文章转载自 21英语微商城 21世纪英文报

徐霞客——中国古代超酷“背包客”

《徐霞客游记》你看过吗？

You might’ve heard of Bear Grylls (贝尔). He is a famous UK adventurer (冒险家). But did you know? About 500 years ago in China, there was a traveler even cooler than Bear. He spent 30 years traveling across China. He was Xu Xiake.

你可能听说过贝尔·格里尔斯——也就是我们常说的“贝尔”——一位英国著名的冒险家。但你知道吗？大约500年前的中国，有一个比贝尔还酷的旅行者。他花了30年的时间周游中国——他就是徐霞客。

Xu Xiake was born in Jiangsu province. When he was a child, Xu enjoyed reading books about Chinese mountains and rivers. He decided to see them when he grew up.

徐霞客是一个江苏人，当他还是个孩子的时候，他就喜欢读关于中国大好山河的书。他决定长大后去亲自看看它们。

At that time, many kids were studying hard to become officials. But Xu’s father never forced (强迫) him to take exams. Instead, he encouraged his son to go out and discover the world. Xu began his journey when he was about 20. Before he left, his mother made him a traveling hat to encourage him to travel.

那个时候，很多孩子都在努力学习。但徐霞客的父亲没有强迫他参加考试。相反，他鼓励儿子走出去，去探索这个世界。于是，徐霞客在20岁左右开始了他的旅程。在他出发之前，他的母亲给他做了一顶旅行帽，给予了他鼓励。

Where did he go?

徐霞客都去了哪?

Xu traveled to 21 provinces and over 100 cities in China. He climbed thousands of mountains and explored over 350 caves.

徐霞客去过中国21个省，100多个城市。他攀登了数千座山，探索了350多个洞穴。

Xu was the first person to find the highest peak (山峰) of Huangshan Mountain (黄山). He was also the first to find lots of karst caves (喀斯特溶洞). What’s more, he discovered the Yangtze River’s headwater (源头).

他还是第一个找到黄山最高峰的人。他也是第一个发现大量喀斯特溶洞的人。更重要的是，他找到了长江源头。

Xu’s travel notes

徐霞客的“旅行日记”

Xu kept a diary while traveling. The Travel Diary of Xu Xiake (《徐霞客游记》) is still popular today.

徐霞客在旅行中坚持写日记，《徐霞客游记》今天仍然十分受欢迎。