A journey through the Australian Outback 穿越澳大利亚内陆

吕品

他和他的妻子一直想来一场穿越澳大利亚内陆的旅行。在2018年，他们的梦终于圆了……

We got our flat tyre as we drove into the Mount Barnett Roadhouse on Western Australias Gibb River Road. Luckily， three kind guys changed our tyre， with serious warnings to get to the service station to fix it.

My wife， Jean， and I had wanted to experience one of the English?speaking worlds most remote places that non?explorers could navigate on their own： the Kimberley region， an area in the northwestern corner of Australia， with a population of just 34，000 people. And in May， 2018， we got the chance to visit.

The only way to explore Kimberley is by the Gibbvery， a very bad road， or by air. We did the latter first， taking the lay of the land from the sky before we set off down the Gibbvery on four wheels. To do that， we went to the jumping?off point for helicopter tours in Kimberley.

“You from Canada， mate？” asked James Bondfield， our young helicopter pilot. “Uh， yes， I am.” When we Canadians open our mouths in Australia， were almost always mistaken for Americans. “I worked in Canada，” said Bondfield， explaining that he had built up his flying hours in the oil sands in northern Alberta. He also flew in the forests of Papua New Guinea， Malaysia and Indonesia before returning home and rising to be at age 30.

During the next two days， Bondfield， like any great guide， took us where we wanted to go， then showed us his own secret places there. We first picnicked atop King George Falls in the Balanggarra Indigenous Protected Area， a 1 million?hectare homeland of First Peoples in Australia， and their rock art， dating back to more than 40，000 years ago， is drawing global attention.

Bondfield landed us near some caves covered in the images of ancient plants and animals. Their brightness was barely faded despite tens of thousands of years of bad weather. We crawled into rock cracks all afternoon， snapped photos and returned with shots of paintings that are among the oldest made by humans anywhere in the world.

1. What problem did the author face during his travel？

A. It was hard to find a helicopter pilot.

B. The locals had serious warnings.

C. The weather was stormy.

D. One of the tyres was flat.

2. What can we know about the Kimberley region？

A. It has a large population.

B. It has rare English speakers.

C. It is a challenge for non?explorers to navigate.

D. It is situated in the southwest of Australia.

3. Whats the authors attitude towards Bondfield？

A. Satisfied. B. Tolerant. C. Ambiguous. D. Unclear.

4. Whats famous in the Balanggarra Indigenous Protected Area？

A. The oil sands. B. The forests. C. Rock art. D. Ancient species.

熟词生义

We crawled into rock cracks all afternoon， snapped photos and returned with shots of paintings that are among the oldest made by humans anywhere in the world. 整个下午我们都在岩石裂缝里缓慢前行，拍下照片，而后带着世界上最古老的人类画作的照片回来。

snap v. 拍照

e.g. A passing tourist snapped the incident. 一个路过的游客把这一事件拍了下来。