美13岁男孩挑战珠峰 有望成年龄最小登顶者

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."

如果这名13岁的美国男孩成功登上珠穆朗玛峰，他有一个不算过分的愿望：从世界之巅捡一块小石头作为纪念，并把它在戴在脖子上。

来自美国加利福尼亚州的乔丹．罗梅罗在（尼泊尔首都）加德满都接受记者采访时说：“我不会把它卖掉，也不会送人。这是我登上世界最高峰的见证”。罗梅罗已于上周日出发，开始攀登珠峰。

如果挑战成功，罗梅罗将成为世界上登上这座海拔高达8850米（合29035英尺）的山峰的年龄最小的人。目前，这一世界纪录保持者是16岁的尼泊尔男孩坦巴．薛里．谢帕。

但罗梅罗表示，他的目标并不是破纪录。在接受采访时，罗梅罗正与其爱好爬山的父亲和继母在加德满都的泰美尔旅游区享用午餐。

罗梅罗称，他的目标是登上世界七大洲的最高峰，位于尼泊尔和中国交界处的珠穆朗玛峰是他的目标之一。

他自信地说道：“这只是一个目标。如果不成功也没什么，我以后会再试。”

迄今，罗梅罗已成功征服了非洲（最高峰）乞力马扎罗山和阿拉斯加州的麦金利山以及其它几座高山。

罗梅罗和他的父亲、身为急救护理员的保罗都表示，罗梅罗已做好了攀登准备，也知道攀登这座世界最高峰所面临的危险。

罗梅罗说：“我知道登上珠峰需要很大的耐力。我会一直保持耐心。我要确保安全，做出正确选择。”他将沿着珠峰位于中国一侧的东北部山脊路线攀登。

自1953年新西兰人埃德蒙．希拉里爵士和尼泊尔人丹增．诺尔盖首次登上珠峰后，目前全世界已有四千多名登山者成功登上这座世界最高峰。

罗梅罗表示，下一步他计划攀登美国所有50个州的最高峰。

“不一定要在珠峰之后，也可能交替进行。”

Vocabulary:

scale: to climb by or as if by a ladder; climb up or over（攀登，到达顶点）

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