Lesson 29 The hovercraft-英语听力

[00:01.55]Lesson 29
第29课 [00:03.46]The hovercraft
气垫船 [00:11.25]What is a hovercraft riding on when it is in motion? [00:17.57]Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century,
本世纪已研制出许多新奇的交通工具， [00:22.14]the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft.
其中最新奇的要数气垫船了。 [00:26.77]In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell,
1953年，有一位50多岁名叫克里斯托弗·科克雷的原电子工程师， [00:34.08]who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads,
改行在诺福克郡的湖泊地区从事造船业， [00:37.87]suggested an idea on which he had been working for many years [00:42.15]to the British Government and industrial circles.
他向英国政府和工业界提出了他研究多年的一项计划。 [00:45.90]It was the idea of supporting a craft on a 'pad', or cushion, of low-pressure air,
他的设想是：用一个低压空气或软垫来支撑船体， [00:53.92]ringed with a curtain of higher pressure air.
软垫周围用高压空气环绕。 [00:57.78]Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding
自那以后，人们很难决定 [01:01.28]whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes, or land vehicles --
是否应该将这种运载工具列为轮船、飞机，或是陆上交通工具， [01:07.60]for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft.
因为它是介于船和飞机之间。 [01:12.26]As a shipbuilder,
作为一个船舶技师， [01:13.66]Cockerell was trying to find a solution to the problem of the wave resistance
科克雷尔在寻找解决波浪阻力的方法， [01:18.68]which wastes a good deal of a surface ship's power and limits its speed.
因为波浪阻力浪费掉了船在水面行驶的大量动力，从而限制了船的速度。 [01:24.61]His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water
他的解决办法是把船体提离水面， [01:28.09]by making it ride on a cushion of air, no more than one or two feet thick.
让船在一个气垫上行驶，气垫只有一两英尺厚。 [01:34.95]This is done by a great number of ringshaped air jets on the bottom of the craft.
船底装上大量环状喷气嘴以实现这一目的。 [01:41.73]It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher--its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.
这样，船就能飞了，但飞不高。它的飞行取决于它所悬浮的水面或地面。 [01:53.81]The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation.
1959年，在苏伦特海峡进行的首次试航引起了轰动， [01:59.78]The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach,
气垫船先是在水面上行驶，后又登上海岸， [02:04.58]climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road.
爬上沙丘，最后停在路上。 [02:08.98]Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves,
后来气垫船跨越英吉利海峡，平衡地在波浪上方行驶， [02:13.43]which presented no problem.
波浪不再产生阻力。 [02:16.47]Since that time,
从那以后， [02:17.95]various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service.
各种各样的气垫船出现了，并开始了定期航行服务。 [02:23.27]The hovercraft is particularly useful in large areas with poor communications [02:29.10]such as Africa or Australia;
气垫船在非洲、澳大利亚等交通不发达地区特别有用。 [02:32.28]it can become a 'flying fruit-bowl',
它能成为“飞行水果盘子”， [02:35.28]carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports;
把香蕉从种植园运到港口。 [02:38.98]giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic;
大型的气垫班轮或许能跨越大西洋。 [02:43.10]and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain',
未来的火车或许能成为“气垫火车”， [02:48.02]riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches,
靠气垫在单轨上行驶而不接触轨道， [02:53.47]at speeds, up to 300 m.p.h.--the possibilities appear unlimited.
时速可达每小时300英里。气垫船的前途是不可限量的。