欧美文化博览 走进墨西哥(8)

 

Application here is so notorious, the world's scientists have a nickname for this seismic¹ horror：the Mexico City Effect. In the quest of Mexico city earthquake proof, the shifting earth poses its challenge to every construction project, whether above ground or below. Mexico city has the world's third busiest subway system, behind only Moscow and Tokyo, one hundred and seventy six stations, two hundred and seven kilometers of track, more than four million riders a day. But most impressive is that the system's conquest of the rein².

这里有着臭名昭著的应用设施,以致于全世界的科学家有对这个地震的恐怖都有了一个绰号:那就是墨西哥城效果。对于哥城地震的探索证明,地球的姿势偏移挑战着每一项无论是地面或以下的建筑工程。墨西哥城市有着仅次于莫斯科和东京的世界第3繁忙的地铁系统,176家电视台,207公里的铁路,一天400多万人的流量。但最令人印象深刻的是驾驭这个控制系统。

"When we begun to build the subway ,we discovered that the soil was very muddy, so construction was very difficult." The answer was a construction technique called Milan walls, two parallel trenches³ dug,then filled with concrete and steel rods to form the subway tunnel 's walls, between these walls, the tunnel itself is dug. But engineers run into an obstacle, a law brought in called Archimedes Principle, the same principle allows the submarine to rise, dive or float, the tunnel had to weigh the same as the earth was escalated⁴, weigh less and it would rise, more and it would sink. Instead the tunnel had to float in the soil, to ensure equilibrium⁵, engineers precisely⁶ calibrated⁷ the weight of the walls to match the displace its soil. Over the open stations, they made up the difference by putting up buildings, no one knew if the Milan walls withstand the earthquake, then came 1995, the quake leveled the worried hospital, the subway station below, not a scratch, the entire system rolled out the seismic waves by floating in the subsoil, in fact the subway was the only way to reach many disaster zones, yet even there is subway tunnel in advance ,the greatest feat⁸ of engineering is happening on the surface.

“当我们开始建设地铁时,我们发现,土壤非常泥泞,因此建设是很困难的。”解决办法是被称为米兰墙的建筑技术,两条沟挖墙,填满混凝土和钢棒形成了地铁区间隧道的墙壁,在这些墙壁之间,隧道本身就是挖掘。但是工程师们则遇到一个障碍,一个被称为阿基米德原理的法律，同样的原则允许潜艇上升,潜水或漂浮。由于土地问题，隧道也必须服从这一原理,体重较轻,就会上升,反之则会下沉。相反隧道不得不浮在土壤上,以确保平衡,工程师精确校准墙的重量以替换它的土壤。在开放的地铁站,他们通过建造建筑找到了平衡,没有人知道米兰墙能否承受地震。之后就是1995年的大地震。这次地震夷平了医院,地铁站,不是雁过留痕,而是整个系统随着地震波浮在地基上,事实上地铁是唯一能够到达很多受灾区域的途径,但即使提前有了地铁隧道,最伟大的壮举工程也要建设在表面上。

 

1 seismic   

a.地震的，地震强度的

参考例句：

• Earthquakes produce two types of seismic waves.地震产生两种地震波。
• The latest seismic activity was also felt in northern Kenya.肯尼亚北部也感觉到了最近的地震活动。

2 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

3 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

4 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

5 equilibrium   

n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静

参考例句：

• Change in the world around us disturbs our inner equilibrium.我们周围世界的变化扰乱了我们内心的平静。
• This is best expressed in the form of an equilibrium constant.这最好用平衡常数的形式来表示。

6 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

7 calibrated   

v.校准( calibrate的过去式和过去分词 )；使标准化；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Power pesticide dusters can be calibrated and used to apply pertilizer. 动力杀虫剂可以调整用来施肥。 来自辞典例句
• The flexible diaphragm is connected to a plat cantilever-calibrated spring. 柔韧的膜片一扁平的悬臂校正弹簧相连。 来自辞典例句

8 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。