很多城市都在建设地铁，我们想象在街道的底下正挖着隧道，但实际上在拥堵的市区挖地铁与在市郊修建地铁延长线的方式还有所不同。怎样让施工尽量不影响两旁的建筑，不干扰正常的城市生活？工程师们采用的是上世纪50年代意大利米兰地铁的施工方法。
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In the 1950s, the bustling Italian city of Milan wanted to build a subway. But tearing up the city streets simply wasn’t an option. Engineers needed to figure out a way to build without disrupting city life.
上世纪50年代，拥挤的意大利城市米兰要造地铁，但直接在城市街道开挖肯定不行，工程师需要一个新方法，施工又不干扰正常的城市生活。
★★★ bustling a.忙乱的
★ tear up 挖开（地面）
★ option n.选择
★ figure out 想出
★★ disrupt vt.破坏，扰乱
We’ve come here to a site where the Metro network is being expanded. Being here and seeing the scale of this site, you can imagine the tremendous disruption it would be causing if you tried to do this in the center of the city, really an enormous challenge.
我们来到一处施工现场，这里正在造地铁延长线，在这里你能看到施工的规模，想象一下如果在城市里这样施工，对于城市日常生活将会是巨大的干扰，所以是个巨大的挑战。
★ expand v.扩大，扩展
★ scale n.规模
★ tremendous a.巨大的
★★ disruption n.扰乱
★ enormous a.巨大的
This is actually a really good illustration of one of the key problems here in Milan. We’re down here at the bottom of the excavation. And you can see this is an area where they’re just getting ready to start to dig a tunnel. And the engineers have gone to really heroic efforts there. Around that wall, you can see they’ve put some rubber gasket. And they’ve really tried to keep the water out of the site. But in spite of that, you can see how much water is still flowing in. So these are about the worst conditions you could hope to be digging tunnels in.
这里正好形象得说明了米兰造地铁的一个关键问题，我们正在挖掘现场的底部，能看到这里就是即将挖掘隧道的地方，工程师已经想尽一切办法。可以看到在这堵墙里放了橡胶垫，他们竭尽全力阻止水流入施工现场，但尽管如此，还是能看到有很多水流进来了。这基本上是在挖隧道时遇到的最差情况了。
★ illustration n.实例
★★ excavation n.挖掘
★ tunnel n.隧道
★ heroic a.非常大的
★★★ rubber gasket 橡胶垫
Engineer Dr. Christian Veder came up with a brilliant solution. Before Veder, a technique called cut-and-cover was the go-to-option for tunnelers.
工程师克里斯汀·维德博士想出了一个绝佳的方法。在他之前，隧道建造者都是采用明挖回填法建造。
★ come up with 想出，提出
★ brilliant a.巧妙的
★ option n.选择
★ tunnel n.隧道
Let’s imagine that I want to dig a trench down between these buildings. And you can see what happens when I do that in this sandy soil. Initially, there’s no problem. But if I push just a little bit too far, you can see that, eventually, I destabilize the soil and my structures will fall into the trench. And obviously, that’s completely unacceptable on a site in a congested urban center.
假设我们要在这些建筑中间挖一条沟，我在挖这里的沙土时你可以看到会发生什么。一开始没有问题，但当我稍微挖过一点，你能看到，土壤松动后，建筑会倒塌掉进沟里。显然在拥挤的市中心这样施工是绝对不能接受的。
★★ trench n.沟
★ initially ad.最初
★ eventually ad.最终
★★★ destabilize vt.使动摇
★ structure n.建筑物
★★ congested a.拥堵的
★ urban a.城市的
Veder turned the cut-and-cover concept on its head. Instead of building one big trench initially, he built two little trenches down the sides of the buildings. And into those trenches, he inserted reinforced concrete walls. And these then became known as diaphragm walls.
维德彻底改变了明挖回填法，不再采用开始挖大沟的做法，而是先在建筑物旁边挖两条窄沟。在窄沟里面，他插入钢筋混凝土墙，就是我们熟知的连续墙。
★★ turn ... on its head 完全改变
★★ trench n.沟
★ initially ad.最初
★ insert vt.插入
★ reinforce vt.加强，加固
★ concrete n.混凝土
★★★ diaphragm n.隔板
After dropping in diaphragm walls, Veder built a roof over the tunnel, allowing city traffic to resume above. Digging, tunneling and construction could take place without disrupting life in Milan.
当连续墙造好以后，维德在隧道上建造顶盖，在上面恢复城市交通，这样就可以继续挖掘、施工，而不会影响到米兰的城市生活。
★★★ diaphragm n.隔板
★ tunnel n.隧道 vi.挖隧道
★ allow vt.使能够
★ resume v.恢复，继续
★★ disrupt vt.破坏，扰乱
Instead of cut-and-cover, Veder’s technique covered then cut. It’s now known as top-down. This method was adapted around the world as a way of completing major subterranean projects with little to no interruption to the world above.
维德不再先挖再盖，而是采用先盖再挖的方法，即自上而下的挖掘方法。这种方法已经成为当今主要地下项目施工的方法，这种方法对于地面几乎没有影响。
★ adapt vt.（使）适应，（使）适合
★★★ subterranean a.地下的
★ interruption n.中断，干扰
So what Veder achieved here in Milan was to pioneer a really innovative construction method. And it’s fair to say that, standing down here in one of the new tunnels of the Milan Metro, it simply wouldn’t exist without that construction technique.
当年维德在米兰采用的这种新方法革命性地开创了施工新篇章，说实话，我现在站的这个地方如果没有这种施工技术，米兰正在建设的地铁就不会存在。
★ pioneer vt.开辟
★★ innovative a.创新的
★ fair a.恰当的，合理的
★ tunnel n.隧道
注：一星词汇为四级难度，二星词汇为六级、考研难度，三星词汇为雅思、托福及以上难度，大家根据自己的考试要求选择性学习。
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