国家地理:加里曼丹岛的地底洞天(9)
During their time belowground in 1979, Eavis and his fellow cavers explored some 30 miles of passages—an unprecedented feat. Nearly 40 years later, wearing black tights in the hot syrup of morning, Eavis smiled at the memory.
1979年，艾维斯和它的洞穴探险队员在地下发现了长达30多英里的通道，这种长度史无前例。近40年后的一个酷热清晨，身着黑色紧身衣的艾维斯追忆起往事，脸上露出了笑容。
"There's no expedition that's ever explored that much at one time," he said. "We did most of it standing up, you see."
“没有哪只探险队一次能有这么大的发现，”他说。“你看，其中大部分都有据可依。”
Eavis paused, stared down at his tights, and bent at the waist. He picked a leech from his bootlace and flicked it into the jungle.
艾维斯停住了脚步，低头看着紧身衣，弯下腰，从鞋带上捡起一条水蛭，轻轻地把它弹到丛林里。
"Up to that point we were all just simple English cavers," he said. "Mulu transformed us."
“在发现姆鲁之前，我们不过是英国的一群洞穴探险者。”他说，“姆鲁彻底改变了我们。”
The 1979 adventure set the stage for exploration in Borneo. Several caving teams have since made the long journey to Mulu, and Eavis himself has led many of them. For his 13th trip, in 2017, he organized a team of 30 cavers, including his son Robert and many Mulu veterans. In late March I reached him by phone in Kuching, a city on Borneo's west coast, as he traveled north to meet them.
1979年的那次探险拉开了婆罗洲探险的序幕。从那时起，几支洞穴探险队跋山涉水来到姆鲁，艾维斯就多次担任其中多支队伍的领队。2017年，在他第13次探险中，他组织了一支30人的探险队，队里有他的儿子罗伯特，还有对姆鲁十分熟悉的常客。三月底，艾维斯正在北上，我在位于婆罗洲西海岸的古晋给他打了电话，去与他汇合。
"We will probably find somewhere near 30 miles of new cave passage," he said confidently. "And nobody ever does that. Except for me, I suppose."
“我们可能会发现近30英里长的新洞穴通道。”他自信满满地说道，“我认为除了我以外，没有人发现过这么长的洞穴通道。”
