欧美文化博览 超级城市纽约 (15)（在线收听）

This is like a machine that it's always something you need to fix, to oil, to repaint, to clean and possibly to replace.

这就像一台机器,总有些东西你需要修理,加油,重新粉刷，清洗及可能的进行更换部件。

The Manhattan Bridge needed major repairs at a relative early age. The threat came from the very trains it was built to carry. Held in place by steel cables, the Manhattan has the advantages and drawbacks of a suspension bridge. One advantage, it can flex; one drawback, it can flex. That drawback emerged when the first subway train crossed. As the heavy cars pass, the bridge sways. One side dips, the other rises a full meter. Steel isn't made to flex. The relentless torsion snapped off beams, spanning the lower roadway.

在一个相对早期的年龄，曼哈顿桥就需要大修。威胁来自需要承载而建造的火车。钢架构的电缆使曼哈顿的的悬索桥有好有坏。好处是它可以弯曲;缺点也是它能弯曲。当第一次火车通过缺点就涌现了出来。当重型车辆经过,这座桥摇来摇去。一侧下降,另一侧升高。钢本身不是用来弯曲的，啪的一声无情的扭断横梁。

The Manhattan Bridge was so neglected, the tracks finally had to be closed for repairs. In the 1980s, the city invested 2.5 billion dollars in a 3-decade program to overhaul its bridges. On the Manhattan Bridge, engineers installed heavy steel braces to stop the swaying.

曼哈顿桥如此被忽视,铁轨最后不得不因为进行修理而关闭。在八十年代,这座城市在30年的审查桥梁的项目中投资25亿元。在曼哈顿桥,工程师安装了大型钢架构避免桥的摇摆。

The effect is surprising even to us. The rocking motion, really abated.

效果甚至对我们而言也令人惊奇。摇摆运动真的减轻了。