VOA慢速英语:英国海军潜艇设计看起来像真正的海洋生物

New images released by Britain's Royal Navy show how future submarines could look and move like real sea creatures.
英国皇家海军发布的新图片显示了未来潜艇如何拥有跟真正海洋生物类似的外观，并像它们一样移动。

The designs were created by young British engineers and scientists. They were challenged by the Royal Navy to imagine how future underwater war machines might look.
这些设计出自年轻的英国工程师和科学家。英国皇家海军要求他们想象一下未来的水下战争机器可能会有怎样的外观。

The engineers and scientists are members of the group UKNEST. This not-for-profit organization promotes science, engineering and technology for British naval design.
这些工程师和科学家是UKNEST组织的成员。这家非营利性组织力图推动英国海军设计在科学、工程和技术方面的发展。

The group kept the same requirements used in advanced submarines used today. But the designers added new technological ideas to make them easier and less costly to build, as well as more effective in battle.
该组织沿用了当今在编先进潜艇中采用的同等技术条件。但是设计人员增加了新的技术想法，使其制造更简单和廉价，同时在战斗中更高效。

Current submarines were designed to perform many roles as a single piece of equipment. But the Royal Navy of the future is expected to operate a family of submarines. This would include many shapes and sizes to carry out different operations. Some submarines would be manned and others unmanned.
目前的潜艇被设计成单一设备执行多种角色。但是英国皇家海军未来预计将会操纵一系列潜艇，这包括采用多种形状和规格的潜艇来执行不同的任务。一些潜艇是有人驾驶的，还有些潜艇是无人驾驶的。

The designs included a "mothership" that would act as a major command and control center supporting other submarines and ships. This submarine, with a crew of about 20 people, would be shaped like a manta ray with wide wings to guide it through the sea. The futuristic mothership would travel to British-controlled waters worldwide, docking with other underwater bases.
这些设计包括一艘“母舰”，它将作为支撑其它潜艇和舰艇的主要指挥控制中心。这艘容纳20名左右船员的潜艇外形像蝠鲼，它拥有宽大的翅膀引导它穿过大海。这种未来母舰将会前往全球范围内的英国控制水域，与其它水下基地对接。

The future Royal Navy might also use eel-like unmanned underwater vehicles. The designers imagined these submarines as capable of curving around objects like an eel and disguising themselves as sea lifeforms. They could be launched from the mothership and travel hundreds of miles in near silence.
未来的英国皇家海军可能还会采用像鳗鱼般的无人潜航器。设计师们想象这些潜艇能够像鳗鱼一样在各种物体周围弯曲，并将自己伪装成海洋生物。它们可以从母舰发射出去然后静默航行数百公里。

Some of the naval equipment would be engineered with materials to dissolve after a period of time to avoid being captured by enemies. One image even shows flying missile weapons shooting out of the water like sharks or dolphins.
一些海军设备将采用在一段时间后自行分解的材料设计，从而避免被敌人捕获。其中一副图像甚至展示了飞行的导弹像鲨鱼或海豚一样从水中射出。

The submarine design project was called Nautilus 100. It was named after the U.S. Navy's USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine.
该潜艇设计项目被称之为鹦鹉螺100号。它是以美国的鹦鹉螺号潜艇命名，这也是全球第一艘核动力潜艇。

Britain's Minister for Defense Procurement, Harriet Baldwin, praised the project. "These remarkable designs display the great promise of our young engineers and scientists and the great ambition of the Royal Navy."
英国国防采购部长哈丽雅特·鲍德温( Harriett Baldwin)盛赞了这一项目。她说：“这些卓越设计展示了我们年轻工程师和科学家们的郑重承诺，以及英国皇家海军的雄心。”

She added that the futuristic concepts are an example of what Britain's navy could produce to meet future military challenges.
她补充说，这些未来概念是英国皇家海军可以制造出来用以满足未来军事挑战的一个例子。

Commander Peter Pipkin is a robotics officer with the Royal Navy. He said that with more than 70 percent of the planet covered by water, there will be more competition between nations in the future to live and work at or under the sea. For this reason, he said the Royal Navy is looking 50 years into the future to find new ways to protect British interests around the world.
彼得·皮普金(Peter Pipkin)是英国皇家海军的一位机器人技术官员。他说，地球上有70%以上区域被水覆盖，未来各国在水面上下工作和生活会有更多竞争。他说，因此英国皇家海军展望未来50年，寻找保护英国全球利益的新途径。

"If only 10 per cent of these ideas become reality, it will put us at the cutting edge of future warfare and defense operations," Pipkin said.
皮普金表示：“这些想法只要有10%成为现实，就能让我们立身于未来战争和国防行动的最前沿。”