经济学人精读笔记9：打出租out了，“飞的”时代要来了！

经济学人精读笔记9：打出租out了，“飞的”时代要来了！

标签（空格分隔）： 经济学人

---

Part 1

Flying taxis are taking off to whisk people around cities

But regulatory hurdles still remain

In October 1908, on a windy field at Farnborough, south-west of London, a handlebar-mustachioed former Wild West showman named Samuel Cody completed the first official controlled flight of a powered aeroplane in Britain.

飞的正在起飞，载着人们穿梭于城市间
但监管障碍仍然存在
1908年10月，在伦敦西南部范堡罗一片狂风呼啸的旷野上，留着八字胡的前狂野西部的表演家塞缪尔·科迪在英国完成了首次正式的动力飞机控制飞行。

• take off v.(飞机)起飞We eventually took off at 11 o'clock and arrived in Venice at 1.30. 我们终于在11点起飞，1:30 到达威尼斯。

• take off 还有一个考试常见意思是“(产品、活动、事业等)腾飞，突然成功” In 1944, he met Edith Piaf, and his career took off. 1944 年，他结识了伊迪思·比阿夫，从此他的事业开始腾飞。【写作推荐】

• whisk v. [wɪsk] y 匆匆带走；迅速送走

The waiter whisked away the plates before we had finished.服务员没等我们吃完就匆忙把盘子收走了。

• hurdle本义是“栏架，跨栏”，引申为抽象意义上的“难关，障碍”(problem or difficulty that you must deal with before you can achieve something)

【相关拓展】fall at the first hurdle字面意思是“在第一个难关就摔倒了”，也就是“连第一关都过不去”，比如在大多数求职面试中，没有大学学历的人可能连第一关都过不去：People without university degree may fall at the first hurdle in most job interviews.【写作推荐】

• regulatory 具有监管权的，监管的;

• handlebar-mustachioed adj.留着八字胡的

• official 官方的, 正式的, 官方认可的

• aeroplane 飞机

Part 2

Since then many other pioneering aircraft, from Concorde to the giant Airbus A380, have flown at what became the biennial Farnborough air show. The aerospace centre that stages the show is now preparing for another sort of revolutionary aircraft to take to the sky.

自那时起，从协和式飞机到空客巨型飞机A380的其他众多开创性飞机都参展了两年一度的范堡罗航空展。承办今年范堡罗航空展的航空航天中心如今正在为另一种革命性飞机的升空做准备。

• pioneering 形容词意为“开创性的”，来自于名词pioneer [ˌpaɪəˈnɪr] 意为“创始人，先行者”，比如：He is one of the leading pioneers of British photo journalism.英国新闻摄影界的领军人物之一

【类似表达】先行者还可以说trailblazer/ first mover/ trendsetter

我们平常说的“潮人”就是trendsetter，而“开创潮流”可以说set the trend，比如Larger corporations are setting the trend for better maternity benefits.较大的公司在开创新风，提供更好的生育福利。

• biennial adj.两年一次的

【词根词缀】 ann, enn = year

biennial adj.两年一次的，每两年的 bi(two)+enn (year)

annual adj.一年的

anniversary n.周年纪念日；结婚周年

millennium n.一千年，千禧年. mill(thousand)+enn (year)

centennial n.一百周年adj.一百年一次的 cent(hundred)+ enn (year)

• stage the show 承办活动

stage这里作及物动词，义为“组织；筹划，承办”(to organize a public event)，比如《经济学人》在报道中国某些省市货车司机罢工现象时提到：Lorry drivers staged strikes in several Chinese cities. They were protesting against fuel costs and competition from app-based haulage services.几个中国城市的货车司机发起罢工，抗议（过高的）汽油费用以及来自网络预约货运服务的竞争。【熟词僻义】

【成语翻译】 “东山再起”可以说：stage a comeback

此外也可以用 be back in the saddle或bob up again

• revolutionary adj. 革命的

• take to the sky 起飞，升空，和题目的take off作同义替换

Part 3

These new planes are variously described as flying taxis, passenger drones or, as the industry terms them, urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles. Around 200 such craft are at various stages of development around the world, according to experts at Farnborough’s first global urban air summit in early September.

