船兒慢行去南極

有人說:天上最難的事，是太空旅行;天下最難的事，是叩訪南極。

千百年來，南極，這個亙古長眠的世界，一直吸引著人們。這個充滿神奇色彩的冰雪王國究竟擁有著怎樣獨特而迷人的風景?這期讓我們跟隨作者Chris Moss一起“前往”人跡罕至的南極，盡情領略世界之南端那奇幻多變的美麗!這篇文章雖然生詞較多，但用詞靈活且文筆優美，大家可要耐心點品讀哦!^_^

——Maisie

You can’t rush to Antarctica. Armed with several books on travel to Antarctica， some novels and bottles of whiskey， I lay back and thought of nothing in particular. Surely the most appropriate thought when heading to the planet’s cleanest， whitest， blankest spot.

After a long crossing from 2)Ushuaia heading 3)due east via the 4)Falklands， I was able to experience the beauty of Antarctica: 5)South Georgia， inside the Antarctic Circle but as green as it is white， and as interesting for its human history as for its inhuman isolation. Then， we sailed gently into the Bay of Isles. The sea was still high and 6)heaving， but the pilots decided it was safe to go in to 7)Salisbury Plain， the beach that about 40，000 8)king penguins call home.

It was a 9)Penguinopolis at rush hour. When not fishing and flapping in the surf， the tall， 10)sleek， orange-flashed birds were busy shuffling， flirting， clapping， slapping each other， 11)trumpeting (their shrill， slightly comic， calling)， feeding chicks， sitting on eggs. But kings are hypersocial and too interactive to be ordinary commuters， and when I stopped and allowed them to approach—I sat down to be at their eye level and avoided intimidating them—their manner， which is half 12)swagger and half 13)coy， reminded me of nothing so much as teenagers at a youth club. They would even 14)club together to push one of their members forward so he would be closest to me， as if saying: “Go on， check him out， don’t be a 15)chicken.” One or two got close enough to have a bite at my boot. Of course， such encounters are an 16)athropomorphic delight. We imagine all sorts of emotions the birds probably don’t have at all. Some were bullies， some were shy， one couple seemed to be bent on quarrelling all the time…

South Georgia was a great introduction to Antarctic wildlife and the pleasures of king penguins—which you don’t see on the Antarctic continent. Then there were the energizing delights of 17)katabatic winds， and by degrees， ice. We saw hanging 18)glaciers，19)ice fields and， then， like a 20)mirage in the distance， our first big 21)bergs.

Whether grey or blue skies lay overhead， the 22)heft of the waves was always huge—sometimes rhythmic and pleasant， at others offering a waltzer of a voyage. In the dark， the sensation of wild winds spinning the vessel was heightened， but the ship pushed on like a metallic serpent across the open sea. When you sail south you don’t exactly find the Antarctic continent. Rather， it gathers round you in the shape of icebergs， islands， coves and bays. Gradually the coastlines draw closer and slowly begin to lose first the greens and ochres of mosses and 23)lichens， then the black of volcanic 24)basalt， and one morning you wake up and everything has turned brilliant white.

I first caught sight of what looked like sheer cliffs of ice—classic Antarctica—on a stretch of the voyage that took us from the flooded volcano of Deception Island in the 25)South Shetlands to Charlotte Bay on 26)Graham Land. I should probably have been observing the 27)humpback whales that were 28)breaching alongside the Vavilov， or 29)gawping at the 30)albatrosses and 31)petrels， or studying the maps to make sense of the chaos of peninsulas， islets， bays and capes that make up the Antarctic Peninsula. But whiteness is 32)enigmatic—and because a cruise is so far from being an overland expedition， you feel an urge to get off the boat and walk on the big slab of ice.

After a few 33)1 starts， we eventually got to walk on the continent at 34)Neko Harbour. A miniature conquest of sorts， it was also an opportunity to sit and ponder away from the group. The bay was calm and the sky a pinkish grey and slightly eerie， and there were 35)sweeping views of distant mountains—a sun we couldn’t see was illuminating their peaks—and of blue glaciers all along the coast. By early March， Antarctica is readying itself for winter， and this gloomy but 36)atmospheric point on the map seemed entirely fitting for the end of the season and the end of our voyage south.

The return 37)leg had its own wonders. The38)Gerlache Strait is not as famous as the 39)Lemaire but it is one of the Antarctic Peninsula’s unmissable mini-voyages. A calm， narrow channel， lined by low peaks wrapped in 40)ultra-white glaciers， it is strewn with huge 41)tabular icebergs and smaller bergy bits. During a slow morning cruise， we saw a couple of humpback whales rolling and blowing along one side， and then a 42)Weddell seal and lots of fur seals 43)basking on floating ice islands. The light， though， was the thing: it was end-of-the-world luminous， a bit Martian even， and the ice glowed 44)aquamarine and 45)emerald against a dreamy grey sky. In the afternoon it all became 46)coffee-table 47)photogenic: blue skies， white ice， calm waters， a lone 48)cormorant on a steeple of ice， and 49)twee 50)chinstrap penguins hiking up snowy slopes. A young leopard seal still studying to be a 51)top-drawer predator chased us—once he had realized we were going anyway…

I can—sort of—understand why the majority of people want a 52)shortish 53)hop to the Antarctic Peninsula. It 54)ticks a box， yields amazing photographs， involves the shortest possible exposure to the 55)perils of the 56)Drake Passage—and， yes， it’s cheaper. But if you have the time and the money， and don’t mind some long stretches on big seas， prepare yourself for the slow trip and enjoy it well; the chances are you won’t be back here again， so why rush?

到南極去不必匆忙。隨身帶著幾本關于南極旅行的書以及一些小說，加上幾瓶威士忌酒，我躺在船上，無所用心。前往地球上最干凈、最潔白、最空曠的地方之際，這么做的確是最合適的了。

經歷了從烏斯懷亞直接向東穿越福克蘭群島的漫長航程之后，我得以體驗到南極之美:南極圈內的南喬治亞島既白雪皚皚，又郁郁蔥蔥，它的與世隔絕和人跡歷史同樣引人入勝。接著，我們緩緩駛入群島海灣。海面上仍是風急浪高，但是領航員們判斷登陸索爾茲伯里平原是安全的。這片海灘是大約40000只國王企鵝的家園。

正是企鵝世界的繁忙時段，這些身材高挑、皮膚光滑、映現橙色光彩的大鳥們不是在海面上捕魚沖浪，就是在搖搖擺擺地走路，或在互相拍打調情，或是在高聲尖叫(它們的尖叫聲聽上去有點滑稽)，或是在喂養孩子或孵蛋。而國王企鵝更是社交高手，交際活躍之極，絕非等閑之輩。我停下腳步，好讓企鵝靠近——我坐在地上，跟它們平視相對，盡力不嚇到它們。企鵝們的舉止既有點虛張聲勢，又有點靦腆害羞，這使我想起青年俱樂部里的那些青少年。……