世界上最快的列车

翻译：凯文

A Japanese railway company has started testing what it says is the world’S fastest train, capable of speeds of over 360 kilometers an hour. The new train is a development of the famous1)Shinkansenor1)2)bullet trainsystem.

日本一家铁路公司已开始对其号称是世界上最快的列车进行测试，该列车的时速可达360公里以上。这款新型列车是日本著名的“新干线”，即“子弹列车”系统的新发展。

TThe World's Fastest Train

For years now, the world’s fastest trains, operating in Japan and France, have been stuck at a 3)maximum operating speed of around 300 kilometers an hour ― in fact the latest Japanese bullet trains travel a bit slower than their 4)predecessors, the 5)emphasis of the designers being more on 6)smoothness and economy. Now JR East, the country’s largest railway company, has 7)unveiled a much faster train, capable of 8)sustained speeds of around 360 kilometers an hour.

The new train, which has been displayed in a 9)dazzling teal color, looks very similar to the 10)streamlined models already running on Japan’s high-speed railways, except for one unusual feature ― extra emergency brakes in the form of cat’s ears that rise from the roof of the carriages ― this, a response to the 11)derailment of a bullet train after an earthquake last year.

The testing will be extensive ― the new train won’t go into service for six years. Strictly speaking, it isn’t the world’s fastest ― that honor goes to 12)magnetically-levitated trains which 13)literally float above the track on an 14)enormous 15)magnetic field ― and yes, the fastest of those is also Japanese, an experimental model that has hit speeds of close to 600 kilometers an hour.

But only one 16)maglev network is in operation today ― a German system, built in Shanghai ― and it only covers the 30 kilometers from the airport to the city. The technology is so 17)prohibitively expensive that 18)conventional railways are likely to dominate inter-city travel for many more years.

多年以来，在日本和法国运行着的世界上最快的列车已无法超越其每小时约300公里的最高运行速度―事实上，最新的日本子弹列车比其前辈列车的运行速度还要慢一点，其设计更注重列车运行的平稳性与经济效益。现在，日本最大的铁路公司―东日本旅客铁路公司展示了一款更快的列车，其持续速度可达每小时360公里。

这款耀眼的凫蓝色列车展现在人们面前，看上去与日本现有的流线型高速列车非常相似，除了一个与众不同的特点―那就是高突在列车车顶、形似猫耳的额外紧急刹车闸―这个装置是针对去年地震后一列子弹列车发生出轨事故而特制的。

列车将会进行严格测试―新型列车在六年内不会投入营运。严格来说，它并不是世界上最快的列车―这个光荣的称号属于磁悬浮列车。按照字面意思，磁悬浮列车能在巨大的磁场作用下悬在铁轨上。没错，最快的磁悬浮列车也在日本，实验性磁悬浮列车的速度可接近每小时600公里。

然而，如今只有一个磁悬浮列车网在运作―建于上海的德国列车系统―它只覆盖了从机场至市中心30公里的路程。这项技术耗资惊人，因此在未来很长的一段时间内，传统铁路很可能会继续担任穿梭城市间的主要交通载体。

注释