【英语语言学习】骑着竹子做成的自行车是一种什么体验

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

 

Up next, Flora¹ Lichtman is here with us for our Video Pick of the Week. Hi, Flora.

 

FLORA LICHTMAN, BYLINE²: Hi, Ira.

 

You went with something Seattlely. How would I describe it - Seattle-like... Seatlle-like this week for this week's video.

 

That's right. When in Mayor McSchwinn's city, you have to go with the bikes. Lightening it up for pick of the week, but - as usual.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

LICHTMAN: Oh, yes. This week's video is about, not just any bicycle builders, these are folks who are building bicycles out of bamboo.

 

FLATOW: Bamboo.

 

LICHTMAN: Bamboo frames.

 

FLATOW: Strong enough? A bamboo frame?

 

LICHTMAN: Well, yes. As you can see in our video on our website, the guys at Valid³ Cycles - so Justin Claassen, Evan Cook and Tyler Jones - took us to their workshop in Woodinville. Aptly...

 

FLATOW: Aptly, yeah.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

LICHTMAN: ...outside of Seattle. And they demonstrated just how strong bamboo can be by smacking⁵ it on the ground, by jumping on it, and it really is amazing. I mean, these are like tree trunks. So this is not your garden variety, at least, in my garden.

 

FLATOW: In your backyard in Brooklyn, it's not the same.

 

LICHTMAN: Yeah, which is not this big.

 

FLATOW: Bamboo that grows in Brooklyn is not on these bikes?

 

LICHTMAN: No. This are, you know, the inside is like an inch thick almost.

 

FLATOW: Yeah. Wow.

 

LICHTMAN: And you can really smack⁴ it against anything. They said that they're just - seem to be indestructible. But, you know, there are other problems with building with bamboo.

 

It's a natural product obviously. So a big thing in bikes is getting them aligned⁶. And they said one of the things that took them years to figure out at Valid Cycles was how they get these poles all straight. So they had to build their own jig⁷. I know that our bike geeks out there are going to like this.

 

FLATOW: Bike geek. They're going to love this.

 

LICHTMAN: Yeah.

 

FLATOW: But one of the question I need to ask you, as a bike geek yourself...

 

LICHTMAN: Yes.

 

FLATOW: ...is how did it ride.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

FLATOW: Did you ride one?

 

LICHTMAN: I did. I - of course, I wanted to take one for a test drive.

 

FLATOW: You're a big biker. We know that.

 

LICHTMAN: It's a little bit different from my 1980s beater. This, you know, these are handmade pieces of art. And, you know, there are things that were different about it.

 

One thing that I heard from Justin Claassen, who's an avid⁸ cyclist and he's one of the founders⁹ of Valid, is that over a long period of time you notice the vibration¹⁰ less. There is some dampening, they say, that bamboo has a sort of natural dampening. So if you're riding really long distances, there - that might be a reason why you would want to go bamboo. But it's - I thought it would be lighter¹¹. And it's not actually that much lighter than your run-of-the-mill metal.

 

FLATOW: Right. Of course, there is the coolness factor, right...

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

FLATOW: ...to have the only bamboo bike on the block or in Brooklyn. I can put more B's together if I could.

 

LICHTMAN: Big time.

 

FLATOW: There you go.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

LICHTMAN: Yeah. I know you really did get the sense of that's what part of what this is all about. And they said that when they ride - they all ride them around - and whenever they're at a stop sign, people are yelling out, is that bamboo, you know, maybe in Seattle. I don't know.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

LICHTMAN: But, yeah, they are really - they're beautiful, I mean, and they're pricey too. So the frame goes for about $1,500 and a full bike is, you know, $2,500 to 3,000.

 

And so I was like, how do you convince people to spend that amount of money on a bike? And they were like, look, it's like a piece of art. You know, do you convince someone to buy a piece of art? No.

 

FLATOW: Right.

 

LICHTMAN: It was for people who are sort of touched by this. And when you saw what goes into it, you will understand. I mean, it's a week of sanding and scrapping¹² and chiseling¹³. It really - it was kind of an amazing process.

 

FLATOW: Yeah. And it's a beautiful video you made. It's up there on our website at sciencefriday.com. You can watch how they build the bikes. They talk about the bamboo where they - they're bringing in from Vietnam and choose it, right?

 

LICHTMAN: That's right. Their cream of the crop, they say.

 

(LAUGHTER)

 

FLATOW: You imagine going bamboo shopping?

 

LICHTMAN: I asked them to paint this picture because I was like, what is this like? And apparently¹⁴, it's this huge warehouse¹⁵. And, you know, some people are buying stuff for their fences or whatever. But for the bikes, you need perfect specimen¹⁶. So they're really looking at each one, and the coloring is different on each one. So you have a unique product in the end because no two poles are alike.

 

FLATOW: And there you have it. It's our Video Pick of the Week. It's up there in our website at sciencefriday.com if you ever think you want a bamboo bike or want to see just a beautiful-looking bike.

 

LICHTMAN: Yes.

 

FLATOW: And the real craftsmanship¹⁷, as you say, the handmade crafts, old fashioned...

 

LICHTMAN: Very.

 

FLATOW: ...craftsmanship that goes into building these bikes is up there for you to see. Thank you, Flora.

 

LICHTMAN: Thanks, Ira.

 

FLATOW: That's about all the time we have for this hour.

1 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。

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 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

4 smack   

vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍

参考例句：

• She gave him a smack on the face.她打了他一个嘴巴。
• I gave the fly a smack with the magazine.我用杂志拍了一下苍蝇。

5 smacking   

活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的

参考例句：

• He gave both of the children a good smacking. 他把两个孩子都狠揍了一顿。
• She inclined her cheek,and John gave it a smacking kiss. 她把头低下，约翰在她的脸上响亮的一吻。

6 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

7 jig   

n.快步舞（曲）；v.上下晃动；用夹具辅助加工；蹦蹦跳跳

参考例句：

• I went mad with joy and danced a little jig.我欣喜若狂，跳了几步吉格舞。
• He piped a jig so that we could dance.他用笛子吹奏格舞曲好让我们跳舞。

8 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

9 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

10 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

11 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

12 scrapping   

刮，切除坯体余泥

参考例句：

• He was always scrapping at school. 他在学校总打架。
• These two dogs are always scrapping. 这两条狗总是打架。

13 chiseling   

v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The sculptor was at work chiseling a statue. 雕塑家正在雕琢一尊雕像。 来自辞典例句
• Tommy:Four of them are sawing, three are chiseling and one is reaming. 四个在锯，三个在磨，二个在凿，还有一个在铰。 来自互联网

14 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

15 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

16 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

17 craftsmanship   

n.手艺

参考例句：

• The whole house is a monument to her craftsmanship. 那整座房子是她技艺的一座丰碑。
• We admired the superb craftsmanship of the furniture. 我们很欣赏这个家具的一流工艺。