Lesson 39

The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from.
平原上这条崎岖的道路很快变得如此糟糕，以至于我们尝试让布鲁斯开车回到我们之前来的那个村庄。
Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed.
尽管这条路上布满了巨石且坑洼不平，但布鲁斯一点也不感到不安。
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.
他根本一点危险感都没有。
No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
无论条件如何，他都认为一辆车应该以它可能达到的最快速度行驶。
As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders.
当我们在这条尘土飞扬的小路上颠簸时，我们急转弯避开了巨大的岩石。
The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car.
车轮铲起石块，石块在车底发出不祥的敲击声。
Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away.
布鲁斯再次查阅了地图，并告诉我们村庄现在离我们只有十五英里远了。
Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across.
我们的下一个障碍是一个大约半英里宽的浅水池。
Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt.
布鲁斯冲向它，但在半路，车子戛然而止。
A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine
仪表盘上的一个黄灯愤怒地闪烁着，布鲁斯兴高采烈地宣布发动机里没有机油了
We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine.
我们确信，迟早会有一块石头把我们的油箱砸穿一个洞，或是损坏发动机。
Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
因为这个，我们一直回头看，想知道我们是否在身后留下一串油和汽油的痕迹。
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes.
当巨石突然消失，取而代之的是一片唯一的障碍物只是灌木丛的平原时，那是多么令人欣慰。
But there was worse to come.
但是，更糟糕的情况还在后头。
Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure.
就在我们前面有一个巨大的裂缝。
In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped.
作为对再次恳求的回应，布鲁斯停了下来。
Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car.
虽然我们都出来检查裂缝，但他仍留在车里。
We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep.
我们告知他，那个裂缝延伸了五十码，有两英尺宽、四英尺深。
Even this had no effect.
甚至这也没有产生效果。
Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed, keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course.
布鲁斯换入低档，以恐怖的速度疾驰，在沿着锯齿形裂缝行驶时，让前轮跨在裂缝的两侧。
Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again.
在我们还没来得及担心可能发生的事情之前，我们又回到了平原上。