Some prototypes are already carrying out test flights and operators hope to begin commercial services within the next few years. Uber, which runs an app-based taxi-hailing service, aims to start flying passengers in Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia by 2023.

这些新型飞机有着各种各样的叫法，例如飞的、载客无人机，或者行业专业术语所称的城市空中交通工具。在今年9月初于范堡罗举行的首届全球城市空中峰会上，专家们表示，全球大约有200架处于不同发展阶段的这种类型的飞机。
一些原型机已经在试飞了，运营商希望能在未来几年内启动商业服务。优步（一家基于APP提供打车服务的公司）计划到2023年开始在达拉斯、洛杉矶和澳大利亚的墨尔本开展飞的业务。

• drones 无人驾驶飞机

• terms v. 把…称为

• summit n.（政府间的）首脑会议；峰会

G20 Summit 二十国集团领导人峰会（G是Group 的缩写）

• prototype义为“原型；雏形”(the first form that a new design of a car, machine etc has, or a model of it used to test the design before it is produced)。

• app-based基于应用的 （这里的app指application应用，App Store就是应用商店）

-based ，用以构成复合词，它表示如下几种意思：

-“以…为基础”，“以…为基本成分”：an export-based economy以出口为基础的经济milk-based以牛奶为基本成分的

-based与表示地点的名词连用表示“总部设在…的”a Shanghai-based firm一家总部设在上海的公司a New York-based organization 一个总部在纽约的机构

• taxi-hailing service 叫车服务

• hail [heɪl] 本义是“呼喊，大声招呼”(to call to someone in order to greet them or try to attract their attention)，“打的，打出租车”即hail a taxi，而滴滴这样的叫车服务称作ride-hailing。

比如《经济学人》一篇谈交通拥堵的文章提到：Ride-hailing services might introduce multi-passenger vehicles and split travel costs across riders (they could call them “buses”).幸运的是，历史也提供了一个解决方案：公共交通。叫车服务可能会引入多乘客车辆，并在乘客之间分摊费用（可以称之为“巴士”）。

hail更常见的动词用法是hail sb / sth as sth，指“把…称赞为，把…誉为”(to describe someone or something as being very good)，常用作被动语态，比如The Wandering Earthis hailed as China's biggest sci-fi movie to date.

Part4

Yet a number of obstacles remain. “No one really knows exactly how it is going to happen,” admits François Sillion, head of Uber’s Advanced Technologies Centre in Paris. That is because the obstacles are not particularly technological, but regulatory.

Regulators are still working out how to certify that these new aircraft are safe, particularly as many will be flown without pilots, carrying passengers aloft as they buzz autonomously around a city.

然而，目前仍然存在着一些障碍。优步巴黎高级技术中心负责人弗朗索瓦·西利昂承认：“没有人真的知道它将如何实现。”这是因为，障碍并不在于技术，而在于监管。
监管机构仍在研究如何证明这些新型飞机是安全的，尤其是因为许多飞机将在没有飞行员的情况下载着乘客在城市的上空穿梭。

• obstacle n. [ˈɒbstəkl]~ (to sth/to doing sth) a situation, an event, etc. that makes it difficult for you to do or achieve sth障碍；阻碍；绊脚石=hindrance

A lack of qualifications can be a major obstacle to finding a job.学历不足可能成为谋职的主要障碍。

与前文的hurdle作同义替换

• certify v.证明;出具证明;证实 If someone in an official position certifies something, they officially state that it is true.

...if the president certified that the project would receive at least $650m from overseas sources... 如果总统证明这个工程将获得至少6.5亿美元的海外资金

【同源词】certificate 作名词表示“证明；证明书” 比如：a birth/marriage/death certificate出生 / 结婚 / 死亡证明

也表示“文凭；结业证书；合格证书” 比如： She proudly displayed her degree certificate to her parents. 她自豪地向父母展示了学位证书.

