Nothing to worry about
原文
Lesson 39
Nothing to worry about
What was the differnce between Bruce's behaviour and that of other people?
The rough road across the plain soon became so bad that we tried to get Bruce to drive back to the village we had come from.
Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed.
Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away.
It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties.
He simply had no sense of danger at all.
No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders.
The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car.
We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine.
Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared,
giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps bushes.
But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure.
In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped.
Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car.
We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep.
Even this had no effect.
Bruce went into a low gear and drove at a terrifying speed,
keeping the front wheels astride the crack as he followed its zigzag course.
Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again.
Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away.
Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across.
Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt.
A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!
译文
第39课
没什么好担心的。
布鲁斯的行为与其他人的行为有什么不同？
穿过平原的崎岖道路状况越来越糟糕，我们便决定让布鲁斯开车把我们送回我们出发的村庄。
尽管路上布满了巨石，还有许多坑洞，布鲁斯却丝毫没有感到不安。
他看了一眼地图，然后告诉我们下一个村庄只有二十英里远。
并不是说布鲁斯总是低估困难。
他完全没有任何危险意识。
无论条件如何，他都认为汽车应该能开多快就开多快。
我们在颠簸的土路上行驶时，不断转向以避开那些巨大的岩石。
车轮卷起了石子，这些石子在汽车下方发出令人不安的撞击声。
我们确信，迟早会有石头划破我们的油箱，或者损坏发动机。
正因如此，我们不断回头查看，担心自己是否留下了一道油迹。
当那些巨石突然消失的时候，真是让人松了一口气啊。
取而代之的是一片开阔的平原，唯一的障碍只是一些灌木丛。
但更糟糕的事情还在后面。就在我们前方，有一条巨大的裂缝。
在我们再次恳求下，布鲁斯停了下来。
虽然我们都下车去查看那条裂缝，但他却留在了车里。
我们告诉他，那条裂缝长达五十码（约45.7米），宽度为两英尺（约0.6米），深度为四英尺（约1.2米）。
即使这样，也没有任何效果。
布鲁斯挂上低速挡，以惊人的速度向前冲去，
他让前轮分别跨在裂缝两侧，沿着蜿蜒的路线前进。
我们还来不及担心会发生什么，就已经回到了平原上。
布鲁斯再次查看了地图，然后告诉我们那个村庄现在距离我们只有十五英里了。
我们的下一个障碍是一个大约半英里宽的浅水池。
布鲁斯驾车冲了过去，但车子在半路上突然停了下来。
仪表盘上的黄灯愤怒地闪烁着，布鲁斯却高兴地宣布：发动机里没油了！