沪江论坛社区-- 《经济学家》读译参考（146）：冰人无奈归去

But Everest is still a big market opportunity
不过珠穆朗玛峰的市场潜力仍旧很大

（1） NUDE mountaineering will never catch on[1] in the Himalayas. But it is the sort of thing that happens when climbing Everest ceases to be the exclusive preserve of an elite. Wim Hoff, a Dutchman also known as The Iceman, has had to abandon an attempt to hike up the world's highest mountain nearly naked. But over 50 fully-clothed expeditions are now huddled[2] amid rock and ice at two base camps on either side of the mountain.

光着身子登山永远不会在喜马拉雅山流行，但是当不再只有精英才能攀登珠峰之时，如此登山确实了不起。人称“冰人”（the Iceman）的荷兰人威姆•霍夫（Wim Hoff）原本就打算赤身裸体攀登这座世界最高峰，但最后还是选择了放弃，而在位于山两侧的两个探险队营地上，眼下却仍有50多名穿着严实的探险队员被困于岩石与冰雪之间。

（2） A reliable tally is not yet available, but probably more than 500 people scaled the peak during this year's brief climbing season, which is now concluding—exceeding even last year's bumper crop of around 450.The death of 11 climbers last year appears to have done nothing to put people off.

自今年短暂的登山季节开始以来，到底有多少人攀登珠峰还不得而知，不过至少有500人。就目前来看，这一数字已经超过了去年全年的总人数（大约450人）。去年死了11名登山者，但人们似乎并未因此而却步。

All this activity has created a flourishing micro -economy. “（3） Everything to do with Everest is so expensive, man,” complains Dan Mazur, an expedition leader, as he fingers a $600 oxygen mask. His SummitClimb expedition costs clients $26,450. Some prices are as steep as $60,000. The Nepalese government charges $10,000 a client for a climbing permit. China has lured many climbers to the trickier north face by charging less than half that.

山运动带来了微观经济的繁荣。探险队队长丹•马祖尔（Dan Mazur）一边用手指拨弄着一只价值600美元的氧气面罩，一边抱怨道：“唉，只要跟珠峰沾上边的，花钱都少不了！”他的登峰（SummitClimb）探险队要交2万多美元的客户服务费，有的价格则高达6万美元。尼泊尔政府对每个客户（登山者）要收取1万美元的登山许可证费，而中国的要价则一半还不到，因此吸引了很多登山者前往较难攀登的珠峰北侧。

The tourism does seem to benefit —or at least enrich—the locals. Many Sherpa people, who live to the south of the mountain and worship it as the home of a goddess, send their children to boarding school in Kathmandu, and own second homes there. Villages near the mountain are Nepal's richest. （4）Rare elsewhere, gold teeth are in vogue.

当地人似乎也从旅游业中受了益，至少是更富有了。居住在珠峰南侧的夏尔巴人尊奉珠峰为神女峰，他们很多人都将子女送到加德满都的寄宿学校上学，并在那建立了自己的第二家园。珠峰附近的村庄是尼泊尔最富裕的村庄，别处难得一见的金牙齿在那里十分风行。

“Everyone is looking for a challenge,” says David Tait, a London hedge-fund manager who planned to execute a “double traverse[3]” of the mountain this year.（5） In the event he could only summon the energy to climb right over it once. “Technology makes the mountain more accessible. Personal wealth means more people can afford it,” he says.

伦敦对冲基金经理大卫•泰特（David Tait）说：“所有人都在寻求挑战。”他原计划在今年实施一项“两次横越珠峰”行动，结果他竭尽全力也只横越了一次。“科技让登山变得更为容易，而个人财富的积累意味着更多人能够承担得起登山费用。”他说。

[QUIZ]
英译汉（请将划线部分英文翻译成中文）：

沪江答题纸加载中……
(OXFORD)
1. catch on 受欢迎，变得流行
2. huddle v. （使某人或物）聚集在一起，挤在一起
3. traverse v. 横越，横穿，横贯