There can be all manner of reasons to take
a long journey – a desire to expand one’s horizons;
a need to re-charge the batteries; an irresistible case of wanderlust.
But for Derek Cullen, his current odyssey has a rather more poignant
reason.
The 32-year-old Dubliner is midway through
a monumental jaunt that was inspired – if that’s
the correct word – by the death of both his parents.
Mr Cullen lost both his mother and father
to cancer ‘a few years ago’ – and came to the conclusion that life is too short
to waste being ‘crippled by fear and anxieties.’
是什麼原因能夠讓一個人可以不顧一切獨自去旅行？是為了開拓視野、自我沉澱，還是天生就渴望著流浪？對於32歲的愛爾蘭男子 Derek Cullen 來說，這趟史詩般的非洲之旅有著更深層的意義。幾年前，Cullen 的父母相繼因癌症而去世，他感受到生命的短暫，並意識到自己不能再將生命浪費在退縮與畏懼之中，於是萌生了非洲單車行的念頭。
- Horizon (n.) 眼界；視野
- Wanderlust (n.) 流浪癖
- Odyssey (n.) 奧德賽 (荷馬史詩)，漫長探索過程
- Poignant (adj.) 強烈的；深刻的
- Monumental (adj.) 巨大的；重要的
- Jaunt (n.) 短途旅遊
To plan, and then set off on a trip across Africa, using pedal power alone – and raise money for a children’s cancer charity at the same time.
‘I lost both parents to cancer a few years
ago, which brought me to fully realise how short life is,” he explains.
‘As a result, I began questioning whether
I was actually doing what I wanted in life. The answer to this question was a
very sobering thought.
‘It got to the point where I was fed up living a life crippled by fear and anxieties.
'But rather than accept it, I decided to do something about it.’
The idea of travelling from one end of Africa to the other by bicycle was, he says, an immediately intriguing one – giving him a chance to see a continent in detail.
‘The simplicity of the bicycle appealed the most,’ he says.
這趟非洲之旅 Cullen 不但全靠雙腳踩鐵馬，同時還為兒童癌症慈善機構募款。
「自從失去父母後，我體會到人生苦短，我開始問自己，現在這樣是否真的是我所追求的生活，然而答案使我更加清楚自己所想要的人生，我決定鼓起勇氣改變。於是『騎單車穿越非洲』的瘋狂計畫馬上浮現腦中，單車旅行的簡樸性深深使我著迷。」
- Set off 出發 + on
They have set off on a journey round the world.
他們已出發做環球旅行。
- Pedal (n.) 踏板 / (adj.) 腳踏的
- Sobering (adj.) 使清醒的；嚴重的
- Be fed up 對…感到厭煩 + with
I am fed up with your grumbling.
我受夠了你的抱怨。
- Intriguing (adj.) 引起好奇心的；令人感興趣的
- Simplicity (n.) 簡樸，單純
‘I figured it would mean having to visit
and stay in remote villages that would normally be bypassed
by other transport.’
He began his journey in November, starting
out from Strandfontein – a beachside suburb of Cape Town which sits due east of South Africa’s most famous city, on False
Bay.
His route initially took him due north, through South Africa and on into Namibia.
Here, a sharp right turn helped him to avoid troubled Angola and enter Botswana.
From here, he rolled north-east through Zambia and Malawi, before swerving north again and cycling through the wildlife-rich countries of Tanzania and Kenya.
Cullen表示：「透過這趟長途旅行，我有機會造訪那些遊客到不了的偏遠鄉村，看見最真實的非洲樣貌。」去年11月起，他從南非開普敦的郊區 Strandfontein 開始一路向北進入納米比亞，然後向右轉，避開戰亂的安哥拉，進入波札那。接著朝向東北方繼續前進，穿過尚比亞和馬拉維，再迂回向北穿越充滿野生動物的坦尚尼亞和肯亞。
- Bypass (v.) 繞過
- Due (adv.) 正 (置於方位詞前)
They were advancing due west into the desert.
他們向正西方向行進，進入沙漠地帶。
- Swerve (v.) 突然轉向；轉彎；偏離方向
The car swerved to the right.
車子突然轉向右方。
He is currently in the Kenyan capital
Nairobi.
He plans to continue north through Ethiopia
and Sudan, before concluding his grand tour on
the shore of the Mediterranean in Egypt.
Cullen現在來到奈洛比 (肯亞首都)，他計畫繼續往北走，越過衣索比亞和蘇丹，最後以埃及地中海沿岸為終點，為這趟沉澱自我的非洲單車行畫下完美句點。
Cullen現在來到奈洛比 (肯亞首都)，他計畫繼續往北走，越過衣索比亞和蘇丹，最後以埃及地中海沿岸為終點，為這趟沉澱自我的非洲單車行畫下完美句點。
- Conclude (v.) 結束
We concluded our meeting at 9 o'clock.
我們在九點結束了會議。
- Mediterranean (n.) 地中海
The journey, unsurprisingly, has thrown up a few challenges – with solitude proving to be as much of an issue as the
physical exertion.
‘It's hard being alone and being a “stranger”
all the time,’ Mr Cullen continues.
‘The constant language barrier means it is
mostly impossible to find stimulating conversation.’
However, he has stumbled across a joke that seems to be widely amusing.
When asked by puzzled passers-by where he is going and why he is doing it by bicycle, he has taken to replying that he has ‘run out of diesel’.
這趟旅途著實面臨了不少挑戰 － 孤獨與體力。Cullen說道：「身為『外地人』，總是獨自一人是一件非常痛苦的事，語言障礙也意味著很難與他人產生更深的交流。」
然而，儘管存在著語言隔閡，Cullen 仍很享受與當地人的歡樂互動時光，他還發明了一個有趣的笑話，當路人困惑地問他為何騎著單車，他就會回答：「沒油了！」
這趟旅途著實面臨了不少挑戰 － 孤獨與體力。Cullen說道：「身為『外地人』，總是獨自一人是一件非常痛苦的事，語言障礙也意味著很難與他人產生更深的交流。」
然而，儘管存在著語言隔閡，Cullen 仍很享受與當地人的歡樂互動時光，他還發明了一個有趣的笑話，當路人困惑地問他為何騎著單車，他就會回答：「沒油了！」
- Throw up 提起 (問題、想法)
It wasn't a long meeting, but it did throw up some interesting suggestions.
雖然會議時間並不長，我還是提出了一些有趣的建議。
- Solitude (n.) 孤獨，獨居
- Exertion (n.) 費力
He was painting the gate with exertion.
他在費勁地粉刷大門。
- Stimulating (adj.) 使人興奮的，充滿新思想的
We had a most stimulating conversation.
我們進行了一次很有啟發性的談話。
- Stumble 偶然碰見，碰巧發現
I stumbled upon the rare book in a second-hand bookstore.
我在一家二手書店偶然找到這本珍貴的書。
- Puzzled (adj.) 困惑的
- Diesel (n.) 柴油
Mr Cullen is writing about his adventures
at nohangingaround.com.
Here, readers can also donate to his chosen
charity, Aoibheanns PinkTie.
‘I see the trip as a platform to take on
further adventures and encourage others to start making the changes that I
myself was so afraid to make,’ he says.
Cullen 將他的非洲歷險記分享在網站上，並和兒童抗癌慈善機構合作。
他說：「我把這趟旅行視為一個探索自我的平台，也期望能夠激勵到那些害怕做出行動來改變人生的人們。」
他說：「我把這趟旅行視為一個探索自我的平台，也期望能夠激勵到那些害怕做出行動來改變人生的人們。」
