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The rough road across the plain soon became so bad
穿越平原的道路高低不平 开车走了不远 路面愈加崎岖
that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from.
我们想劝说布鲁斯把车开回我们出发的那个村庄去
Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes,
尽管路面布满石头 坑坑洼洼
Bruce was not in the least perturbed.
但布鲁斯却一点儿不慌乱
Glancing at his map,
他瞥了一眼地图
he informed us that the next village was a mere 20 miles away.
告诉我们前面再走不到20英里就是一个村庄
It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties.
这并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难
He simply had no sense of danger at all.
而是他压根儿没有一点儿危险感
No matter what the conditions were,
他认为不管路面情况如何
he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
车必须以最高速度前进
As we bumped over the dusty track,
我们在尘士飞扬的道路上颠簸
we swerved to avoid large boulders.
车子东拐西弯 以躲开那些大圆石
The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car.
车轮搅起的石块锤击车身 发出不祥的锤击声
We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank
我们想到迟早会飞起一个石块把油箱砸开一个窟窿
or damage the engine.
或者把发动机砸坏
Because of this, we kept looking back,
因此 我们不时地掉过头
wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
怀疑车后是否留下了机油和汽油的痕迹
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared,
突然大石块不见了
giving way to a stretch of plain
前面是一片平地
where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes.
唯一的障碍只有一簇簇灌木丛 这使我们长长地松了口气
But there was worse to come.
但是更糟糕的事情在等着我们
Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure.
离我们不远处 出现一个大裂缝
In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped.
我们再次央求布鲁斯小心 他这才把车停了下来
Though we all got out to examine the fissure,
我们纷纷下车察看那个大裂缝
he remained in the car.
他却呆在车上
We informed him that the fissure extended for 50 yards
我们告诉他那个大裂缝长50码
and was two feet wide and four feet deep.
宽2英尺 深4英尺
Even this had no effect.
这也没有对他产生任何影响
Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed,
布鲁斯挂上慢档 把两只前轮分别搁在裂缝的两边
keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course.
顺着弯弯曲曲的裂缝 以发疯的速度向前开去
Before we had time to worry about what might happen,
我们还未来得及担心后果
we were back on the plain again.
车已重新开上了平地
Bruce consulted the map once more
布鲁斯又看了一眼地图
and told us that the village was now only 15 miles away.
告诉我们那座村庄离我们只有15英里了
Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across.
下一个障碍是一片约半英里宽的浅水塘
Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt.
布鲁斯向水塘冲去 但车开到水塘当中 嘎吱一声停住了
A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily
仪表盘一盏黄灯闪着刺眼的光芒
and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!
布鲁斯兴致勃勃地宣布发动机里没油了
