To the Top

To the Top, Climbing the World's Highest Mountain by S .A. Kramer Illustrated by Thomas L. Padula

勇攀巅峰：攀登世界最高峰 作者：S·A·克莱默 插画：托马斯·L·帕杜拉

The Man at the Mountain Two men stand at the bottom of a giant mountain. Snow is falling, and an angry wind rolls all around. No matter where they look, they see only ice and rock. This is a place where nothing grows and no one lives. But the men don't seem to notice what a lonely spot it is. They pay no attention to the bitter cold of the storm. Their eyes are fixed on the mountain, so tall they can't even see the top.

山脚下的人 两个男人站在一座巨型大山的山脚下。 天空飘着雪，呼啸的狂风在四周肆虐。 放眼望去，四下里只有寒冰和岩石。 这里寸草不生，也没有人烟。 但这两个男人似乎完全没注意到这地方有多荒凉。 他们也不在意暴风雪有多刺骨寒冷。 他们的目光牢牢锁在那座高得望不到顶的大山上。

The mountain is Everest. It is the highest in the world. At 29 ,028 feet, it's close to five and a half miles tall, higher even than the clouds. And Mount Everest isn't just tall, it's one of the coldest places on Earth. No matter what the time of the year, snow and ice never melt there. It is part of a great mountain range in Asia called the Himalayas. Himalaya means the home of snow. The two men at Everest are mountain climbers. Their names are Edmund Hillary and Tenzin Norgay. It is 1953 and they want to be the first to reach the very top of Everest, the summit. No one has ever climbed the Mount Everest all the way. Ten times before, men have tried and failed. Nineteen climbers have already died. Two of them vanished near the summit and were never seen again.

这座山就是珠穆朗玛峰，它是世界最高峰。 它的海拔有29028英尺，差不多5.5英里高，比云层还要高。 珠穆朗玛峰不光高，它还是地球上最寒冷的地方之一。 不管一年中的什么时候，那里的冰雪永远不会融化。 它是亚洲一条名为喜马拉雅的巨大山脉的一部分。 喜马拉雅的意思就是“雪的故乡”。 站在珠峰脚下的这两个人是登山运动员。 他们的名字是埃德蒙·希拉里和丹增·诺尔盖。 现在是1953年，他们想要成为第一批登上珠峰最高点也就是峰顶的人。 从来没有人能全程爬完珠穆朗玛峰。 在这之前人们已经尝试了十次，全都失败了。 已经有19名登山者不幸遇难。 其中两个人在峰顶附近失踪，再也没有人见过他们。

Hensing and Hillary are part of a special group called an expedition that will try to reach the top. If they make it, they will be heroes throughout the world. Millions of people everywhere are waiting for news of the attempt. Will Everest finally be conquered? Many people believe that it is impossible to reach the summit. Parts of the mountain are so steep and dangerous that one full step can mean death. A climber can tumble thousands of feet down a slope or plunge close to two miles through the air.

丹增和希拉里隶属于一个叫做探险队的特殊团队，他们的目标就是登顶珠峰。 如果他们成功了，就会成为全世界的英雄。 世界各地数百万人都在等着这次尝试的消息：珠峰最终会被人类征服吗？ 很多人都觉得登上峰顶是不可能做到的事。 珠峰的有些路段特别陡峭危险，踏错一步就可能丧命。 登山者可能会沿着山坡滚落几千英尺，或是从近两英里的高空坠落。

Everest is so cold, the temperature can drop to 40 degrees below zero even in summer. Without special clothes, a person will freeze to death in minutes. The wind is very strong, as strong as a hurricane. It can hammer in at over 100 miles per hour. Climbers can be blown right off their feet. Terrible avalanches, sliding ice, rock and snow sweep down Everest slopes several times each day. Climbers get buried before they know what hit them. In 1922, seven people were killed in a single avalanche.

珠峰特别寒冷，哪怕是夏天，气温也能降到零下40度。 没有特制的防寒服，人几分钟就会被冻死。 那里的风特别大，威力和飓风不相上下。 风速最高能超过每小时100英里。 狂风能直接把登山者吹得站不住脚。 可怕的雪崩，也就是滑动的冰、石头和雪，每天都会顺着珠峰的山坡冲下来好几次。 登山者还没反应过来发生了什么，就会被雪崩掩埋。 1922年，仅仅一场雪崩就夺走了7个人的生命。