Ray Zahab treks to the South Pole

翻译人员: Halei Liu 校对人员: Yvonne Fu

A month ago today

一个月前的今天

I stood there:

我在这那里。

90 degrees south, the top of

南纬90度，

the bottom of the world, the Geographic South Pole.

在世界底部的顶端，地理位置上的南极之端。

And I stood there beside two very good friends of mine,

和我一起的还有我两个最好的朋友，

Richard Weber and Kevin Vallely.

理查德韦伯和凯文维勒利

Together we had just broken the world speed record

我们一起打破了

for a trek to the South Pole.

徒步穿越南极的世界最快纪录。

It took us 33 days,

用时33天，

23 hours and 55 minutes to get there.

23个小时55分钟。

We shaved five days off the previous best time.

比上次最快纪录提前了5天。

And in the process, I became the first person in history

在这个过程中，我成为历史上第一个

to make the entire 650-mile journey,

完成整个六百五十英里旅程的人，

from Hercules Inlet to South Pole,

从大力士站到南极，

solely on feet, without skis.

徒步，不用雪橇。

Now, many of you are probably saying, "Wait a sec,

现在，你们中的很多人大概会问，"等等，

is this tough to do?"

这很难吗？"

(Laughter)

（笑）

Imagine, if you will,

想像一下，如果你将要

dragging a sled, as you just saw in that video clip,

想视频里的那样，拖动一个雪橇，

with 170 pounds of gear,

上面有重达170磅的行李，

in it everything you need to survive on your Antarctic trek.

里面装的是你在南极苦旅重所需的所有工具。

It's going to be 40 below, every single day.

每一天都将是零下40度，

You'll be in a massive headwind.

你将迎风前进。

And at some point you're going to have to cross these cracks in the ice,

有些时候你还必须去越过这些冰上的裂缝，

these crevasses.

这些裂缝。

Some of them have a very precarious thin footbridge underneath them

有些裂缝的下面就是岌岌可危的薄天桥

that could give way at a moment's notice,

这些可以给你一个大概的印象，

taking your sled, you, into the abyss, never to be seen again.

拽着雪橇，你，在深渊中，在也不会被别人看到。

The punchline to your journey? Look at the horizon.

这个旅途的重点是什么？看看地平线。

Yes, it's uphill the entire way,

没错，整个就是一次艰难的旅行。

because the South Pole is at 10,000 feet,

因为南极位于10000英尺的地方

and you're starting at sea level.

而你要从海平面出发。

Our journey did not, in fact, begin at Hercules Inlet,

实际上我们的旅途不是从大力士站开始的，

where frozen ocean meets the land of Antarctica.

在从冻海和南极土地接壤的地方。

It began a little less than two years ago.

大概就在不到两年之前。

A couple of buddies of mine and I

我和我的一群伙伴

had finished a 111-day run across the entire Sahara desert.

刚跑完了为时111天的撒哈拉大沙漠穿越。

And while we were there we learned

在那里我们体会到了

the seriousness of the water crisis in Northern Africa.

南非严重的水危机。

We also learned that many of the issues facing the people of Northern Africa

我们也学到了南非人民所要面对的众多问题

affected young people the most.

尤其是年轻人所遇到的。

I came home to my wife after 111 days of running in the sand,

当我完成了111天的沙漠慢跑回到家中，回到我妻子的身边。

and I said, "You know, there's no doubt if this bozo can get across the desert,

我说道，"你知道，毫无疑问，如果这个波座民族可以跨越沙漠

we are capable of doing anything we set our minds to."

我们就可以干我们想干的任何事情。"

But if I'm going to continue doing these adventures, there has to be

但是如果我要继续这些冒险，就必须要有

a reason for me to do them

坚持下去的动力

beyond just getting there.

而不仅仅只是到达那里。

Around that time I met an extraordinary human being,

那时侯我遇到了一个了不起的人，

Peter Thum, who inspired me with his actions.

彼得图姆，就是他用他的行为启发了我。

He's trying to find and solve water issues, the crisis around the world.

他正在试图找到解决全球水危机的方法。

His dedication inspired me to come up with this expedition:

他的奉献和投入启发了我的这次远征。

a run to the South Pole

一个南极漫步，

where, with an interactive website,

同时，一个互动的网站，

I will be able to bring young people, students and teachers from around the world

我将和全世界的年轻人，学生和老师

on board the expedition with me,

一起出发，

as active members.

大家都是这次活动的成员。

So we would have a live website, that every single day of the 33 days,

所以我们将会有一个互动的有趣的网站，在33天中的每一天里，

we would be blogging, telling stories of,

我们会写博客，讲一些故事，

you know, depleted ozone forcing us to cover our faces,

你知道的，耗竭的臭氧层，被迫我们遮盖住我们的脸，

or we will burn.

要不然我们就像被点燃一般。

Crossing miles and miles of sastrugi --

穿过一里又一里的冰脊 --

frozen ice snowdrifts that could be hip-deep.

