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Thunderbirds Are Gone
雷鸟的消失
Readers of a certain age may remember Gerry andSylvia Anderson's sci-fi puppet shows—"Supercar", "Fireball XL5","Stingray","Thunderbirds" and"Captain Scarlet"一filmed, as the Ander- sons put it,in " SuperMarionation ".
那个年龄段的读者可能还记得格里和西尔维亚安德森，这些拍成电影的科幻木偶剧——"超级跑车"、"雷霆机"、"黄貂鱼"、"雷鸟"和"超空人"，正如安德森在"Supermarionation"里所提出的。
Those who remember "Captain Scarlet" in particular may find one of the pictures here eerilyfamiliar. English Electric's Fighter Jet Take-Off Platform, a flying airfield, is not quite the Cloud-base from which the immortal captain operated. But it was intended, like its fictionalcounterpart, to launch and receive planes while itself airborne. It would have taken off andlanded vertically in say, a jungle clearing otherwise inaccessible to the aircraft piggybacking onit.
尤其是那些记得"超空人"的读者可能会发现上面图片中的某张似曾相识。英国电气公司的战斗机起飞平台，一个可飞行的机场，并不完全是一个由不朽船长操作的云端基地。但它的目的也曾是，像虚构的对手，在它自己也飞行的同时发射和接收飞机。它将会垂直的起飞和降落，比如说，飞机在一个丛林里，就必须要将场地先清理干净，否则无法起飞。
MUSTARD (the Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device), was designed by the BritishAircraft Corporation--BAC). It could pass for something out of "Fireball XL5" or "Supercar"--though it also resembles Virgin Galactic's Spaceship Two which will, Virgin hopes, soon betaking paying passengers to the edge of space. It would have been a three-stage space-plane,though only one stage would have made it into orbit. The other two were reusable boosters.
由英国飞机公司(BAC)设计的MUSTARD-多部件空间运输和回收装置)可以将"雷霆机"或"超级跑车"中的一些东西转化到现实中来——尽管它像维珍银河公司的太空船二号，维珍希望号，将会很快就会以付费的方式搭载乘客进入太空。这将是一个三级航天飞机，虽然只需一个阶段就会使它进入轨道。其他两个是可重复使用的助推器。
An Anderson version of the "Jumping Jeep", also by BAC, it would have had 12 fans whosedowndraft would have helped it over obstacles such as ditches. And Hawker Siddeley's IntercityVertical- Lift Aircraft, intended as a passenger plane that could land in urban airports notmuch bigger than pocket handkerchiefs.
一个安德森版的"跳跃吉普"，同样是由英国飞机公司设计，机器安装有12个风机，其产生的向下气流会帮助它越过如沟渠般的障碍物。而且悉得利公司的城际垂直升降飞机则试图成为那种可以降落在比口袋手帕大不了多少的城市机场上的那种客机。
Sadly, none of these fantasies made it into metal. They remain as fictional as the Andersons'puppet shows. Too expensive. Or too noisy. Or simply too silly. (Why build a vertical-take-offairfield when you can build a vertical-take-off fighter, as Hawker Siddeley showed with itsworld-beating Harrier?) But that is the strange thing about the future. Nothing ages faster thanyesterday's dreams of tomorrow.
可悲的是，这些幻想的飞行器没有一个可以用金属制造出来。它们仍然如同安德森家木偶剧一样是虚构的。太过昂贵，或是噪音太大，或是太愚蠢(当你可以制造出一个垂直起降的战斗机的时候为什么还要制造一个垂直起降的机场，就比如悉得利公司制造的鹞式战斗机?)但这对未来来说，是很奇妙的事情。没有什么比昨天关于明天的梦想过时。