Many strange new means of transport have been developed in our century, the
strangest of them being perhaps the hovercraft. In 1953, a former electronics
engineer in his fifties, Christopher Cockerell, who had turned to boat-building
on the Norfolk Broads, suggested an idea on which he had been working for
many years to the British Government and industrial circles. It was the idea of
supporting a craft on a' pad ', or cushion, of low-pressure air, ringed with a curtain
of higher pressure air. Ever since, people have had difficulty in deciding
whether the craft should be ranged among ships, planes, or land vehicles--for it
is something in between a boat and an aircraft. As a shipbuilder, Cockerell was
trying to find a solution to the problem of the wave resistance which wastes a good
deal of a surface ship's power and limits its speed. His answer was to lift the
vessel out of the water by making it ride on a cushion of air, no more than one or
two feet thick. This is done by a great number of ring-shaped air jets on the
bottom of the craft. It 'flies', therefore, but it cannot fly higher--its action depends
on the surface, water or ground, over which it rides.
The first tests on the Solent in 1959 caused a sensation. The hovercraft
travelled first over the water, then mounted the beach, climbed up the dunes,
and sat down on a road. Later it crossed the Channel, riding smoothly over the
waves, which presented no problem.
Since that time, various types of hovercraft have appeared and taken up regular
service--cruises on the Thames in London, for instance, have become an annual
attraction. But we are only at the beginning of a development that may transport netsea
and land transport. Christopher Cockerell's craft can establish transport
works in large areas with poor communications such as Africa or Australia; it
can become a 'flying fruit-bowl', carrying bananas from the plantations to the
ports, giant hovercraft liners could span the Atlantic; and the railway of the
future may well be the 'hovertrain', riding on its air cushion over a single rail,
which it never touches, at speeds up to 300 m.p.h.--the possibilities appear
unlimited.

New words and expressions 生词和短语
hovercraft
n. 气垫船
Norfolk Broads
n. 诺福克郡的湖泊地区
cushion
n. 座垫
ring
v. 围
Solent
n. （英国的）苏伦特海峡
sensation
n. 轰动
dune
n. 沙丘
plantation
n. 种植园
hovertrain
n. 气垫火车


参考译文
本世纪已研制出许多新奇的交通工具，其中最新奇的要数气垫船了。1953年，有一位50多岁名叫克里斯托弗.科克雷的原电子工程师，改行在诺福克郡的湖泊地区从事造船业，他向英国政府和工业界提出了他研究多年的一项计划。他的设想是：用一个低压空气或软垫来支撑船体，软垫周围用高压空气环绕。自那以后，人们很难决定是否应该将这种运载工具列为轮船、飞机，或是陆上交通工具，因为它是介于船和飞机之间。作为一个船舶技师，科克雷尔在寻找解决波浪阻力的方法，因为波浪阻力浪费掉了船在水面行驶的大量动力，从而限制了船的速度。他的解决办法是把船体提离水面，让船在一个气垫上行驶，气垫只有一两英尺厚。船底装上大量环状喷气嘴以实现这一目的。这样，船就能飞了，但飞不高。它的飞行限决于它所悬浮的水面或地面。
1959年，在苏伦特海峡进行的首次试航引起了轰动，气垫船先是在水面上行驶，后又登上海岸，爬上沙丘，最后停在路上。后来气垫船跨越英吉利海峡，平衡地在波浪上方行驶，波浪不再产生阻力。
从那以后，各种各样的气垫船出现了，并开始了定期航行服务。气垫船在非洲、澳大利亚等交通不发达地区特别有用。它能成为“飞行水果盘子”，把香蕉从种植园动到港口。大型的气垫班轮或许能跨越大西洋。未来的火车或许能成为“气垫火车”，靠气垫在单轨上行驶而不接触轨道，时速可达每小时300英里。气垫船的前途是不可限量的。