穿过半身深的冰冷冰山。

I'm telling you, crossing these things with 170-pound sled,

我来告诉你吧，带着170磅的雪橇穿越这些地理环境，

that sled may as well have weighed 1,700 pounds,

就像带着1700磅的雪橇一样，

because that's what it felt like.

因为我们感觉他们就像那样一般重。

We were blogging to this live website daily

我们每天通过网站写博客

to these students that were tracking us as well,

写给那些在关注我们的学生，

about 10-hour trekking days,

每天10个小时、

15-hour trekking days,

15个小时的苦行，

sometimes 20 hours of trekking daily to meet our goal.

有时候为了达到目标我们必须坚持20个小时。

We'd catch cat-naps at 40 below on our sled, incidentally.

顺便提一句。我们也会在零下49度的环境下在我们的雪橇里打个盹。

In turn, students,

学生们、

people from around the world, would ask us questions.

全世界的人，都会问我们一些问题。

Young people would ask the most amazing questions.

年轻人会问到一些最奇妙的问题。

One of my favorite: It's 40 below, you've got to go to the bathroom,

我最喜欢的一个是: 在零下40度里，你必须去上厕所，

where are you going to go and how are you going to do it?

你会去哪，以及你怎样去解决？

I'm not going to answer that. But I will answer some of the more popular questions.

我不会在这回答。但是我会回答一些更多被提及的问题。

Where do you sleep? We slept in a tent that was very low to the ground,

我们在哪睡觉？我们在一个十分靠近地面的帐篷里睡觉。

because the winds on Antarctica were so extreme, it would blow anything else away.

因为南极的风是如此之大，会把所有其他的东西都刮走。

What do you eat? One of my favorite dishes on expedition:

我们吃什么？这是我远征的招牌菜之一，

butter and bacon. It's about a million calories.

黄油加熏肉，它大约100万卡路里。

We were burning about 8,500 a day,

我们每天要消耗掉8500卡路里。

so we needed it.

所用我们需要它。

How many batteries do you carry for all the equipment that you have?

你们要为所有的设备带上多少个电池？

Virtually none. All of our equipment, including film equipment,

实际上没有。所有的设备，包括录像器材，

was charged by the sun.

都是靠太阳提供能量。

And do you get along? I certainly hope so,

还有你们相处的好吗？我当然希望是这样。

because at some point or another on this expedition,

因为在这次的远征里，我们必须时不时的

one of your teammates is going to have to take a very big needle,

拿一个巨大的针头刺进队友

and put it in an infected blister, and drain it for you.

感染的水泡里，然后把积水抽出来。

But seriously, seriously, we did get along,

但是，真的，真的，我们相处的很好。

because we had a common goal of wanting to inspire these young people.

因为我们都有去启发青年人的共同的目标。

They were our teammates! They were inspiring us.

他们就是我的队友！他们也在启发着我们。

The stories we were hearing got us to the South Pole.

我们所听到的故事支持着我们到达了南极。

The website worked brilliantly as a two-way street of communication.

网站双向沟通运作的十份不错。

Young people in northern Canada, kids in an elementary school,

南加拿大的小学学生，

dragging sleds across the school-yard,

拽着雪橇通过校园，

pretending they were Richard, Ray and Kevin. Amazing.

假装着他们是理查德，雷和凯文。真是美妙。

We arrived at the South Pole. We huddled into that tent,

我们到达了南极后。我们挤入了那个帐篷，

45 below that day, I'll never forget it.

那天是零下45度，我一辈子都不会忘记。

We looked at each other with these looks

我们看这对方的脸上

of disbelief at what we had just completed.

都显现出不相信我们已经完成了的表情。

And I remember looking at the guys thinking,

然后我记得我当时看了看他们，想

"What do I take from this journey?" You know? Seriously.

"我在旅途中学到什么？"你知道？真的。

That I'm this uber-endurance guy?

我这有着市区耐力般的家伙？

As I stand here today talking to you guys,

我今天站在这里和大家交流，

I've been running for the grand sum of five years.

总共算起来我这已经跑了5年。

And a year before that I was a pack-a-day smoker,

在这几年前，我每天抽一包烟。

living a very sedentary lifestyle.

过着亚健康的生活。

What I take from this journey, from my journeys,

我在旅途中，所有旅途中学到的，

is that, in fact,

那就是，

within every fiber of my belief standing here,

我和我每一个信念共同站在这，

I know that we can make the impossible possible.

我知道我们可以把不可能的做到可能。

I'm learning this at 40.

我在40岁学到了这个。

Can you imagine? Seriously, can you imagine?

你可以想像到吗？真的，你可以想像到吗？

I'm learning this at 40 years of age.

我在40岁的时候在学这些。

Imagine being 13 years old,

想像下一个13岁的孩子，

hearing those words, and believing it.

听到这些话，然后相信它们。

Thank you very much. Thank you.

十分感谢你们，谢谢。

(Applause)

掌声