I stand here before you this evening

今晚我來到各位面前，

as an expert in dragging heavy stuff around cold places.

以拖著笨重物周遊寒冷地區的專家之姿站在台上

I've been leading polar expeditions for most of my adult life,

我成年之後就一直帶領極地遠征隊，

and last month, my teammate Tarka L'Herpiniere and I

上個月，我和夥伴塔卡．雷聶尼爾

finished the most ambitious expedition I've ever attempted.

完成了我到目前為止最具企圖心的遠征

In fact, it feels like I've been transported straight here

其實我感覺好像直接被送來這裡，

from four months in the middle of nowhere,

在偏遠的某處度過悶哼使勁、詛咒連連的四個月之後，

mostly grunting and swearing, straight to the TED stage.

直接上了 TED 舞台

So you can imagine that's a transition that hasn't been entirely seamless.

你可以說這個過渡期並非完全無縫接軌

One of the interesting side effects

有個很有趣的副作用

seems to be that my short-term memory is entirely shot.

就是我的短期記憶似乎全都一閃而過

So I've had to write some notes

所以我得做小抄

to avoid too much grunting and swearing in the next 17 minutes.

免得接下來的 17 分鐘有太多悶哼聲與詛咒

This is the first talk I've given about this expedition,

這是我在這趟遠征後的首次演說，

and while we weren't sequencing genomes or building space telescopes,

儘管我們不是做了基因定序或架設太空望遠鏡，

this is a story about giving everything we had to achieve something

但這段故事也是關於我們放棄一切

that hadn't been done before.

去達成前所未有的事

So I hope in that you might find some food for thought.

希望你們能從中獲得一些精神糧食

It was a journey, an expedition in Antarctica,

這趟遠征南極洲的旅程

the coldest, windiest, driest and highest altitude continent on Earth.

是在地球上最冷、風最大、最乾燥，海拔也最高的洲

It's a fascinating place. It's a huge place.

那是很棒、很大的地方

It's twice the size of Australia,

比澳洲大兩倍，

a continent that is the same size as China and India put together.

就跟中國和印度加起來一樣大

As an aside, I have experienced

順帶一提，最近幾天

an interesting phenomenon in the last few days,

我經歷了一種很有意思的現象，

something that I expect Chris Hadfield may get at TED in a few years' time,

我預料幾年後克里斯．哈德菲爾德也會在 TED 經歷到

conversations that go something like this:

像這樣的對話：

"Oh, Antarctica. Awesome.

「哇！南極洲，真棒！

My husband and I did Antarctica with Lindblad for our anniversary."

我和老公結婚四週年的時候參加領步探險去過南極洲。」

Or, "Oh cool, did you go there for the marathon?"

或是「酷耶！你是去跑馬拉松嗎？」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Our journey was, in fact, 69 marathons back to back

我們的旅程其實就是連續 69 趟馬拉松，

in 105 days, an 1,800-mile round trip on foot from the coast of Antarctica

105 天徒步走完來回 1,800 哩路，

to the South Pole and back again.

從南極海岸到南極點，再回頭

In the process, we broke the record

這趟路我們打破記錄

for the longest human-powered polar journey in history by more than 400 miles.

比史上用人力完成的最長極地旅程還長 400 哩

(Applause)

(掌聲)

For those of you from the Bay Area,

對在座住灣區的人來說，

it was the same as walking from here to San Francisco,

這段路就等於從這裡走到舊金山，

then turning around and walking back again.

然後再走回去

So as camping trips go, it was a long one,

以露營旅行來說，這是長途旅行，

and one I've seen summarized most succinctly here

我看過最簡潔的說法

on the hallowed pages of Business Insider Malaysia.

是出現在《馬來西亞商業內幕》神聖的一頁裡

["Two Explorers Just Completed A Polar Expedition That Killed Everyone The Last Time It Was Attempted"]

「兩名探險家完成極地遠征，前次挑戰探險隊無一生還」

Chris Hadfield talked so eloquently

克里斯．哈德菲爾德說得很清楚，

about fear and about the odds of success, and indeed the odds of survival.

他談到恐懼、成功的機率，還有存活的機率

Of the nine people in history that had attempted this journey before us,

在我們之前，史上有九個人嘗試這趟旅程，

none had made it to the pole and back,

沒有人成功往返南極點，

and five had died in the process.

其中五人在路上過世了

This is Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

這是羅伯特．法爾肯．史考特上尉，

He led the last team to attempt this expedition.

