新型的懸浮火車超級快，可能要取代飛機
mega
['megə]
adj. 宏大的；精彩的
Airlines aren’t the worst polluters in the world, but planes do account for an incredible 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions. So by any measure, flying is a privilege—the exact sort of 21st-century excess that we need to reassess.
航空公司並不是世界上最嚴重的污染源，但飛機排放的二氧化碳卻達全球碳排放總量的2.5%。因此，無論以何種標準衡量，飛行都是一項特權，確切的說，是我們需要重新考慮的21世紀的過度消費品。
Which is why the strategic design consultancy Manyone is thinking about radical alternatives to flight. The studio’s solution? A giant train that loops around half the world like a mega subway system.
這就是戰略設計諮詢公司Manyone正在考慮全新的飛行替代方案的原因。該工作室有什麼解決方案嗎？那就是設計一列長達地球半圈距離的巨型火車，就像巨大的地鐵系統一樣。
Dubbed the AeroSlider, it’s an elevated train line that passes through a series of unobtrusive magnetic loops instead of running on a track. Much like the principles behind a rail gun, the loops speed up the train sequentially, propelling it up to speeds of 500 mph—or the average speed of a plane. It was conceived by creative director Jens Martin.
這條高架鐵路線被稱爲AeroSlider，它是經由一系列不顯眼的磁環運行，而不是在軌道上運行。就像電磁軌道炮的原理一樣，這些磁環相繼加速列車，將其速度提升至500英里每小時，或飛機的平均速度。它是由創意總監延斯·馬丁提出的。
The core design is, admittedly, something of an engineering fantasy.
誠然，從某種程度上，其核心設計可以說是一種工程學上的幻想。
But as lead designer Guillermo Callau explains to me, the team has actually put a lot of thought into the feasibility of the route, which passes from Africa to Europe to Asia, to the cars, which feature everything from typical seats to a large shared indoor garden. The idea isn’t to present a completely realized design, but to think bigger about how to reduce our reliance on flying.
但是，正如首席設計師吉列爾莫·卡洛向我解釋的那樣，該團隊實際上已經在這條路線的可行性上花了很多心思。這條路線從非洲延伸至歐洲、亞洲，再到中美洲研究站，而且列車上從普通座位到大型共享室內花園都應有盡有。該構思並不是要展示一個完全可以實現的設計，而是要從更高的角度思考如何減少我們對飛行的依賴。
“You would take something a little slower than a flight, but it would be immensely more efficient,” says Callau. “This isn’t just being optimistic. It’s necessary. CO2 tariffs, or taxes on CO2, will make flights way more inaccessible.”
卡洛表示：“你可以乘坐比飛機稍慢一點的交通工具，而這樣會大大提高效率。這不僅僅是一種樂觀主義，而且是必要的。二氧化碳關稅或二氧化碳稅將使飛行成爲更不可取的方式。”
今日詞彙
mega
['megə]
adj. 宏大的；精彩的
the mega superstar 超級巨星
He has become mega rich.
他變得極其富有。
