第29课

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

本世纪人们发明了许多稀奇古怪的交通工具，

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the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft.

其中最奇特的也许要算是气垫船了。

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

1953年，一位50多岁、曾任电子工程师的克里斯托弗·科克雷尔，

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

他已转行在诺福克湖区制造船只，

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

他把多年来一直致力于研究的一种设想，呈报给了英国政府和工业界。

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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.

他的设想是：让航行器由一个低压气垫支撑，气垫四周由一道高压空气幕环绕。

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Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes,

从那时起，人们就很难确定这种航行器究竟是船、是飞机，

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or land vehicles--for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft.

还是陆上交通工具——因为它介于船和飞机之间。

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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.

作为一名造船工程师，科克雷尔当时正试图解决波浪阻力问题，波浪阻力消耗了水面船只的大部分动力，并限制了它的航速。

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His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water by making it ride on a cushion of air, no more than one or two feet thick.

他的答案是让船只骑在厚度不超过一两英尺的气垫上，从而使其脱离水面。

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This is done by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft.

这是通过航行器底部大量的环形喷气口完成的。

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

因此它“飞行”，但不能飞得更高——它的运行依赖于它所行驶的水面或地面。

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

1959年在索伦特海峡进行的首次试验引起了轰动。

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

气垫船先是在水面上行驶，然后登上沙滩，爬上沙丘，最后停在一条公路上。

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

后来它穿越了英吉利海峡，平稳地在海浪上行驶，这没有造成任何问题。

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

从那时起，各种型号的气垫船相继问世，并投入了定期运营。

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

气垫船在非洲或澳大利亚等交通不便的广大地区尤其有用；

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

它可以变成一个“飞行水果盘”，将香蕉从种植园运到港口；

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giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic;

巨型气垫船班轮可以横跨大西洋；

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

而未来的铁路很可能就是“气垫列车”，

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riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds, up to 300 m.p.h.--the possibilities appear unlimited.

它们在单轨上方的气垫上行驶，永不接触轨道，时速可达300英里——其可能性似乎无限。