他帶領前次遠征

Scott and his rival Sir Ernest Shackleton,

史考特和對手歐內斯特．沙克爾頓爵士

over the space of a decade,

在十年之間

both led expeditions battling to become the first to reach the South Pole,

都帶著遠征隊，爭著想成為抵達南極的第一人，

to chart and map the interior of Antarctica,

並繪製南極洲的地圖，

a place we knew less about, at the time,

在當時南極是鮮為人知的地方，

than the surface of the moon,

比月球表面還神秘，

because we could see the moon through telescopes.

因為我們至少能透過望遠鏡來看月球

Antarctica was, for the most part, a century ago, uncharted.

南極洲大部分在百年前的地圖上都還沒標出來

Some of you may know the story.

在座可能有人知道這個故事

Scott's last expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition in 1910,

史考特最後一次遠征，1910 年的新世界遠征隊，

started as a giant siege-style approach.

以大型極地遠征法啟程

He had a big team using ponies,

浩蕩的隊伍用小馬、狗

using dogs, using petrol-driven tractors,

和汽油發動的拖拉機

dropping multiple, pre-positioned depots of food and fuel

在預選的補給站卸下食物和燃料，

through which Scott's final team of five would travel to the Pole,

因此史考特的五人小隊才能抵達南極點，

where they would turn around and ski back to the coast again on foot.

隨後滑雪、徒步回到岸邊

Scott and his final team of five

史考特和最後的五人小隊

arrived at the South Pole in January 1912

1912 年一月抵達南極點的時候，

to find they had been beaten to it by a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen,

才發現羅爾德．亞孟森帶領的挪威探險隊已打敗他們，

who rode on dogsled.

而且他們是駕狗拉雪橇

Scott's team ended up on foot.

史考特隊以徒步告結

And for more than a century this journey has remained unfinished.

一百多年來，還沒有人完成這趟旅程

Scott's team of five died on the return journey.

史考特的五人小隊在回程途中全軍覆沒

And for the last decade,

近十年來，

I've been asking myself why that is.

我一直不斷問自己為什麼會這樣

How come this has remained the high-water mark?

為什麼到現在仍難以實現？

Scott's team covered 1,600 miles on foot.

史考特隊伍徒步走了 1,600 哩，

No one's come close to that ever since.

從此之後無人能及

So this is the high-water mark of human endurance,

因此這可以說是人類在地球上最嚴酷的氣候中

human endeavor, human athletic achievement

所能忍受、努力與體能的極限

in arguably the harshest climate on Earth.

這就好像馬拉松記錄，

It was as if the marathon record

從 1912 年到現在沒人能打破記錄一樣

has remained unbroken since 1912.

當然混雜著一些奇怪

And of course some strange and predictable combination of curiosity,

和料想得到的好奇心與倔強，

stubbornness, and probably hubris

也許還有點自大，

led me to thinking I might be the man to try to finish the job.

讓我想也許自己能成為完成目標的那個人

Unlike Scott's expedition, there were just two of us,

不像史考特遠征隊，我們只有兩個人，

and we set off from the coast of Antarctica in October last year,

去年十月我們從南極洲海岸出發，

dragging everything ourselves,

自己拖全部的東西，

a process Scott called "man-hauling."

史考特說這個過程是「人力拖運」

When I say it was like walking from here to San Francisco and back,

雖然我剛說那就像從這走到舊金山再回來，

I actually mean it was like dragging something that weighs a shade more

其實是像拉著

than the heaviest ever NFL player.

比最重的國家聯盟橄欖球員還重一點的東西

Our sledges weighed 200 kilos,

我們的雪橇有 200 公斤重，

or 440 pounds each at the start,

就是說一開始每個就有 440 磅，

the same weights that the weakest of Scott's ponies pulled.

和史考特最弱的小馬拖的一樣重

Early on, we averaged 0.5 miles per hour.

初期我們平均時速是 0.5 哩

Perhaps the reason no one had attempted this journey until now,

也許過去沒人嘗試走這趟旅程，

in more than a century,

超過一個世紀，

was that no one had been quite stupid enough to try.

是因為沒人會笨到去嘗試

And while I can't claim we were exploring

雖然我無法名正言順地聲稱

in the genuine Edwardian sense of the word —

我們是名符其實的愛德華時代探險，

we weren't naming any mountains or mapping any uncharted valleys —

因為我們沒有命名任何山或畫出不在地圖上的山谷，

I think we were stepping into uncharted territory in a human sense.

但我想我們踏進了人類未知的領域

Certainly, if in the future we learn there is an area of the human brain

確實，如果未來我們發現人腦有個部分

that lights up when one curses oneself,

會在你詛咒自己的時候發光，

I won't be at all surprised.

我也一點都不驚訝

You've heard that the average American spends 90 percent of their time indoors.

