The left-side steersman opened a ring segment there.

左侧舵手在那里打开了一个环段。

Slowly, it began to roll—up, up—bringing those irritant barbs as high as possible, away from the sand that threatened the soft inner lapping of its ring segment.

慢慢地，它开始卷起来——向上，向上——把那些刺激性的倒钩尽可能地抬高，远离威胁到它的环形部分柔软的内部研磨的沙子。

This was the true instant of the testing: if he had planted the hooks correctly at the leading edge of a ring segment, opening the segment, the worm would not roll down and crush him.

这是真正的测试时刻：如果他把钩子正确地放在环段的前缘，打开环段，蠕虫就不会滚下来压死他。

For as long as a forward edge of a worm's ring segment was held open by a hook, open to admit abrasive sand into the more sensitive interior, the creature would not retreat beneath the desert.

只要蠕虫环段的前缘被钩子撑开，让磨蚀性的沙子进入更敏感的内部，这种生物就不会撤退到沙漠下面。