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来自科幻小说的六大发明

2013-09-12

阅读与作文(英语初中版) 2013年9期
关键词:儒勒世界大战莱克

有人是幻想家,就有人是践行者;有人写科幻小说,就有人把小说中的科技实现。想象力从来都是科技进步的重要助力,所谓“没有做不到,只有想不到”,也许说的正是这个道理。

Submarine

Known as the father of the modern submarine, American inventor Simon Lake had been captivated1 by the idea of undersea travel and exploration ever since he read Jules Vernes2 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea in 1870. Lakes innovations included ballast tanks3, divers compartments4 and the periscope5. His company built the Argonaut-the first submarine to operate successfully in the open ocean, in 1898-earning him a congratulatory note from Verne.

潜艇

美国发明家西蒙·莱克被誉为“现代潜艇之父”。自从读到儒勒·凡尔纳1870年出版的科幻小说《海底两万里》后,他就迷上了海底旅行和探险这个想法。莱克的发明包括潜艇上的压载舱、潜水舱和潜望镜。1898年,他的公司建造了“阿尔戈号”潜艇——第一艘在远海中成功航行的潜艇,莱克因此收到了凡尔纳的贺信。

Helicopter

While Jules Verne is perhaps most famous for his fictional submarine, the Nautilus, the French author also envisioned6 the future of flight. Igor Sikorsky, inventor of the modern helicopter, was inspired by a Verne book, Robur the Conqueror, which he had read as a young boy. Sikorsky often quoted Jules Verne, saying “Anything that one man can imagine, another man can make real.”

直升机

尽管儒勒·凡尔纳可能主要因其小说中虚构的潜艇“鹦鹉螺号”而闻名于世,但这位法国作家也曾构想过上天飞行的未来图景。现代直升机的发明者伊戈尔·西科尔斯基就是从他小时候读过的凡尔纳的《征服者罗比尔》一书中得到了启发。西科尔斯基经常援引儒勒·凡尔纳的话说:“不管什么事物,只要有人能想到,就有人能把它变成现实。”

Rocket

Robert H. Goddard, the American scientist who built the first liquid-fueled rocket—which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926—became fascinated with spaceflight after reading an 1898 newspaper serialization7 of H. G. Wells8 classic novel about a Martian invasion, The War of the Worlds. As Goddard would recall later, the concept of interplanetary9 flight “gripped my imagination tremendously”.

火箭

美国科学家罗伯特·H·戈达德制造了第一枚液体燃料火箭,并在1926年3月16日成功地将火箭发射升空。戈达德开始对航天飞行产生浓厚兴趣是在读过1898年某报纸连载的小说《世界大战》之后。这部由H. G. 威尔斯创作的经典小说讲述了火星人入侵地球的故事。戈达德后来回忆说,小说中星际飞行的想法“引起了我的无限遐想”。

Atomic10 Power

In 1914, H. G. Wells published a novel, The World Set Free, imagining the emergence of “artificial” atomic energy by 1933, followed by a devastating world war and the eventual emergence of a peaceful global government. Physicist Leo Szilard read the book in 1932, which inspired him to solve the problem of creating a nuclear chain reaction in 1933. The same book would inspire Szilard to campaign for arms control and the peaceful, international use of nuclear power after World War II.

原子能

1914年,H. G. 威尔斯出版了科幻小说《获得自由的世界》,据该小说的设想,“人造”原子能于1933年诞生,随后爆发了一场灾难性的世界大战,最终一个爱好和平的全球政府出现。1932年,物理学家莱奥·西拉德读过这本书后受到启发,在1933年解决了制造核链式反应的问题。同样在这本书的启发下,西拉德在二战结束后积极投身军备控制以及国际和平利用核能的活动。

The Waldo

In 1942, famed sci-fi author Robert Heinlein11 published a short story about a physically infirm12 inventor, Waldo F. Jones, who created a remotely operated mechanical hand. Real-life manipulator13 arms that were developed for the nuclear industry in the mid-1940s were named “waldos”, in recognition of Heinleins innovative idea.

遥控机械手

1942年,著名科幻作家罗伯特·海因莱因发表了一部短篇小说,讲述了体弱多病的发明家沃尔多·F·琼斯的故事。小说中,琼斯发明了一只遥控机械手。20世纪40年代中期,现实世界中的机械手应核工业的需求而生,被命名为“沃尔多斯”,以此来向海因莱因的创新构想致敬。

Cellphone

Martin Cooper, the director of research and development at Motorola, credited the Star Trek communicator as his inspiration for the design of the first mobile phone in the early 1970s. “That was not fantasy to us,” Cooper said. “That was an objective.”

手机

摩托罗拉公司研发中心的主管马丁·库珀在20世纪70年代初设计了第一部手机,他将自己的发明灵感归功于科幻作品《星际迷航》里的通讯器。“对我们来说,那并不是白日梦,”库珀说,“而是一个奋斗目标。”

·注释

1. captivate vt. 使入迷

2. Jules Verne: 儒勒·凡尔纳(1882~1905),法国作家、科幻小说的先驱。其代表作《海底两万里》(Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea)、《地心游记》(Journey to the Center of the Earth)和《八十天环游地球》(Around the World in Eighty Days)等都是举世闻名的科幻小说,其中的许多科技设想都在后来成为现实。

3. ballast tank: 压载舱,船空载时用来盛放压载物的舱室的总称

4. compartment n.【船】防水舱,水密舱

5. periscope n. 潜望镜

6. envision vt. 想象,展望

7. serialization n. 连载

8. H. G. Wells: H. G. 威尔斯(1866~1946),全名赫伯特·乔治·威尔斯(Herbert George Wells),英国著名小说家,尤以科幻小说出名。其代表作有《时间机器》(The Time Machine)、《隐身人》(The Invisible Man)、《世界大战》(The War of the Worlds)等。

9. interplanetary adj. 【天】行星际的;太阳系内的

10. atomic adj. (关于)原子的

11. Robert Heinlein: 指美国著名科幻小说家罗伯特·安森·海因莱因(Robert Anson Heinlein,1907~1988)。他是当时影响力最大和最具争议的作家之一,一生著作颇丰,曾四次获得雨果奖。其代表作有《异乡异客》(Stranger in a Strange Land)、《红色的行星》(Red Planet)、《严厉的月亮》(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)等。

12. infirm adj. 体弱的,虚弱的

13. manipulator n. 操纵器;遥控装置

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