坚持就是力量:美国愚公 32年只身挖通穿山隧道_BEC初级作文

坚持就是力量:美国愚公 32年只身挖通穿山隧道

Somewhere in the Mojave Desert’s El Paso range there is a strange tunnel that traverses 2,087 feet of solid rock up in Copper Mountain. What’s strange is that it doesn’t lead to anywhere special. It simply emerges on the high ledge, in the middle of nowhere. The only reason it exists is because an eccentric man named William Henry ‘Burro’ Schmidt – a.k.a. the human mole – wanted it there.

莫哈韦沙漠厄尔巴索段（美国德克萨斯州）有一条穿越了岩石耸立的铜山、长达2087英尺的奇怪隧道。之所以说它奇怪，是因为它的终点并不是什么特别的地方，而是就这样突兀地出现在峭壁上。它存在的唯一原因就是，“鼹鼠人”威廉·亨利·布罗·施密特想在这凿一条隧道。

Although he spent 32 years of his life single-handedly digging a half-mile long tunnel through a solid granite mountain, he never talked much about it. When questioned about his bizarre project, he simply replied that it was a shortcut. To where, no one really knows.

他花了32年的时间只身在坚硬的崖壁间挖出半英里长的隧道，但却从来缄口不提。当被问及这项工程时，他也只是扼要地回答这是条“近路”。然而究竟通向哪里却没人知道。

Schmidt first migrated to the California desert from Rhode Island in the late 19th century, in order to improve his health. He is believed to have started digging the tunnel in 1902. He carried out the excavation using picks, hammers, hand drills and explosives. At times, he even carried it out on his back. Eventually, he installed iron tracks and a mine car to transport debris.