【英语时差8,16】用一根绳子连接地球和同步卫星（下）

When you haul¹ something up by rope, you generally think of the object being lifted as the weight. Something we don’t consider is that the rope has to be able to lift itself too. Lift itself!?! What does that mean? Think of it this way. If a ten-foot rope is hanging straight down, the top one inch is supporting the weight of almost ten feet of rope. That’s no problem, but what about a hundred feet? Still no problem? How about a hundred miles? In fact, no rope could support 22,000 miles of its own weight. Not even a cable of the mightiest² steel would work. In fact, there is no material you could use that wouldn’t snap³ under its own weight long before it reached from earth to satellite. And that’s without even adding the weight of the cooler!

1 haul   

vt./n.（用力）拖，拉，（用车等）拖运，运送

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长,到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• The rope stood up under the strain of the haul.这绳子经受不住紧拉。

2 mightiest   

adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的

参考例句：

• \"If thou fearest to leave me in our cottage, thou mightiest take me along with thee. “要是你害怕把我一个人留在咱们的小屋里，你可以带我一块儿去那儿嘛。 来自英汉文学 - 红字
• Silent though is, after all, the mightiest agent in human affairs. 确实，沉默毕竟是人类事件中最强大的代理人。 来自互联网

3 snap   

n.啪地移动，突然断掉；v.猛咬，咬断，谩骂，砰然关上

参考例句：

• He broke off the twig with a snap.他啪地一声把那根树枝折断了。
• These earrings snap on with special fasteners.这副耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。