On Endurance(3)

I started learning about the world-record holder. His name is Tom Sietas. And this guy is perfectly built for holding his breath. He’s six foot four. He’s 160 pounds. And his total lung capacity is twice the size of an average person. I’m six foot one, and fat. We’ll say big-boned.

我开始了解到这个记录的保持者叫汤姆斯塔斯。这家伙就像是为屏气而生的，他身高有 6 尺 4寸， 160 磅重。而且他的肺活量是正常人的 2 倍。我身高6 尺 1 寸，很胖，或者可以硬是说成骨架比较大。

I had to drop 50 pounds in three months. So, everything that I put into my body I considered as medicine. Every bit of food was exactly what it was for its nutritional value. I ate really small controlled portions throughout the day. And I started to really adapt my body. The thinner I was, the longer I was able to hold my breath.

所以我必须在三个月内减掉 50 磅。所有放进我嘴里的东西，我都看作是药物。 每一小块食物都按照营养价值需要来吃。一天内我都保持非常小量的食物，渐渐地我的身份发生了变化。我越瘦，就越能长时间屏住呼吸。

And by eating so well and training so hard, my resting heart-rate dropped to 38 beats per minute,which is lower than most Olympic athletes.

通过饮食控制搭配艰苦的训练，我的心率下降到每分钟 38 次，比多数奥林匹克运动员都要低。

In four months of training, I was able to hold my breath for over seven minutes.  I wanted to try holding my breath everywhere. I wanted to try it in the most extreme situations to seem if I could slow my heart rate down under the duress（强迫，监禁）.

在 4 个月的训练中，我已经可以屏住呼吸，长达 7 分钟之久。 我想在任何地方都训练屏气，尝试在极端的环境下屏气检验是否可能降低心率，在监禁的情况下。

I decided that I was going to break the world record. Live on prime（优质的，主流的，黄金时间） time television. The world record was eight minutes and 58 seconds, held by Tom Sietas, that guy with the whale lungs I told you about.

终于我准备好要打破世界记录，要在黄金时段的电视频道直播。当时的世界记录是 8分 58 秒，汤姆斯塔斯始终保持，我告诉过你们那个家伙有鲸鱼一样大的肺。

I assumed that I could put a water tank at Lincoln center and if I stayed there a week not eating, I would get comfortable in that situation, and I would slow my metabolism, which I was sure would help me hold my breath longer than I hand been able to do it. I was completely wrong.

我设想可以在林肯中心放一个巨型水缸，然后我不吃饭在那里面先待一个礼拜，就会比较适应了，并且新陈代谢也会缓慢下来，我很肯定这样做可以帮我更长时间屏住呼吸。显然我完全错了。

I entered the sphere（范围，领域） a week before the scheduled air date（播出日期）. And I thought everything seemed to be on track. Two days before my big breath hold attempt, for the record, the producers（制片人） of my television special thought that just watching somebody holding their breath, and almost drowning（溺水，溺死）, is too boring for television.

我提前一个礼拜去到中心，感觉一切都渐渐上了轨道，没想到的是， 在破纪录憋气尝试的前两天，电视制作人突然觉得：光看人憋气像是快要淹死对观众来说太过无聊。

So, I had to add handcuffs, while holding my breath, to escape from. This was a critical mistake. Because of the movement I was wasting oxygen.

于是我不得不加上手铐，边屏气边试着挣脱它们。这被证明是个极严重的错误。开始后我因为挣脱的动作浪费了很多氧气。

And by seven minutes I had gone into these awful convulsions. By 7:08 I started to black out（熄火，晕倒）. And by seven minutes and 30 seconds they had to pull my body out and bring me back. I had failed on every level.

到第 7 分钟我已经开始出现可怕的抽搐。到 7 分 08秒时， 我开始失去知觉，7 分 30 秒的时候，他们必须把我拉出来进行抢救。我输地一塌糊涂。

So, naturally, the only way out of the slump（猛跌，萧条，失败） that I could think of was, I decided to call  Oprah. I told her that I wanted to up the ante（提高赌注，加码） and hold my breath longer than any human being ever had. This was a different record. This was a pure O2 static apnea （静态屏气）record that Guinness had set the world record at 13 minutes.

