評論
打印
Would there be any warning?
“會有什么警報嗎？”
Probably not. The last significant explosion in the park was at a place called Pork Chop Geyser in 1989. That left a crater about five meters across—not huge by any means, but big enough if you happened to be standing there at the time. Fortunately, nobody was around so nobody was hurt, but that happened without warning. In the very ancient past there have been explosions that have made holes a mile across. And nobody can tell you where or when that might happen again. You just have to hope that you're not standing there when it does.
“很可能沒有。公園里上一次大噴發發生在1989年，在一個名叫豬排間歇泉的地方。那次噴發留下了一個大約5米寬的坑——反正不算很大，但要是你當時正好站在那個位置，那它就大得很了。所幸沒有人在場，因此沒有人受傷，但它是在沒有任何警報的情況下發生的。在遙遠遙遠的過去，有的噴發形成了1.5公里寬的大坑。誰也說不準這種事情會在哪兒或何時再次發生。你只能希望，它發生的時候你沒有站在那兒。”
Big rockfalls are also a danger. There was a big one at Gardiner Canyon in 1999, but again fortunately no one was hurt. Late in the afternoon, Doss and I stopped at a place where there was a rock overhang poised above a busy park road. Cracks were clearly visible. "It could go at any time," Doss said thoughtfully.
大的巖崩也是一種危險。1999年在加迪納峽谷發生過一次大巖崩，所幸沒有人受傷。下午晚些時候，多斯和我在一個地方停下來，只見一條行人眾多的道路上方突出一塊巖石。裂縫已經清晰可見。“它隨時都有可能掉下來。”多斯若有所思地說。
You're kidding, I said. There wasn't a moment when there weren't two cars passing beneath it, all filled with, in the most literal sense, happy campers.
“你在開玩笑吧？”我說。幾乎每時每刻都有幾輛汽車從下面通過，里面都塞滿了——完全按詞的本義——快活的野營者。
Oh, it's not likely, he added. "I'm just saying it could. Equally it could stay like that for decades. There's just no telling. People have to accept that there is risk in coming here. That's all there is to it."
“哦，不大會的，”他接著說，“我只是在說有這種可能。它有可能再堅持幾十年。真的說不準。人們不得不承認，你來這兒就得冒風險。事情就是那樣。”
As we walked back to his vehicle to head back to Mammoth Hot Springs, Doss added: "But the thing is, most of the time bad things don't happen. Rocks don't fall. Earthquakes don't occur. New vents don't suddenly open up. For all the instability, it's mostly remarkably and amazingly tranquil."
我們走回他的車子跟前，準備返回馬默思溫泉。他接著說：“問題在于，大部分時間里不會出事。巖石沒有掉下來，地震沒有發生，新的噴氣孔沒有突然出現。盡管地下很不穩定，但在大多數情況下平安無事。”
