????日前，在于加州尼古湖舉辦的綠色頭腦風暴會議（Brainstorm GREEN）上，理查德?布蘭森接受了《財富》（Fortune）總編賽安迪的采訪，采訪中他揭開了自己的最新深海潛艇——維珍海洋（Virgin Oceanic）的神秘面紗，他將乘著這艘潛艇探索各大洋的最深處。

????布蘭森在一份關于維珍海洋項目的聲明中說道：“維珍海洋將會擴展人類在這個星球上的探索范圍。通過促進和利用新科技，維珍海洋將為人類探索大洋的能力提供幫助，幫助科學家了解我們的生態系統，并喚醒大眾的意識，使他們了解我們的海洋面臨著哪些挑戰。”

????布蘭森告訴賽安迪：“海洋底部完全沒有得到充分的探索。日本、美國或中國的潛艇最遠只下潛到了18000英尺，但有些海溝深達36000英尺，而且大洋深處還有很多尚不為人知的物種。知道大洋深處有什么是很重要的。這正是吸引我們的地方。”

????在一份聲明中，布蘭森公布了他和另一位探險家克里斯?威爾什駕乘“維珍海洋”探索海溝的計劃：“每次潛航都由不同的操控者輪流駕駛。首先由克里斯?威爾什駕駛潛艇潛入馬里亞納海溝（36201英尺），由理查德先生擔任后備駕駛員；第二次潛航由理查德先生駕駛潛艇潛入波多黎各海溝（28232英尺）——也就是大西洋最深的海溝，人類以前還從來沒有探索過這里。這次將由克里斯?威爾什擔任后備。在即將進行的五次潛航中，維珍海洋潛艇有能力在水下10公里深處‘飛行’，以充分探索這些未知的環境。”

????布蘭森將在未來兩年里造訪五大洋的最深處：太平洋的馬里亞納海溝、大西洋的波多黎各海溝、印度洋的迪亞曼蒂納海溝、南大西洋的南桑德韋奇海溝，以及北冰洋的莫洛伊海溝。

????譯者：樸成奎

????Yesterday at the Brainstorm GREEN conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif., Richard Branson sat down with Fortune Managing Editor Andy Serwer for a conversation where he unveiled his latest venture, Virgin Oceanic, through which he will explore the deepest underwater areas of the world.

????"Virgin Oceanic will expand the reach of human exploration on our planet. By promoting and utilising new technology Virgin Oceanic will aid human kind's ability to explore our Oceans, assist science in understanding our eco system and raise awareness of the challenges facing our Oceans," Branson said in a statement about the project.

????Branson told Serwer, "the exploration at the bottom of the oceans -- it's really not been explored at all. The furthest that any Japanese submarine or American submarine or Chinese submarine goes down is 18,000 feet, and yet there are trenches in the ocean that are like 36,000 feet … and there's something like [unintelligible number] species in the oceans we don't know about. And it's quite important...that we know what's going on down there. So that's the hitch."

????In a statment, Virgin Oceanic explained how Branson and his co-commander will explore the ocean's trenches: "Each dive will be piloted by different commanders with Chris Welsh diving to the Mariana Trench (36,201 ft.) with Sir Richard as back up pilot, and Sir Richard piloting to the Puerto Rico Trench (28,232ft) -- the deepest trench in the Atlantic, which has never been explored before -- with Chris Welsh acting as back up. The Virgin Oceanic sub has the ability to 'fly' underwater for 10km at depth on each of the five dives and to fully explore this unknown environment."

????Branson will visit the deepest points of the world's oceans over the course of two years: The Mariana Trench in the Pacific, the Puerto Rico Trench in the Atlantic, the Diamantina Trench in the Indian, the South Sandwich Trench in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and the Molloy Deep in the Arctic Ocean.