酷兔英语


Canadian Ryan Pyle moved to China in 2002 and established himself as a freelance photographer, traveling the country shooting for a host of publications, including The Wall Street Journal. In 2010, he turned the lenses on himself and his brother Colin as the two set off on a 65-day, 11,000-mile Guinness World Record-breaking motorcycle journey that circumnavigated China.


加拿大人白锐匀(Ryan Pyle)于2002年移居中国,是一名颇有影响力的自由摄影师。他行走在中国的土地上,为包括《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)在内的多家媒体进行了大量拍摄工作。2010年,在和弟弟科林(Colin)动身开始环游中国时,他将镜头对准了自己,记录下了兄弟俩历时65天、行程11,000英里(约合17,700公里)──这一数字打破了吉尼斯世界纪录──的驾摩托车环游中国之旅。



The pair captured their journey on video and wrote a book documenting their exploits, ' The Middle Kingdom Ride: Two Brothers, Two Motorcycles, One Epic Journey Around China.' In 2011, the Pyle brothers tackled India, biking around its perimeter. The India Ride will be their next joint project.


兄弟俩用录像机记录下了他们的旅程,还写了一本记录他们途中见闻的书,书名叫作《穿越中国之旅:俩兄弟,俩摩托,一段史诗般的旅程》(The Middle Kingdom Ride: Two Brothers, Two Motorcycles, One Epic Journey Around China)。2011年,兄弟俩又骑着自行车、绕着印度的边境线成功地走了一圈儿。印度骑行之旅将成为他们的下一个合作项目。



China Real Time recently caught up with Ryan Pyle to ask him about the dangers of Chinese roads, brotherly bonding and seeing China through fresh eyes.


"中国实时报"栏目最近找到了白锐匀,并就中国公路的危险性、用全新角度看中国及兄弟情谊等话题对他进行了采访。



The most obvious question is: Why? You lived a life full of adventure already. What prompted this idea?


《华尔街日报》:最常见的一个问题是:为什么?此前你的生活已经是充满了冒险色彩,是什么促使你踏上这次行程的?



I was sitting with my brother Colin in Central Park in March 2010 and he told me that he needed to shake up his life and wanted to make some serious, game-changing decisions. So he quit his job, sold his house and decided to take a gap year and see the world. That gap year started with us spending 65 days riding motorcycles around China.


白锐匀:2010年3月,我和弟弟科林坐在中央公园(Central Park)里,他告诉我说,他需要彻底调整他的生活,他想做出一些认真的、改变现状的决定。所以科林就辞职了,卖掉了他的房子,然后决定留出一个间隔年来看看这个世界。这个间隔年是以我们兄弟俩历时65天的驾摩托车环游中国之行开始的。



We have both enjoyed riding motorcycles for years, and when Colin told me that he wanted to come to China and explore the country and see the country through my eyes, we just naturally gravitated to this form of transportation.


我们两人都爱骑摩托车,而且已经很多年了。当科林对我说他想来中国、游历探索这个国度并想通过我的视角了解这片土地的时候,我们俩一拍即合,很自然地就想到了骑摩托这种交通方式。



It must have been quite a bonding experience.


《华尔街日报》:这肯定是一段很亲密的行程。



As much as our trip is about adventure and exploring China, it is also a story about two brothers who have lived apart for over a decade and are keen to reconnect.


白锐匀:我们的旅程不仅仅是一段有关探索中国的冒险篇章,它也讲述了一对十多年来天各一方的兄弟渴盼重逢的故事。



You were already very knowledgeable about China, including having spent a lot of time in rural areas. What did you learn on this trip that you didn't already know?


《华尔街日报》:你本人对中国已经是非常了解的了,包括你曾经在农村地区也呆过很长的时间。在2010年的这段旅程中,你了解到的哪些东西是你之前不知道的?



When we started The Middle Kingdom Ride I had already been living in China for about eight years, working as a freelance documentary photographer for mainly Western media. I had worked in all the provinces and felt I had a clear handle on what China was all about, but our motorcycle trip changed a lot of that. Traveling around China on motorways is really hard. What I learned on the trip is that no matter how great China's roads and infrastructure is, it'll never be safe out there. There are so many cars and so many trucks and so many donkey carts and so many people driving the wrong way on the road. It's a death trap.


白锐匀:在我们穿越中国之旅开始前,我已经在中国生活了大约八年,一直都是自由纪实摄影师,主要为西方媒体工作。我曾在中国的所有省份都工作过,我曾以为自己对中国到底是个什么样子了如指掌,但我们的摩托车之旅在很大程度上改变了我的这一想法。在公路上骑摩托车环游中国是非常困难的事。我从这段旅程中认识到的一点就是:无论中国的道路和基础设施建得有多好,在那儿出行都不安全。中国的路上,轿车多、卡车多、驴车也多,还有很多不按交规开车的人。那就是一个死亡陷阱。



What was the biggest surprise ?


《华尔街日报》:旅途中最让你感到惊讶的是什么?



How much of a factor Mother Nature played in our journey. When you fly from one city to another you just accept that the weather will be different, and prepare accordingly. But traveling by land over great distances it can be shocking how quickly things can change how often in 100 miles. The temperature would drastically change or rain storms would sweep in and cool us off and then the blistering sun would return. Of course on a motorcycle you are completely exposed to the elements, so every couple hours we had to stop and add or take off layers.


