新概念第四冊課文精講 Lesson29:氣墊船

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課文29 氣墊船

523. Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century,

本世紀已研制出許多新奇的交通工具，

524. the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft.

其中最新奇的要數(shù)氣墊船了。

525. In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell,

1953年，有一位50多歲名叫克里斯托弗.科克雷的原電子工程師，

526. who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads,

改行在諾?？丝さ暮吹貐^(qū)從事造船業(yè)，

527. suggested an idea on which he had been working for many years to the British Government and industrial circles.

他向英國政府和工業(yè)界提出了他研究多年的一項計劃。

528. It was the idea of supporting a craft on a 'pad', or cushion, of low-pressure air, ringed with a curtain of higher pressure air.

他的設想是：用一個低壓空氣或軟墊來支撐船體，軟墊周圍用高壓空氣環(huán)繞。

529. Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes, or land vehicles -- for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft.

自那以后，人們很難決定是否應該將這種運載工具列為輪船、飛機，或是陸上交通工具，因為它是介于船和飛機之間。

530. As a shipbuilder, Cockerell was trying to find a solution to the problem of the wave resistance which wastes a good deal of a surface ship's power and limits its speed.

作為一個船舶技師，科克雷爾在尋找解決波浪阻力的方法，因為波浪阻力浪費掉了船在水面行駛的大量動力，從而限制了船的速度。

531. His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft.

他的解決辦法是把船體提離水面，讓船在一個氣墊上行駛，氣墊只有一兩英尺厚。船底裝上大量環(huán)狀噴氣嘴以實現(xiàn)這一目的。

532. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher -- its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.

這樣，船就能飛了，但飛不高。它的飛行限決于它所懸浮的水面或地面。

533. The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation.

1959年，在蘇倫特海峽進行的首次試航引起了轟動，

534. The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road.

氣墊船先是在水面上行駛，后又登上海岸，爬上沙丘，最后停在路上。

535. Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.

后來氣墊船跨越英吉利海峽，平衡地在波浪上方行駛，波浪不再產(chǎn)生阻力。

536. Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service.

從那以后，各種各樣的氣墊船出現(xiàn)了，并開始了定期航行服務。

537. The hovercraft is particularly useful in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia;

氣墊船在非洲、澳大利亞等交通不發(fā)達地區(qū)特別有用。

538. it can become a 'flying fruit-bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports;

它能成為“飛行水果盤子”，把香蕉從種植園動到港口。

539. giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic;

大型的氣墊班輪或許能跨越大西洋。

540. and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain',

未來的火車或許能成為“氣墊火車”，

541. riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h.

靠氣墊在單軌上行駛而不接觸軌道，時速可達每小時300英里。