2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：地面速度记录

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　The land-speed record

　　地面速度记录

　　How to build a 1,000mph car

　　怎样建造时速1000英里的汽车

　　Hybrid rocketry will be used to drive faster than everbefore

　　混合火箭技术将用于更快地驱动车辆

　　May 5th 2011 | from the print edition

　　It looks quick, too

　　它看起来就快

　　THIS summer Daniel Jubb will perform the equivalent of lighting the blue touch paper andstanding clear. The 27-year-old will undertake the first full test firing of a hybrid rocket whichhe has designed to help a British team set a new land-speed record by driving at 1,000mph(1,609kph). Mr Jubb’s rocket, however, will also need the assistance of a powerful EJ200 jetengine from a Typhoon fighter aircraft and a Cosworth Formula 1 racing engine if BloodhoundSSC (supersonic car) is to become the fastest thing on wheels.

　　今年夏天丹尼尔•兆伯要做的事，相当于点燃导火索然后跑开。这个27岁的小伙子将进行一枚混合式火箭发动机的第一次全程试射，他设计这枚火箭发动机用于帮助英国车队创造一个以时速1000英里(1609公里)驱动的地面速度记录。然而，如果“侦探犬”号超音速车要想成为靠轮子跑得最快的东西，那么兆伯的火箭发动机还将需要一个强大的台风战斗机“EJ200”喷气发动机和一个“考斯沃斯”一级方程式赛车发动机的辅助。

　　Combining a rocket, a jet and a racing-car engine into one vehicle is engineering of an extremesort, but record-breaking often demands that new problems be solved. Mr Jubb’s task was tobuild a rocket that could be used safely in a car, but was also controllable and could beswitched off quickly in the event of an emergency.

　　将火箭发动机、喷气式发动机和赛车发动机整合到一部车里，是一种极不寻常的设计，但是破纪录经常需要解决很多新问题。兆伯的工作是建造一枚可以在汽车里安全使用的火箭发动机，但是它也要可控制并且在出现紧急情况时可以快速关掉。

　　A rocket works by burning fuel with an oxidiser,which provides a source of oxygen for combustion.The hot exhaust gases are then blasted through anozzle to produce thrust. Rockets using liquidpropellants can be shut down reasonably easily byturning off the pumps delivering the fuel andoxidiser, but they tend to be complex and theirpropellants, such as liquid hydrogen and liquidoxygen, difficult and hazardous to handle.

　　火箭发动机工作通过燃烧带有氧化剂的燃料，氧化剂提供燃烧需要的氧气，排放的热气于是通过一个喷嘴喷出以产生推力。使用液态推进剂的火箭发动机可以通过关闭输送燃料和氧化剂的泵而被相当容易地关掉，但是它们往往很复杂，而且它们的推进剂操作困难且有危险性，比如液态氢和液态氧。

　　Solid-fuel rockets, in which the fuel and oxidiser are pre-mixed into a stable, solid propellantand then packed inside the case of the rocket, are simpler, lighter and relatively safer. But oncea solid-fuel rocket is ignited, it is off like a firework and keeps going until all the fuel is burnedup. About the only way to stop it is to blow it apart. In a car, that would not do.

　　固体燃料火箭发动机的构造更简单、分量更轻，而且相对更安全。在固体燃料火箭发动机里，燃料和氧化剂被预先混合成稳定的液态推进剂，然后被塞满火箭发动机的燃料箱里。但是一旦固体燃料火箭发动机被点燃，它将象二踢脚一样发射出去并一直跑，直到全部燃料烧完为止。是它停止的几乎唯一的方法，就是将它甩掉。而在汽车上，这做不到。

　　Rubber power

　　橡胶动力

　　The hybrid design which Mr Jubb has come up with uses a solid fuel called hydroxyl-terminatedpolybutadiene, a form of synthetic rubber used to make things like aircraft tyres. It iscontained within the case of the rocket, into which is pumped a liquid oxidiser called high-testperoxide (HTP), a concentrated form of hydrogen peroxide which is relatively safe to handle.When the HTP comes into contact with a catalyst contained within the rocket, it turns intosteam and oxygen. And it does so at a high enough temperature to ignite the solid fuel. Thisprovides the added advantage of not having to build an ignition system into the rocket.

　　兆伯提出的混合设计使用一种叫做端羟基聚丁二烯的固体燃料。端羟基聚丁二烯是一种合成橡胶，用于制造象飞机轮胎等这样的东西，它被置于火箭发动机的燃料箱里，一种叫做高挥发性过氧化氢(HTP)的液体燃料被吸入燃料箱。高挥发性过氧化氢是过氧化氢的浓缩形态，它操作起来相对安全。当HTP接触到火箭发动机内的催化剂时，就转变成气体和氧气。在足以点燃固体燃料的高温中，HTP就是这样反应的。这一过程有一个另外的好处，就是不必为火箭发动机建造一个点火系统。

　　If the hybrid rocket needs to be shut down in a hurry all you need do is turn off the pumpdelivering the oxidiser. That is where the Cosworth engine comes in. Apart from generatingauxiliary power for Bloodhound SSC’s electrical and hydraulic systems, it also drives a high-speed pump capable of delivering all 800 litres of HTP in the tank to the rocket in 20 seconds.

　　如果混合火箭发动机需要立即关掉，那么你需要做的全部事情就是关掉传送氧化剂的泵。那个泵位于接入考斯沃斯发动机处。除了给“侦探犬”号超音速车的电子及液压系统产生辅助动力之外，它还驱动一个能在20秒内将燃料箱里的全部800升的HTP输送给火箭发动机的高速泵。

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