美国国家公共电台 NPR Surfers And Scientists Team Up To Create The 'Perfect Wave'

Surfers And Scientists Team Up To Create The 'Perfect Wave' 

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Surfers have long searched for the perfect wave. A few months ago, they found it, and it's nowhere near the ocean. For our summer series on waves of all kinds, NPR's Jon Hamilton looks at the science of creating perfect artificial surfing waves.

JON HAMILTON, BYLINE²: Forget Hawaii or Fiji. The spot surfers are talking about these days is a secluded³ pond in California's Central Valley.

ROBERT WEAVER⁴: It's just an amazing wave.

HAMILTON: Robert Wingnut Weaver is a longborder from Santa Cruz. He is one of just a handful of people who have surfed this experimental manmade wave, which breaks 110 miles from the coast.

WEAVER: And it was mind-blowing at how long the wave is, how big the wave is, and you can sense the power in it as it's rumbling⁵ at you.

HAMILTON: Artificial surfing waves have been around since the 1960s at surf parks and resort pools. But most of them are weak and mushy compared to the natural kind. Weaver says the wave at this hidden surf lab is different.

WEAVER: It's just like a normal wave. It really feels - I mean, you get that lift, that drop, and then you're starting to deal with performing with the wave as the wave is setting up in front of you.

HAMILTON: Unlike an ocean wave, though, this one has an owner - the Kelly Slater Wave Company. Slater is an 11-time world champion surfer. He and his company aren't saying much about the technology used to create their wave, which they plan to market to surf parks around the world. But other wave-makers were happy to talk. Justin Enjo is an engineer at Surf Loch, an artificial wave company in San Diego. He shows me the pool where Surf Loch is fine-tuning its waves.

JUSTIN ENJO: We're trying to carve water here. We're trying to make water exist in the shape of a ramp⁶.

HAMILTON: Kelly Slater's company does this by dragging a wing-shaped sled through the water. But that approach means surfers have to wait several minutes between waves. So Surf Loch is making waves with air pressure controlled by a computer. Enjo activates⁷ the device, which starts pumping out a wave every ten seconds.

ENJO: As they hit the reef, they transform and they get that really hollow section. In the science realm, they call them plunging⁸ breakers. In surfing vernacular⁹, it's referred to the tube or the barrel.

HAMILTON: Surf Loch has yet to build a full-scale surfing wave with this technology, but it's founder¹⁰, Tom Lochtefeld, has created hundreds of less sophisticated artificial waves for clients around the world.

TOM LOCHTEFELD: One in particular was one of the sheik's palaces in Abu Dhabi. That one was definitely - and the wave itself was mammoth¹¹. I mean, it was a double, breaking left and right.

HAMILTON: Even so, it didn't look or feel like a natural wave. Lochtefeld says that's because it's really hard to replicate¹² an ocean swell¹³ in a small space.

LOCHTEFELD: You don't have 75 miles or 100,000-200,000 miles to be able to generate the wave, so you got to compress that to the smallest possible footprint. That takes a lot of science.

HAMILTON: Science that was out of reach just a few years ago. Lochtefeld says it takes a supercomputer to show precisely¹⁴ how a wave will interact with the underwater contours of a surf pool.

LOCHTEFELD: When we do our really high resolution stuff, we're probably at 10,000 processors at 5 trillion calculations a second, you know, for a month (laughter). And it costs buku bucks¹⁵ just to run the thing.

HAMILTON: Lochtefeld has big dreams for his artificial wave.

LOCHTEFELD: We're going for the Olympics.

HAMILTON: It's a dream shared by the Kelly Slater Wave Company. Both firms envision contests in which each surfer gets to ride an identical, flawless wave. Longboarder Wingnut Weaver has mixed feelings about that.

WEAVER: You'll get to see the absolute best, who can do the best turn, the highest air because you'll have such a level playing field. But it'll never truly replace an open ocean competition.

HAMILTON: The International Olympic Committee seems to agree. It's added surfing to the 2020 Olympics in Japan, but the competition will take place in the ocean, not a wave pool. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 secluded   

adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• Some people like to strip themselves naked while they have a swim in a secluded place. 一些人当他们在隐蔽的地方游泳时，喜欢把衣服脱光。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This charming cottage dates back to the 15th century and is as pretty as a picture, with its thatched roof and secluded garden. 这所美丽的村舍是15世纪时的建筑，有茅草房顶和宁静的花园，漂亮极了，简直和画上一样。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

5 rumbling   

n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词

参考例句：

• The earthquake began with a deep [low] rumbling sound. 地震开始时发出低沉的隆隆声。
• The crane made rumbling sound. 吊车发出隆隆的响声。

6 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

7 activates   

使活动，起动，触发( activate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Activates the window and displays it in its current size and position. 激活窗口，保持当前的大小及位置不变。
• Pulling out the alarm switch activates alarm and pushing it deactivates it. 闹钟的开和关是通过拔出和按入闹铃开关实现的。

8 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 vernacular   

adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名

参考例句：

• The house is built in a vernacular style.这房子按当地的风格建筑。
• The traditional Chinese vernacular architecture is an epitome of Chinese traditional culture.中国传统民居建筑可谓中国传统文化的缩影。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

12 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

13 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

14 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

15 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》