【课文】
First listen and then answer the following question.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
What is a hovercraft riding on when it is in motion?
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 sensation. 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. The hovercraft is particularly useful 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 possibilities appear unlimited.
EGON LARSEN The Pegasus Book of Inventors
【New words and expressions 生词和短语】
hovercraft n. 气垫船
Norfolk Broads n. 诺福克郡的湖泊地区
cushion n. 座垫
ring v. 围
Solent n. (英国的)苏伦特海峡
sensation n. 轰动
dune n. 沙丘
plantation n. 种植园
hovertrain n. 气垫火车
【课文注释】
1.the strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft 这是现在分词being的独立主格结构。
2.turned to direct one"s interest or attention towards; go into 求助于, 转向，在本段中的含义是“改行”。
例句：I had to turn to the dictionary for help.
我只得求助于字典了。
The pop singer turned to figure in soap operas.
那位流行歌星转向屏幕，在肥皂剧中扮演角色。
3.had been working 过去完成进行时，通常表示某个过去正在进行的动作或状态，持续到过去某个时刻，还未完成，一直持续到之后的当前才结束 。
例句：He had been bumming around the park all day.
他在公园里荡了一整天了。
He stopped swimming.He had been swimming for the last three hours.
他停止游泳了。在过去的三个小时里，他一直在游泳。
4. range v. 排列, 归类于
例句：The documents may range from a single sheet to a large packet of papers.
文件可以单页排列，也可以多页打包排列。
5.in between,介乎......之间，这是一种组合介词。
6.a surface ship,水面船只。
7.sensation n. 感觉, 轰动, 激动, 知觉
例句：He had a sensation of dizziness.
他有一种晕眩的感觉。
The new discovery caused a great sensation.
这项新发现很轰动。
8.present no problem 没有出现任何问题
【词义辨析】
modern, contemporary, current, recent, present, up-to-date这些形容词均有“现代的、当代的”之意。
modern: 指现代或近代，时期可长可短;也可指新颖、时髦的。
contemporary: 仅指当今这个时代，不涉及任何过去的时代，但可表示不同的人或物存在于同一时代。
current: 指目前存在和发生的。
recent: 表示新近的，最近的，时间的长短依据所修饰的人或物而定。
present: 是这些词中语气最强的一个。指现在正发生、起作用的。
up-to-date: 一般用于非正式场合，指很时新、能反映当前的最新发展。
offer, present, propose, volunteer这些动词均含“提出、提供”之意。
offer: 最普通用词，多指主动提出或提供意见或东西等，但是否接受由对方自行决定。
present: 既可指提出意见、建议等，又可指拿出某物供人欣赏或赠送。
propose: 指直接而主动地提出问题或建议等，也指在讨论或争辨中提出具体意见或建议。
volunteer: 与offer同义，侧重出于自愿，而不是奉命做某事。
9.may well be,很可能是。
例句：This novel may well become a classic.
这本小说很可能成为经典著作。
Since he can play many musical instruments, he may well be called a man of
accomplishments.
他能演奏许多乐器，当然称得上是个多才多艺的人。
10.speed up 加快速度
例句：Harden up a little, we need more speed.
把帆索拉紧一点，我们需要加快速度
The order No.105 is so urgently required that we have to ask you to speed up
shipment.
第105号订单所订货物我们要急用，请你们加快装船速度。
【参考译文】
本世纪已研制出许多新奇的交通工具，其中最新奇的要数气垫船了。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，改行在诺福克郡的湖泊地区从事造船业，他向英国政府和工业界提出了他研究多年的一项计划。他的设想是：用一个低压空气或软垫来支撑船体，软垫周围用高压空气环绕。自那以后，人们很难决定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，因为它是介于船和飞机之间。作为一个船舶技师，科克雷尔在寻找解决波浪阻力的方法，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。他的解决办法是把船体提离水面，让船在一个气垫上行驶，气垫只有一两英尺厚。船底装上大量环状喷气嘴以实现这一目的。这样，船就能飞了，但飞不高。它的飞行限决于它所悬浮的水面或地面。
1959年，在苏伦特海峡进行的首次试航引起了轰动，气垫船先是在水面上行驶，后又登上海岸，爬上沙丘，最后停在路上。后来气垫船跨越英吉利海峡，平衡地在波浪上方行驶，波浪不再产生阻力。
从那以后，各种各样的气垫船出现了，并开始了定期航行服务。气垫船在非洲、澳大利亚等交通不发达地区特别有用。它能成为“飞行水果盘子”，把香蕉从种植园运到港口。大型的气垫班轮或许能跨越大西洋。未来的火车或许能成为“气垫火车”，靠气垫在单轨上行驶而不接触轨道，时速可达每小时300英里。气垫船的前途是不可限量的。
新概念英语网权威发布新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson29，更多新概念第四册课文翻译及学习笔记Lesson29相关信息请访问新概念英语网。
标签：