所以很自然唯一可以摆脱消沉我可以想到的就是去找奥普拉，我告诉他我要提高赌注我要屏住呼吸长过所有人。这是个不同的记录，这次是纯氧静止屏气记录，有吉尼斯目前的 13 分钟为世界记录。

So, basically you breath pure O2 first, oxygenating your body, flushing（冲洗） out CO2, and you are able to hold much longer. I realized that my real competition was the beaver（河狸，海狸）.

也就是先吸入纯氧，充沛氧气，排出二氧化碳。然后你就可以屏气更长时间。当时我意识到，我真正的竞争者是海狸。

In January of 08, Oprah gave me four months to prepare and train. So, I would sleep in a hypoxic tent every night. A hypoxic tent is a tent that simulates altitude at 15,000 feet. So, it’s like base camp Everest（珠峰大本营）. What that does is, you start building up the red blood cell count in your body, which helps you carry oxygen better.

2008 年 1 月奥普拉给了我 4 个月准备和训练。我每晚睡在低氧舱里，所谓低氧舱就是模拟海拔 15000 尺的含氧量，跟珠峰大本营似的。这么做的原因，可以累积体内红细胞的数目，帮助你更好的保存氧气。

Every morning, again, after getting out of that tent your brain is completely wiped out（精疲力竭，一片空白）. My first attempt on pure O2, I was able to go up to 15 minutes. So, it was a pretty big success.

每个早晨，同样的，从低氧仓里出来时大脑一片空白。我第一次尝试纯氧时，我已经可以屏气 15 分钟。这已经算是不小的成功了。

The neurosurgeon pulled me out of the water. Because in his mind that 15 minutes, your brain is down, you’re brain dead. So, he pulled me up, and I was fine.

那个神经外科医生把我从水里拉出来，因为他认为仅15分钟，你的大脑就完了，你就脑死亡了。可是当他我拉出来，我却状态良好。

There was one person there that was definitely not impressed. It was my ex-girlfriend. While I was breaking the record underwater for the first time, she was sifting （筛选，仔细查看）through my Blackberry, checking all my messages. My brother had a picture of it. It is really…..

当时肯定有一个人是觉得没什么大不了，就是我的前女友。 当我在水下第一次打破记录时，她却在翻我的黑莓手机。检查我所有的短信。我哥哥拍了张当时的照片。 那真是。。。。

I then announced that I was going to go for Sietas’ record, publicly. And what he did in response, is he went on Regis and Kelly, and broke his old record.

我终于宣布公开挑战斯塔斯的记录，他所做的回应，就是在 Regis and Kelly 节目中，自己打破他以前的记录。

Then his main competitor went out and broke his record. So, he suddenly pushed the record up to 16 minutes and 32 seconds. Which was three minutes longer than I had prepared. You know, it was longer than the record.

然后他的主要竞争者又出来，并再次打破记录。这样，记录离奇地被提到 16 分 32 秒。比我所做的准备长出 3 分钟。你知道，比原来记录长出很多。

Now, I wanted to get the Science Times to document this. I wanted to get them to do a piece on it. So, I did what any person seriously pursuing scientific advancement would do.  I walked into the New York Times offices and did card tricks to everybody.

这下，我打算让科学时代杂志来报道这一切，我希望他们也能参与。于是，我做了任何一个严谨探索科学的人都该做的事。我走进纽约时报的办公室给每个人表演纸牌魔术。

So, I don’t know if it was the magic or the lore（知识，学问，学说） of the Cayman is islands, but John Tierney flew down and did a piece on  the seriousness of breath-holding. While he was there I tried to impress him, of course.

我不知道是魔术的原因还是开曼群岛的信仰，约翰，蒂尔尼被说服了，还写了一篇论屏住呼吸之严重性的报道。当他在那儿的时候，我试图给他深刻印象。

And I did a dive down to 160 feet, which is basically the height of a 16 story （楼层）building, and as I was coming up, I blacked out underwater, which is really dangerous; that’s how you drown. Luckily Kirk had seen me and he swam over and pulled me up.

于是我猛地下潜了 160尺，大概有 16 层楼那么高，可我是上浮过程中，昏了过去，那是相当危险的那就是人们如何溺水的。幸运的是克尔克看到我他游过去把我救了上来。