NO 13：深夜在森林裡迷路了怎麼辦？

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1 What would you do if you were lost in the dark forest at night?

晚上在黑暗的森林裡迷路了怎麼辦?

The first sensible lesson is that you shouldn’t bother trying to find your way in the dark at all, but just stay put until dawn. Because then you won’t trip over things.

第一個給你的明智的建議/教訓是：千萬不要白費勁在黑暗中瞎走。你就一直呆在那兒不動直到天亮。因為你這樣做就不會被東西絆倒。

sensible明智合理的/意識到的a，bother讓…勞神v，stay put呆著不動，dawn黎明n，trip over絆倒v

No, mainly because you』ll have an idea of direction. The sun rises in the east.

不，因為你呆著不動，等到天亮，才會有方向感。太陽總是從東方升起的。

But you will be amazed at how many people forget they know that. Apparently, the area underneath a holly bush provides a good makeshift權宜之計/臨時替代品 shelter — they are thick, and evergreen.

你會驚訝地發現，太多的人忘記了「太陽從東方升起」這一點。很顯然在這種情況下，冬青樹下面的區域是很好的臨時避難所，這個地方又綠又茂密。

apparently明顯地adv，underneath在…下面pp，holly冬青樹p【holy神聖的a】，evergreen四季常青的a

The next thing to do, or rather not to do, is panic, for the obvious reason that unless there is someone there to hear you scream, it will get you nowhere. Just try to think of nice, happy things.

接下來要做的（更確切地說不應該做的）是恐慌。原因很明顯，除非周圍有人聽到你在那裡尖叫，否則你的喊叫是白費功夫。（待著那兒）試著去想一些美好快樂的事情吧。

2 There is always a point in films when a person who is lost in the desert or the snow, dehydrated脫水的 and exhausted, comes across a set of their own footprints and realizes he has just walked in a huge, round circle.

電影裡常出現這樣一段時刻/鏡頭：有人在沙漠或雪地中迷路了，嚴重脫水，疲憊不堪。他（走著走著竟然）發現了自己留下的一串一串的腳印，（這是才）意識到自己剛剛兜了一個大圈兒。

exhausted疲勞的a

It is wrong to owe it to the unequal strengths or different lengths of your legs.

怪罪自己體力體力不支、腿不長是錯誤的。

owe…to…把…歸功/罪於v，unequal不平等的a

Experiments prove that, without the sun or the moon (or landmarks) as a fixed guide, lots of small errors add up over time so the brain can’t correctly identify the 「straight ahead」 direction.

實驗證明，如果沒有太陽或月亮(或地標)作為固定的「導遊」，隨著時間的推移，大量的小錯誤累積起來，會導致大腦無法正確識別「正前方（直接向前）」的方向。

landmark標誌性建築n，error差錯n，identify 識別鑑定/認同感同身受/一致v【identity身份/同一性/一致n】

To just get out of somewhere, pick a spot on the horizon and just head for it.

要想離開某個地方，在地平線上選一個（參照）點/地方，然後朝它走去。

spot識別v/地點-斑點n，horizon地平線n【landscape遠處天地交界山水風景n】

3 There are several ways to find directions in the dark, and by far the best is to establish north using the stars. Most people can identify the Plough, which is part of Ursa Major.

有幾個在黑暗中尋找方向的方法。到目前為止最好的方法是利用星星來確定北的方向。大多數人都能認出犁形北鬥七星（大熊星座的一部分）。

establish建立…的基礎v，plough梨/北鬥星 【說明】北鬥七星會不斷慢慢地圍繞北極星自東而西地轉動，但北極星則一點也不動，永遠處在北方。認清北極星，就能指示北的方向了。尋找北極星的方法：先尋找北鬥七星，從北鬥七星的鬥口（即從天璇向天樞）方向，向上延長5倍就可以找到北極星。

It looks a lot like a saucepan. The Plough rotates through the sky, but let’s imagine the saucepan lying horizontally, with its handle on the left.

北鬥七星看起來很像一個平底鍋。平底鍋在空中旋轉，但讓我們想像一下「平底鍋水平放置」的情形，此時鍋的把手在鍋的左邊。

saucepan湯勺n，rotate旋轉循環，horizontally 水平地adv，handle把手/處理v

You need to trace a line from the star at the right-hand base of the pan, through the star at the right-hand rim邊沿, and follow it upwards; the north star is roughly five times the distance between those two 「pointer」 stars.

（平底鍋右側外邊緣上下有兩顆「指針星」，即「天璇」和「天樞」 -- 見本文圖片）順著[鍋右側鍋底的]「天璇」星和[鍋右側邊沿上面的]「天樞」星間的這條線往上走，北極星大約是這兩顆星間距離的五倍。

trace痕跡小路n，roughly粗略困難堅韌地adv，pointer指針指示器n

Then drop a vertical垂直 line from the North Star to the horizon and that’s north.

然後從北極星向地平線畫一條垂直線，垂直線就是北的方向。

4 「Tonight is very cloudy and I can’t see the Plough.」 Maybe luckily, it is quite windy. Keep in mind that almost all of our weather comes from a south-westerly direction. (This only works if you are in the British Isles).

「今晚的天氣很陰，我看不到北鬥七星了。」幸運的是，風很大。請記住，我們這裡幾乎所有的天氣都受西南方向（氣候的影響，這一點只適用於不列顛群島)。

To find the direction, you can throw light bits of dried-out grass in the air and see which way they blow; or, if there are clouds and patches of clear sky, see which way they blow across the stars.

為了找到方向，你可以把一些乾枯的輕草扔到空中，看看它們朝哪個方向吹。或者，如果天空中有雲，雲間有幾片晴朗的天空，看看這些雲是怎麼吹過星星的（雲應該向東北方向移動）。

bits and pieces零碎東西n，patch補丁/小塊土地或東西n

You can also get an idea of direction from leggy plants. If they look as if they have been blown over, they will probably be pointing north-east.

你也可以從「帶腿」的植物中獲得方向。如果它們看起來像是被風吹過來的，它們可能會指向東北方向。

leggy腿修長的a

If they are simply leaning in one direction as they grow, there’s a good chance that is south (they will be reaching towards the sun). The last thing to do is to judge your direction and off you go.

如果它們在成長過程中只是向一個方向傾斜，那麼很有可能是向南方向(它們會朝向太陽)。最後要做的是判斷你的方向，然後離開。

lean傾斜v

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