第17课

旁白 neutral

Verrazano, an Italian about whom little is known, sailed into New York Harbour in 1524 and named it Angouleme.

韦拉扎诺，一位鲜为人知的意大利人，于1524年航行进入纽约港，并将其命名为昂古莱姆。

旁白 neutral

He described it as 'a very agreeable situation located within two small hills in the midst of which flowed a great river.'

他将其描述为“一个非常宜人的地方，坐落在两座小山之间，中间流淌着一条大河。”

旁白 neutral

Though Verrazano is by no means considered to be a great explorer, his name will probably remain immortal,

尽管韦拉扎诺绝不被认为是一位伟大的探险家，但他的名字可能会流芳百世，

旁白 neutral

for on November 21st, 1964, the longest suspension bridge in the world was named after him.

因为在1964年11月21日，世界上最长的吊桥以他的名字命名。

旁白 neutral

The Verrazano Bridge, which was designed by Othmar Ammann, joins Brooklyn to Staten Island.

韦拉扎诺大桥由奥斯马·阿曼设计，连接着布鲁克林和史泰登岛。

旁白 neutral

It has a span of 4,260 feet.

它有一个4260英尺的跨度。

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The bridge is so long that the shape of the earth had to be taken into account by its designer.

这座桥非常长，以至于它的设计师不得不将地球的形状考虑在内。

旁白 neutral

Two great towers support four huge cables.

两座巨大的塔架支撑着四根巨大的缆索。

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The towers are built on immense underwater platforms made of steel and concrete.

这些塔架建在由钢和混凝土制成的巨大水下平台上。

旁白 neutral

The platforms extend to a depth of over 100 feet under the sea.

这些平台延伸到海面以下100多英尺的深度。

旁白 neutral

These alone took sixteen months to build.

仅仅这些就花了16个月来建造。

旁白 neutral

Above the surface of the water, the towers rise to a height of nearly 700 feet.

在水面之上，塔架上升到近700英尺的高度。

旁白 neutral

They support the cables from which the bridge has been suspended.

它们支撑着悬挂大桥的缆索。

旁白 neutral

Each of the four cables contains 26,108 lengths of wire.

四根缆索中的每一根都含有26108股钢丝。

旁白 neutral

It has been estimated that if the bridge were packed with cars, it would still only be carrying a third of its total capacity.

据估计，即使桥上挤满了汽车，它也只承载了其总容量的三分之一。

旁白 neutral

However, size and strength are not the only important things about this bridge.

然而，尺寸和强度并不是这座桥唯一重要的方面。

旁白 neutral

Despite its immensity, it is both simple and elegant,

尽管它如此巨大，却既简洁又优雅，

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fulfilling its designer's dream to creat 'an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible'.

实现了设计师创造“一个尽可能轻描淡写地勾勒出的巨大物体”的梦想。