VOA慢速英语2017 美国海军寻求更小、战斗力更强的战舰（在线收听）

US Navy Seeks Smaller, More Powerful Ships

The US Navy is answering criticisms that its combat ships are fast but lack the firepower and armor to survive a battle at sea. It says it wants new ships that are slower and smaller – but more powerful – than its existing ships.

美国海军开始回应对其战舰速度很快，但是缺乏在海战中生存的火力和装甲的批评。美国海军表示希望建造比现有战舰更慢、更小但是战斗力更强的新型战舰。

The Navy has asked designers for drawings of such warships. It wants them to be able to shoot down airplanes, attack other ships and counter submarines.

美国海军已经要求设计师绘制这类战舰的图纸。它希望这种战舰可以击落飞机、攻击其它舰船以及反潜艇。

Loren Thompson is a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Virginia. He says the “Navy has decided that speed is less important than having a warship with sufficient weapons to defend itself.”

劳伦·汤普森(Loren Thompson)是列克星敦研究所(Lexington Institute)的一名国防分析师。他说：“美海军认为，对军舰来说，拥有足够保卫自身安全的武器比更快的速度更为重要。”

The Navy wants 20 of the new ships. It does not want them to be costly. It has directed shipbuilders to use an existing design to speed up the process of designing and building the ships. It also wants the shipbuilders to provide drawings for the new ships next month and build them by 2020 or 2021.

海军想要建造20艘这类新型战舰，并且不希望成本过高。他们已经指示造船厂利用现有设计来加快设计和制造这艘战舰的过程，并且希望造船厂能够在下个月提供新战舰的图纸，并于2020年或2021年前建造完成。

Large Navy shipbuilders like Bath Iron Works in the northeastern state of Maine and Ingalls Shipbuilding in the southern state of Mississippi are among the companies expected to seek Navy contracts. Smaller shipyards in Wisconsin and Alabama are also expected to compete for the contract to build the ships.

美国东北部缅因州的巴斯钢铁造船厂以及南部密西西比州的英格尔斯造船厂等大型海军造船厂预计会参与了竞标，威斯康星州和阿拉巴马州的小型造船厂也有望参与竞争。

The Trump administration has announced a plan to increase the number of ships in the Navy. The Navy has a goal of 355 ships.

川普政府已经宣布了扩大海军舰队规模的计划。海军的目标是获得355艘战舰。

The plan to build the small but powerful new ships is a change for the Navy, which is learning lessons from earlier ship designs. Those ships were supposed to be a cost-effective way to deal with post-Cold War threats. The fast ships were supposed to be easily altered to serve changing missions.

建造个头更小但战斗力更强的新型战舰的计划对海军来说是一种变革，这是从早期舰船设计中吸取的经验。这些舰船被认为是应对后冷战时期威胁的一种经济有效的方式。这些快速舰艇本应易于改造以适应不断变化的任务。

But the alteration plans have been delayed, and the cost of the ships has risen. The Government Accountability Office, which examines government spending, also questioned the ships’ ability to survive in battle.

但是这一改造方案被延误了，同时战舰成本随之上涨。负责审查政府开支的美国政府问责办公室也质疑这些战舰在战斗中的生存能力。

The Congressional Research Service said the Navy wants to spend no more than $950 million for each ship. But the Navy says the cost per ship could be closer to $800 million, as no new technology needs to be created for the new ships. New designs and new technologies in earlier ships caused the final costs to be much higher than original estimates.

美国国会研究局表示，海军希望每艘战舰的花费不超过9.5亿美元。但是海军表示，由于不需要为这些战舰创造新技术，每艘战舰的成本可能接近8亿美元。早期战舰中采用新设计和新技术导致最终成本大幅高于原始估算。

Dirk Lesko is the president of Bath Iron Works in Maine. He says his designers examined both American and foreign ships to meet the Navy’s demands for the new ships. The shipyard worked with a Spanish company and used an existing design from a Spanish navy ship.

德克·莱斯科（Dirk Lesko）是巴斯钢铁造船厂的总裁。他说，该公司的设计师考察了美国和外国的战舰，以满足海军对新战舰的要求。该船厂与一家西班牙公司合作并使用了西班牙海军战舰的现有设计。

Mike Keenan is the president of the Machinists Union Local S6, the shipyard’s largest union. He says the shipyard’s 5,700 workers are eager for the chance to build the new ships.

麦克·基南（Mike Keenan）是该船厂最大的工会、本地机械师联盟的主席。他说，该船厂5700名员工迫切希望有机会参与建造这艘新战舰。

“We know how to build them. We’re ready to build more,” he says.

他说：“我们知道任何建造它们，也做好了建造更多战舰的准备。”

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Words in This Story

armor - n. a hard covering that protects something (such as a vehicle or an animal)

counter- v.? to do something in defense or in response to something?

sufficient- adj. having or providing as much as is needed?

contract - n.? a legal agreement between people, companies, etc.?

alter- v. to change (something)

mission - n.? a specific military or naval task?

eager- adj. very excited and interested