32．Journey To The Bottoms Of The Pacific Ocean

（单词翻译）

32．Journey  To  The  Bottoms  Of  The  Pacific  OceanThe journey two naval¹ officers made some time ago to the very deepest pointon  the  earth  makes  us  realize  how  much  of  the  world  still  remains  to  beexplored. The two men went down seven miles to the bottoms of the PacificOcean inside a small steel ball called a 'bathyscaphe'(1) to find out ifthere  are  any  ocean  currents(2)  or  signs  of  life.  Above  the  ball  therewas  a  special  tank  full  of  petrolwhich was slowly emptied(3) into the water to make the bathyscaphe heavyenough  to  complete  its  journey.
　　It was necessary to set out early, so that the bathyscaphe would come tothe surface in daylight, and so be easily found by the mother ship(4) whichwould be waiting for it. The divers² began preparations at dawn and  soonafterwards,  when  all  was  ready,  the  steel  ball  disappeared  under  thesurface  of  the  water.
　　The  divers  felt  as  if  they  were  going  down  steps  as  they  passed  throughwarm and cold layers of water(5). In time(6), the temperature dropped tofreezing-point and the men shivered³ inside the ball. They kept in touchwith  the  mother  ship  by  telephone  describing  how  they  felt.  Then,  at  adepth  of  3,000  feet,  the  telephone  stopped  working  and  they  were  quitecut off from the outside world. All went well until some four hours laterat 30,000 feet, the men were startled⁴ by a loud, cracking noise: even thesmallest hole in the ball would have meant instant death. Luckily, though,it  was  only  one  of  the  outer  windows  that  had  broken.  Soon  afterwards,the bathyscaphe touched the soft ocean floor raising a big cloud of 'dust'
　　made  up  of  small,  dead  sea-creatures.  Here,  powerful  lights  lit  up  thedark water and the men were surprised to see fish swimming just above themquite  untroubled  by  the  enormous  water-pressure.  But  they  did  not  dareto leave the lights on for long, as the heat from them made the water boil.
　　Quite unexpectedly⁵, the telephone began working again and the faint butclear  voices  of  the  officers  were  heard  on  the  mother  ship  seven  milesaway.  After  a  stay  of  thirty  minutes  the  men  began  their  journey  up,arriving three hours later, cold and wet through, but none the worse(7)for  theirexperience.