英语听力文摘 English Digest 521、锚应该抛多远？

 　　Anchors Away, Me Boys–but How Far?

 

　　Anchors away, me boys — but how far? On this moment of science.What happens if you throw your anchor overboard and there isn’t enough chain to reach the bottom? Does the anchor haul you down with it?

 

　　This sounds a little bit like something that would happen in a cartoon. But for sailors it’s no laughing matter. It’s unlikely the whole ship would be pulled under, but there could very well be damage to the hull¹ caused by not having enough chain — including a sudden hole where the anchor used to be.

 

　　That’s why the nautical² rule of thumb is to use three times as much chain as is needed to hit bottom. That extra chain piles up around the anchor and provides added stability.

 

　　Still, what if you don’t know how deep the water is? Or what if you just make a mistake? The navy has prepared for this by building what is called a “weak link” into their anchor chains.

 

　　The weak link is the last link in the chain, and while it’s strong enough to hold together in general, it’s weak enough to break if the whole weight of the anchor and chain is put on it. The weak link there is as a safety valve. Because it’s the very last link, under normal circumstances it never gets played out at all; you always want to have some chain left on the ship.

 

　　But, if the anchor is still zooming³ down full speed at the point where the entire chain runs out, the abrupt⁴ jerk will cause that link to snap. Without the safety valve of the weak link, sailors might routinely drop more than their anchors.

1 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

2 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

3 zooming   

adj.快速上升的v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去分词 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Zooming and panning are navigational tools for exploring 2D and 3D information. 缩放和平移是浏览二维和三维信息的导航工具。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Panning and zooming, especially when paired together, create navigation difficulties for users. 对于用户来说，平移和缩放一起使用时，产生了更多的导航困难。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。