新概念英語第四冊
Lesson 29 The hovercraft
1 . In 1953, a former electronics engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell,who had turned to boat-building on the Norfolk Broads,在1953年，有一位50多歲名叫克裡斯托弗·科克雷爾的原電子工程師，改行在諾福克郡的湖泊地區從事造船業，
2 . 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.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。氣墊船的前途是不可限量的。
3 . no more than one or twofeet thick.氣墊只有一兩英尺厚。
4 . the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft.其中最新奇的要數氣墊船了。
5 . 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.作為一個船舶技帥，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。
6 . planes, or land vehicles----for it is something in between a boat and an aircraft.飛機，或是陸上交通工具，因為它是介於船和飛機之間。
7 . its action depends on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.它的飛行取決於它所懸浮的水面或地面。
8 . It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher---這樣，船就能飛了，但飛不高。
9 . Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding whether the craft should be ranged among ships,自那以後，人們很難決定是否應該將這種運載工具列為輪船、
10 . The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation.在1959年，在蘇倫特海峽進行的首次試航引起了轟動。
11 . His answer was to lift the vessel out of the water by making it ride on a cushion of air,他的解決辦法是把船體提離水面，讓船在一個氣墊上行駛，
12 . 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達地區特別有用。
13 . Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular service.從那以後，各種各樣的氣墊船出現了，並開始了定期航行服務。
14 . 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，
15 . 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界提出了他研究多年的一項計劃。
16 . 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，把香蕉從種植園運到港口。
17 . climbed up the dunes, and sat down on a road.爬上沙丘，最後停在路上。
18 . Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the waves, which presented no problem.後來氣墊船跨越英吉利海峽，平穩地在波浪上方行駛，波浪不再產生阻力。
19 . This is done by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the bottom of the craft.船底裝上大量環狀噴氣嘴以實現這一目的。
20 . 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.用一個氣墊來支撐船體，低壓空或軟墊，軟墊周圍用高壓空氣環繞。
21 . giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic;大型的氣墊班輪或許能跨越大西洋。
22 . The hovercraft travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach,氣墊船先是在水面上行駛，後又登上海岸，
23 . Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century,本世紀已研製出許多新奇的交通工具，