VOA慢速英语：未来的交通系统逐渐向现实迈进

In the United States, a company is working on a project that could change the way we think about public transportation. Its planned system would move people around in steel tubes. Those passengers would be traveling at speeds of up to 1,200 kilometers per hour.

在美国，一家公司正在运作一个项目，它可以改变我们对公共交通的看法。它的计划体制能使人们通过金属管就可以外出。这些旅客在旅行时，其时速可达每小时1,200公里。

The futuristic steel tube transportation system is called Hyperloop. Workers plan to test the system next year in a specially built community called QuayValley. The town will be powered entirely by energy from the sun.

未来的钢管运输系统被称为超回路列车。明年，工作人员打算在特别建造的社区，称为码头谷，测试这一系统。该镇将完全使用太阳能。

Hyperloop Rapid Transit System Construction to Start in 2016

The Hyperloop transport system is the idea of businessman Elon Musk. Dirk Ahlborn is head of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. He says his company has taken Mr. Musk's idea and is de

veloping a system that will be safe, environmentally friendly and fast.

该超回路列车运输系统是商人伊隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）的想法。德克爱尔邦（Dirk Ahlborn）是超回路列车运输技术负责人。他说，他的公司已经采取了马斯克先生的想法，并正在开发一个安全、环保、快捷的系统。

"It's 100 percent solar powered...we're not going to get up to 760 miles per hour, but we believe we can actually break the records that are existing right now."

“它完全由太阳能提供动力…我们并不打算达到每小时760英里。但我们相信，我们一定可以打破现在现有的记录。

This means that a four-hour drive from Los Angeles, California to Las Vegas, Nevada, could someday take only 30 minutes by Hyperloop.

这意味着，总有一天，从美国加利福尼亚州洛杉矶到内华达州拉斯维加斯，其四个小时的车程乘坐超回路列车可能只需30分钟。

The system involves a series ofcapsules that float inside a long tube. These containers would not need to travel along a pathway or track. The system has been designed to operate above or below ground.

该系统包括一系列漂浮在长管内的太空舱。这些太空舱不需要沿一条通路或轨道行进。该系统已被设计为地上或地下操作。

"Inside the tube you create a low pressure environment very similar to an airplane that's at high altitudes. So now the capsule travelling inside the tube doesn't encounter as much resistance, and therefore can travel really fast with very little energy."

“钢管内部，在高海拔地区，会创建一个非常类似于飞机的低压环境。所以现在在钢管内的太空舱旅行并没有遇到很大的阻力。也因而能耗很低，但其速度却很快。

Dick Ahlbornand his company will use an eight-kilometer track in Quay Valley to find the best way to set up passenger traffic and repair capsules. A larger system will cost an estimated six to $10 billion to build.

德克爱尔邦与他的公司将在码头谷使用8公里的轨道来发现建立客运和维修太空舱的最佳途径。这个更大的系统估计将耗资60亿至100亿来打造。

If Mr. Ahlborn and his company succeed, we may one day see these very fast Hyperloop capsules speeding through tubes around the world.

如果爱尔邦先生和他的公司取得成功，或许有一天，我们可以看到这些快速的超回路列车太空舱在世界各地的钢管中超速行驶。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

我是乔纳森·埃文斯。

Maia Pujara wrote this story for VOANews.com. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in this Story

altitude – n. the height of something such as an airplane above the level of the sea

capsule – n. a small container that has something inside of it