1. Cornered2 by a King Cobra3!
Photographers who shoot for the National Geographic Society often face scary4 situations and challenging conditions in pursuit of the perfect image. For example, an encounter with a king cobra in Thailand was an exciting challenge for photographer Mattias Klum.
“It was the angriest snake I’d ever seen. The king cobra, star of a village street show, was a fighter in the traditional‘sport’ of king cobra boxing. King cobras are teased5 and provoked6 by their keepers until the snakes strike out at almost anything.
“The people who do this don’t think they’re being cruel. They believe they’re in tune with their religion’s spirits. And even though I wasn’t teasing this snake—I was just standing there photographing the action—I was in quite a bit of danger.
“This ten-foot-long king cobra, whose bite contains a startling amount of deadly neurotoxin7, was suddenly distracted8 by my movement.
He reached out to strike me, but got my camera instead.” Good thing. Venom9 in a single bite can kill an elephant!
2. Fighting Flames!
Facing wildfires is a passion for photographer Mark Thiessen, whose years of experience allow him to get close to firefighters in battle.
“Even though fire is very dangerous, I’ve usually felt safe shooting firefighters at work. But sometimes things happen that nobody can control—like wind.
“I was shooting some firefighters who were using controlled burning10 to keep a 100-acre wildfire from spreading. All of a sudden the wind changed direction and the flames started roaring toward us.
“I was standing waist-high in the middle of some dry bush shooting pictures when I heard the fireman’s radio squawk11, ‘You guys get out of there, and get that photographer out of there!’ I just bolted12. I didn’t have time to be scared. I only had time to run. I hopped13 over a barbed14 wire fence and crossed a ditch.
“When I got to safety and looked back to where I’d been standing, all the dry bush was gone. The fire had crashed in like a tidal wave15 and taken everything—and it would have taken me, too.”
3. Face-off16 with a Charging17 Elephant!
Forest elephants in this area are not used to photographers. They are, however, used to hunters. So humans make them nervous.
“The situation seen in this photo—a charging elephant—was my own fault. I really don’t like making pictures like this. I don’t want to portray animals as aggressive18 when they’re only reacting to my behavior.
“I was goofing19 around, walking along the edge of a clearing20. The elephants were spooked21 by my scent. While an older female guarded the baby, the younger female rushed up to scare me away. She stopped 15 yards away; she’d made her point22.
“I never felt I was in danger—from her. But walking back to camp that night was another story. I picked my way23 through the forest in near total darkness, since flashlight beams bobbing24 around can anger elephants already suspicious of humans. I knew they were nearby; I heard crashing and trumpeting sounds through the trees all around me. I just had to hope I wasn’t going to invade any elephant’s space hiking25 home.” Luckily he made it back all right.
4. Attacked by a Huge Squid26!
That squid was so strong it could swim away with two people, one scientist warned photographer Brian Skerry.
“It was after midnight, and I was 100 feet below the surface of the sea. I had to dive in total darkness because light frightens night-feeding creatures there.
“Out of the shadows came the big, glowing eye of a real live sea monster, the Humboldt squid. It can grow to seven feet long and weigh 100 pounds. It has a strong beak27 like a parrot’s. Its eight arms are covered with sucker disks28 lined with 24,000 sharp little teeth.
“These squids move so fast you never know where they’ll go next. Sometimes these meat-eaters came after me aggressively. I could feel the teeth on their tentacles29 biting into my wet suit. Once a tentacle even tried to snatch my camera, but I jammed30 the equipment back out at the squid and it finally let go.
“I had some fears about getting into the water with the Humboldts, but I went ahead cautiously and got my photos. Very few people ever swam with these monsters.”
5. In the Path of a Twister31!
Cameras picked up by this tornado resulted in the first photos ever made from inside a twister. Placing equipment in the funnel32 cloud’s path took nerves33 of steel.
“I spent three years trying to get photographs of the inside of a tornado. Finally, success! This big twister formed 60 seconds after I’d put my equipment in place to shoot a storm.
“My cameras were inside a 90-pound metal casing, which blew away as if it were a piece of paper. So did an entire farmhouse nearby. (Luckily, the family living there was away.) I could hear trees breaking in the roaring wind. All kinds of stuff were flying through the air. But I was concentrating so hard on my work I didn’t think about being frightened. The weather scientists with me kept yelling at me. I was the last one to get into the car, and we sped away from the tornado in the nick of time34!”
