Doomsday Castle　末日避难城堡

Doomsday Castle末日避难城堡

by Marcus Maurice

Sometimes crazy people should not be allowed to have children.
有时候疯狂的人不应该被允许有小孩。

The year was 1999 and the closer it got to December 31, the crazier people got. The doomsday scenarios people were coming up with were the end of humanity as we know it and a computer virus that would crash the banking system, so people had stocked up on canned food and built shelters to prepare for the worst. Then, when the clock struck midnight around the world, very few problems happened. Governments worked normally, money was readily available at ATM machines, and some crazy people had a lot of canned goods to eat. Basically, all the worry about Y2K was for nothing.
While it has been 14 years since the turn of the millennium, there are still a few people out there who think the world will be ending soon. One of them is Brent Bruns who is building a castle with his 10 children to shelter his family deep in the forests of South Carolina. This month, National Geographic Channel (NGC) features Bruns and his family on Doomsday Castle.
Unsurprisingly, the castle actually began as a bunker in 1999. Since Y2K passed with little trouble, Bruns is now focused on what he believes will be the apocalypse—an electromagnetic burst which will cause power failure across the US and send everyone back to the Dark Ages. On the show, Bruns wants his family prepared for anything and everything, so he launches fake tear gas attacks on them and has trainers come to teach them survival and sniper skills. Will the family survive the craziness of their father and finish the castle, or will they run away to be normal kids? Find out on NGC's Doomsday Castle.

1. scenario n. 情节
   At the CPR class, the students learned how to deal with real-life scenarios.
   在心肺复苏术的课堂上，学生们学到如何处理真实的情况。
2. stock up on...储存　囤积……
   stock vi. 存放
   People stocked up on food and water because a typhoon was approaching.
   人们囤积了食物和水，因为有个台风即将到来。
3. shelter n. 避难所 & vt. 保护，庇护
   I'd like to know how to donate clothing to a homeless shelter.
   我想知道该如何捐赠衣物到游民收容所。
   Even though Rita knew that it was illegal to shelter a criminal, she couldn't say no to her brother.
   虽然瑞塔知道包庇罪犯是违法的，但她还是无法拒绝她哥哥。
4. readily adv. 很快地；欣然地
   Julia readily understood what was going on.
   茱莉亚很快就了解事情是怎麽一回事。
   Jenny readily accepted my invitation to the prom.
   珍妮欣然接受了我的毕业舞会邀请。
5. basically adv. 基本上
   = essentially
   Our teacher is strict, but he's basically pretty nice.
   我们的老师很严格，但基本上他人很好。
6. feature vt. 介绍；以……为特色
   The program featured some of my favorite singers.
   这个节目介绍了几位我最喜欢的歌手。
   The book features stories written by a high school student with cancer.
   这本书以一位罹患癌症的高中生所写的故事为特色。
7. launch vt. 发射；发起（活动）
   The space shuttle exploded soon after it was launched.
   那架太空梭发射不久後便爆炸了。
   To launch a legal demonstration, you must first obtain permission from the local government.
   想要发起合法示威活动，你们得先向地方政府申请许可。
8. survival n. 生存；幸存
   Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest.
   达尔文笃信适者生存。

1. doomsday n. 世界末日
2. humanity n. 人类
   = human beings
3. virus n. 病毒
4. millennium n. 千禧年（单数形）
   millennia n. 千禧年（复数形）
5. unsurprisingly adv. 不足为奇地
6. bunker n.（防御用的）碉堡
7. apocalypse n. 大灾难
8. electromagnetic a. 电磁的
9. burst n. 爆炸
10. sniper n. 狙击手
11. craziness n. 疯狂

On the show, Bruns wants his family prepared for anything and everything, so he launches fake tear gas attacks on them and has trainers come (to) teach them survival and sniper skills.
注意
come / go + 原形动词
come、go 以原形动词出现时，其後可接不定词片语（to + 原形动词），或接 and 後再置另一原形动词，但 to 或 and 均可予以省略，而形成『come / go + 原形动词』的用法。
Let's go pay Bill a visit this weekend.
咱们这个周末去探访一下比尔吧。
I have booked a table for four. Why don't you come eat with us?
我已经订了四个人的座位。你何不跟我们去吃呢？

1. come up with... 想出　提出……
   = think up...
2. be focused on... 把重心放在……

末日避难城堡
有时候疯狂的人不应该被允许有小孩。
时间是 1999 年，愈接近十二月三十一日，人们就愈疯狂。

当时人们所想出的世界末日情节就是我们所知的人类末日，另外还有一种电脑病毒会使银行电脑系统全面当机，因此人们都事先贮备了罐头食品并建造了避难所，好为最糟的状况做好准备。接著，当世界各地的午夜钟声响起时，发生的问题寥寥无几。政府仍然正常运作，自动提款机里很快就提得到钱，而有些疯狂的人们也有很多罐头食品可吃。基本上，所有对千禧危机的担心都是多馀的。
虽然千禧年到来已有十四年之久，但世界上还是有一些人觉得世界末日很快就会到来。其中有一位就是正和他的十个孩子在南卡罗莱纳州的森林深处建造一座城堡来保护家人的布兰特．布朗斯。本月国家地理频道的《末日避难城堡》节目将播出布朗斯和他家人的故事。
事实上，这座城堡在 1999 年开工的时候原先要被打造成碉堡，这点并不令人惊讶。由於千禧危机并未造成什麽麻烦，因此现在布朗斯把心力放在他认为将会发生的末日大灾难∶有一场电磁波引起的大爆炸将会导致全美各地电力中断，并把所有人带回黑暗时代。在这个节目中，布朗斯要他的家人对任何事情都要有所准备，因此他用假的催泪瓦斯攻击他们，并聘请教官来教导他们生存及狙击的技巧。这家人会在父亲的疯狂行径下生存下来并盖好城堡，或是他们会逃走去做个正常小孩呢？观赏国家地理频道的《末日避难城堡》节目来找出答案吧。