美13歲男孩挑戰珠峯 有望成年齡最小登頂者

If this 13-year-old American boy succeeds in his bid to climb Mount Everest, he has modest ambitions - pick a small piece of rock from the top of the world as a memento and wear it in a necklace.

"I will not sell it; I will not give it to anyone. It is something for myself to say 'this is a rock from the summit'," Jordan Romero from California, told reporters in Kathmandu. He left for the mountain on Sunday.

If he succeeds, Romero will become the youngest climber to scale the 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) Everest summit. Currently a 16-year-old Nepali boy, Temba Tsheri Sherpa, holds the record of being the world's youngest climber of Mount Everest.

But Romero, sitting over lunch with his climbing father and stepmother in Kathmandu's tourist district of Thamel, said he was not after setting climbing records.

Romero said Mount Qomolangma, that straddles Nepal-China border, was part of his goal to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents.

"It is just a goal," he said confidently. "If I don't succeed I am okay. I will try again."

Romero has already climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mount McKinley in Alaska among others.

Romero and his father Paul, a critical care paramedic, said the boy was ready to take on the climb and understood the risk of climbing the giant mountain.

"I know it requires a lot of patience. I will remain patient. I want to stay safe and make right choice," Romero said of his climb using the northeast ridge route on the Chinese side of the mountain.

More than 4,000 climbers have reached the top of Mount Qomolangma since it was first climbed by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953.

Romero said he wanted to climb the highest mountains in all 50 states in the United States next.

"It does not need to be after Qomolangma and could be in between."

如果這名13歲的美國男孩成功登上珠穆朗瑪峯，他有一個不算過分的願望：從世界之巔撿一塊小石頭作爲紀念，並把它在戴在脖子上。

來自美國加利福尼亞州的喬丹•羅梅羅在（尼泊爾首都）加德滿都接受記者採訪時說：“我不會把它賣掉，也不會送人。這是我登上世界最高峯的見證”。羅梅羅已於上週日出發，開始攀登珠峯。

如果挑戰成功，羅梅羅將成爲世界上登上這座海拔高達8850米（合29035英尺）的山峯的年齡最小的人。目前，這一世界紀錄保持者是16歲的尼泊爾男孩坦巴•薛裏•謝帕。

但羅梅羅表示，他的目標並不是破紀錄。在接受採訪時，羅梅羅正與其愛好爬山的父親和繼母在加德滿都的泰美爾旅遊區享用午餐。

羅梅羅稱，他的目標是登上世界七大洲的最高峯，位於尼泊爾和中國交界處的珠穆朗瑪峯是他的目標之一。

他自信地說道：“這只是一個目標。如果不成功也沒什麼，我以後會再試。”

迄今，羅梅羅已成功征服了非洲（最高峯）乞力馬扎羅山和阿拉斯加州的麥金利山以及其它幾座高山。

羅梅羅和他的父親、身爲急救護理員的保羅都表示，羅梅羅已做好了攀登準備，也知道攀登這座世界最高峯所面臨的危險。

羅梅羅說：“我知道登上珠峯需要很大的耐力。我會一直保持耐心。我要確保安全，做出正確選擇。”他將沿着珠峯位於中國一側的東北部山脊路線攀登。

自1953年新西蘭人埃德蒙•希拉里爵士和尼泊爾人丹增•諾爾蓋首次登上珠峯後，目前全世界已有四千多名登山者成功登上這座世界最高峯。

羅梅羅表示，下一步他計劃攀登美國所有50個州的最高峯。

“不一定要在珠峯之後，也可能交替進行。”

Vocabulary:

scale: to climb by or as if by a ladder; climb up or over（攀登，到達頂點）

straddle: to be on both sides of; extend over or across（跨過，橫跨）