道奇城，现实生活中的派拉蒙影视公司的外景地。一进小镇我惊奇地发现居然有一家真正的餐馆，而不只是木梁撑起四面围墙。我们在餐馆里点了菜，墨西哥的玉米面团包馅卷、骆驼肉排和大杯的啤酒，我就此爱上了南美洲。餐室中间有一处篝火，上方的屋顶上开着一个大圆孔，透过圆孔我们可以仰望钻石般闪亮的星星。我问侍者要是下雨怎么办？他告诉我这儿不下雨。
Then we were off to Argentina. Climbing slowly at first, more llamas, then some weird-looking rabbits the size of 17)wallabies, and then some things that looked like 18)alpacas. Still climbing. Then suddenly there was nothing. No scrub, no cactus. Just an endless plain with the High Andes 19)cradling and 20)looming over it, like a 21)proscenium arch. The motorbike’s 22)console flashed alarmingly. Minus two. Minus four. Minus six. That’s the ground temperature. At 80 mph on a motorcycle it’s more like minus 30. I had my heated grips on, but I could have been clutching 23)vials of 24)magma and still I wouldn’t have felt them. Still, it could have been worse. To fight off 25)oedemas and to keep myself from slipping into a 26)hypothermic coma, I repeated my 27)mantra: “This is not a holiday it’s an adventure; this is not a holiday…” The border with Argentina lay somewhere up ahead. I just hoped that they had the blankets ready.
我们朝阿根廷进发，刚开始是缓慢的上坡路。骆驼更多了，随后看见一些长得怪模怪样的兔子，体形有小袋鼠那么大。再后来出现了些像羊驼的动物。继续上坡，突然到了一片荒芜的旷野：没有灌木丛，没有仙人掌。只有无边无际的平原，高大的安第斯山若隐若现，俯身环抱着草原，像个舞台拱幕。摩托车仪表盘上的警示灯亮了。零下2度、4度、6度，这只是地面温度，骑在以80英里时速行进的摩托车上，我感觉更像是零下30度了。我开了摩托车的电热握把，但这时双手即使握着两管滚烫岩浆，恐怕也没感觉了。更糟糕的事情随时可能发生。为了克服水肿，防止因体温过低而昏迷，我反复念着自创的咒语：“不是度假，是探险，不是度假……”阿根廷的边界就在前面了，我只希望有人给我们准备好了毯子。
Shortly, we were plunging down again, every 100-metre drop bringing air more 28)syrupy and rich; every degree of temperature raised bringing back the real prospect that one day I might be able to straighten my fingers again. We pulled over at a café for coffee. Having coffee in Argentina after being in Chile should be the first thing one does. For coffee in Chile means a 29)sachet of Nescafe and 30)tepid water producing a 31)lumpy 32)glop of extraordinary 33)vileness. While in Argentina, it involves a loving process of 34)alchemy with freshly crushed beans and warmed milk and an end product of such 35)ambrosial ecstasy that you instinctively close your eyes as it slides down your throat and sigh loudly.
很快我们就开始下山了，随着每下行100米，空气更稠密更充足，温度每提升一度，带给我更大的希望——总有那么一天我冻僵的手指能再伸直。我们在一家咖啡店停下来喝了一杯。到过智利以后，人们在阿根廷要做的第一件事恐怕就是品尝咖啡。因为在智利，咖啡就是一小袋雀巢速溶粉末加温水冲出来的粗糙的粘糊状液体，非常令人讨厌。而在阿根廷，咖啡的制作有这样一个充满爱意且充满魔力的过程：烧煮新鲜磨制的咖啡豆，然后加上温牛奶。出品的咖啡是如此美味的极品，你会不由自主地闭上眼睛，享受香浓的咖啡缓缓滑下咽喉的过程，然后大声发出心满意足的叹息。
We spent the next few days riding through northwest Argentina. First down 36)intestinal 37)tracts of roads—the kind of roads that fill bikers’ winter dreams—that wound their way around bald, crumpled hills that changed colour at every bend—green, pink, yellow, even 38)aquamarine—like your TV being 39)on the blink. Then along 40)arid valleys of sandstone, with fluted 41)columns like giant organ pipes and eroded rocks forming fantastical sculptures.
后来几天我们在阿根廷西北部穿行。起先沿着羊肠小道——骑手们冬日梦想中的路——这些小路沿着光秃扭曲的山蜿蜒前行，色彩随小路的每一道弯变幻着：苍绿、粉红、金黄、甚至海蓝，像电视坏了，屏幕上各色闪跳。然后车队来到了贫瘠的砂岩山谷，山壁上的凹状石柱像是巨大的管风琴的琴管，风蚀的山岩形成了巧夺天工的雕塑。
We rode along the Valley of the Butterflies, millions of them forming fluttering clouds that we passed through, like riding in a 42)kaleidoscope. Down from the mountains, we hit the plains. Mile after mile of vineyards, then brilliant yellow tobacco crops, their leaves drying on the walls of the 43)pueblos we passed through, each with a 44)whitewashed church and a dusty football pitch, the twin obsessions of Argentina. We rode along highways so straight and so long that a 20-degree bend constituted extreme sport; past the pigs and the horses and the donkeys and the chickens that seemed to wander around the 45)Pampas at will, as if Argentina was one giant 46)free-range farm.
我们沿着蝴蝶谷行驶，数以百万计的蝴蝶如翩然飘动的云朵，我们在云下穿行，像置身万花筒里。从山上下来就到了平原，可以看到连续数英里的葡萄园，然后是金黄遍野的烟草田。我们经过印地安人的房舍，墙上正晾晒着烟叶。每个村落都有外表用白涂料粉刷的教堂和尘土飞扬的足球场——宗教和足球，是阿根廷人如此着迷的两样东西。我们一路骑行的公路是如此笔直而漫长，一个20度的弯道对车手们来说已算是极限运动了。沿途有成群的猪、马、驴和鸡，似乎随意在潘帕斯草原上游走，好像阿根廷就是个无边无际的大农场似的。
My last day with the group was spent in 47)Alta Gracia. The day after they would be heading off to Buenos Aires, where they’d started their trip five weeks and 5,000 miles before. That night, as on every night in Argentina, we dined in a fine restaurant. The food was washed down, as ever, with wine that felt so 48)sublime on the tongue it seemed a crime to swallow it.
我和车队在一起度过的最后一天是在阿尔塔格拉西亚市。他们随后将去阿根廷首都布宜诺斯艾利斯。车队历时五星期，行驶5000英里的旅程就是在那里开始的。像在阿根廷的每个夜晚一样，当天夜里我们在一家上好的餐馆用餐。食物很快就被一扫而光，佳肴总是伴有美酒，那酒停留在你的舌头上，感觉如此上乘，你会感到把它咽下去是一种罪过。
The group talked about the trip, recalled the roads and the 49)spills and the 50)near misses and the things they had seen which would stay with them forever. For this had been an adventure, not a holiday; exposed and vulnerable on a bike, a part of the landscape through which you travel, it brings a real feeling of achievement, of movement, of survival. Driving a car is like watching a movie; riding a motorcycle is like being in one.
队友们谈论着一路行程，回忆起段段路途、一次次的摔跤、险里逃生的经历，以及所有那些他们将一辈子铭记在心的东西。这是一次真正的探险，而不是一般的度假，骑在摩托车上，整个人暴露无遗，容易受伤，你和脚下的路融合在一起，成为风景的一部分。探险带来了真正的成就感、动感和生存挑战感。开汽车像是在看电影，而骑摩托车则是身在电影中。
