You please cipher what this code says for me pls?

But we pulled at the grill [on the ground] and it gave way. and then we saw iron rings as steps leading down a shaft into a darkness without bottom. … it was a great tunnel. its walls were hard and smooth to the touch; it felt like stone, but it was not stone. on the ground there were long thin tracks of iron, but it was not iron; it felt smooth and cold as glass. we knelt, and we crawled forward, our hand groping along the iron line to see where it would lead. but there was an unbroken night ahead. what is the most likely explanation for the walls described in the bold text?

Of all the attributes essential to a respected man or woman or to a respected nation, the predominant characteristic is self-discipline. laws cannot be made compelling people to suppress their desire for power or position. no method of legislating such wisdom exists. as free people, we must face a choice between two types of discipline. one is the self-discipline that is still open to us—the kind that free people and free nations exercise when they select the executives, lawmakers, and judges who will govern them and assure their protection and well-being. the second is a cold-blooded, ill-intentioned, form of discipline that may be thrust upon us by strangers—the discipline of force, terrorism, suspicion, and intimidation—the discipline used in totalitarian regimes. does every sentence following the first in some way support the theme?

How many plants are there how do you say them in spanish?