万物简史 第333期:美丽而危险(16)

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　　The risks at Yellowstone apply to park employees as much as to visitors. 黄石公园对游客来说有危险，对公园雇员来说也同样有危险。

　　Doss got a horrific sense of that in his first week on the job five years earlier. 多斯5年前到这里来上班的第一个星期就有那种可怕的感觉。

　　Late one night, three young summer employees engaged in an illicit² activity known as "hot-potting"—swimming or basking³ in warm pools. 有一天深夜，3个年轻的夏季雇员干了一件非法活动，叫做“泡沙锅”——即在热水池里游泳或取暖。

　　Though the park, for obvious reasons, doesn't publicize it, not all the pools in Yellowstone are dangerously hot. 虽然园方由于显而易见的理由没有把情况公开，但黄石公园的水池不是个个都是滚烫的。

　　Some are extremely agreeable⁴ to lie in, 有一些你躺在里面简直惬意极了，

　　and it was the habit of some of the summer employees to have a dip late at night even though it was against the rules to do so. 部分夏季雇员有在深夜下去泡一泡的习惯，尽管这么做是违反规定的。

　　Foolishly the threesome had failed to take a flashlight, which was extremely dangerous  那3个人也真傻，没有带个手电筒；这是极其危险的，

　　because much of the soil around the warm pools is crusty and thin and one can easily fall through into a scalding vent⁵ below. 因为热水池周围的泥土结成了薄薄的一层硬壳，人很容易掉进下面灼烫的喷气孔。

　　In any case, as they made their way back to their dorm, they came across a stream that they had had to leap over earlier. 无论如何，他们在返回宿舍的途中，要跨越一条早先不得不跳过去的小溪。

　　They backed up a few paces, linked arms and, on the count of three, took a running jump. 他们后退几步，胳膊挽着胳膊，数了一二三，接着就跑过去纵身一跳。

　　In fact, it wasn't the stream at all. It was a boiling pool. 事实上，那根本不是一条小溪，而是一个沸腾的水池。

　　In the dark they had lost their bearings⁶. None of the three survived. 他们在黑暗里看不清方向。三个人没有一个活着回来。

　　I thought about this the next morning as I made a brief call, on my way out of the park, at a place called Emerald Pool, in the Upper Geyser Basin. 次日上午，在离开公园的途中，我一面想着那件事，一面对一个名叫翡翠池的地方作了短暂考察。翡翠池位于上间歇泉池。

　　Doss hadn't had time to take me there the day before, but I thought I ought at least to have a look at it, for Emerald Pool is a historic⁷ site. 多斯前一天没有时间带我去那里，但我觉得至少应当去看一眼，因为翡翠池是个很有历史意义的地方。

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