洞穴中的40天

重庆 敖瑞容

没有手机和时钟，在不见天日的洞穴里待40天是什么体验？ 来看看参与者的亲身感受吧。

题材 体裁生活 新闻报道 346 ★★★文章词数 难度建议用时6分钟

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 (隔离) 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 Lançon, 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 Lançon 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. 该项目背后的科学家表示，这一实验将有助于他们理解人类如何适应极端的生存条件和彻底隔绝的环境。

【点石成金】本句是一个主从复合句，句中it will help them understand... 是宾语从句，省略了连接词that；how people can adapt to extreme living conditions... 也是宾语从句，作动词understand的宾语。

Ⅱ. Text-centered chunks

live in 居住于（某地）

set out 动身；启程；开始；着手

have an urge to do sth 有一种做某事的冲动

take part in 参加

adapt to 适应