剑桥大学校园英语情景对话07：没有铆钉的数学桥（mp3+中英）

S: The style of this Mathematical Bridge is quite unusual in what do you think?

S：这座数学桥的风格不太常见，你认为呢？

P: Yes, this bridge is built in sort of Chinese style. It’s delicate and elegant.

P：是的，这座桥有点像中国建筑，很雅致。

S: I heard that William Etheridge, the designer of Mathematical Bridge, had visited China.

S:我听说数学桥的设计师威廉?埃斯里奇曾到过中国。

P: Actually, it’s not true. And there are plenty of baseless stories told by some guides to gullible tourists. For example, Mathematical Bridge was designed and built by Sir Isaac Newton.

P：其实这个说法是不对的。关于数学桥，还有很多没有事实依据的故事呢，是由一 些导游告诉游客的，那些游客太容易上当了。举个例子，有人说数学桥是由艾萨克?牛顿爵士设计并建造的。

S: But Sir Isaac Newton died in 1727，22 years before the building of this bridge, and therefore he cannot possibly have had anything to do with this bridge.

S:但是艾萨克?牛顿爵士 1727年鱿去世 了，22年后这座桥才建起来。因此，他不可能和这座桥有任何联系。

P: Yes. The bridge was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger to the design of William Etheridge. It had subsequently been rebuilt to the same design in 1866 and 1905.

P：是啊，这座桥是由詹姆斯?小埃塞克斯 根据威廉?埃斯里奋的设计在1749年 建造的。后来根据原设计，人们又在 1866年和1905年重建了这座桥。

S: And the Mathematical Bridge is a wooden bridge across the River Cam, between two parts of Queens，College, Cambridge.

S:数学桥是横跨剑河的一座木桥，连接了剑桥大学女王学院的两部分。

P： As the story goes, the original bridge was built without bolts ,but held together only by mathematical principles and a clever design.

P：传说最初的桥是没有螺栓的，整座桥是依靠数学原理和绝妙的设计搭建起来的。

S: And the story states that students of Queens’ College were so curious about this bridge that they took the bridge apart but then failed to put them back together.

S:还有一个传说，女王学院的学生对这座桥很好奋，以至于他们想把这座桥拆开一 探究竟，但后来却恢复不了原状了。

P: But according to the records, the joints of the original bridge are fastened by nuts and bolts. Only a pedant could claim that the bridge was originally built without nails.

P:但是根据史料记载，原桥的联接处是用螺母和螺栓拴住的。只有一个学者声称原 桥是没有铆钉的。

S： In reality, bolts are an inherent part of the design. When it was first built, iron spikes were driven into the joints from the outer side, where they could not be seen from the inside of the parapets, explaining why bolts were thought to be an addition to the original.

S:事实上，铆钉是这座桥设计的一个内在部分。开始建桥时，大铁钉是从外部敲入 眹接处的，所以从护栏内看不到铁钉。这也就解释了为什么人们觉得铁钉是后来 才加上的原因。

P： And anyone who believes that students could have disassembled the bridge cannot have      serious grasp on reality, given the size and weight of the wooden material of the bridge.

P:考虑到这座桥的木质材料的大小和重量，如果谁相信学生们能够把桥拆开，谁宗尤 没有认真地考虑实际情况。

S： The River Cam divides Queen’s College into two sections, and this bridge is built to connect the two sides.

S:剑河把女王学院分成两部分，而数学桥的建立就是为了连接这两部分。

P: Queen’s College is a delightful0 college to stroll around, in particular the older section,

P:当你漫步女王学院，特别是漫步于历史较悠久的校区时，你会感到无比惬意。

S: The famous places and sights nearby Mathematical Bridge are Imperial War Museum Duxford, Great St Mary’s Church and Museum of Archaeology.

S:数学桥附近的著名建筑和景观有帝国战争博物馆达克斯福德分馆、圣玛丽教堂和 考古学博物馆。

P: As Britain’s largest aviation museum, Duxford houses nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artillery and minor naval vessels in seven main exhibitions buildings.

P:作为英国最大的航空博物馆，达克斯福德分馆收藏了近200架飞机、军用车、大 炮和小型军舰，分布在7个主展馆中。

S: And the site also provides storage space for the museum’s other collections of material such as films, photographs, documents, books and arte facts.

S:该博物馆还设有收藏室专门收集其他材料，如电影、相片、文献、书籍和手工制品。

P: Based on the historic Duxford Aerodrome, the site was originally operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the First World War.

P:该博物馆的原址是达克斯福德机场，是一战时英国皇家空军使用的机场。

S: During the Second World War Duxford played a prominent role during the Battle of Britain and was later used by United States Army Air Forces fighter units in support of the daylight bombing of Germany:
 

S: 二战时，达克斯福德机场在伦敦保卫战中发挥了重要作用，随后被美国空军战斗机连借用，支持了对纳粹德国的日间轰炸。