菲爾普斯VS大白鯊,僅以兩秒之差落敗

With 23 Olympic gold medals, swimmer Michael Phelps needed a new challenge.

已榮獲了23枚奧運金牌的游泳選手邁克爾·菲爾普斯需要一項新的挑戰。

And what better challenger for the most decorated Olympian in history than the ocean's most fearsome predator - the Great White Shark.

對於這位史上獲得最多奧運獎牌的選手還有比海洋中最可怕的捕食者大白鯊更好的挑戰者嗎？

The king of the pool threw down the gauntlet to the king of the ocean for a new documentary.

在一部新的紀錄片中，泳池之王向海洋之王發起了挑戰。

But did he bite off more than he could chew?

不過，他是不是太不自量力了？

Phelps vs Shark saw the American swimmer don a ‘monofin’ take to the open waves off Cape Town, South Africa for Shark Week.

“鯊魚周”這檔記錄片見證了菲爾普斯與鯊魚對抗的全過程，這位美國游泳選手穿上“單片腳蹼”與鯊魚在南非開普敦市的開放水域進行了較量。

Backed by a 15-strong army of divers underneath him for protection, he emulated the shark’s shape and swimming conditions while racing over 100m.

在進行100米游泳比賽的時候，他模仿了鯊魚的樣子和游泳條件，期間有15名強壯的軍隊潛水員在水下保護他。

Viewers in the US tuned in to the Discovery Channel on Sunday night to see the results of this battle.

美國的觀衆在週日晚上收看探索頻道就可以觀看這場比賽的結果。

So did Phelps win the ultimate contest of human conditioning and skill versus pure, survival of the fittest evolution... or did he become lunch?

那麼菲爾普斯以人類的身體條件和技巧對抗適者生存條件下存活下來的純粹物種，他贏得了最後的比賽了嗎，還是他成了鯊魚的午餐？

For starters, much to the disappointment of some viewers, Phelps, 32, didn't actually race a real shark. Instead, the swimmer was pitted against three computer generated sharks - a hammerhead, a reef shark and, last but not least, a Great White.

首先，讓一些觀衆十分失望的是，事實上，32歲的菲爾普斯並沒有與一條真正的鯊魚比賽，而是與三條電腦合成的鯊魚對抗的，這三條鯊魚分別是一條錘頭鯊、一條礁鯊，以及最後也同樣重要的一條大白鯊。

Phelps was given a special wetsuit to make him more streamlined as well as a fin - similar to a great white’s - to put him on equal footing with the shark.

菲爾普斯得到了一套特殊的潛水衣，它就像大白鯊的鰭一樣，使他更具流線型，讓他與鯊魚處於平等的競爭條件之下。

A Great White’s top speed hits 25mph, and an average of 16, while Phelps reaches a ‘mere’ six (albeit compared to an average human swimmer’s two).

大白鯊的最快速度達25英里/小時，平均速度也有16英里/小時，而菲爾普斯的速度“只”達到了6英里/小時（盡然如此，但人類游泳選手的平均速度爲2英里/小時）。

“It was so exhilarating,” said Michael. “My love for sharks has been there my whole life, this is a bucket list item.”

“這太令人激動了，”邁克爾·菲爾普斯說道。“我一直非常喜歡鯊魚，與鯊魚比賽是我的願望之一。”

“I wasn’t really expecting to absolutely win against a shark. I wanted to get in and give myself the best opportunity to see how fast I could go, to see how I could compare to the high speed of some of the animals that we have in the ocean.”

“我並非真的期待着完全贏過一條鯊魚。我想參與其中，給自己這個最佳的機會來看看我可以遊多快，看看與海洋中速度非常快的生物相比我的表現如何。”

Incredibly, Phelps did actually beat one of the sharks.

不可思議的是，菲爾普斯確實打敗了其中一條鯊魚。

In his first race, the swimmer came second to the hammerhead shark, beating the reef shark by .2 of a second.

在他的第一場比賽中，這位游泳選手沒有贏過那條錘頭鯊，但他卻以0.2秒的優勢擊敗了礁鯊。

Sadly, his skills were no match for the Great White, which was two whole seconds faster over 100m.

遺憾的是，他的技能不敵大白鯊，在100米的比賽中，大白鯊比他快了整整兩秒。

For the documentary the swimmer spent time at School of Shark in the Bahamas before the race, to learn how the mammals move.

在紀錄片中，這位游泳選手賽前在巴哈馬羣島的鯊魚學校花時間瞭解了這種哺乳動物的移動方式。

“It was so interesting watching how they are in everyday life, being able to see how they go for a regular afternoon stroll, and how they just walk around on the water, or figuring out what they would swim in a 100-metre race,” he says.

“看着他們在日常生活中樣子，而且能夠看到他們是如何進行常規的下午閒逛，它們如何在水中四處轉動，並弄明白他們在100米游泳比賽中會是什麼樣子的，這一切都十分有趣，”他說道。

“Usually at this time of year it’s when we’re going into a major competition, so it was always very relaxing and calming to watch and learn more about sharks.”

“通常在每年的這個時候，我們都在進行大型比賽，所以看着鯊魚並進一步瞭解這種生物讓我一直都很放鬆、很平靜。”

He admitted he’ll always be an adrenaline junkie, though. And now he’s achieved all he can in the pool, he’s always on the look-out for the next ‘dream come true.’

他承認自己一直是一個愛冒險的人。如今他已經實現了自己在泳池中的所有目標，他一直在期待着下一次“夢想成真”。