大家都聽過美國人普遍有九成時間待在室內，

We didn't go indoors for nearly four months.

我們卻有將近四個月不在室內

We didn't see a sunset either.

我們也沒看到日落，

It was 24-hour daylight.

因為太陽 24 小時亮著

Living conditions were quite spartan.

居住環境很艱苦

I changed my underwear three times in 105 days

105 天裡我才換了三次內衣，

and Tarka and I shared 30 square feet on the canvas.

塔卡和我共用不到 30 平方英尺的帆布

Though we did have some technology that Scott could never have imagined.

不過我們還有些設備是史考特永遠無法想像的

And we blogged live every evening from the tent via a laptop

我們每天晚上在帳蓬裡用筆電寫實況部落格，

and a custom-made satellite transmitter,

還有特製的衛星發射器，

all of which were solar-powered:

這些全都用太陽能發電，

we had a flexible photovoltaic panel over the tent.

我們有塊彈性光電板在帳篷上

And the writing was important to me.

寫作對我來說很重要，

As a kid, I was inspired by the literature of adventure and exploration,

小時候我就深受冒險與探索文學激勵，

and I think we've all seen here this week

我想這個星期我們都看到了

the importance and the power of storytelling.

說故事的重要性與力量

So we had some 21st-century gear,

我們有 21 世紀的設備，

but the reality is that the challenges that Scott faced

但事實上史考特面臨的挑戰

were the same that we faced:

和我們面臨的一樣，

those of the weather and of what Scott called glide,

像是那裡的天氣、史考特所說的滑行，

the amount of friction between the sledges and the snow.

就是雪橇和雪之間的磨擦力

The lowest wind chill we experienced was in the -70s,

我們碰過的最低風寒指數是 -70 多，

and we had zero visibility, what's called white-out,

能見度是零，就是一片白朦，

for much of our journey.

幾乎全程都是如此。

We traveled up and down one of the largest

我們越過世界上最大

and most dangerous glaciers in the world, the Beardmore glacier.

且最危險的冰川之一 — 比爾德摩爾冰川

It's 110 miles long; most of its surface is what's called blue ice.

冰川有 110 哩長，表面大多是藍冰

You can see it's a beautiful, shimmering steel-hard blue surface

你可以看到那是漂亮、閃亮，像鋼一樣硬的藍色表面，

covered with thousands and thousands of crevasses,

覆蓋了成千上萬層冰隙，

these deep cracks in the glacial ice up to 200 feet deep.

這些冰川裡的裂縫深達 200 呎

Planes can't land here,

飛機無法在這裡降落，

so we were at the most risk,

所以說我們身在風險最大的地方，

technically, when we had the slimmest chance of being rescued.

嚴格說來，我們獲救的機會微乎其微

We got to the South Pole after 61 days on foot,

徒步走 61 天後我們抵達南極點，

with one day off for bad weather,

因為天氣差多休息了一天，

and I'm sad to say, it was something of an anticlimax.

不得不說那真有點掃興

There's a permanent American base,

南極有個常駐的美國基地 —

the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at the South Pole.

阿蒙森—斯科特南極站

They have an airstrip, they have a canteen,

他們有簡易跑道、餐廳，

they have hot showers,

可以洗熱水澡，

they have a post office, a tourist shop,

有郵局、紀念品店，

a basketball court that doubles as a movie theater.

還有籃球場兼電影院

So it's a bit different these days,

所以今非昔比啊！

and there are also acres of junk.

不過那裡也有超多垃圾

I think it's a marvelous thing

我覺得很不可思議的是

that humans can exist 365 days of the year

人類可以生活一整年

with hamburgers and hot showers and movie theaters,

每天只靠漢堡、熱水澡和電影院，

but it does seem to produce a lot of empty cardboard boxes.

但這似乎會製造很多空紙盒

You can see on the left of this photograph,

你可以看到照片的左邊

several square acres of junk

有幾英畝垃圾

waiting to be flown out from the South Pole.

等著運出南極

But there is also a pole at the South Pole,

但南極也有個極點，

and we got there on foot, unassisted,

我們徒步抵達，

unsupported, by the hardest route,

毫無援助，走最艱難的路線，

900 miles in record time,

用破記錄的時間完成 900 哩，

dragging more weight than anyone in history.

還拖著比史上任何人都還重的東西

And if we'd stopped there and flown home,

如果我們就此打住，直接飛回家，

which would have been the eminently sensible thing to do,

這樣的決定看起來非常合理，

then my talk would end here

那我的演說就會到此告一段落，

and it would end something like this.

