商业周刊:火车模型劫持案(5)

As experienced engineers, club members immediately recognized how the robbers likely sawed into the containers.

作为经验丰富的工程师，俱乐部成员立即意识到劫匪是如何锯入集装箱的。

"Portable power tools are our worst enemy," says GMMES veteran Karl Midgeley.

“便携式电动工具是我们最坏的敌人。”格雷芬德海洋与工程模型协会资深人士卡尔米·德格利说。

A forensics expert from the Kent Police eventually arrived, but because the club is open to the public on weekends—and the thieves presumably wore gloves—collecting finger-prints was futile¹.

肯特警方的一位法医专家最终赶到了现场，但由于俱乐部在周末对公众开放，而且窃贼可能戴着手套，无法收集到指纹。

Another officer visited just after 5 p.m. to take statements, but Filley recalled him mostly mumbling² along while listening to her take on the situation.

另一名警官下午5点刚过去录过口供，但是费利回忆说，他大多是边听她讲述情况边咕哝着。

She and the club weren't impressed.

她和俱乐部成员都不太满意。

"You don't get much support from police in this country," Filley told me, unsympathetic to the suggestion that there might have been more important matters to investigate.

“在这个国家，你得不到警察的太多支持，” 费利告诉我，他对可能有更重要的事情需要调查的说法表现得很冷漠。

"It's survival: If you want something done, you get on and do it yourself."

“这就是生存：如果你想做点什么，还是自己来吧。”

That same day, 62 miles northwest, not far from London in the town of Hemel Hempstead, a tatty³ white van motored up to the Miniature Railway Supply Co.

就在同一天，西北62英里离伦敦不远的海默尔·亨普斯特德镇，一辆破烂的白色面包车开到了微型铁路供应有限公司。

A man entered the store, introduced himself as "Jamie" to owner Jeff Price, and said he had several locos for sale.

一名男子走进商店，向店主杰夫·普莱斯自我介绍，说他叫“杰米”，并说他有几辆火车机车要出售。

"Interested?" Jamie asked. "I’ve just done a house clearance⁴ in Kent."

“你有兴趣吗？”杰米问。“我刚在肯特做过一次房屋清理。”

Intrigued⁵, Price followed him outside to the back of the van, where the stranger showed him a green engine with brass⁶ boiler⁷ bands—just like the Mayflower’s.

普莱斯很感兴趣，跟着他走到面包车后面，陌生男子给他看了一个绿色的发动机，上面有黄铜制成的锅炉箍圈，和五月花号一模一样。

Price asked Jamie to come back into his shop so they could go over the paperwork required for trains with boilers⁸.

普莱斯让杰米回到他的店里，这样他们就可以查看有关带锅炉的火车所需的文件。

But just as Price turned to reenter his shop, he suddenly heard doors slam shut and, snapping his head around, saw the van zoom⁹ away.

但是，正当普莱斯转身要重新走回店中时，他突然听到门砰的一声关上了，他猛然间转过头，看到面包车开走了。

Moments later, an assistant ran up to the baffled shopkeeper to report a stunning¹⁰ crime: "You’ll never guess what! Gravesend Model Marine¹¹ have had four locos stolen!"

不一会儿，一名助手跑到困惑不解的店主面前，告诉他一起令人震惊的罪案：“你永远猜不到！格雷芬德海军陆战队有四辆模型机车被偷了！”

On a recent Wednesday morning, GMMES members putter around the club’s sprawling¹² lawn doing chores.

上周三早上，格雷芬德海洋与工程模型协会的会员们在俱乐部的草坪上漫步，做着手中的琐事。

A squad¹³ of senior engineers, their palms splotched with grease, are repairing British Railways loco No.61149,

一队高级工程师正在修理英国铁路61149号机车，他们的手掌上沾满了油脂，

while a pair of handymen with a mess of wrenches¹⁴ replace a rusty¹⁵ curve in the 5-inch-gauge¹⁶ track. (A track’s "gauge" refers to its width.)

而一对手拿着一把扳手的工人正在更换5英寸轨距轨道上生锈的弯道。（轨道的“轨距”是指其宽度。）

1 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。

2 mumbling   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I could hear him mumbling to himself. 我听到他在喃喃自语。
• He was still mumbling something about hospitals at the end of the party when he slipped on a piece of ice and broke his left leg. 宴会结束时，他仍在咕哝着医院里的事。说着说着，他在一块冰上滑倒，跌断了左腿。

3 tatty   

adj.不整洁的，简陋的

参考例句：

• His friends used to tease him about his tatty clothes.他的朋友过去常常笑话他破旧的衣服。
• There were a lot of guest houses which were very tatty.有许多小旅馆都又脏又乱。

4 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

5 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

6 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

7 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

8 boilers   

锅炉，烧水器，水壶( boiler的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even then the boilers often burst or came apart at the seams. 甚至那时的锅炉也经常从焊接处爆炸或裂开。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The clean coal is sent to a crusher and the boilers. 干净的煤送入破碎机和锅炉。

9 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

10 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

13 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

14 wrenches   

n.一拧( wrench的名词复数 )；（身体关节的）扭伤；扳手；（尤指离别的）悲痛v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的第三人称单数 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• NEVER use wrenches or other persuaders to operate the valve. 禁止使用扳手或其它强制性工具来操作阀门。 来自互联网
• Thus, torque wrenches should be used for tightening DISS connections. 因此，应该使用转矩扳手来上紧DISS接头。 来自互联网

15 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

16 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。