Deep Inside a Copper Mine

Deep Inside a Copper Mine Written by Tony Francisco

《深入铜矿》 作者：托尼·弗朗西斯科

The Queen Mine Tour parking lot sat virtually empty at 1 .30 p .m. on a hot March day. Mom, Sam and I were going on a tour of the old Bisbee, Arizona copper mine at 2 p .m. My favorite blue sweatshirt was tied around my waist. Mom said the mine was like Grandma's house in Tennessee. Not too cold, but not warm. That translated into cool for me. On the tour, I learned that the mine stays at about 47 degrees Fahrenheit. Actually, that is downright cold to me.

下午一点半，皇后矿场游览区的停车场几乎空无一人 那是三月里炎热的一天 下午两点，我和妈妈、山姆要去参观亚利桑那州比斯比的这座老铜矿 我最爱的蓝色卫衣系在我的腰上 妈妈说这座矿就像奶奶在田纳西州的房子 不会太冷，也不会热 对我来说那就是凉快而已 参观的时候我才知道，矿洞里常年保持在47华氏度左右 说实话，这对我来说可太冷了

I imagined walking through the front door of the Queen Mine Tour building and seeing a humongous gaping hole in a rock wall. Instead, I saw counters and shelves of gear on my right. Yellow rain -slickers, hard hats, and belt -looking things with lamps. There was an old fireplace spewing heat even though it was hot as the dickens outside. The room even smelled like Grandma's house. Mom was more right than she thought.

我本来以为，走进皇后矿场游览楼，就能看见岩壁上一个巨大的洞口 结果呢，我只看见右手边的柜台和摆着装备的架子 有黄色雨衣、安全帽，还有带灯的、像宽腰带一样的东西 外面热得要命，屋里却有个旧壁炉还在呼呼散着热气 这间屋子闻起来都和奶奶家一模一样 妈妈说得比她自己想的还要准

What I didn't realize was that the rain slickers were for us. We had to put them on before going into the mine. I hated the whole idea of putting on a heavy vinyl coat that hardly let you breathe. First, I put on my sweatshirt, then the yellow slicker. It was stiff and made crackly sounds as I shoved my arms through the clammy holes.

我一开始没反应过来，这些雨衣是给我们穿的 进矿洞之前我们必须穿上雨衣 我一点都不喜欢这种厚重不透气的乙烯基雨衣 我先穿上卫衣，再套上黄色雨衣 雨衣硬邦邦的，我把胳膊伸进湿冷的袖筒时，它发出哗啦哗啦的声响

I immediately felt a weight around my waist as the tour guide placed a battery pack around me. He showed me how to clip a lamp to my rain slicker. Then I heard it snap closed. The best part was that I got to wear a hard hat. It almost made the yucky, stiff feeling of the slicker worth the trip.

导游把电池包系在我腰上的时候，我立马感觉到腰上坠了重重一团 他教我怎么把灯别在雨衣上 接着我就听到咔哒一声扣紧了 最棒的是，我还能戴一顶安全帽 有了安全帽，雨衣那又难受又僵硬的感觉，也不算白受了

We walked through the building and out the back door to the outside. The sunlight hurt my eyes and made me see stars. My sweatshirt and slicker weighed more than I thought they would. We climbed on board what the tour guide called a man car. All of the sudden, this was getting to be fun. Everyone had to straddle these padded benches in the center of each car like we were riding on the back of one long horse. The guide started up the engine, which sounded like a big lawnmower, and the man -car chugged toward the mine.

我们穿过楼房，从后门走到外面 阳光刺得我眼睛发花，直冒金星 我的卫衣加雨衣，比我预想的要重好多 我们爬上了导游说的矿工车 一瞬间，我突然觉得这件事变得有趣起来 所有人都跨坐在车厢中间的软垫长凳上，就像一起骑在一匹长长的马背上 导游发动引擎，声音听着就像一台大割草机，矿工车突突地朝着矿洞开过去