Heathrow’s third runway asks questions of the airport and Labour
A decades-long saga is not over yet
saga:美 [ˈsɑɡə] 传奇故事;长篇故事(讲述许多年间发生的事情的)
runway:飞机跑道;模特走秀的舞台;通道;过道;
希思罗机场(Heathrow Airport)是位于英国伦敦的主要国际机场,也是世界上最繁忙的机场之一。它位于伦敦市中心以西约23公里处,是英国最大的机场,也是欧洲客流量最高的机场之一。希思罗机场是英国航空公司(British Airways)的主要枢纽,同时也是众多国际航空公司的重要目的地。
希思罗机场共有五个航站楼,每个航站楼都提供丰富的购物、餐饮和服务设施,以满足各类旅客的需求。机场运营着飞往世界各地的航班,连接了全球数百个目的地。
由于其规模和重要性,希思罗机场在全球航空运输网络中占据了重要地位,是国际商务、旅游和交通的关键枢纽。
原文:
Heathrow Airport has a new boss and two new investors. Yet some familiar
problems continue to affect it. After two summers punctuated by flight
cancellations, passengers are bracing for more disruption. Around 650
border-force workers at Heathrow are due to go on strike from August 31st
until September 3rd in protest at newly introduced work rotas.
希思罗机场有了新老板和两个新投资者。然而一些熟悉的问题继续影响着它。在经历了两个被航班取消打断的夏天后,乘客们正准备迎接更多的干扰。大约650名希思罗机场的边境工作人员将于8月31日至9月3日举行罢工,抗议新引入的工作轮值表。
学习:
Heathrow: 美 [ˈhiːθroʊ] 希思罗机场;伦敦希思罗;伦敦希思罗机场;
cancellation:取消
rota:英 [ˈrəʊtə] 值班表;轮值表;轮班表;
border-force: 英国的边境管理部门
这里的 “border-force” 指的是英国的边境管理部门,即英国边境署(UK Border Force)。该部门负责在机场、港口和边境检查站执行边境控制,确保国家安全,包括检查护照、签证以及其他入境文件,防止非法移民和走私等活动。在这个上下文中,“border-force workers” 指的是在希思罗机场工作的边境管理人员,他们将在8月31日至9月3日进行罢工,以抗议新引入的工作轮班制度。
原文:
Like many airports, Heathrow has struggled to handle a post-pandemic surge
in air travel. Customer-satisfaction levels are down from pre-covid-19
levels; flight delays are up. But the biggest problem is structural: Heathrow
has operated at close to maximum capacity for more than a decade. The
question facing Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow’s chief executive, and its new
backers—Ardian, a French private-equity firm, and the Saudi Public
Investment Fund (PIF), which have agreed to acquire stakes of 22.6% and
15% respectively—is how to increase the number of passengers it can
manage.
像许多机场一样,希思罗机场一直在努力应对大流行后航空旅行的激增。顾客满意度比新冠肺炎之前的水平有所下降;航班延误增加了。但是最大的问题是结构性的:希思罗机场已经以接近最大容量运行了十多年。希思罗机场的首席执行官Thomas Woldbye和它的新支持者——法国私募股权公司Ardian和沙特公共投资基金(PIF)分别同意收购22.6%和15%的股份——面临的问题是如何增加它可以管理的乘客数量。
学习:
air travel:飞机旅行
flight delay:飞机延误
原文:
Heathrow (whose chairman also chairs The Economist Group) is focused on
simpler fixes for now. The airport says that a new baggage system in
Terminal 2 and improvements to security lanes, for instance, would increase
capacity. But improvements of this sort will get Heathrow only so far. If it is
to handle many more people, it needs another runway.
希思罗机场(其主席也是经济学人集团主席)目前专注于更简单的解决方案。机场方面表示,2号航站楼的新行李系统和安检通道的改进将会增加容量。但是这种改进只能让希思罗机场到此为止。如果要容纳更多的人,它需要另一条跑道。
学习:
security lanes:安检通道
原文:
Last year Heathrow was the fourth-busiest airport in the world, with 79.2m
passengers passing through its terminals (see chart). Heathrow is forecasting
that a record 82.4m passengers will go through the airport this year. Yet it
has only two runways, compared with four at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle and
at Frankfurt, and six at Amsterdam’s Schiphol.
