張曉敏

在新西蘭，有一個(gè)地方被稱為“世界的第九大奇跡”，那里布滿了成千上萬的螢火蟲，它們聚集在一起，形成了奇妙的景觀，就像夜空中璀璨的繁星。讓我們走進(jìn)這個(gè)被譽(yù)為“奇景”的洞穴吧！

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves， located just outside the Waitomo township on the North Island of New Zealand， is a famous attraction because of a sizeable population of glowworms that live in the caves. Glowworms or Arachnocampa luminosa are tiny， bioluminescent1） creatures that produce a blue-green light and are found exclusively2）in New Zealand.

The caves were carved by underground streams pushing through soft limestone3） over thousands of years. Many have amazing stalactites4） growing down from the ceiling and stalagmites5） growing up from the cave floor， pointy cones6） of layered rock formed over centuries by dripping water. The cave walls are also decorated with galaxies of native glow worms.

Imagine floating silently along on the slow-moving current， through a pitch-black cave， with thousands of glowing lights sparking above your head like a million stars at night. Dont worry； the ceiling is at least 10-feet above your head， so theres no chance of a too-close encounter with a glowworm web. All you can really see is the illumination of the glowworms. The cave is completely dark， with no light entering. Thats probably why the glowworms like it there so much.

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves were first explored in 1887 by local Maori Chief Tane Tinorau accompanied by an English surveyor Fred Mace. Local Maori people knew of the caves existence， but the subterranean7） caverns had never been extensively explored until Fred and Tane went to investigate. They built a raft and with candles in hand， floated into the caves where the stream goes underground.

As they entered the caves， they were amazed by the twinkling glow coming from the ceiling. As they travelled further into the cave by poling8） themselves towards anembankment9）， they were also astounded by the limestone formations.

Jubilant10） at their discovery， they returned many times to explore further， and on one independent trip， Chief Tane discovered the upper level entrance to the cave， which is now the current entrance.

The easiest way to see the caves is with a walking or boat tour. If you are into11） adventure， try the unique experience of blackwater rafting12）—youll crawl， swim and float through the caves on a rubber tube. Or you could abseil13） or zip-line through the darkness. However you choose to explore Waitomo Glowworm Caves， you arebound to14） agree theyre a wonder of nature.

Discovery

懷托摩螢火蟲洞就位于新西蘭北島懷托摩城鎮(zhèn)外，因數(shù)量可觀的螢火蟲棲息其中而成為著名的景點(diǎn)。螢火蟲又名小真菌蚋，是一種微小的發(fā)光生物，它們會(huì)發(fā)出藍(lán)綠色的光，而且這種螢火蟲只有新西蘭才有。

這些螢火蟲洞都是軟的石灰?guī)r經(jīng)過地下水流長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)千年的沖刷和侵蝕而形成的。許多螢火蟲洞里都有令人驚嘆的從洞頂往下長(zhǎng)的鐘乳石和從洞穴地面往上長(zhǎng)的石筍，還有層狀巖在水滴數(shù)百年的作用下形成的尖頭圓錐體。洞壁上還點(diǎn)綴著土生土長(zhǎng)于此、如銀河般的螢火蟲。

想象自己靜靜地漂浮在緩慢的水流上，穿行在漆黑的洞穴中，成千上萬個(gè)散發(fā)著微光的光暈就像夜空中數(shù)不清的星星，在你頭頂閃爍。不用擔(dān)心，那洞頂距你頭頂至少有十英尺（編注：約三米），所以你沒有機(jī)會(huì)跟螢火蟲織就的網(wǎng)來個(gè)親密接觸。你唯一能真正看到的就是螢火蟲的光芒。洞里一片漆黑，沒有一絲光線進(jìn)入，這可能正是螢火蟲鐘愛這里的原因。

懷托摩螢火蟲洞在1887年迎來人們的首次探訪，探訪者為當(dāng)?shù)氐拿迩蹰L(zhǎng)塔內(nèi)·蒂諾勞和英國測(cè)量師弗雷德·梅斯。當(dāng)?shù)孛嗽缇椭肋@些洞穴的存在，但這些地下洞穴一直都沒有得到大規(guī)模的探查，直到弗雷德和塔內(nèi)二人前去。他們做了一個(gè)筏子，手里拿著蠟燭，漂流到了洞穴中——溪流進(jìn)入洞中后都流入了地下。

隨著兩人進(jìn)入洞穴，他們被洞頂閃爍的光芒驚呆了。兩人用筏子將自己撐向一邊的河堤，從而在洞中行進(jìn)，隨著越來越深入洞中，他們又被各種石灰?guī)r形成物所震驚。

他們?yōu)樽约旱陌l(fā)現(xiàn)而欣喜若狂，后來又多次重返這里，以進(jìn)行更深入的探索。在一次獨(dú)自探索中，酋長(zhǎng)塔內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)了洞穴在高處的入口，也就是現(xiàn)在進(jìn)洞的入口。

探索這些螢火蟲洞最容易的方式就是步行或乘船。如果你喜歡探險(xiǎn)，可以試試黑水漂流這種獨(dú)特的體驗(yàn)——你將通過爬行、游泳以及乘坐一個(gè)橡膠內(nèi)胎漂流來在洞中穿行。或者，你也可以用沿著繩子下降或者溜索滑行的方式穿過這片黑暗。不論你選擇何種方式來探索懷托摩螢火蟲洞，你都一定會(huì)贊同：這里的確是一處自然奇觀。

1. bioluminescent [?ba???lu?m??nesnt] adj. 生物發(fā)光的

2. exclusively [?k?sklu?s?vli] adv. 僅僅，唯獨(dú)

3. limestone [?la?mst??n] n. 石灰?guī)r

4. stalactite [?st?l?kta?t] n. 鐘乳石

5. stalagmite [?st?l?ɡm(xù)a?t] n. 石筍

6. cone [k??n] n. 圓錐體

7. subterranean [?s?bt??re?ni?n] adj. 地下的

8. pole [p??l] vt. 用桿（或篙）撐（船等）

9. embankment [?m?b??km?nt] n. （海、河流、沼澤地等的）堤，堤圍

10. jubilant [?d?u?b?l?nt] adj. 喜氣洋洋的，興高采烈的

11. be into： <口>對(duì)……產(chǎn)生興趣；熱衷于，極喜歡

12. blackwater rafting： 黑水漂流， 指乘橡膠內(nèi)胎穿過地下河洞。

13. abseil [??bse?l] vi. （登山者從峭壁處）繞（或緣）繩下降

14. be bound to： 一定會(huì)，很可能會(huì)

20 Minutes Later

20分鐘后

Think you are just lying there like a lump1） all night？ Think again2）. Your body is busy moving， twitching， maybe even walking around.

你以為你整晚都只是像塊木頭似的躺在那兒?jiǎn)?？你錯(cuò)啦！你的身體在忙著移動(dòng)、抽動(dòng)，甚至可能在四處走動(dòng)。