英语听力文摘 English Digest 711 NASA教你如何防滑

NASA Wants To Teach You About Hydroplaning

What is hydroplaning?

Hydroplaning happens when a vehicle moves too quickly along a wet road. A layer of water accumulates under the tires; they lift up and lose traction¹; the driver loses control.

NASA?

Now, what does NASA have to do with hydroplaning? Here’s an historical look at the science story. Hydroplaning is a relatively² new phenomenon for humans, given that the combination of high speed and smooth pavement that’s necessary has only fairly recently become possible.

In fact, it wasn’t until 1957 that a tire treadmill³ study first experimentally demonstrated hydroplaning “in action.” That study was motivated by airplanes. Hydroplaning had been causing a lot of problems for pilots landing on wet runways.

Here’s where NASA comes in. NASA scientists wanted to figure out what hydroplaning was all about. So, they collected a lot of data, and produced a mathematical formula to illustrate⁴ how quickly a vehicle could travel on a wet surface before entering hydroplane mode.

Safety Tips

They published the equation in 1963, along with information about the effects of water depth, paving technique, tire tread, and vehicle weight on hydroplaning risk.

This publication offered several important safety tips. For example, use well-treaded, fully⁵ inflated⁶ tires; and, don’t slam on the brakes if you skid⁷ on wet pavement.

These suggestions may sound commonplace, and we now also know that vehicles with anti lock brakes require slightly different hydroplane handling than those without. However, we can thank those NASA scientists from fifty years ago for getting the word out, and helping⁸ to keep all drivers–on runways and roads–safer on rainy days.

1 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

4 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 skid   

v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨

参考例句：

• He braked suddenly,causing the front wheels to skid.他突然剎车，使得前轮打了滑。
• The police examined the skid marks to see how fast the car had been travelling.警察检查了车轮滑行痕迹，以判断汽车当时开得有多快。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。