(From National Geographic Kids)
1. 险遭眼镜蛇王毒噬！
美国国家地理协会的摄影师们在追求完美图像的过程中常常要面对骇人的情形和颇具挑战性的环境。例如，摄影师马迪亚斯·克拉姆在泰国与一条眼镜蛇王的遭遇就是一次惊险的挑战。
“那是我所见过的最凶猛的蛇。眼镜蛇王这个乡村街头表演的明星，曾是传统的眼镜蛇王搏斗‘游戏’中的勇士。它们在饲养者的挑逗和激怒下，会向任何东西狂怒地发起攻击。
“饲养者并不觉得自己很残忍，而是相信这样做符合他们的宗教精神。尽管我当时并没有挑逗这条蛇——我只是站在那里拍摄这个场面——但我却处境危险。
“这条10英尺长的眼镜蛇王毒液里含有数量多得惊人的神经毒素；它突然被我的动作吸引了注意力。
它朝我猛扑过来，却击中了我的相机。”真是万幸，因为眼镜蛇王噬咬一口所带的毒液足以杀死一头大象！
2. 与烈焰搏斗！
与熊熊烈火打交道是摄影师马克·希森的一大爱好。多年的经验使他得以近距离地接触战斗中的消防队员。
“尽管火灾充满了危险，我在拍摄消防队员的工作时通常还是感到安全的。不过有些情况却是人们无法控制的——比如风势。
“有一次我在拍摄消防队员用计划烧除的办法阻止面积达100英亩的野火继续蔓延。突然风向发生了改变，火焰开始朝我们呼啸而来。
“我正站在一片齐腰高的干灌木丛中拍照，忽然听到消防员的对讲机里传来大声吆喝：‘你们赶快离开那里，叫那个摄影师快走！’我撒腿就跑，连害怕也来不及了，只顾逃命。我跃过一道带刺铁丝网，又跨过一道沟渠。
“等我跑到安全地带再回头看原来站过的地方，那片干灌木丛已不见了踪影。大火如海啸般席卷而来，吞噬了一切——若不是跑得及时我也将化为灰烬。”
3. 与气势汹汹的大象对峙！
这个地区的森林大象没见惯摄影师，可是它们见惯了猎人，所以只要是人类都会令它们紧张。
“这张照片所记录的情形—— 一头气势汹汹的大象——是我的过错。我真的不喜欢拍摄这样的照片。有时动物只是本能地对我的行为做出反应，我不想因此而把它们表现为富于侵略性。
“我当时无所事事，正沿着一块空旷地的边缘散步。几头大象闻到我的气味受了惊吓。此时一头年长的母象保护幼子，另一头年轻的母象冲上前来吓退我。她在离我15码的地方停了下来；她明白无误地发出了警告。
“我一点都不感到处境危险——她并不想攻击我。可是当晚走回营地却是另外一回事。我在几乎完全摸黑的情况下小心谨慎地穿越森林，因为手电筒发出的摇摆不定的光束可能会激怒对人类本已心存疑虑的象群。我知道它们就在附近；我能听到四周树林中传来的隆隆脚步声和像喇叭颤音的长啸。我只能暗自祈祷在步行回家的路上不要闯入大象的空间。”幸运的是，他安然无恙地返回了营地。
4. 遭巨大乌贼攻击！
一个科学家警告摄影师布莱恩·斯克里说，他遭遇的那只乌贼足以掳走两个活人。
“当时已过了子夜，我在海平面以下100英尺处。我只能在完全的黑暗中潜水，因为光线会吓走那些夜间觅食的海洋动物。
“从暗影中游来一只大大的炯炯发光的眼睛，这是一个真实的活生生的海怪——洪堡乌贼。其体长可达七英尺，重达100磅。它的嘴像鹦鹉的喙一样坚硬。它有八条胳臂，上面布满了吸盘，吸盘上排列着24,000颗锋利的小牙齿。
“这些乌贼行动非常迅速，你无法判断它们的下一个目的地。有时这些肉食者咄咄逼人地追赶我，我能感觉到它们触角上的牙齿刺入我的湿潜水服。甚至有一只触角试图夺走我的相机，但我用相机猛戳这条乌贼，迫使它最后松手。
“我对潜入水中与洪堡乌贼做伴有些害怕，但我小心翼翼地接近它们，终于拍下这些照片。过去很少有人在水下与这些海怪共处过。”
5. 与龙卷风亲密接触！
尽管我的相机被这场龙卷风掀到空中，我却收获了有史以来从龙卷风内部拍到的第一批照片。把摄影器材架设在漏斗云的必经之地需要钢铁般的勇气。
“我花了三年时间试图抓拍龙卷风内部的照片，最终如愿以偿！当时，我把器材摆放在拍摄风暴的位置上，过了60秒这个巨大的龙卷风就形成了。
“我的相机放在一个重90磅的金属壳内，但它就像纸片一样被席卷而去。附近的一幢农舍也被整个掀起。（幸运的是，农舍的住户当时不在家。）我能听到树木在怒吼的风中折断的声音，各种各样的杂物在空中飞旋。但是我太过专注自己的工作，将恐惧抛到了脑后。同行的气象学家不停地对我吼叫。我是最后一个钻进汽车的人，我们在最后关头飞速驶离了龙卷风。”
1. Fear Factor 原为美国广播公司的一个真人秀节目
2. corner v. 逼入困境（绝境）
3. cobra n. 眼镜蛇
4. scary adj. 可怕的，引起恐惧的
5. tease v. 挑逗
6. provoke v. 挑衅，激怒
7. neurotoxin n. 神经毒素
8. distract v. 分散注意力
9. venom n. 蛇的毒液
10. controlled burning 计划烧除
11. squawk n. 粗厉的叫声
12. bolt v. 逃走，惊跑
13. hop v. 单脚跳
14. barbed adj. 有刺的
15. tidal wave 海啸
16. face-off 对峙，敌对
17. charge v. 攻击，冲锋
18. aggressive adj. 侵略的，攻击的
19. goof v. 闲荡，打发时间
20. clearing ] n. 空旷地
21. spook v. 惊吓
22. make one’s point有说服力地阐述自己的观点
23. pick one’s way 行路谨慎
24. bob v. 上下摆动
25. hike [haik] n. 徒步旅行，步行
26. squid [skwid] n. 乌贼
27. beak n. 鸟嘴，喙
28. sucker disk 动物的吸盘
29. tentacle n. 触须，触角
30. jam v. 猛压（推、戳）
31. twister n. 龙卷风
32. funnel n. 漏斗
33. nerve n. 勇气
34. in the nick of time 正当紧要关头，正及时