First place I'd like to take you is what many believe will be the world's deepest natural abyss.

我要带大家去的第一个地方是一个天然的深渊，许多人相信它将会被证明为世界最深之渊。

And I say believe because this process is still ongoing.

我说相信是因为这个探索过程还未结束。

Right now there are major expeditions being planned for next year that I'll talk a little bit about.

明年有几个很大的探险活动正在策划中，关于这个我会做些介绍

One of the things that's changed here,

现在,变化之一是，

in the last 150 years since Jules Verne had great science-fiction concepts of what the underworld was like,

自从儒勒凡尔纳在科幻小说里描绘了地底世界的样子后,

is that technology has enabled us to go to these places that were previously completely unknown and speculated about.

在过去的150年里，科技已使我们能够到达一些地方，这些地方是我们先前完全不知且不能想象的。

We can now descend thousands of meters into the Earth with relative impunity.

而我们现在能相对安全得深入地球几千米。

Along the way we've discovered fantastic abysses and chambers so large

沿途我们发现了奇异的深渊和岩洞。

that you can see for hundreds of meters without a break in the line of sight.

那些岩洞大得异乎寻常，一眼望去能看到几百米。

When you go on a thing like this, we can usually be in the field for anywhere from two to four months,

当我们到了这样的岩洞时，我们经常会在那待二至四个月，

with a team as small as 20 or 30, to as big as 150.

我们的队伍规模小时二三十人，大时有一百五十人。

And a lot of people ask me, you know,

许多人问我，

what kind of people do you get for a project like this?

你们选什么样的人参加这样的项目？

While our selection process is not as rigorous as NASA, it's nonetheless thorough.

我们的筛选过程不是像NASA(美国航空航天局)那么严格，但它又是周详的。

We're looking for competence, discipline, endurance, and strength.

我们寻找的是有能力胜任此工作，能严格约束自己，耐力长久而且体力充沛的人。

In case you're wondering, this is our strength test.

如果你想知道的话，这是我们的体能测试。

But we also value esprit de corps and the ability to diplomatically resolve inter-personal conflict while under great stress in remote locations.

但我们也重视团队精神和善于解决人际矛盾的能力。这些能力，在人们身处僻壤。

We have already gone far beyond the limits of human endurance.

压力巨大到远远超过人类耐力极限的时候尤其重要。

比尔斯通是一位非比寻常的探险家，他曾探究过地球最深的深渊。他要讨论他为寻找太空飞行新能源而开采月球冰层的努力，并想要开发一个自动机器人以研究木卫二号行星。

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