新奇事件簿 世界最无用的机场投入使用

The first scheduled commercial airplane has landed on the remote British island of St Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic. The SA Airlink service from South Africa touched down at Saint Helena Airport on Saturday with 68 passengers on board. One passenger, Libby Weir-Breen, a British travel operator, had flown from Scotland especially to be on the flight. She said: "I've never felt so emotional in all my life. I never thought I'd see this day." The inaugural¹ flight marks a new era of accessibility for the island, which is 1,900 km west of the African nation of Angola. Previously², the only way of getting to Saint Helena was by a ship that sailed once every three weeks from Cape³ Town, South Africa.

第一架商用飞机降落在南大西洋中部英国偏远小岛圣赫勒那。南非支线航空公司这架飞机于周六降落在圣赫勒那机场，飞机上共有68名乘客。其中一名乘客Libby Weir-Breen是一位英国旅游经销商，特意从苏格兰飞过来乘坐这个航班。她说：“我一生中从未感觉到这么激动。我以前从来没想到自己可以看到这一天。”初次航班标志着进入这座岛屿的新时代。小岛位于非洲岛国安哥拉西部1900千米。以前，进入圣赫勒那岛的唯一方法是搭乘每三周一次从南非首都开普敦出发的一艘船只。

Despite the positive social and economic effects the airport will have for the island and its tourism, the British media have dubbed⁴ it as "the most useless airport in the world". The airport was built with $380m of British taxpayers⁵' money. That's $80,000 for each of the island's inhabitants. It was beset⁶ with delays and was due to open in 2016, but dangerous wind conditions delayed the launch. The Governor of Saint Helena, Lisa Phillips, dismissed the criticism. She said: "I've seen the headlines about the world's most useless airport, but for St Helena, this has already been the most useful airport. It's priceless." She added: "I for one am getting really excited about the new chapter in St Helena's history."

尽管这座机场会为这座小岛和它的旅游业带来积极的社会和经济效益，英国媒体却称之为“世界上最无用的机场”。这座机场是用英国3.8亿元税款建造的。也就是岛上的居民每人8万美元。机场的开放多次被延误，原本应该于2016年开始投入使用，但是危险的大风导致延迟。圣赫勒那岛管理人员Lisa Phillips驳斥了这些批评。她说：“我看到了关于世界上最无用的机场的头条新闻，但是对于圣赫勒那岛来说，这是最有用的机场，它是无价的。”她补充说：“很多人对圣赫勒那进入新的时代感到兴奋，我就是其中之一。”

1 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

4 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

6 beset   

v.镶嵌；困扰，包围

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。