http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/02/03 15:34 《Speak 2 Me》
Alain Robert takes high risks as a way of life
阿蘭-羅伯特視冒險(xiǎn)為一種生活方式
What do you call a man who scales the world’s highest buildings equipped with only climbing shoes and a bag of chalk powder? Urban climber Alain Robert has earned the nickname ‘Spiderman’ for his barehanded climbs up 50 of the world’s tallest towers.
The 42-year-old Frenchman got his start when he forgot the keys to his parents’ apartment. Rather than wait for them, the 12-year-old climbed the exterior walls to the eighth floor. Since then he has scaled Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers, Tokyo’s Shinjuku Tower, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Empire State Building in New York. Robert has listed Shanghai’s Jin Mao Tower, the third tallest building in the world, as his next goal.
“After conquering two of the highest buildings in the world, The Sears and the Petronas Towers, I want to climb the landmark Jin Mao Tower,” he says. “In fact, it’ll be very easy because of its shape and architecture.” What’s after that? Just down the street to the 230-meter-tall International Ocean and Finance Building.
Robert never asks permission to perform his daring feats and is used to being arrested by the police at the top of the towers he scales. “Fortunately, the courts usually let me go,” he says, “but I prefer staying in prisons to hospitals.” He should know -- in 1982 he fell 15 metres when a rope came undone and fractured so many bones that the doctors predicted he would never climb again.
Six months later, the superhuman Robert proved them wrong by breaking yet another urban climbing record. “I was not willing to give up because I was born to take risks – that is my way of life,” he says. “Modern people are only willing to believe in their computers, while I believe in myself.”
The Real Spiderman 貨真價(jià)實(shí)的蜘蛛人
你會(huì)怎么稱呼一個(gè)只配備攀巖鞋和一袋粉筆灰就去攀登世界最高樓的人？城市攀登阿蘭-羅伯特以徒手攀上50座世界最高樓贏得“蜘蛛人”這個(gè)別名。
這位42歲的法國人起步的時(shí)候是他忘了帶他父母的公寓鑰匙。他沒有等他的父母，12歲的他從外墻爬上8樓。從那以后，他爬過吉隆坡的雙子星大樓、東京的新宿塔、巴黎的艾菲爾鐵塔，還有紐約的帝國大廈。羅伯特已將全世界第三大高樓，上海的金茂大廈列為他的下一個(gè)目標(biāo)。
“在征服了世界上最高的兩棟建筑西爾斯大樓和雙子星大樓之后，我想去爬地標(biāo)金茂大廈。”他這樣說，“事實(shí)上，由于它的形狀和建筑結(jié)構(gòu)，這會(huì)是一件很簡單的事。”接下來的目標(biāo)是什么呢？是同一條街上230米高的港匯大樓。
羅伯特從未請求別人準(zhǔn)許他表演他的大膽特技，而且他也習(xí)慣在他攀登的大樓頂端被警察逮捕。“幸運(yùn)的是，法庭通常會(huì)放我走。”他這樣說，“但是與其進(jìn)醫(yī)院，我倒喜歡住在監(jiān)獄里。”他應(yīng)該知道──他于1982年在一條繩索松脫時(shí)跌落15米，摔斷了太多骨頭，以至于醫(yī)生預(yù)言他再也無法攀爬了。
6個(gè)月之后，超人羅伯特以打破另一項(xiàng)城市攀登紀(jì)錄證明他們是錯(cuò)的。“我當(dāng)時(shí)不想放棄，因?yàn)槲疑鷣砭鸵半U(xiǎn)──那就是我的生活方式。”他這樣說，“現(xiàn)代人只愿意相信他們的計(jì)算機(jī)，而我相信我自己。”
