VOA慢速英语2011--Bigger Ships, So a Bigger Panama Canal

Technology Report - Bigger Ships, So a Bigger Panama Canal

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
The Panama Canal opened almost one hundred years ago. More than one million ships have passed through the waterway since nineteen fourteen.
The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It reduces travel by thirteen thousand kilometers. It avoids the need for ships to sail around Cape¹ Horn at the bottom of South America.
More than forty ships pass through the canal each day -- more than fourteen thousand each year. Now, a major expansion project will permit more ships -- and bigger ships -- to pass through the canal.
Jorge Luis Quijano is the Panama Canal’s executive vice² president of engineering. He told VOA's Zulima Palacio that the canal is operating at its limit.
JORGE LUIS QUIJANO: "The present canal has a total capacity of about three hundred and forty million tons a year that it can handle, that's the maximum capacity. With the expansion we expect to double that, over six hundred million tons that we can handle in a year."
Ships pass through a series of locks. These locks raise a ship to the level of Gatun Lake at the canal entrance on the Atlantic side. They lower the ship back to sea level on the Pacific side.
For years, shipbuilders limited the size of many ships so that they could fit through the Panama Canal. But now many shipping³ companies use bigger ships to transport more goods as a way to reduce costs.
Jorge Luis Quijano says the expansion project will allow many of these larger ships to use the canal.
JORGE LUIS QUIJANO: "This new canal actually is offering a larger vessel⁴ that it can handle, with deeper draft with a longer and wider vessel."
Workers are building the new locks alongside the old ones, which will remain in use. The existing locks are three hundred five meters long and thirty-three meters wide.
The new ones will be four hundred twenty-seven meters long and fifty-five meters wide. They will be able to handle ships with drafts of more than fifteen meters. Currently ships can ride only twelve meters deep in the canal.
Engineers could not make the new locks too big. Mr. Quijano says the plans had to balance the size of the locks with the cost for ships to use the canal.
JORGE LUIS QUIJANO: “We had to look at the optimal⁵ size of vessel that would make the return on the investment of a high value to us. So we chose what size of vessels⁶ that could actually pay for this project.”
The cost is estimated at more than five billion dollars. The new locks are set to open in twenty fourteen, the one hundredth anniversary of the Panama Canal.
And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. You can watch a video about the project at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

4 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

5 optimal   

adj.最适宜的；最理想的；最令人满意的

参考例句：

• What is the optimal mix of private and public property rights in natural resources?私人和国家的自然资源产权的最适宜的组合是什么？
• Optimal path planning is a key link for the sailing contest.帆船最优行驶路径规划是帆船比赛取胜的关键环节。

6 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》