first sentence in novel 星际浪子

[edelweis]

他赤裸地在坍塌近半和纵横交错似蜘蛛网般的岩洞里，迅快任意地移动著。

You can paste it in google for context. This is the first sentence of the novel.

So the guy is naked and moving randomly and quickly in grottos that crisscross like a spiderweb.

I don't get the 坍塌近半 part. Help?

 

[imron]

近 here means something like 'almost' or 'nearly'. 半 is half, so a literal reading would be something like 'collapsed nearly half', which would be rendered idiomatically as half-collapsed.

[edelweis]

thanks Imron.

[edelweis]

为生命狂奔，是唯一可表示人类不屈精神的方式。

也是唯一可以和必须做的事！

在他坚强奇异的生命因子里，早铸刻著在最恶劣的环境中的生存之道。

 

I don't get the third sentence here. It is something like this??

 

Among the consistently bizarre (??) factors in his life, it [为生命狂奔 the mad scramble for survival] had been cast early as the way to survive in the most inferior environments.

 

[edited because mediocre does not seem the be the same as médiocre]

[dwq]

因子 factor / (genetic) trait / (math.) factor / divisor

早 indicates 'already' here, not early.

坚强 is staunch / strong , not 'consistently'.

在他坚强奇异的生命因子里，早铸刻著……

It is already carved in his strong and fantastic DNA (the way to survive in the most hostile environments).

I would use 'most hostile' when it applies to 环境.

[edelweis]

thanks dwq!