Plennie Wingo: 8,000 Miles Walking Backwards

Welcome back to Learn English with Podcasts! Sarah, quick test. Could you walk across this room backwards, right now, without looking around?欢迎回到 Learn English with Podcasts！Sarah，快测一下。你能现在就倒着走过这个房间，还不回头看吗？

That is what most people say. Now imagine walking backwards, not across a room, but across countries. 8,000 miles, for a year and a half.大多数人都这么说。现在你想象一下，不是倒着走过一个房间，而是倒着走遍好几个国家。8000 英里，走上一年半。

It is real, and there is even a Guinness World Record for it. The record holder is an American man named Plennie Wingo.是真的，甚至还有一项吉尼斯世界纪录。纪录保持者是一个叫普莱尼·温戈的美国人。

Neither. He owned a small cafe in a town called Abilene, in Texas. He was a normal businessman with a wife and a daughter.都不是。他在得克萨斯州一个叫阿比林的小镇开了一家小咖啡馆。他是个普通的生意人，有妻子和女儿。

The year was 1931. It was the Great Depression. Banks closed, businesses failed, and millions of people lost their jobs.那是 1931 年，正是大萧条时期。银行倒闭，企业破产，数百万人失业。

Exactly. And Wingo's cafe was one of the businesses that failed. He lost almost everything.没错。温戈的咖啡馆就是倒闭的企业之一。他几乎失去了一切。

He hoped so. In those years, people did wild stunts to get attention and earn a little money. One man sat on top of a flagpole for 49 days. Another pushed a peanut up a mountain with his nose.他是这么希望的。那个年代，人们用各种疯狂的花招来吸引眼球、挣点小钱。有个人在旗杆顶上坐了 49 天。还有个人用鼻子把一颗花生推上了山。

Yes. Here is how the idea started. He overheard some children say that everything had already been done, that there was nothing new left to try.对。这个想法是这么来的。他无意中听到几个孩子说，什么事都被做过了，再没有新东西可以尝试了。

It did. So he said, out loud, well, nobody has ever walked around the world backwards. And then the idea would not leave his head.是的。于是他大声说，好吧，还从来没有人倒着走遍世界。然后这个念头就再也离不开他的脑子了。

True. So he started training, and he bought a very clever tool.确实。于是他开始训练，还买了一个很聪明的工具。

A pair of sunglasses with tiny mirrors on the sides. They were made for motorcycle riders, but for Wingo they were perfect. He could look ahead in the mirrors while his body faced backwards.一副两侧带小镜子的墨镜。这种眼镜本来是给摩托车骑手做的，但对温戈来说再合适不过。他的身体朝后，却能通过镜子看清前面的路。

He wore a suit and a tie and carried a cane. On his back he had a sign that read, walking backwards around the world.他穿着西装、打着领带，还拄着一根手杖。背上挂着一块牌子，上面写着"倒着走遍世界"。

On April 15, 1931, he left Fort Worth, Texas, walking backwards. He went east to the coast, then crossed the ocean by ship to Germany.1931 年 4 月 15 日，他倒着走出得克萨斯州的沃思堡。他一路向东走到海边，然后坐船跨过大洋去了德国。

He did. He walked backwards up the ramp onto the ship. Then in Germany he kept going south, toward Turkey.是的。他倒着走上传船的跳板。到了德国，他又继续向南，朝土耳其走。

About 25 kilometers a day. And here is a small secret: he only walked backwards between towns. Inside a town, he finally turned around and walked like a normal person.每天大约 25 公里。这里还有个小秘密：他只在小镇之间倒着走。进了镇子，他终于会转回身，像普通人一样走路。

Some did. He collected stamps and signatures in a notebook from every town he passed. Newspapers wrote about him. But many people thought he was crazy.有些人帮了。他每经过一个镇子，就在笔记本上收集印章和签名。报纸也写他的故事。但很多人觉得他疯了。

You are right. He was arrested more than once. In one city, the police put him in jail simply for walking backwards through town.你说得对。他被抓了不止一次。在一个城市，警察仅仅因为他倒着穿城走路，就把他关进了监狱。

Very hard. He wore out 12 pairs of shoes. He slept outside many nights. One night, he even slept inside a public phone booth to hide from a pack of wild animals.非常辛苦。他穿坏了 12 双鞋，很多个夜晚都睡在户外。有一晚，为了躲开一群野兽，他甚至睡在一个公用电话亭里。

It gets funnier. In one town, he ate a whole meal backwards. He started with dessert, and he finished with soup.还有更好笑的。在一个镇子，他把整顿饭倒着吃。他先吃甜点，最后喝汤。

He did. And his body changed. After months of walking backwards, the muscles in his legs shifted. His calves ended up on the front of his legs.确实。而且他的身体变了。倒着走了几个月之后，他腿上的肌肉也移位了。他的小腿肚跑到了腿的正面。

He reached Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey. But the police there told him he had to leave the country, for his own safety.他到了土耳其最大的城市伊斯坦布尔。但那里的警察要他离开这个国家，说是为了他自身的安全。

No. A rich Italian man paid for his ticket back to the United States. Then Wingo did one more long walk, from Santa Monica, California, back to Texas.没有。一位富有的意大利人出钱给他买了回美国的船票。之后温戈又走了一段很长的路，从加利福尼亚的圣莫尼卡一路倒着走回得克萨斯。

This is the sad part. In total, he made about $4. His wife asked for a divorce while he was away. And his fame faded fast.这就是令人难过的部分了。他总共只赚了大约 4 美元。他不在家的时候，妻子还提出了离婚。他的名气也很快消退了。

It is. He wrote a book about the trip, but it did not sell well. He lived quietly, and he died at the age of 98, mostly forgotten.确实。他写了一本记录这趟旅程的书，但卖得不好。他平静地生活着，98 岁去世时，几乎被人遗忘。

That is what I thought too, until I read one line he wrote. He wrote, with the whole world going backwards, maybe the only way to see it was to turn around.我本来也这么想，直到我读到他写的一句话。他写道：当整个世界都在倒退时，也许唯一的办法就是转过身去。

With the whole world going backwards, maybe the only way to see it was to turn around.当整个世界都在倒退时，也许唯一的办法就是转过身去。

Exactly. And in a strange way, he was the calmest person around. Everybody else kept running forward, chasing money that had disappeared. He just turned around and kept walking.正是。而且说来奇怪，他反而是最镇定的那一个。其他所有人都在向前奔跑，追逐着已经消失的钱。他呢，只是转过身，继续往前走。

And there is one more twist. In 1976, when he was 81, he did it again. He walked backwards across California, about 400 miles, all the way to a famous museum in Santa Monica.而且还有一个转折。1976 年，他 81 岁的时候，又做了一次。他倒着走穿越加利福尼亚，大约 400 英里，一直走到圣莫尼卡一家有名的博物馆。

Maybe. He never got rich, and most people today have never heard his name. But his record still stands. To this day, nobody has walked backwards farther than Plennie Wingo.也许吧。他从没富过，今天大多数人也从没听过他的名字。但他的纪录还在。直到今天，也没有人倒着走的路比普莱尼·温戈更远。