Two weeks later, when I joined him in Mulu, that faith had been tempered. The expedition was divided into three main teams. Two of them searched for new passages in a remote area of the rainforest while the third, called the "connection team," pored over maps, looking for spots where different cave systems might be linked.
两周后,当我来到姆鲁跟他们一起探险时,艾维斯的自信大打折扣。大家分成三队,两队在雨林偏远处寻找新的通道,第三支队伍是“连接队”,负责仔细查看地图,并寻找可能连接不同洞穴系统的地点。
So far, Eavis said, the pace of discovery had been slow and the holy grail of connections -- the one Frank and Cookie would later probe for -- had eluded them. Eavis acknowledged disappointment, but his teams still had found more than seven miles of fresh passage, and more lay ahead.
艾维斯表示,到目前为止,探索的步伐十分缓慢,寻找连接处(也就是弗兰克和库奇后来去寻找的那个连接处)这一伟大目标也很难实现。虽然艾维斯对此很失望,但他的团队还是找到了超过七英里长的新通道,并且前方还会有更多的通道。
The morning after my arrival I joined Eavis and a small crew headed for a cave called Gua Nasib Bagus -- the Good Luck Cave -- which holds the otherworldly Sarawak Chamber. Eavis, with other British explorers, had discovered the cave and the chamber in 1981, by following a river into the side of a mountain.
在我到达的那个早晨,我和艾维斯,还有一支小队去了一个名叫幸运洞的洞穴,里面有超自然的砂拉越洞穴。1981年,艾维斯和其他英国探险者顺着流进侧山的河流,发现了幸运洞和砂拉越洞穴。
After climbing, pulling, and crawling upstream for hours, the cavers arrived at a still, calm place where the river vanished into the earth. The men unfurled measuring tapes and began surveying into the gloom, expecting to reach the rear wall soon.
在向上攀爬拉拽了几小时后,探险者们到达了一个宁静祥和的地方,在那里,河流流进了土壤。队员们拉出卷尺,开始在昏暗中勘察,希望尽快抵达后墙。