An Engineering 1)Miracle over Akashi Bay

⊙ By TVB

翻譯：丁一

處于地震頻發(fā)區(qū)和強(qiáng)臺風(fēng)帶的日本明石海峽大橋可以承受里氏8.5級地震，能抵御150年一遇的暴風(fēng)。這座于1998年竣工的大橋創(chuàng)造了世界建橋史的紀(jì)錄，一直被世人視為橋梁建筑史上的奇跡。我們一起來了解一下這座不一般的橋吧。

The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge is the largest2)suspension [s??spen?(?)n] n. 懸掛，懸浮suspension bridge in the world. It is a miracle of Japanese construction and engineering,which links the city of Kobe to Iwaya on Awaji Island and is also part of the Honshu-Shikoku Highway.

The idea to connect Awaji with Kobe had3)emerge [??mз?d?] v. 出現(xiàn)emerged at the end of the 1950s in response to the tragedy which4)occur [??kз?(r)] v. 發(fā)生occurred in the Bay of Akashi in 1955.5)collision [k??l??(?)n] n. 碰撞，互撞事件Collision of two ferries had claimed 168 victims. However, it took more than three decades before the bridge was built.David Chisholm (Architect): (via translator)The task of engineering for earthquakes is a[sic]6)immense [??mens] adj. 極大的immense task, which is, for me, even’til now, unbelievable how the techniques of engineering against earthquakes evolved and…and how they are7)sophisticated [s??f?st?ke?t?d] adj. 先進(jìn)的，高度發(fā)展的sophisticated.

But it wasn’t political or economic reasons which8)prevent [pr??vent] v. 防止，預(yù)防prevented construction for so long, but the right technological solution. That only came by the end of the 1980s, boom years for Japan.

Akashi Bay is a place used to extreme natural conditions. The sea bed around here is some 100 metres deep and the shore faces9)massive [?m?s?v] adj. 巨大的massive10)tidal [?ta?d(?)l] adj. 潮汐的tidal streams at up to 4? metres per second. It is close to major international shipping lines but also located in a typhoon zone. Worse, the bay is located above the border of two11)tectonic plate 地質(zhì)板塊tectonic plates and sees frequent earthquakes. These were the factors which had to be carefully considered when designing the giant bridge.

The construction of the Pearl Bridge, as the link between Kobe and Awaji Island was12)nickname [?n?kne?m] v. 綽號，昵稱nicknamed,13)commence [k??mens] v. 開始，著手commenced in 1988. Work began by building massive bases for the14)embedding [em?bed??] n. 嵌入embedding of the15)load-bearing [l??d?be?r??] adj. 承重的load-bearing cables.16)simultaneously [?s?m?l?te?n??sly] adv. 同時存在地Simultaneously, construction of the foundations of the future 300-metre-high bridge towers began on sea. The towers are based 60 metres below the sea surface and composed of17)gigantic [d?a??g?nt?k] adj. 巨大的，龐大的gigantic steel18)cylinder [?s?l?nd?(r)] n. 圓柱體cylinders. It took seven years to complete the two towers and to stretch the load-bearing cables over the bridge19)deck [dek] n. 橋面deck.

When it seemed that the construction was progressing successfully to its20)completion [?k?m?pli??(?)n] n. 完成completion, a21)devastating [?dev?ste?t??] adj. 毀滅性的devastating earthquake struck.

Peter Klic (Architect): (via translator) Because of the extreme conditions in the region, this bridge was designed to absorb shocks and22)tremor [?trem?(r)] n. 震動tremors caused by typhoons and earthquakes. In 1995, an earthquake destroyed many buildings in Kobe, but the nearlycompleted bridge…

The unfinished Pearl Bridge, miraculously23)withstand [w?e?st?nd] v. 經(jīng)得住withstood the quake.

The opening ceremony was attended by more than 1,00024)prominent [?pr?m?n?nt] adj. 重要的prominent guests. Thanks to 1,737 lights25)installed [?n?st??ld] adj. 安裝好的installed on all parts of its structure, the Pearl Bridge lights up in practically any colour.

◆ suspension bridge 懸索橋：又名吊橋，這是以通過索塔懸掛并錨固于兩岸（或橋兩端）的纜索（或鋼鏈）作為上部結(jié)構(gòu)主要承重構(gòu)件的橋梁。吊桿從纜索垂下，把橋面吊住，在橋面和吊桿之間常設(shè)置加勁梁，同纜索形成組合體系，以減小荷載所引起的撓度變形。現(xiàn)代懸索橋由索橋演變而來，適用范圍以大跨度及特大跨度公路橋?yàn)橹鳌?/p>

參考譯文

明石海峽大橋是全球最大的懸索橋，是日本建造工程學(xué)上的奇跡。大橋連接神戶市和淡路島的巖屋港，同時也是本州四國高速公路的一部分。

連接神戶和淡路島的構(gòu)思始于上世紀(jì)50年代，起因是1955年一段發(fā)生在明石灣的慘劇。當(dāng)時兩艘渡輪相撞，造成168人死亡。不過，這座大橋直到三十多年后才動工興建。

大衛(wèi)·奇澤姆（建筑師）：（通過翻譯）抗震工程學(xué)研究是一項(xiàng)非常復(fù)雜、艱巨的工作。抗震工程技術(shù)一路發(fā)展，即使到了今天，我仍對其成熟與先進(jìn)程度感到不可思議。

但當(dāng)年令建橋工作無法進(jìn)行的并非政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)方面的原因，而是合適的科技解決辦法，而適用的辦法直到上世紀(jì)80年代末的日本經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮期才出現(xiàn)。

明石灣所處的自然環(huán)境極其惡劣，這一帶的海床深約100米，拍打海岸的巨大海浪強(qiáng)達(dá)4.5米/秒。它鄰近主要國際航道，但也位于臺風(fēng)帶。更糟的是，海灣就在兩大板塊邊緣之上，地震頻發(fā)。這些都是設(shè)計(jì)大橋時需要慎重考慮的因素。

這座連接神戶市和淡路島的大橋被人們親切地稱為“珍珠橋”。大橋在1988年動工，第一步是建造巨大的基底以嵌入承重纜；同時，300米高塔的基礎(chǔ)工程也在海上展開。高塔基礎(chǔ)在海面下60米處，由巨大的圓鋼柱組成，兩座高塔花了七年才完成，高塔將用以牽拉橋面上方的承重纜。

就在工程似乎進(jìn)展順利，即將可以完工時， 一場毀滅性的地震發(fā)生了。

彼得·柯立克（建筑師）：（通過翻譯）考慮到該地區(qū)的極端環(huán)境，這座橋的設(shè)計(jì)目標(biāo)正是承受臺風(fēng)和地震造成的沖擊與震動。1995年的地震摧毀了神戶的很多建筑物，但這座幾近完工的大橋卻好好的。

尚未完工的珍珠橋奇跡般地經(jīng)受住了地震的考驗(yàn)。

超過一千名貴賓出席了大橋的通車典禮。有了裝在整座橋體上的1737盞燈，亮燈后的珍珠橋真可謂流光溢彩。