Thanks to modern technology and air travel, the world is forever becoming a smaller place. Where journeys from one continent to another once took months, they now take hours, and sometimes it seems like there is nowhere left for a would-be adventurer to really get away from it all. Still, if you have the time, money, and know-how, there are still some places off the map—or just barely on it—that remain shrouded in mystery simply by virtue of being really difficult to reach. Whether mining camps at the top of the world, or tiny islands thousands of miles from civilization, the following are the top 10 most remote places left on planet Earth.
随着现代科技和空中旅行方式的发展,这个世界越来越小。从一个国度旅行到另一个国度,曾经需要数月,现在仍需几个小时。对于一名准冒险家来说,时间是个不小的问题。此外,如果你有时间、金钱、经验,总可以找到地图上没有的地方——或者仅有标注的地方——由于难以到达而依然戴有神秘的面纱。其中既有位于世界之巅的采矿营地,也有距离文明社会数千英里的袖珍小岛。以下便是地球上10大最遥远的地方。
10.复活节岛
Located some 2,000 miles west of the Chilean Coast, Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is a tiny island that has become famous for its remarkable isolation in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It is relatively small, measuring roughly seventy square miles in size, and is today home to around 4,000 people. The island has become well known for the massive rock sculptures called Moai that dot its beaches. They were carved sometime around the year 1500 by the island's earliest inhabitants, and it has been said that the massive wood sleds needed to transport them from one place to another are a big part of what led to the almost total deforestation of Easter Island.
复活节岛,又称拉帕努伊岛,是一座位于智利海岸以西2000英里以外的袖珍小岛。在广袤无垠的太平洋中,它凭借作为一座与世隔绝的袖珍小岛而著称。它相对很小,面积约70平方英里,大约是4000多人的故乡。岛上的大型石刻举世闻名,叫做"摩艾石像",散布沙滩。它们是由岛屿最早的居民在1500年左右雕刻的。据说,需要使用大量的木质雪橇把它们从一个地方运输到另一个地方,这也是导致复活节岛树木几乎全部被砍伐的很大一部分原因。
Scientists have argued that the island was once lush and tree-covered, but today it is relatively barren, a feature that only adds to the sense of sheer isolation that is said to overtake most first-time visitors. When the first settlers migrated to the island, the journey took several weeks, but today there is a small airport (reportedly the most remote in all the world) that carries passengers to the island by way of Santiago, Chile.
科学家们争论,复活节岛曾经树木葱郁,如今却相当贫瘠。这只会增添与世隔绝之感,大部分第一次来这里的游客都有这样的感受。最初人们迁移到岛上时,需要几个星期时间;现在有了一个小型机场(据说是世界上最偏远的),飞机借道智利的首都圣地亚哥把乘客送到岛上。
9.秘鲁,拉林科纳达
For sheer inaccessibility, few locations in South America compare to La Rinconada, a small mining town in the Peruvian Andes. Located nearly 17,000 feet above sea level, La Rinconada is considered the "highest" city in the world, and it is this stunning geography that makes it so desolate. The city is located on a permanently frozen glacier, and can only be reached by truck via treacherous and winding mountain roads. Just reaching the city takes days, and even then altitude sickness, combined with the shantytown's deplorable condition, means that few people can handle living there for long. Still, the town is said to have as many as 30,000 inhabitants, almost all of whom are involved in the business of mining gold, which is extracted from beneath the ice inside nearby caverns.
就南美洲人迹罕至、难以到达之地而言,少有可与拉林科纳达相比的地方。它是秘鲁安第斯山脉中的一个矿业小镇,海拔1万7千英尺,被公认为"世界最高城市"。正是它独特的地理位置使其人烟稀少。这座城市位于一片永久冰川之上,只有卡车才能到达,还要经过充满危险的蜿蜒山路。仅仅到达这个城市就要花上数天的时间,甚至还有高原反应,再加上临时棚屋简陋的条件,这就意味着很少有人可以在这里长期生活。可是,据说这个小镇的居民竟然多达3万,近乎所有人都参与了开采金矿的活动,从洞穴附近的冰块中挖取黄金。
In addition to its remoteness, La Rinconada has gained a dubious reputation as a destination for poor and desperate workers, many of whom work the mines for free in exchange for the right to keep a small percentage of the gold ore they find.
除了偏远之外,拉林科纳达成为了穷人和绝望的工人所向往的地方,而这一荣誉尚存争议。许多人无偿开矿,希望能够保留一小部分他们找到的黄金矿石。
8.McMurdo Station, Antarctica
8.南极,麦克默多站
Located literally at the bottom of the world, Antarctica is easily one of the most remote places on the face of the Earth. There are no native inhabitants to the continent, but there are several research centers constantly in operation there, and of these McMurdo Station is the largest. Located on Ross Island near the northern tip of the continent, the almost perpetually frozen station is a center of international research, and is home to as many as 1,200 scientists and workers during the warmer summer months.
