穿越平原的那条崎岖的路很快变得非常糟糕，以至于我们试图让布鲁斯驾车原路返回我们出发的那个村庄。
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.
尽管路上布满巨石、坑坑洼洼，布鲁斯却一点也不烦乱。
Even though the road was littered with boulders and pitted with holes, Bruce was not in the least perturbed.
他瞥了一眼地图，告诉我们下一个村庄仅在二十英里之外。
Glancing at his map, he informed us that the next village was a mere twenty miles away.
并非布鲁斯总是低估困难。
It was not that Bruce always underestimated difficulties.
他只是根本没有危险意识。
He simply had no sense of danger at all.
不管路况如何，他都认为汽车就应该尽可能地快速行驶。
No matter what the conditions were, he believed that a car should be driven as fast as it could possibly go.
当我们在尘土飞扬的小道上颠簸前行时，我们不得不急转方向，躲开巨大的岩石。
As we bumped over the dusty track, we swerved to avoid large boulders.
车轮卷起石子，这些石子在车底发出令人不安的撞击声。
The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car.
我们感到确信，迟早会有一块石头在油箱上撞出一个洞，或者损坏引擎。
We felt sure that sooner or later a stone would rip a hole in our petrol tank or damage the engine.
因为这个，我们不断回头张望，心里不禁想：我们是不是在身后留下了一条油迹。
Because of this, we kept looking back, wondering if we were leaving a trail of oil and petrol behind us.
当那些巨石突然消失，让位于一片旷野——那里唯一的障碍不过是几丛灌木——这真是让人松了一口气啊！
What a relief it was when the boulders suddenly disappeared, giving way to a stretch of plain where the only obstacles were clumps of bushes.
然而更糟糕的事情还在后头。就在我们前方，横亘着一道巨大的裂缝。
But there was worse to come. Just ahead of us there was a huge fissure.
在大家一再恳求之下，布鲁斯停了车。
In response to renewed pleadings, Bruce stopped.
尽管我们都下车查看那条裂缝，他却待在车里没动。
Though we all got out to examine the fissure, he remained in the car.
我们告诉他，那条裂缝延伸了五十码，宽两英尺，深四英尺。
We informed him that the fissure extended for fifty yards and was two feet wide and four feet deep.
就连这一点也毫无效果。
Even this had no effect.
布鲁斯挂上低速档，以令人恐惧的速度驾车前行，双侧前轮骑跨在裂缝两侧，沿着那道曲折蜿蜒的裂缝行驶。
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.
在我们来不及担心会发生什么之前，我们已经重新驶回平原上了。
Before we had time to worry about what might happen, we were back on the plain again.
布鲁斯再次查看地图，告诉我们那个村庄现在只有十五英里了。
Bruce consulted the map once more and told us that the village was now only fifteen miles away.
我们遇到的下一个障碍是一片浅水塘，大约有半英里宽。
Our next obstacle was a shallow pool of water about half a mile across.
布鲁斯向它猛冲过去，但到了中间，汽车嘎然停住。
Bruce charged at it, but in the middle, the car came to a grinding halt.
仪表板上的一盏黄灯愤怒地闪烁着，而布鲁斯则兴高采烈地宣布：发动机里没有机油了！
A yellow light on the dashboard flashed angrily and Bruce cheerfully announced that there was no oil in the engine!