白锐匀:(最惊讶的是感受了)大自然对我们的旅程影响到底有多大。当你从一个城市飞往另一个城市时,你只需接受截然不同的天气情况并做好相应的准备。而长途陆地旅行则会给你带来一种震撼:短短100英里(约合160公里)以内,天象万物瞬间就会变幻无常。气温会急剧变化或是暴风雨突然来袭让我们凉快下来,接着又是烈日当头、骄阳似火。在摩托车上骑行必然毫无遮挡,全然暴露在天地之间,所以每骑几个小时,我们就不得不停下来加减衣物。



Your brother was a China newbie. How did doing this trip with him alter your perceptions of things?


《华尔街日报》:你的弟弟在中国是个新手。你和他一路同行的这段旅程如何改变了你的一些观念?



Colin had zero China experience, which is what made the trip so interesting. We were constantly comparing our impressions and opinions about what we were seeing and what it all meant. I believe fresh eyes are important and with me having already lived in China for so long, having a chance to view China again through Colin's eyes was a real treat.


白锐匀:科林的中国经验为零,而这一点使我们的旅程妙趣横生。我们一直在把自己对于途中所见的感受和看法与它们的实际意义进行比较。我觉得,拥有全新的视角非常重要。我在中国已经住了很长时间,能够透过科林的视角再重新审视中国对我来说喜之不尽。



Was there a lot that you took for granted that astounded him?


《华尔街日报》:是不是有很多你习以为常但却令他颇为震惊的事?



Yes. Rolling in to Kashgar is a great example. It is a city that I've been photographing for over five years and I'm close to finishing a photography book on the region. So when we arrived I knew where I wanted to eat and what I wanted to see and it was like being back in my old neighborhood. Colin, on the other hand, was blown away by the contrasts between eastern China and western China. As he had never traveled through Central Asia, seeing the Uighur people and learning about Islamic culture was remarkable to him. I even think that the Id Kah Mosque in central Kashgar was the first mosque he had ever seen. It was a brilliant trip.


白锐匀:是的。我们进喀什(Kashgar)时的不同反应就是一个很好的例子。我在那座城市进行拍摄的时间超过五年,有关那个地区的一本摄影集也快完工了。所以当我们到达喀什的时候,我非常清楚想去哪里吃饭、想看些什么,那就像回到故里一样。而科林却被中国东、西部地区的差异震惊了。由于他从未游历过中亚,所以看到维吾尔族人、了解伊斯兰文化对他来说都是不同寻常的事。我甚至觉得,位于喀什中部的艾提尕尔清真寺(Id Kah Mosque)是他平生去过的第一座清真寺。那是一次美妙的旅行。



Is there one area of China that haunts you, one part of your journey that you find yourself thinking about and wanting to return to?


《华尔街日报》:在中国有没有一个让你魂牵梦绕的地方?有没有一段旅程是你自己念念不忘、希望故地重游的?



There is a highway that runs from China's northwestern Xinjiang province south to Tibet. It's known as the G219 Highway, and it runs for about 1,000 miles at an average altitude of 16,000 feet above sea level. We struggled along that road for four days -- it was perhaps the toughest leg of our journey, but it was also haunting.


白锐匀:从中国西北的新疆往南到西藏有一条公路,这就是人们所知的G219国道,它有大约1,000英里(约合1,609公里)的路面平均海拔为16,000英尺(约合4,877米)。我们沿着这条路艰难前行了四天──它可能是我们旅程中最难走的一站,但也是令人魂牵梦绕的一段。



How so?


《华尔街日报》:为什么这么说?



Never in my life had I experienced such isolation and remoteness. Never had I had to tackle such challenging road conditions in such extreme weather conditions at such a high altitude. Some might call it a perfect storm of insane riding conditions, but for Colin and I it was the challenge of a lifetime. The days were long, the headaches from the altitude were sharp, but it didn't dampen our spirits because we were so in awe of the high altitude desert landscape around us.


白锐匀:在我的生命里,我从未体验过如此的与世隔绝、荒僻偏远。我也从未在如此高的海拔、如此极端的天气条件下面对过这样具有挑战性的道路环境。有些人可能会将此称为疯狂骑行环境的完美风暴,但对于我和科林而言,这是一次人生的挑战。那日子漫长无边,高原反应又引发了我们剧烈的头痛,但这些都没有影响我们的兴致,因为我们对四周的高海拔荒漠景观充满了敬畏之意。



When we finished our journey Colin and I decided to form our own television production company and focus on making adventure travel television in various parts of the world. When we began thinking of names for our company we both immediately thought that G219 Productions would be the perfect fit, in memory of our four days of the most intense riding of our lives.


当我们结束了这段旅程后,科林和我就决定成立我们自己的电视制片公司,专注于制作世界各地探险旅行的电视节目。当我们开动脑筋为公司想名字时,我们俩不约而同立马就想到了G219制片公司(G219 Productions),它是最合适的。以此纪念我们生命中骑行最疯狂的那四天。



Alan Paul





(Alan Paul wrote WSJ.com's award-winning The Expat Life column from 2005-2009. He is the author of Big in China. )


Alan Paul