The boiling river of the Amazon 亚马逊的沸腾河流 Speaker: Andrés Ruzo 第二课
Telling this same story at a family dinner, my aunt tells me, "But no, Andrés, I've been there. I've swum in that river." 在一次家宴上我又讲了同样的故事，我阿姨告诉我: “但是，没有，安德雷，我去过那里。我在那条河里游过泳。”
Then my uncle jumps in. "No, Andrés, she's not kidding. 然后我叔叔加入了进来: “不，安德雷，她不是在开玩笑。
You see, you can only swim in it after a very heavy rain, and it's protected by a powerful shaman. 你看，你只能在一场大雨之后在里面游泳，而且它被一个强大的萨满保护着。
Your aunt, she's friends with his wife." 而你的姨妈，和他的妻子是朋友。”
You know, despite all my scientific skepticism, I found myself hiking into the jungle, guided by my aunt, over 700 kilometers away from the nearest volcanic center, 你知道，尽管我有很多科学上的怀疑，但我还是在我阿姨的带领下，踏上了这个离最近的火山口700多公里的丛林，
and well, honestly, mentally preparing myself to behold the legendary "warm stream of the Amazon." 而且，老实说，我已经做好了心里去看那传说中的“亚马逊河暖流”的准备。
【跟读】Despite his skepticism, he was still expecting to see the boiling river.
But then ... I heard something, a low surge that got louder and louder as we came closer. 但是……我听到一些声响，一个低的浪涌，当我们走近时，声音越来越大。
It sounded like ocean waves constantly crashing, and as we got closer, I saw smoke, vapor, coming up through the trees. And then, I saw this. 它听起来像海浪不断撞击，当我们走近时，我看到烟雾和蒸气从树林里冒出来。然后，我看到了这个。
I immediately grabbed for my thermometer, and the average temperatures in the river were 86 degrees C. 【跟读】 我立刻抓起我的温度计，测得河水的平均温度是86摄氏度。
This is not quite the 100-degree C boiling but definitely close enough. 这并没有达到100摄氏度的沸腾，但绝对足够接近了。
The river flowed hot and fast. 这条高温河水流湍急。
I followed it upriver and was led by, actually, the shaman's apprentice to the most sacred site on the river. 我沿河而上，事实上，萨满的徒弟带我来到了河上最神圣的地方。
And this is what's bizarre -- It starts off as a cold stream. 奇怪的是，它的源头是一股冷流。
And here, at this site, is the home of the Yacumama, mother of the waters, a giant serpent spirit who births hot and cold water. 在这里这个地点，是亚库马马的家，亚库马马是水的母亲，是创造冷热水的巨大蛇灵。
And here we find a hot spring, mixing with cold stream water underneath her protective motherly jaws and thus bringing their legends to life. 在这里，我们找到了一个热泉，在她保护的河口的冷流混合在一起，将这些传说变为现实。
The next morning, I woke up and -- 第二天早上，我醒来，
I asked for tea. I was handed a mug, a tea bag and, well, pointed towards the river. 我要了茶。有人递给我一个马克杯，一个茶包，然后，指向那条河。
To my surprise, the water was clean and had a pleasant taste, which is a little weird for geothermal systems. 令我惊讶的是，河水清澈，味道甜美，这对地热系统来说是有点异常的。
What was amazing is that the locals had always known about this place, and that I was by no means the first outsider to see it. 令人惊奇的是，当地人一直都知道这个地方，而我也决不是第一个看到它的外人。
It was just part of their everyday life. They drink its water. They take in its vapor. 这只是他们日常生活的一部分。他们喝它的水。享用它的蒸气。
They cook with it, clean with it, even make their medicines with it. 他们用它烹饪，用它清洁，甚至用它做药品。
I met the shaman, and he seemed like an extension of the river and his jungle. 我遇到了萨满，他看起来像是河流和丛林的一部分。
He asked for my intentions and listened carefully. 他问我的来意，细心倾听。
Then, to my tremendous relief -- I was freaking out, to be honest with you -- a smile began to snake across his face, and he just laughed. 然后，我的压力减轻了许多--我吓坏了，老实说--一个微笑开始在他脸上掠过，他笑了。
【跟读】He was freaking out when the shaman asked about his intentions.
I had received the shaman's blessing to study the river, on the condition that after I take the water samples and analyze them in my lab, 我对这条河的研究受到了萨满的祝福，条件是，我采集水样并在我的实验室进行分析后，
wherever I was in the world, that I pour the waters back into the ground so that, 无论我在世界上的什么地方，我必须把水倒在地上，
as the shaman said, the waters could find their way back home. 正如萨满所说，水可以找到回家的路。