VOA慢速英语:Bigger Ships, So a Bigger Panama Canal

短语讲解：

1. More than one million ships have passed through the waterway since nineteen fourteen.

pass through经过, 通过
例句：A diameter passes through the center of a circle.
直径从圆心穿过。

2. The present canal has a total capacity of about three hundred and forty million tons a year that it can handle, that's the maximum capacity.

a total of总数，总共
例句：A total of 15 cars were sold yesterday.
昨天共售出了15辆车。

3. Ships pass through a series of locks.

a series of一系列
例句：The post office will issue a series of new stamps.
邮局将要发行一套新邮票。

4. For years, shipbuilders limited the size of many ships so that they could fit through the Panama Canal.

so that以便; 结果, 以致
例句：Everyone lent a hand, so that the work was finished ahead of schedule.
每个人都帮了忙, 所以工作提前完成了。

5. Workers are building the new locks alongside the old ones, which will remain in use.

in use在使用中
例句：The line is in use.
电话占线。

6. We had to look at the optimal size of vessel that would make the return on the investment of a high value to us.

look at检查；察看
例句：You should look at that house before you decide to buy it.
你应该看看那栋房子再决定购买。

7. So we chose what size of vessels that could actually pay for this project.

pay for因…受罚〔痛苦〕; 为…付出代价; 为…付钱
例句：You'll have to pay for your crime.
你得为你的罪行付出代价。

8. The new locks are set to open in twenty fourteen, the one hundredth anniversary of the Panama Canal.

set to开始努力干
例句：He set to with a will and soon finished it.
他下定决心做这件事, 很快就完成了。