Lifts and skyscrapers

　　電梯和摩天大樓

　　The other mile-high club

　　另一個高聳入云的俱樂部

　　A new lightweight lift cable will let buildings soarever upward

　　一種新型的輕型升降梯將會讓建筑繼續向更高處發展

　　WHEN Elisha Otis stood on a platform at the 1854 World Fair in New York and ordered anaxeman to cut the rope used to hoist him aloft, he changed cityscapes for ever.

　　當艾利沙奧的斯在1854年紐約世界博覽會上站在一個高樓的陽臺下，命令一個持斧的人砍斷那個把他帶到高空的繩索時，他徹底改變了人們對城市景觀的印象。

　　To the amazement of the crowd hisnew safety lift dropped only a few inches before being held by an automatic braking system.

　　為了吸引人群的眼光，在新的自動制動系統起動前，他只讓他的新安全電梯降落了幾英寸。

　　This gave people the confidence to use what Americans insist on calling elevators.

　　這讓人們在使用電梯時-美國人堅持這個稱呼有了足夠的信心，

　　That confidence allowed buildings to rise higher and higher.

　　也正是緣于這種信心，后來的建筑造得越來越高。

　　They could soon go higher still, as a result of another breakthrough in lift technology.

　　當另一種升降技術取得突破后，很快，高樓大廈將會繼續往更高處發展。

　　This week Kone, a Finnish liftmaker, announced that after a decade of development at itslaboratory in Lohja, which sits above a 333-metre-deep mineshaft which the firm uses as atest bed, it has devised a system that should be able to raise an elevator a kilometre ormore.

　　本周，一家荷蘭的電梯制造者通力聲稱，該公司位于洛雅的實驗室該實驗室坐落于一個333米深的，用于試驗的礦井上方經過數十年的研究，開發了一種可以讓電梯升高到一公里甚至更高的系統。

　　This is twice as far as the things can go at present.

　　這個高度是現在電梯可以達到高度的二倍。

　　Since the effectiveness of lifts is one of the main constraints on the height of buildings, Kone stechnologywhich replaces the steel cables from which lift cars are currently suspendedwith ones made of carbon fibrescould result in buildings truly worthy of the nameskyscraper.

　　因為電梯高度是建筑物高度的主要制約因素之一，所以通力的技術將以碳纖維取代目前技術中，讓升降車懸浮于半空的鋼索會讓那些摩天大樓能夠真正配得上這個名字。

　　The problem with steel cables is that they are heavy.

　　鋼索的不足就是它們太重了。

　　Any given bit of rope has to pull up not only the car and the flexible travelling cables thattake electricity and communications to it, but also all the rope beneath it.

　　任何指定的繩索除了要承載汽車和柔性移動電纜讓電力和通信可以和它連接起來的電纜的重量，還要承擔它們下面所有繩索的重力。

　　The job is made easier by counterweights.

　　而這些如果借助平衡力的話會輕松得多。

　　But even so in a lift 500 metres tall steel ropes account for up to three-quarters of the movingmass of the machine.

　　但是，即使在一個500米高的電梯中，鋼索的重量也高達整個機械移動重量的四分之三。

　　Shifting this mass takes energy, so taller lifts are more expensive to run.

　　而要移動這個重量就很耗能，因此越高的電梯，它的運行成本就越高。

　　And adding to the mass, by making the ropes longer, would soon come uncomfortably closeto the point where the steel would snap under the load.

　　在繩索越來越長的情況下，移動的重量也會越來越大，這樣就會很快達到鋼索的承重極限，而這些會讓人們感到不安。

　　Kone says it is able to reduce the weight of lift ropes by around 90% with its carbon-fibrereplacement, dubbed UltraRope.

　　通力表示，用碳纖維取代鋼索可以讓升降索的重量減少約90%，他們稱之為超級鋼絲繩。

　　Roped together

　　牢牢捆在一起

　　Carbon fibres are both stronger and lighter than steel.

　　碳纖維繩索比鋼索更牢，卻更輕。

　　In particular, they have great tensile strength, meaning they are hard to break when theirends are pulled.

　　通常，它們的拉伸強度很高，就是說當用力拉它們的兩端時，它們很難會被拉斷。

　　That strength comes from the chemical bonds between carbon atoms: the same sort that givestrength to diamonds.

