实战口语情景对话 第371期:Bay Area Bridges 海湾地区的大桥

 　　The Golden Gate Bridge is perhaps the most famous bridge in the world. It is famous for its size, location, and color. It is nearly 9,000 feet long, and above water its towers are 740 feet tall. Its unique color is officially known as "orange vermillion." Thousands of ships sail under it every year, and believe it or not, the U.S. Navy¹ originally wanted it to be painted black and yellow so it would be easy to see.

　　金门大桥可能是世界上最著名的大桥。这座大桥因规模、位置和颜色而出名。大桥的长度接近9000英尺，水上高度740英尺。大桥独特的颜色被正式命名为朱橙色。每年有数千艘船只从桥下航行，信不信由你，美国海军曾经想把这座桥刷成黑色和黄色，这样很容易看到。

　　People often think the Golden Gate Bridge is named after the color of its paint. In actuality, the bridge is named for the color of the water in the bay. On a clear day, when the sun sets at dusk², the water turns from blue to gold, due to light from the sun reflecting off the water. When this happens, the entire inlet³, or "gate" of water, becomes golden.

　　人们通常认为金门大桥是由颜色而命名的。实际上，这座大桥是以海湾的海水颜色而命名的。晴天太阳在黄昏日落时，海水会从蓝色变成金色，原因是太阳光会反射到水面上。而在这种情况下，整个海湾或是水闸都会变成金色。

　　The bay is not always golden. San Francisco has large amounts of fog, especially in summer. Fog is like a cloud close to the ground. When warm air blows over cold water, it tends to create fog, so when the warm California air meets the cold Pacific Ocean, fog is formed, and the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge disappears!

　　海湾并不总是金色的。旧金山有大量的雾，夏季尤为严重。雾气就像笼罩在地面上的云。温暖的空气拂过冰冷的海水，就会产生雾，温暖的加州天气会遇上寒冷的太平洋，雾就形成了，而美丽的金门大桥就消失了！

　　Because of the fog, rain, and moisture⁴ from the water, the bridge collects a lot of rust⁵. Rust is the red stuff⁶ that collects on metal after being exposed to moisture, or water. So in order to protect the bridge from rust, it is continually⁷ being painted. It is rumored⁸ that the bridge is being painted 365 days a year. As soon as they finish painting it, they immediately start all over again.

　　由于雾、雨水和海水带来的水气，大桥便会生锈。锈是金属物质接触到水气或是水分而形成的红色物体。为了保护大桥不生锈，大桥会一直被粉刷。有传言称，这座大桥一年365天都会被刷漆。工人们在完成一次粉刷工作后，便会立即开始另一次粉刷。

　　San Francisco Bay has three tall bridges: the Golden Gate, its most famous bridge, the Richmond Bridge, its longest, and the Bay Bridge, its busiest. The Bay Bridge connects the large cities of Oakland on the East Bay and San Francisco on the west. Because the bridge is between two major cities, it is almost always busy and the traffic is often bad.

　　旧金山海湾有三座高桥：其中最著名的是金门大桥，最长的桥是里奇蒙桥，最繁忙的桥是海湾大桥。海湾大桥连接了东湾地区奥克兰州最大的城市和西湾地区的旧金山。因为这座大桥位于两大城市之间，所以这座大桥一直处于繁忙状态，交通情况非常糟糕。

　　The Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful to look at, but the Bay Bridge is a beautiful bridge to look from. At night, the tall buildings of San Francisco are all lit up and bright, and from the Bay Bridge, the city is a truly beautiful thing to see.

　　金门大桥看起来非常美，而海湾大桥是适合观赏景色的美丽桥梁。晚上，旧金山大楼的灯会亮起来，从海湾大桥看上去，这座城市真的很漂亮。

1 navy   

n.海军，海军人员，海军军力，藏青色

参考例句：

• My brother is in the navy.我兄弟在海军服役。
• He has transferred from the army to the navy.他从陆军转到海军。

2 dusk   

n.薄暮，黄昏，幽暗

参考例句：

• The park closes at dusk.公园在黄昏时关闭。
• At dusk bats appear in vast numbers.蝙蝠于傍晚时分大批出现。

3 inlet   

n.小湾，海湾，入口，进口；vt.引进，插入

参考例句：

• There is an inlet to a parking lot.那儿有一个停车场的入口。
• They went to a fishing village on a small inlet of the sea.他们去了小海湾边的一个渔村。

4 moisture   

n.水分；降雨量；水气；湿气

参考例句：

• This tree drank up more moisture than that one.这棵树吸收的水分比那棵树多。
• The moisture in the air makes it humid today.今天空气中水气大，天气很潮湿。

5 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

6 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

7 continually   

adv.不间断地，不停地；多次重复地

参考例句：

• The other kids continually taunted him about his size.其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
• The US is continually building up its armed forces.美军正持续加强它的三军。

8 rumored   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• It is rumored that he cheats on his wife. 据传他对他老婆不忠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was rumored that the white officer had been a Swede. 传说那个白人军官是个瑞典人。 来自辞典例句