去年,希思罗机场是世界上第四繁忙的机场,有7920万乘客通过其航站楼(见图表)。希思罗机场预计今年将有创纪录的8240万乘客通过该机场。然而它只有两条跑道,相比之下,巴黎戴高乐机场和法兰克福机场有四条,阿姆斯特丹史基浦机场有六条。
学习:
Frankfurt:美 [ˈfræŋkfərt] 法兰克福;法兰克福市(德国城市)
原文:
A third runway would give a big boost to capacity. According to projections
made in 2019, potential passenger numbers would rise to 142m a year. But
plans to build another runway at Heathrow have spent decades waiting for
take-off—they were first outlined in 1946, first endorsed by the then
government in 2003 and have been under review since the pandemic. They
remain highly controversial.
第三条跑道将大大提高容量。根据2019年的预测,潜在乘客数量将增至每年1.42亿人。但是,在希思罗机场修建另一条跑道的计划已经等待了几十年——1946年首次提出,2003年首次得到当时政府的批准,自疫情以来一直在接受审查。它们仍然极具争议。
原文:
Local communities raise fears about noise and air pollution. Environmental
groups balk at the additional 260,000 annual flights another runway might
bring, along with more annual greenhouse-gas emissions than Luxembourg.
Costs are another concern. The projected bill to build a third runway was
reckoned as high as £24.3bn ($40bn) back in 2014. That figure would be
much bigger now.
当地社区增加了对噪音和空气污染的担忧。环保组织对另一条跑道可能带来的每年26万次额外航班,以及比卢森堡还多的年度温室气体排放量感到犹豫。成本是另一个问题。早在2014年,修建第三条跑道的预计费用就高达243亿英镑(合400亿美元)。这个数字现在会大得多。
学习:
balk:犹豫不决;畏缩不前;拒绝
balk at:畏缩;回避;退缩
Luxembourg:美 [ˈləksəmbərɡ] 卢森堡
原文:
All of which raises difficult questions for Heathrow’s owners. Expansion
would require lots of capital but Heathrow is unlikely to provide the returns
of faster-growing airports such as Istanbul and Dubai. Having racked up
debt worth £16.8bn, Heathrow’s finances are already constrained. In July it
was dealt a further blow by the Civil Aviation Authority, the industry
regulator, which forced it to prune landing-fee charges paid by airlines.
所有这些都给希思罗机场的所有者提出了难题。扩建需要大量资金,但希斯罗机场不太可能提供像伊斯坦布尔和迪拜这样发展更快的机场的回报。累积了价值168亿英镑的债务后,希思罗机场的财政已经捉襟见肘。7月,行业监管机构民航局进一步打击了该公司,迫使其削减航空公司支付的着陆费。
学习:
rack up:累积
civil aviation:民航;民用航空;
prune:削减(费用或开支)
deal a blow: 造成打击,造成不利影响
这里的“was dealt a further blow”指的是希思罗机场(Heathrow Airport)受到了进一步的打击。具体来说,“deal a blow” 是一个惯用表达,意思是对某人或某事造成损害、打击或不利影响。
在这个句子中,英国民航管理局(Civil Aviation Authority)强制希思罗机场减少航空公司支付的着陆费用,这对机场的财务状况造成了负面影响,因而是进一步的打击。
例子:
- 英文: The company was dealt a blow when its biggest client decided to cancel their contract.
- 中文: 当公司最大的客户决定取消合同时,公司受到了打击。
原文:
A third runway would raise hard questions for the Labour government, too.
It has made growth its number-one priority and set about clearing barriers to
new infrastructure, but it also talks up its green credentials. The debate over
Heathrow’s expansion may have been rumbling on for decades. It isn’t over
yet. ■
第三条跑道也会给工党政府带来难题。它将增长作为首要任务,并着手清除新基础设施的障碍,但它也吹嘘自己的绿色资质。关于希思罗机场扩建的争论可能已经持续了几十年。这还没有结束。■
学习:
rumble on:(争论或问题)持续存在,长时间地进行
这里的“rumble on” 意思是“(争论或问题)持续存在,长时间地进行”,通常用来形容某件事在背景中持续不断地发生,但没有迅速得到解决或结束。
在这句话中,“The debate over Heathrow’s expansion may have been rumbling on for decades.” 意味着关于希思罗机场扩建的争论已经持续了几十年,并且还没有结束。
后记
2024年8月30日18点24分于上海。