　　這種強度來自于碳原子間的化學鍵：這也是金鋼石之所以堅固的原因。

　　Kone embeds tubes made of carbon fibres in epoxy, and covers the result in a tough coatingto resist wear and tear.

　　通力公司把碳纖維制成的管狀物嵌入環氧樹脂，再在外層涂上堅固的涂層，以防止磨損。

　　According to Johannes de Jong, Kone s head of technology for large projects, the steel ropesin a 400-metre-high lift weigh about 18,650kg.

　　根據通力大型項目技術負責人約翰內斯-德榮表示，一個400米高電梯的鋼索重量大約重18.65噸。

　　An UltraRope for such a lift would weigh 1,170kg.

　　而如果在同樣的電梯中，使用能夠達到相同有效高度的超級鋼絲繩，后者的重量將為1.17噸。

　　Altogether, the lift using the UltraRope would weigh 45% less than the one with the steelrope.

　　總之，一個電梯，如果使用超級鋼絲繩，那它的重量將比使用鋼索時減少45%。

　　Besides reducing power consumption, lighter ropes make braking a car easier shouldsomething go wrong.

　　除了能夠降低功效外，較輕的繩索能夠制動一輛更容易會出事的汽車。

　　Carbon-fibre ropes should also, according to Mr de Jong, cut maintenance bills, becausethey will last twice as long as steel ones.

　　據德榮先生表示，碳纖維繩也應該能夠減少維修費用，因為它們的使用壽命比鋼索高一倍。

　　Moreover, carbon fibre resonates at a different frequency to other building materials, whichmeans it sways less as skyscrapers move in high windswhich is what tall buildings aredesigned to do.

　　此外，在一個不同的頻率上，碳纖維與其它建筑材料有著共振效應，這就是說，當高樓在大風中晃動時，這個超級鋼絲繩的晃動幅度不會那么大而這就是高層建筑設計的初衷。

　　At the moment a high wind can cause a building s lifts to be shut down. Carbon-fibre ropeswould mean that happened less often.

　　當前，一場大風會讓一幢建筑的電梯完全停工。但是碳纖維繩索的誕生表明這種現象不會頻頻出現了。

　　All of which is worthy and important. But what really excites architects and developers is thefact that carbon-fibre ropes will let buildings rise highera lot higher.

　　上述這些都很重要，而且是值得的。但是，真正刺激建筑師和開發商的是，碳纖維繩索會讓建筑越來越高比現在的高樓還要高很多。

　　Lighter, stronger ropes mean the main limiting factor in constructing higher skyscraperswould become the cost, says Antony Wood, an architect at the Illinois Institute ofTechnology, in Chicago.

　　伊利諾伊理工學院位于美國芝加哥的建筑師安東尼-伍德表示：更輕，更牢的繩索意味著，限制建造更高摩天大樓的主要問題將會轉到成本上。

　　Dr Wood is also executive director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat,which, among other things, lists the official heights of skyscrapers.

　　伍德博士也是高層建筑與城市人居理事會的執行董事，該機構在有關其它方面的記錄中，列出了官方規定的摩天大廈的高度。

　　At present the tallest is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which was completed in 2010 and, at 828metres, shot past the previous record-holder, the 508-metre Taipei 101 tower.

　　目前為止，最高的高層建筑是迪拜的迪拜塔，完工于2010年，高達828米，完全超過了以前的最高建筑位于臺北的，高達508米的101大樓。

　　The Mecca Royal Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia, completed in 2023, is now, at 601 metres, thesecond-tallest.

　　于2023年完工的麥家皇家鐘樓位于沙特阿拉伯，高達601米，現在是第二高建筑。

　　The Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan, built near the site of the World Trade Centre s twintowers that were destroyed by al-Qaeda in 2001, had its spire added in May to reach 541metres.

　　曼哈頓下城的自由塔于今年三月加高了塔尖，已經達到了541米，離它不遠就是以前世貿中心的雙子塔，分別達到了417米和415米，

　　But work has now started on the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

　　但是在2001年被基地組織摧毀。

　　Its exact proposed height is still a secret, but it will be at least a kilometre.

