新概念英语4册第29课

The hovercraft

Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century, the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft. In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell, who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads, suggested an idea on which he had been working for many years to the British Government and industrial circles. 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. 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. 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. 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. This is done by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher -- its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.

The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sansation. The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road. Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.

Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service -- cruises on the Thames in London, for instance, have become an annual attraction. But we are only at the begining of a development that may transport net -- sea and land transport. Christopher Cockerell's craft can establish transport works in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia; it can become a 'flying fruit - bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the ports, giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic; and the railway of the future may well be the 'hovertrain', riding on its air cushion over a single rail, which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h. -- the possibility appear unlimited.

在我们这个世纪中有许多奇怪的新型交通工具被发明。而其中最奇怪的可能就是气垫船。1853年，曾经是一位电气工程师的Christopher Cockerell, 在他50岁的时候，开始在Norfolk造船。他有一个为英国政府和工业界工作多年的想法。即让船支撑在垫子上，或者是低压空气。并被高压空气包围起来。从那时到现在，人们为这种工具究竟是属于船、非议或者陆地运输工具而感到为难。因为它是介于船与飞机之间的东西。波浪的抵抗浪费了船的大部分能量并限制其速度。作为造船工程师，Cockerell想寻找解决这个问题的方法。他的答案是通过让船行驶在不超过1至2英尺的空气垫上使其把船从水中提起来。这通过船底许多环行的空气喷射机来完成。它“飞起来了”。但是飞不高，实际上它要依靠表面，水或者地面，来行驶。

1959年在Solent的首次实验引起了轰动。气垫船首先在水面形势，然后冲上海滩，爬过沙丘，在路上停下，随后穿过海峡，在波浪中平稳前进，没有发生任何问题。

从那时起，各种气垫船出现并取代了传统的服务。例如，伦敦泰晤士河的巡游成为了一年一度的吸引。但是我们仅仅在许多水陆交通工具发展的初始阶段。Christopher Cockerell的气垫船可以在广阔而交通困难的广大区域完成运输工作。例如非洲和澳洲。它成为“飞行的水果碗”。将香蕉从种植园带到港口。巨大的气垫船线路可以横垮大西洋。而未来的铁路可能会是“气垫火车”。通过铁轨上的空气垫行驶而没有任何接触。速度可高达300m.p.h。潜力无极限。