毫不夸张的说,南极洲位于世界的底部,是地球表面最偏远的地区之一。这片大陆上没有原住民的居所,却有许多运行中的考察站存在,而麦克默多站正是其中最大的一个。坐落在罗斯岛上,接近南极大陆的最北点,这个几乎终年封冻的考察站是一个国际考察中心站,在暖和的夏季,它也是1200多个科学工作者的家。
It's one of the most desolate locations on the planet, but although McMurdo is as far from a major city as any location in the world, even it is no longer as backwater as it used to be. Trips by boat to Antarctica once took months, sometimes even years, but McMurdo's three airstrips have helped make the region a much less remote destination than before. Thanks to this, the scientists at the station now enjoy many of the modern amenities found in major cities, including gyms, television, and even a nine-hole Frisbee golf course.
麦克默多是地球上人迹罕至的地方之一,尽管它像世界上其他远离主要城市的地方一样偏远,它也不再是从前那个荒僻之地了。乘船去南极旅行一次需要数月,有时甚至需要好几年才能到达,但麦克默多已开通三条航线,这就使得它跟从前相比,要好到达得多。正因如此,麦克默多站的科学家们现在能够享受到许多来自大城市的现代化设施,包括健身房、电视,甚至还有九洞高尔夫球场。
7.Cape York Peninsula, Australia
7.澳大利亚,约克角半岛
Australia is known both for its extremely low population density and untouched natural beauty, both of which are best exemplified by Cape York, Peninsula, a huge expanse of untouched wilderness located on the country's northern tip. The region has a population of only 18,000 people, most of whom are part of the country's aboriginal tribes, and it is considered to be one of the largest undeveloped places left in the world. This helps contribute to its stunning natural beauty, but it also makes Cape York about as difficult to reach as any destination in Australia.
一直以来,澳大利亚都以其超低的人口密度和原汁原味的自然风光闻名世界,而位于澳大利亚极北点的一片广袤的纯天然荒原之地——约克角半岛,显然是展现澳大利亚这两个著名特征的最好例子。约克角半岛地区有18,000的人口,大部分都是澳洲原住民,同时,该地区也被认为是世上遗留的面积最大的处女地。未被开发虽然使得约克角半岛拥有令人惊讶的自然美景,却也让它成为了澳大利亚最难到达的地方。
The peninsula has become a popular destination for adventurous tourists, who drive jeeps and trucks down the unpaved Peninsula Development Road whenever it isn't closed due to flooding during the rainy season. But even with 4-wheel drive trucks, many of the more heavily overgrown parts of Cape York Peninsula are completely inaccessible, and some regions have still only been surveyed by helicopter.
约克角半岛已经成为探险旅行者们最心仪的目的地了,只要那条没铺过的"半岛发展之路"没因为雨季洪水而关闭,他们就会开着吉普车和卡车从那条路进入半岛区域。但是即使是开着四轮卡车,约克角半岛上许多植物蔓生的地方还是无法触及,甚至有的地区只能通过直升机探查。
6.Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland
6.格陵兰岛,依托克托洛米特
At 836,000 square miles in size, Greenland is the world's largest island, but its tiny population of 57,000 people means that it's also the most desolate. And of all the towns in Greenland, perhaps none is as remote (or as difficult to pronounce) as Ittoqqortoormiit, a small fishing and hunting village located on the island's eastern shore, to the north of Iceland. The town is part of a municipal district roughly the size of England, but it has a population of only slightly more than 500 people, meaning that each person technically has more than 150 square miles to call their own.
面积达836,000平方英里的格陵兰岛是世界上最大的岛屿。但是它的人口仅有57,000,这也意味着它是全球十分荒芜的地方。在所有的格陵兰小镇中,也许没有比依托克托洛米特更偏远(名字更难读)的了。依托克托洛米特位于格陵兰岛东部沿海、冰岛的北方,是一个以捕鱼和狩猎为主的小村庄。尽管这个镇所在自治区的面积与英格兰一般大,但它的人口却少得可怜,只有500多人。这也意味着,理论上来说这里每个人都可以拥有超过150平方英里的土地。
Residents make their living off of hunting polar bears and whales, which are prevalent in the area, and by fishing for Halibut during the warmer months. Ittoqqortoormiit lies on the coast, but the seas surrounding it are almost perpetually frozen, leaving only a three-month window when the town is easily accessible by boat. There is an airport some 25 miles away, but flights are rare. For the most part, the town, one of the northernmost settlements in the world, is completely isolated in the vastness of the tundra.
当地的居民以猎杀北极熊和鲸鱼为生,这十分普遍;而在温暖的月份,人们则会捕捉大比目鱼。尽管依托克托洛米特濒临海岸线,但是四周的海洋几乎是永久性的,因此每年我们只有三个月时间能够较为容易地乘船登岛。虽然在25英里以外的地方有一座机场,但是却少有航班在这里起降。作为世界上最北部的居民区之一,依托克托洛米特的大部分地区都孤零零地处在广袤无垠的冻土地带之中。