　　沙特阿拉伯的吉達王國塔現正在建造中，建造計劃中的高度具體是多少還未公開，但是估計至少為一公里。

　　With a big enough budget it would, says Dr Wood, now be possible to build a mile-highskyscraper.

　　伍德博士說，它的建造成本將會是個龐大的數字，可能相當于現在建造一英里高的摩天大樓的成本。

　　Even with carbon-fibre ropes few of such a building s lifts would go all the way from theentrance lobby to the observation deck.

　　即使使用碳纖維繩索，要直接從入口大廳乘電梯到觀景臺，就算在如此規模的高層建筑里也很少見。

　　Most would debouch into intermediate sky lobbies, where passengers could change lifts.

　　大部分都是涌進中間的大廳，從那里乘客們再換乘電梯。

　　Such an arrangement is already familiar. Many skyscrapers are more like three-stagerockets, with different buildings stacked one on top of anotheroffices, a hotel andapartments.

　　類似的安排人們早已經了解了。很多摩天大樓更像三級火箭，里面不同功用的建筑一個堆一個辦公樓，酒店和公寓。

　　Sky lobbies mark the frontiers between these uses.

　　中間的大廳就是這些不同功用建筑的分界點。

　　But carbon-fibre ropes will allow each of these stages to be taller, too.

　　但是同樣，碳纖維索能讓這些不同功用的建筑越來越高。

　　The sky s the limit

　　天空不是無界的

　　Nor need carbon-fibre lift-cables be confined to buildings.

　　碳纖維電梯電纜并不局限于建筑的使用。

　　They could eventually make an idea from science fiction a reality too.

　　它們最終也會從科學幻想變成現實中存在的東西。

　　Space lifts, dreamed up in the late 1950s, are a way of getting into orbit without using arocket.

　　人們在二十世紀五十年代想象出來的太空電梯就是一個不需要火箭，就可以進入軌道的設備。

　　Building one would mean lowering a cable from a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit abovethe Earth s equator while deploying a counterbalancing cable out into space.

　　建造這樣一個設備將意味著，會架設一條在地球同步軌道衛星下方，地球赤道上方的電纜，同時還可以在太空中有效利用這個對重平衡電纜。

　　The cable from Earth to the satellite would not be a classic lift rope because it would not,itself, move.

　　從地球連接到衛星的電纜將不會成為一個經典的電梯電纜，因為它本身將不再移動。

　　But it would perform a similar function of support as robotic cars crawled up and down it,ferrying people and equipment to and from the satellitewhence they could depart into thecosmos.

　　但是，當機器人汽車在它上面往返于地球與衛星之間，運送人們和設備時，它將執行一個類似的支持功能，同時人們從衛星上可以出發遨游宇宙。

　　There are, of course, many obstacles to building such a lift.

　　當然，建造這樣一種電梯還有很多問題，

　　But the answer to onefinding a material that is light and strong enough for the cablemightjust have emerged from that mineshaft in Finland.

　　但是，答案就是尋找一個足夠透光性和牢固的材料來制作電纜而這種材料可能剛好就產自于芬蘭的礦井。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.order to 命令，要求

　　One must believe in order to acquireunderstanding.

　　一個人為了能夠獲得理解就必須相信。

　　Investors ignore such items in order to focus onday-to-day profitability.

　　投資者忽略這些項目是為了專注于每日盈利能力。

　　2.use to 過去常常

　　Below are different strategies you can use to help you deal with each of these negativeemotions.

　　下面介紹了一些不同的方法可以用來幫助您處理每一種負面情緒。

　　Mining has led to water polluted by mercury which miners use to separate the metal fromriver sediment.

　　但開采者常用來從河沙中分離黃金的水銀也導致了河水的污染。

　　3.as a result of 由于的結果;起因

　　China also faces an ageing population as a result of its birth-control policies.

　　由于推行計劃生育政策，中國還面臨著人口老齡化問題。

　　As a result of this new awareness, attitudes toward health are changing.

　　由于認識到了這一點，人們對待健康的態度正在轉變。

　　4.be able to 能，會;能夠

　　Will china now be able to call the shots?

　　中國現在能定下自己的基調嗎?

　　They should be able to score from 12 yards.

　　他們應該能從12碼的位置射門得分。