世界上遠離文明社會的十大神祕之地(上)

Thanks to modern technology and air travel, the world is forever becoming a smaller place. Where journeys from one continent to another once took months, they now take hours, and sometimes it seems like there is nowhere left for a would-be adventurer to really get away from it all. Still, if you have the time, money, and know-how, there are still some places off the map—or just barely on it—that remain shrouded in mystery simply by virtue of being really difficult to reach. Whether mining camps at the top of the world, or tiny islands thousands of miles from civilization, the following are the top 10 most remote places left on planet Earth.

隨着現代科技和空中旅行方式的發展，這個世界越來越小。從一個國度旅行到另一個國度，曾經需要數月，現在仍需幾個小時。對於一名準冒險家來說，時間是個不小的問題。此外，如果你有時間、金錢、經驗，總可以找到地圖上沒有的地方——或者僅有標註的地方——由於難以到達而依然戴有神祕的面紗。其中既有位於世界之巔的採礦營地，也有距離文明社會數千英里的袖珍小島。以下便是地球上10大最遙遠的地方。

er Island

10.復活節島

Located some 2,000 miles west of the Chilean Coast, Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is a tiny island that has become famous for its remarkable isolation in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It is relatively small, measuring roughly seventy square miles in size, and is today home to around 4,000 people. The island has become well known for the massive rock sculptures called Moai that dot its beaches. They were carved sometime around the year 1500 by the island's earliest inhabitants, and it has been said that the massive wood sleds needed to transport them from one place to another are a big part of what led to the almost total deforestation of Easter Island.

復活節島，又稱拉帕努伊島，是一座位於智利海岸以西2000英里以外的袖珍小島。在廣袤無垠的太平洋中，它憑藉作爲一座與世隔絕的袖珍小島而著稱。它相對很小，面積約70平方英里，大約是4000多人的故鄉。島上的大型石刻舉世聞名，叫做"摩艾石像"，散佈沙灘。它們是由島嶼最早的居民在1500年左右雕刻的。據說，需要使用大量的木質雪橇把它們從一個地方運輸到另一個地方，這也是導致復活節島樹木幾乎全部被砍伐的很大一部分原因。

Scientists have argued that the island was once lush and tree-covered, but today it is relatively barren, a feature that only adds to the sense of sheer isolation that is said to overtake most first-time visitors. When the first settlers migrated to the island, the journey took several weeks, but today there is a small airport (reportedly the most remote in all the world) that carries passengers to the island by way of Santiago, Chile.

科學家們爭論，復活節島曾經樹木蔥鬱，如今卻相當貧瘠。這隻會增添與世隔絕之感，大部分第一次來這裏的遊客都有這樣的感受。最初人們遷移到島上時，需要幾個星期時間；現在有了一個小型機場（據說是世界上最偏遠的），飛機借道智利的首都聖地亞哥把乘客送到島上。

Rinconada, Peru

9.祕魯，拉林科納達

For sheer inaccessibility, few locations in South America compare to La Rinconada, a small mining town in the Peruvian Andes. Located nearly 17,000 feet above sea level, La Rinconada is considered the "highest" city in the world, and it is this stunning geography that makes it so desolate. The city is located on a permanently frozen glacier, and can only be reached by truck via treacherous and winding mountain roads. Just reaching the city takes days, and even then altitude sickness, combined with the shantytown's deplorable condition, means that few people can handle living there for long. Still, the town is said to have as many as 30,000 inhabitants, almost all of whom are involved in the business of mining gold, which is extracted from beneath the ice inside nearby caverns.

就南美洲人跡罕至、難以到達之地而言，少有可與拉林科納達相比的地方。它是祕魯安第斯山脈中的一個礦業小鎮，海拔1萬7千英尺，被公認爲"世界最高城市"。正是它獨特的地理位置使其人煙稀少。這座城市位於一片永久冰川之上，只有卡車才能到達，還要經過充滿危險的蜿蜒山路。僅僅到達這個城市就要花上數天的時間，甚至還有高原反應，再加上臨時棚屋簡陋的條件，這就意味着很少有人可以在這裏長期生活。可是，據說這個小鎮的居民竟然多達3萬，近乎所有人都參與了開採金礦的活動，從洞穴附近的冰塊中挖取黃金。

In addition to its remoteness, La Rinconada has gained a dubious reputation as a destination for poor and desperate workers, many of whom work the mines for free in exchange for the right to keep a small percentage of the gold ore they find.

除了偏遠之外，拉林科納達成爲了窮人和絕望的工人所向往的地方，而這一榮譽尚存爭議。許多人無償開礦，希望能夠保留一小部分他們找到的黃金礦石。

rdo Station, Antarctica

8.南極，麥克默多站

Located literally at the bottom of the world, Antarctica is easily one of the most remote places on the face of the Earth. There are no native inhabitants to the continent, but there are several research centers constantly in operation there, and of these McMurdo Station is the largest. Located on Ross Island near the northern tip of the continent, the almost perpetually frozen station is a center of international research, and is home to as many as 1,200 scientists and workers during the warmer summer months.

