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Science and technology
科學(xué)技術(shù)
The future technology of the past
六十年代的未來技術(shù)
Thunderbirds are gone
遠(yuǎn)去的雷鳥號(hào)
A British defence firm opens its archives to reveal flights of fancy that never flew
英國(guó)防務(wù)公司公開檔案，從未實(shí)現(xiàn)的奇思妙想重見天日
READERS of a certain age may remember Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's sci-fi puppet shows—Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet—filmed, as the Andersons put it, in Supermarionation.
上了一定年紀(jì)的讀者或許會(huì)記得蓋瑞·安德森和西爾維婭·安德森的科幻木偶劇-《飛天神車》、《雷霆機(jī)五號(hào)》、《霹靂艇》、《雷鳥特攻隊(duì)》以及《超空人》，劇集均由安德森夫婦所稱的超級(jí)木偶出演。
Those who remember Captain Scarlet in particular may find one of the pictures here eerily familiar.
特別是那些還記得《超空人》的讀者會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)上面的照片里有一張似曾相識(shí)。
English Electric's Fighter Jet Take-Off Platform, a flying airfield, is not quite the Cloudbase from which the immortal captain operated.
英國(guó)電氣的空中機(jī)場(chǎng)-戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)起飛平臺(tái)與該劇中永遠(yuǎn)的隊(duì)長(zhǎng)操控的云霄基地不太像。
But it was intended, like its fictional counterpart, to launch and receive planes while itself airborne.
但就像云霄基地一樣，其目的是要在空中發(fā)射和接收飛機(jī)。
It would have taken off and landed vertically in, say, a jungle clearing otherwise inaccessible to the aircraft piggybacking on it.
它要在一塊從林里的空地上垂直起降，否則其所載的飛機(jī)無法起落。
English Electric was one of the firms merged into what eventually became BAE Systems, and BAE has recently been through its archives and publicised some of the projects dreamed up in the glory days of the 1960s, when designers' imaginations were allowed to run riot with little consideration of practicality or budget. MUSTARD, for example, was designed by the British Aircraft Corporation.
英國(guó)電氣是最終被合并為英國(guó)航宇系統(tǒng)公司的眾多公司中的一員，BAE最近完成了其檔案整理工作，并公開了一些在上世紀(jì)六十年代的輝煌歲月中構(gòu)想出來的項(xiàng)目，其時(shí)，設(shè)計(jì)人員的想象力可以天馬行空，無需考慮可行性或者預(yù)算。例如，MUSTARD是由英國(guó)飛機(jī)公司（BAC）設(shè)計(jì)的。
It could pass for something out of Fireball XL5 or Supercar—though it also resembles Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo which will, Virgin hopes, soon be taking paying passengers to the edge of space.
可以認(rèn)為其構(gòu)想來自于《雷霆機(jī)五號(hào)》或《飛天神車》----不過它也有點(diǎn)像維珍銀河公司的太空船二號(hào)，維珍公司希望其很快便能載著付費(fèi)乘客到達(dá)太空的邊緣。
It would have been a three-stage space-plane, though only one stage would have made it into orbit.
太空船二號(hào)會(huì)是一艘三級(jí)航天飛船，盡管只需一級(jí)便能將其送入軌道。
The other two were reusable boosters.
其余的兩級(jí)為可重復(fù)使用的助推器。
An Anderson version of the Jumping Jeep, also by BAC, might easily have emerged from the pod carried by Thunderbird Two on one of its missions for International Rescue.
在雷鳥二號(hào)執(zhí)行國(guó)際援助組織的任務(wù)時(shí)，一輛安德森版的跳躍吉普-也出自BAC-從雷鳥二號(hào)攜帶的隔艙中脫離時(shí)或許比較簡(jiǎn)單。
Continuing the vertical-take-off theme, the Jeep would have had 12 fans whose downdraft would have helped it over obstacles such as ditches.
繼續(xù)剛才垂直起飛的主題，這輛吉普有12個(gè)螺旋槳，其產(chǎn)生的向下氣流能使吉普跨過壕溝等各種障礙。
And Hawker Siddeley's Intercity Vertical-Lift Aircraft, intended as a passenger plane that could land in urban airports not much bigger than pocket handkerchiefs, looks like the sort of thing that would have whisked Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, International Rescue's London agent, from her penthouse in Mayfair to New York for a day's shopping.
霍克·希德利公司的城際垂直起降飛機(jī)是想成為一架可以在胸袋手帕那么大的市內(nèi)機(jī)場(chǎng)中著陸的客機(jī)，就像那種能讓潘妮洛普·克雷頓華德夫人從自己位于梅菲爾的閣樓一路飛馳到紐約去購物一整天的飛機(jī)。
Sadly, none of these fantasies made it into metal.
可悲的是，這些奇思妙想中沒有一個(gè)成為現(xiàn)實(shí)。
They remain as fictional as the Andersons' puppet shows.
它們就和安德森夫婦的木偶劇一樣，只是停留在虛構(gòu)層面。
Too expensive. Or too noisy.
要么費(fèi)用太高，要么噪聲太大，
Or simply too silly.
要么就只是想法太愚蠢。
But that is the strange thing about the future.
但這是關(guān)于未來的東西總是很怪。
Nothing ages faster than yesterday's dreams of tomorrow.
沒有比昨天的明日夢(mèng)更易老的東西了。