• 我们知道pilot是飞行员的意思，-less是常见后缀意为“没有...的，那么pilotless 即是adj.无人驾驶的。

The rebels claim to have shot down a pilotless drone flying above the area. 反对派武装声称他们已经击落基地上空的一架无人驾驶飞机。，

• 无人机有三种表达：Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/ Drones/ Pilotless Aircraft

• aloft adv. Something that is aloft is in the air or off the ground. 在空中；在高处

Four of the nine starting balloons were still aloft the next day. 9个开幕气球第二天还有4个飘在空中。

• buzz v. 发出嗡嗡声

Attack helicopters buzzed across the city. 武装直升机嗡嗡地飞过城市上空。

the buzz around sth 对某事的热烈讨论，某事引起的广泛关注，这里的buzz是名词。比如“近几年对于比特币的讨论非常激烈”，我们可以说The buzz around bitcoin has been tremendous in recent years.【写作推荐】

• autonomous adj.自动的

“无人驾驶汽车”的多样表达 autonomous cars /driverless vehicles/ a driverless cars /self-driving cars

Part 5

Although UAM designs are many and varied, they sport some common features. The aircraft are invariably electrically powered, although some are hybrids with a backup combustion engine. They usually take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but unlike a helicopter use multiple small rotors.

Two- and three-seater versions can fly between 30km and 160km between charges at 100-200kph. As the multiple rotors are driven directly by individual electric motors, each rotor can be controlled by computerised flight systems.

虽然城市空中交通工具的设计是多种多样的，但它们有一些共同的特点。所有这些飞机都是电力驱动的，当然有些是带有备用内燃机的混合动力飞机。它们像直升机那样可以垂直起飞和降落，但不同于直升机的是，它们使用的是多个小型旋翼。
两座版和三座版的飞机可以以100-200km/h的时速飞行30-160公里。由于多个旋翼都是由单独的电机直接驱动的，因此每个旋翼都可以受计算机化的飞行系统所控制。

• sth. be many and varied多种多样的. After he acquired his education, his achievements were many and varied. 在接受了教育后, 他取得了各式各样的成就.

• sport v.to have or wear sth in a proud way 得意地穿戴；夸示；故意显示

She was sporting a T-shirt with the company's logo on it.她穿了一件带有公司徽标的T恤衫，很是得意。【熟词僻义】

• features n. 容貌；产品特点，特征；嘴脸

• invariably adv. 始终不变地

• combustion n.|kəmˈbʌstʃən| the process of burning 燃烧The energy is released by combustion on the application of a match... 火柴点燃后在燃烧过程中释放能量。

• multiple adj.多样的;多功能的

【词根词缀】multi-表示”很多,很多”

multiple adj.多样的(multi + ple形容词后缀→多的→多功能的)

multiply v.乘;繁殖(multi + ply动词后缀→变多→乘)

multicultural adj.多种文化的(multi+culture文化+al 形容词)

multimedia adj.多媒体的(multi + media媒介)

• hybrids n. 混合物；杂种，混血儿

• backup n. 支持；后援；阻塞;adj. 候补的；支持的

• vertically adv. 垂直地;直立地;陡峭地

• rotors N-COUNT (直升机的)旋翼

Part 6

This provides a high level of stability, in theory making such aircraft easier to fly than a helicopter, and easier to automate. Reassuringly, multiple rotors also mean that such aircraft can rapidly compensate if one or more of their motors fail.

这使得飞机可以实现高度稳定性，并且在理论上，这种飞机比直升机更易飞行、更易实现自动化。多旋翼还意味着，如果一个或多个发动机出现了故障，这种飞机还可以快速予以动力补偿。

• reassuringly令人放心地，令人欣慰地

reassuring adj.making you feel less worried or uncertain about sth 令人感到宽慰的；令人放心的=encouraging

a reassuring smile使人信心倍增的微笑

It's reassuring (to know) that we've got the money if necessary.我们有了应急的钱，这就不必担心了。

• compensate v.补偿

compensate for sth 指“弥补，补偿”(to replace or balance the effect of something bad)，相当于make up for sth.

注意这里的compensate是个不及物动词。弥补的东西可以是某种损失、过失或不足，比如 His enthusiasm more than compensates for his lack of experience. 他的热情大大弥补了经验的不足。

而compensate sb for sth 指“向（某人）补偿”(to pay someone money because they have suffered injury, loss, or damage)The firm will compensate workers for their loss of earnings.公司将补偿工人的收入损失。