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珠峰的新悬念(Everest Mystery Gets New Twist)
我爱英语网 http://www.52en.com
As the world readies to celebrate the anniversary of the conquest of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa 50 years ago on May 29, the question endures: were they really first to the top?
50年前的5月29日，Edmund Hillary爵士和夏尔巴人Tenzing Norgay征服了珠穆朗玛峰。正当全世界准备庆祝这个纪念日时，一个问题却总缠绕不去：真是他们最早登上的珠峰吗？
A claim out of the blue last month by a Chinese climber that he knows where to find the body of one of two men — Andrew "Sandy" Irvine — who may have beaten the Hillary-Tenzing pair to the world's highest post, has again thrown open the debate.
上个月，一个中国登山者声称自己知道Andrew "Sandy" Irvine的遗骨所在位置。这个也许能打破Hillary-Tenzing组合记录的发现，又一次引发“谁最先征服了珠峰”的争论。
Irvine and the lead climber of a 1924 British expedition, George Mallory, made an assault on the 8,884 meter (29,029 feet) summit equipped with oxygen tanks on June 8 of that year.
1924年6月8日，Irvine和英国探险队队长George Mallory在装备了氧气筒的前提下，对8848米的顶峰进行了一次冲击。
They failed to return, but because a team-member had seen them moving "with alacrity" towards the summit, speculation continues to this day that they may have been first to the highest point on the planet.
他们没能回来，但根据一个队员的说法“看到他们轻快的登向顶端”，所以至今人们一直推测他们曾经登上过这个星球的最高端。
During a 1933 expedition, Irvine's ice axe[斧] was found at a height of about 8,440 meters (27,690 feet).
Then, during a special expedition in 1999 led by U.S. alpinist Eric Simonson aimed at unravelling the mystery[揭开谜团] of what had become of the British adventurers, Mallory's frozen body was found at 8,150 meters (26,750 feet). An oxygen bottle was found nearby, but there was no trace[痕迹] of Irvine's remains[遗体].
Mallory still had a rope tied around him, but it had clearly broken and he had taken a heavy fall — his right elbow[肘] was either dislocated[脱臼] or broken, while his right leg was badly broken in a number of places.
"He lay face down, head uphill, frozen into the slope," wrote alpinist[登山家] Conrad Anker, who found the body.
"A tuft[簇] of hair stuck out[伸出] from the leather pilot's cap he had on his head. His arms were raised and his fingers were planted in the scree[碎石], as if he'd tried to self-arrest with them. It seemed likely that he was still alive when he came to rest in that position."
The camera which either Mallory or Irvine had been carrying, and which could have offered proof of their making it to the summit, was not found, however.
Mallory's route to the top followed a difficult rocky outcrop[露出地面的岩层] known as the Second Step[第二阶梯], which these days is ascended[攀登] by means of ropes and ladders — not available to Mallory and Irvine.
The route was eventually completed by a Chinese expedition in 1960, with the climbers reportedly having to stand on each other's shoulders with their boots off, resulting in frostbite[冻伤] and loss of toes.
Faced with this knowledge, few believe that poorly equipped climbers in 1924 could, after all, have found a way up the Second Step.
In 1975, a body was found 227 meters (750 feet) directly below where Irvine's ice axe had been found.
The discovery was made by a Chinese mountaineer who reported in broken English[蹩脚的英语] that the climber was an "English dead" who, by the state of his clothes, had clearly been there for many years. However, the Chinese climber fell to his own death the next day and the "English dead" has yet to be located.
The mystery has now deepened[加深], with a member of the 1960 Chinese expedition, Xu Jing, claiming last month he had found Irvine's body at 8,272 meters (27,300 feet) on the northeast ridge[山脊] of the mountain, above the scree slope[碎石斜坡] where Mallory's body was discovered.
According to London's Sunday Times, Xu now 77, said he had been alone during the 1960 expedition when he discovered Irvine's body.
"I found his body in a crack[裂缝] one meter (yard) wide, with steep[陡峭的] cliffs[悬崖] on both sides. He was in a sleeping bag, as if he was taking shelter[躲避], fell asleep and never woke. His body was intact[完整无缺] and his skin blackened."
He said only recently did he do some historical research and realized the body must be that of Irvine's. Asked why he had failed to make public the discovery earlier, he replied: "I just didn't register that that was something significant[意义重大的]."
His revelations[揭露] raise the possibility that while ascending[上攀] — or descending[下降] after having summited — the rope between the climbers broke, sending Mallory plummeting off[落下] the rock face and leaving Irvine to snuggle[蜷伏] into his sleeping bag in the crack of a rock.
Should Xu's claims prove accurate[准确的] and Irvine's body be discovered, along with the missing camera, it could once and for all settle the matter.
Hillary, however, has long shrugged[耸肩] off the controversy[争论]. "The point of climbing Everest should not be just to reach the summit," he said. "I'm rather inclined[倾向于] to think that maybe it's quite important, the getting down."
【原载DISCOVERY/52EN.Com编译◎译文仅供参考】
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