洞穴中的40天

重慶 敖瑞容

沒有手機和時鐘，在不見天日的洞穴里待40天是什么體驗？ 來看看參與者的親身感受吧。

題材 體裁生活 新聞報道 346 ★★★文章詞數 難度建議用時6分鐘

Fifteen volunteers have appeared from a cave in the southwest of France after spending 40 days without clocks, phones, or sunlight for a human isolation (隔離) experiment.

The group of eight men and seven women lived in the Lombrives Cave as part of a $1.4 million project called Deep Time, which set out to explore the limits of human adaptability to isolation. The project, led by the Human Adaption Institute,ended after 40 days.

Social media footage from the day shows the smiling volunteers appearing from the cave to a round of applause while wearing special sunglasses to protect their eyes after so long in the dark.

During their time in the cave, the volunteers slept in tents and made their own electricity with a pedal bike since there was no natural light. They also drew water from a well 146 ft below the earth.

Since there was no sunlight, the team had to follow their biological clocks to know when to sleep,eat, or do daily tasks. To no one's surprise, they quickly lost their sense of time. The group had no communication with the outside world and was not able to use phones or other electronic devices.

One volunteer, math teacher Johan Francois, said he ran 10-kilometer circles in the cave to stay fit. He told reporters he had an urge to leave the cave. But other volunteers felt differently, with twothirds saying they wanted to stay in the cave for longer.

“For once in our lives, it was as if we could press pause,” Marina Lan?on, one of seven women taking part in the experiment, said. “For once in our lives, we had time and could stop to live and do our tasks.”

French and Swiss scientists at the Human Adaption Institute monitored the volunteers closely during their time in the cave. They would regularly check the team's sleeping patterns, social interactions, and cognitive functions via sensors.

The scientists behind the project say it will help them understand how people can adapt to extreme living conditions and being in complete isolation.

Reading Check

1. What's the purpose of the project Deep Time?

A. To persuade people to get rid of electronic devices.

B. To find how long people can live underground.

C. To provide another healthy lifestyle for people.

D. To study how people adapt to complete isolation.

2. What can volunteers do in the cave?

A. Make electricity by themselves. B. Try to stay calm for longer.

C. Sleep day and night alone. D. Regain their sense of time.

3. What can be inferred about the most volunteers?

A. They preferred to stay longer.

B. They were eager to leave earlier.

C. They were healthier than before.

D. They had better social interactions.

4. How does Marina Lan?on find the experiment?

A. It's a waste of time. B. It brings bad results.

C. It's a great experience. D. It's beyond imagination.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence

The scientists behind the project say it will help them understand how people can adapt to extreme living conditions and being in complete isolation. 該項目背后的科學家表示，這一實驗將有助于他們理解人類如何適應極端的生存條件和徹底隔絕的環境。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句，句中it will help them understand... 是賓語從句，省略了連接詞that；how people can adapt to extreme living conditions... 也是賓語從句，作動詞understand的賓語。

Ⅱ. Text-centered chunks

live in 居住于（某地）

set out 動身；啟程；開始；著手

have an urge to do sth 有一種做某事的沖動

take part in 參加

adapt to 適應