而且以這樣結尾：

If you have the right team around you, the right tools, the right technology,

如果你和對的團體在一起，擁有對的工具和科技，

and if you have enough self-belief and enough determination,

如果你有足夠的信念和決心，

then anything is possible.

那麼任何事都有可能實現

But then we turned around,

但是後來我們轉身繼續走回程，

and this is where things get interesting.

這件事就有點意思了

High on the Antarctic plateau,

在南極高原上，

over 10,000 feet, it's very windy, very cold, very dry, we were exhausted.

超過一萬呎，風超大、超冷、超乾，我們都精疲力盡了

We'd covered 35 marathons,

我們已經完成了 35 趟馬拉松，

we were only halfway,

但這只完成一半，

and we had a safety net, of course,

當然我們有安全措施，

of ski planes and satellite phones

像是雪地飛機、衛星電話、

and live, 24-hour tracking beacons that didn't exist for Scott,

24 小時即時追蹤信標，當時史考特可沒有這些東西，

but in hindsight,

但事後看來，

rather than making our lives easier,

與其說能讓生活好過一點，

the safety net actually allowed us

不如說安全措施讓我們

to cut things very fine indeed,

能把事情做到最精準，

to sail very close to our absolute limits as human beings.

讓我們能完全發揮到人類極限

And it is an exquisite form of torture

這是種最極致的折磨，

to exhaust yourself to the point of starvation day after day

日復一日耗盡力氣直到餓扁肚子，

while dragging a sledge full of food.

而且還拉著滿雪橇的食物

For years, I'd been writing glib lines in sponsorship proposals

幾年來，我總是在募款計畫上寫些好聽話，

about pushing the limits of human endurance,

說我們要超越人類極限，

but in reality, that was a very frightening place to be indeed.

但其實那裡是非常嚇人的地方

We had, before we'd got to the Pole,

在我們抵達南極點之前，

two weeks of almost permanent headwind, which slowed us down.

幾乎吹了整整兩週的逆風，降低了我們的速度

As a result, we'd had several days of eating half rations.

結果我們有幾天只能吃一半

We had a finite amount of food in the sledges to make this journey,

雪橇上讓我們走完整趟路的食物有限，

so we were trying to string that out

所以我們要試著節省食物，

by reducing our intake to half the calories we should have been eating.

減半攝取原本應該有的熱量

As a result, we both became increasingly hypoglycemic —

結果我們的低血糖日趨嚴重，

we had low blood sugar levels day after day —

我們的血糖一天天降低，

and increasingly susceptible to the extreme cold.

而且越來越容易受酷寒天候影響

Tarka took this photo of me one evening

塔卡有天晚上幫我拍了這張照片，

after I'd nearly passed out with hypothermia.

我才差點因為失溫而暈倒

We both had repeated bouts of hypothermia, something I hadn't experienced before,

我們一次又一次面臨失溫，這是我以前從沒碰過的事，

and it was very humbling indeed.

真讓人自覺渺小

As much as you might like to think, as I do,

你很可能會有種想法，我也是，

that you're the kind of person who doesn't quit,

你自認是那種永不放棄的人，

that you'll go down swinging,

你會光榮退場，

hypothermia doesn't leave you much choice.

但失溫讓你毫無選擇

You become utterly incapacitated.

你會變得很沒用，

It's like being a drunk toddler.

就像是個喝醉的學步幼兒，

You become pathetic.

變得很悲慘

I remember just wanting to lie down and quit.

我記得當時只想躺下，就此放棄

It was a peculiar, peculiar feeling,

那是種很怪的感覺，

and a real surprise to me to be debilitated to that degree.

而且累到那個程度也真是嚇到我了

And then we ran out of food completely,

後來我們吃完了全部的食物，

46 miles short of the first of the depots

離第一個補給站還有 46 哩路，

that we'd laid on our outward journey.

我們為出遠門準備了糧食補給站

We'd laid 10 depots of food,

我們準備了 10 個補給站的食物，

literally burying food and fuel, for our return journey —

基本上就是把回程的食物和燃料埋起來，

the fuel was for a cooker so you could melt snow to get water —

燃料是為了煮冰，我們才能有水喝，

and I was forced to make the decision to call for a resupply flight,

我被迫決定聯絡補給機，

a ski plane carrying eight days of food to tide us over that gap.

這種雪地飛機會運送八天份食物讓我們度過難關

They took 12 hours to reach us from the other side of Antarctica.

他們花了 12 小時才從南極的另一端找到我們

Calling for that plane was one of the toughest decisions of my life.

請求飛機支援是我生命中很困難的決定

And I sound like a bit of a fraud standing here now with a sort of belly.