每日一篇:《经济学人》读译参考 Day162

英语阅读能力依靠什么？必然是词汇的积累，但，仅仅是词汇的积累是不够了，更应该了解英语句式，不同句型所表达意义。如何培养自己的阅读语感呢？那么就跟着聚英聚创考研信息网小编每天学一点英语，一起为考研筑起坚实的地基。阅读是需要积累的，就像我们需要经常和人沟通才会促进我们的表达能力一样~小伙伴跟着小编一起，每天坚持打卡，培养英语阅读能力及语感，了解文章一些经典词汇的用法。

经济学人:中国商业航天 (1)

 

The first rockets were Chinese. In the 1230s the armies of the Song dynasty,who were fighting Mongol invaders, started launching "fire arrows" propelled by gunpowder some 300 metres into enemy lines.When the Song's artillerymen realised that these arrows continued to fly straight even after their fiery exhaust had burned away their feathers, they removed the fletching and the rocket was born.

译文

首批火箭出现在中国。十三世纪三十年代，宋朝军队在抗击蒙古军时就开始向300米以外的敌后战线发射“火焰箭”，其靠火药做为推动力。当宋军的炮手意识到，即使火药耗尽、箭上的矢羽烧光，这些箭还是继续向前飞进，他们便撤掉了箭上的矢羽，火箭就此诞生了。

 

Almost eight hundred years later Shu Chang, the head of a company called OneSpace,is trying to build on that historical tradition—though not for military purposes.The charred and twisted remnants of OS-X, the firm's first launch, are strewn across the floor of its laboratory in Daxing, a suburb of Beijing.The launch took place in May, from an undisclosed location in the north-west.

译文

近八百年后，零壹空间CEO舒畅正在尝试依据历史传统建造火箭——虽然并非出于军事目的。公司首次发射OS-X，烧焦扭曲的OS-X残留物洒满了实验室的地板，该实验室位于北京郊区大兴。此次试发射发生于五月，其发射地是位于西北方向的一个隐蔽地。

 

OS-X, nine metres tall, climbed to an altitude of 40 km and travelled 287 km downrange.It remained airborne for five minutes before crashing into desert sands.This lift-off was a first not only for OneSpace but also for China,for it was the first in that country of any rocket built by a private space company rather than a government agency.It was also the world's first flight of a rocket intended to pave the way for a commercial, solid-fuelled orbital launcher.

译文

OS-X高九米，可攀上40千米高度，沿试验航向的里程为287千米。在撞入沙地之前，其在空中保持了5分钟。此次离地升空不仅是零壹空间的第一次，同样也是中国的第一次，因为这是中国首枚由民营太空公司而非政府机构研发的火箭。这也是世界首次旨在于为商业、固体燃料轨道发射器做准备的火箭飞行。

 

Solid fuel is easier and cheaper to handle than the liquid variety, which requires tanks and pumps,and its higher density means that rockets which use it can be made smaller than their liquid-fuelled brethren of equivalent lifting capability.Fine-tuning the flight of a solid-fuelled rocket is harder, though, because the supply of fuel to the motor cannot easily be regulated.For that reason American space companies have followed the liquid-fuelled path trodden by government space agencies around the world.

译文

相比需要容器和抽运器的液体燃料，固体燃料更轻且更便宜，固体燃料的高密度意味着使用固体燃料的火箭体积可以比同运载能力的液体燃料火箭更小。调整固体燃料火箭的飞行更加困难，因为无法轻易控制其发动机的燃料供给。因此，美国太空公司依照政府太空机构液体燃料推进的方式行事。

 

The relative disadvantages of solid fuel do, however, diminish as rockets get smaller.And since OneSpace is not planning to hoist into orbit the multi-tonne loads carried by, say, the Falcon Heavy lifter of SpaceX,America's leading private space company, the firm hopes that the simplicity of solid fuel will offset its disadvantages.

译文

然而，随着火箭体积的缩减，固体燃料的相对劣势确实小了。由于零壹空间不打算将由起落架（比如SpaceX的重型猎鹰起落架）搭载的多公吨负荷吊入轨道中，美国主要的私人太空公司希望固体燃料的简易性将抵消其缺点。

 

注释

1.continue to 继续

Continue to process until a smooth batter is formed

继续加工直到形成光滑的面糊。来源于《BBC》

 

2.burn away 烧掉；烧没了

This is similar to cytoscopy, except the probe is used to burn away cancer cells with an electric current

这类似于细胞显微镜，除非电流是用来用电流烧掉癌细胞的。来源于《BBC》

 

3.take place 发生

His lessons take place during the school lunch break

他的课实在午餐期间进行的。来源于《BBC》

 

4.intend to 打算；想要

We intend to build up Zion on the earth

我们打算在地球上建立锡安山（天国）。来源于《NEWYORKER》

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