毫不誇張的說，南極洲位於世界的底部，是地球表面最偏遠的地區之一。這片大陸上沒有原住民的居所，卻有許多運行中的考察站存在，而麥克默多站正是其中最大的一個。坐落在羅斯島上，接近南極大陸的最北點，這個幾乎終年封凍的考察站是一個國際考察中心站，在暖和的夏季，它也是1200多個科學工作者的家。

It's one of the most desolate locations on the planet, but although McMurdo is as far from a major city as any location in the world, even it is no longer as backwater as it used to be. Trips by boat to Antarctica once took months, sometimes even years, but McMurdo's three airstrips have helped make the region a much less remote destination than before. Thanks to this, the scientists at the station now enjoy many of the modern amenities found in major cities, including gyms, television, and even a nine-hole Frisbee golf course.

麥克默多是地球上人跡罕至的地方之一，儘管它像世界上其他遠離主要城市的地方一樣偏遠，它也不再是從前那個荒僻之地了。乘船去南極旅行一次需要數月，有時甚至需要好幾年才能到達，但麥克默多已開通三條航線，這就使得它跟從前相比，要好到達得多。正因如此，麥克默多站的科學家們現在能夠享受到許多來自大城市的現代化設施，包括健身房、電視，甚至還有九洞高爾夫球場。

York Peninsula, Australia

7.澳大利亞，約克角半島

Australia is known both for its extremely low population density and untouched natural beauty, both of which are best exemplified by Cape York, Peninsula, a huge expanse of untouched wilderness located on the country's northern tip. The region has a population of only 18,000 people, most of whom are part of the country's aboriginal tribes, and it is considered to be one of the largest undeveloped places left in the world. This helps contribute to its stunning natural beauty, but it also makes Cape York about as difficult to reach as any destination in Australia.

一直以來，澳大利亞都以其超低的人口密度和原汁原味的自然風光聞名世界，而位於澳大利亞極北點的一片廣袤的純天然荒原之地——約克角半島，顯然是展現澳大利亞這兩個著名特徵的最好例子。約克角半島地區有18,000的人口，大部分都是澳洲原住民，同時，該地區也被認爲是世上遺留的面積最大的處女地。未被開發雖然使得約克角半島擁有令人驚訝的自然美景，卻也讓它成爲了澳大利亞最難到達的地方。

The peninsula has become a popular destination for adventurous tourists, who drive jeeps and trucks down the unpaved Peninsula Development Road whenever it isn't closed due to flooding during the rainy season. But even with 4-wheel drive trucks, many of the more heavily overgrown parts of Cape York Peninsula are completely inaccessible, and some regions have still only been surveyed by helicopter.

約克角半島已經成爲探險旅行者們最心儀的目的地了，只要那條沒鋪過的"半島發展之路"沒因爲雨季洪水而關閉，他們就會開着吉普車和卡車從那條路進入半島區域。但是即使是開着四輪卡車，約克角半島上許多植物蔓生的地方還是無法觸及，甚至有的地區只能通過直升機探查。

qqortoormiit, Greenland

6.格陵蘭島，依託克託洛米特

At 836,000 square miles in size, Greenland is the world's largest island, but its tiny population of 57,000 people means that it's also the most desolate. And of all the towns in Greenland, perhaps none is as remote (or as difficult to pronounce) as Ittoqqortoormiit, a small fishing and hunting village located on the island's eastern shore, to the north of Iceland. The town is part of a municipal district roughly the size of England, but it has a population of only slightly more than 500 people, meaning that each person technically has more than 150 square miles to call their own.

面積達836，000平方英里的格陵蘭島是世界上最大的島嶼。但是它的人口僅有57,000，這也意味着它是全球十分荒蕪的地方。在所有的格陵蘭小鎮中，也許沒有比依託克託洛米特更偏遠（名字更難讀）的了。依託克託洛米特位於格陵蘭島東部沿海、冰島的北方，是一個以捕魚和狩獵爲主的小村莊。儘管這個鎮所在自治區的面積與英格蘭一般大，但它的人口卻少得可憐，只有500多人。這也意味着，理論上來說這裏每個人都可以擁有超過150平方英里的土地。

Residents make their living off of hunting polar bears and whales, which are prevalent in the area, and by fishing for Halibut during the warmer months. Ittoqqortoormiit lies on the coast, but the seas surrounding it are almost perpetually frozen, leaving only a three-month window when the town is easily accessible by boat. There is an airport some 25 miles away, but flights are rare. For the most part, the town, one of the northernmost settlements in the world, is completely isolated in the vastness of the tundra.

當地的居民以獵殺北極熊和鯨魚爲生，這十分普遍；而在溫暖的月份，人們則會捕捉大比目魚。儘管依託克託洛米特瀕臨海岸線，但是四周的海洋幾乎是永久性的，因此每年我們只有三個月時間能夠較爲容易地乘船登島。雖然在25英里以外的地方有一座機場，但是卻少有航班在這裏起降。作爲世界上最北部的居民區之一，依託克託洛米特的大部分地區都孤零零地處在廣袤無垠的凍土地帶之中。

翻譯:梅子九 來源:前十網