斯洛文尼亚／Slovenia（Part 4）

＊波斯托伊纳溶洞与什科茨扬洞／Postojna and Skocjan Caves
从皮兰、布莱德和波希涅的照片你应该看得出斯洛文尼亚是个非常漂亮的国家，如果要我在这个漂亮的国家中选出我最喜欢的地方，那就应该是它的两个溶洞——波斯托伊纳溶洞与什科茨扬洞。

From the pictures of Piran, Bled and Bohinj, you should have gathered by now that Slovenia is a really beautiful country. But if you ask me to pick out my favorite place out of so many beautiful spots, then it is neither the blue waters of Piran nor the green forests of Bled and Bohinj, instead it is the two karst caves, Postojna Caves and Skocjan Caves, which will top the list of my favorite places in Slovenia.

这并不是我第一次参观溶洞，之前到越南和中国时都有去看那里的岩石洞。不过就像Mirjana说的，看过斯洛文尼亚的溶洞后，你就会觉得其他的溶洞真的是小乌见大乌。
This is not the first time I’ve visited a karst or limestone cave. I’ve visited those in Vietnam and China too. However, to quote Mirjana, once you’ve seen these two limestone caves in Slovenia, you won’t have to visit any more limestone caves.

一般游客通常会花两天的时间来参观这两个溶洞，不过在听取Rasko的意见后，我决定用一天的时间来完成两个溶洞。这并不是不可能的，因为两个溶洞是在同一个方向。但到这两个洞的公共交通不多，只能搭火车，而开往这两个地方的火车并不多，若要在一天内完成两个洞就必须起得特别早赶火车到波斯托伊纳溶洞去，然后在中午时分赶回火车站，赶搭火车到什科茨扬洞去。
Most tourists will spend one day on each of the caves as they as not easy to get to with public transport. However, on the advice of Rasko, I decided to squeeze both caves into one day. This is not impossible as both caves are located in the same direction and since you need to be part of a guided tour in order to see the caves, there is only a limited amount of time you can spend in each cave. You will have to take a train early in the morning to get to Postojna Caves and make it for the first guided tour of the day. By the time the tour ends, there will be just enough time for you to get back to the train station and catch the train after noon to the Skocjan Caves.
说其他的溶洞不能媲美波斯托伊纳溶洞，主要是因为它非常、非常大。从每位游客必须搭乘小火车来参观整个山洞，你就可以想象这个岩石洞到底有多大。这个岩石洞已经有几百万年的历史，当导游告诉我们，这些钟乳石和石笋要每一百年才长一厘米，你不得不惊叹大自然的奥妙。这些钟乳石和石笋非常有趣，有些长得像纸张，有些长得像意大利面。因为相机的闪光灯会“杀死” 这些钟乳石和石笋，因此洞内严禁拍照，只有在特定的地点允许拍照，因此也就无法给你们看这个岩石洞到底有多雄伟。
The one big reason to choose to visit Postojna Caves over the other limestone caves is that this is a really huge network of limestone caves merge into one. Just from the fact that they actually have a mini train running through the caves is a good enough statement of how big the caves are. These caves have been in existence of millions of years. When we were told that it actually takes one hundred years for these stalactites and stalagmites to “grow” 0.1cm, one cannot help being amazed at the wonders of Mother Nature. The stalactites and stalagmites in these caves are really interesting, forming all kinds of shapes, with some resembling pieces of paper and others looking like spaghetti. As the flashlight from cameras will “kill” the stalactites and stalagmites and caused them to stop “growing”, photography is not allowed in most parts of the caves. You are only allowed to take pictures at specific points, which mean that you will not get to see how impressive these caves are unless you go to Slovenia yourselves. 什科茨扬洞虽然也是岩石洞，但却与波斯托伊纳溶洞不同。在波斯托伊纳溶洞，从你踏入洞内的那一刻起，你看到的除了钟乳石之外，就是石笋。什科茨扬洞的钟乳石和石笋“规模”没有波斯托伊纳溶洞那么壮观，可是我还是很喜欢这个岩石洞，因为它与后者一样大，你不必坐小火车参观山洞，而是自己不行。刚开始时，我们一直往下走。上上下下后，你就会来到一到河，必须走过一道桥才能到山洞的另一边去，实在像足到世界的中心去探险，真的很特别。所以如果你问我，这两个溶洞应该参观哪个好？我会告诉你，虽然门票是贵了一点，但两个都去，包你不会后悔！！
Although the Skocjan Caves are karst caves like Postojna Caves, it is distinctively different from the latter. Upon entering the Postojna Caves, what greet you are just stalactites and stalagmites, and more stalactites and more stalagmites. In the Skocjan Caves, you do not see that many stalactites and stalagmites, neither do the ones here look as impressive. However, I do like these caves because although they are equally big as the Postojna Caves, you do not take a mini train to tour the caves, instead you trek through the caves for more than an hour. The trek brings you deep into the caves, many times going down and down and down, giving one the feeling that you are journeying to the center of the earth. There is even a huge river that flows in the middle of the cave, where you will have to use a bridge to cross to get to the other side of the river. If you ask me, which of the two caves should you visit, I would say do both! You will not regret it! Although entrance fees for the two caves are not cheap and they are not easy to get to, but they are such interesting caves, that they are definitely worth your effort. And since both caves are different in their own ways, you won’t get the feel that you are seeing the same things even if you visit both of them.