Lesson 72 — A car called Bluebird · 新概念英语第二册

原文

The Great Racing Driver, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was the first man to drive at over 300 miles per hour. He set up a new world record in September 1935 at Bonville Salt Flats, Utah. Bluebird, the car he was driving, had been specially built for him. It was over 30 feet in length and had a 2500 horsepower engine.

Although Campbell reached a speed of over 304 miles per hour, he had great difficulty in controlling the car, because a tyre burst during the first run. After his attempt, Campbell was disappointed to learn that his average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However, a few days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour.

Since that time, racing drivers have reached speeds over 600 miles an hour. Following in his father's footsteps many years later, Sir Malcolm's son, Donald, also set up a world record. Like his father, he was driving a car called Bluebird.

译文

伟大的赛车手马尔科姆·坎贝尔爵士 (Sir Malcolm Campbell) 是第一个驾驶速度超过每小时 300 英里的人。 1935 年 9 月，他在犹他州邦维尔盐滩创造了新的世界纪录。他驾驶的蓝鸟汽车是专门为他打造的。它长超过 30 英尺，配有 2500 马力的发动机。

尽管坎贝尔的速度达到了每小时 304 英里以上，但他在控制赛车方面遇到了很大困难，因为在第一次行驶时轮胎就爆了。尝试后，坎贝尔失望地发现他的平均速度为每小时 299 英里。然而，几天后，他被告知犯了一个错误。他的平均速度为每小时 301 英里。

从那时起，赛车手的时速已超过 600 英里。多年后，马尔科姆爵士的儿子唐纳德追随父亲的脚步，也创造了一项世界纪录。和他的父亲一样，他驾驶着一辆名为“蓝鸟”的汽车。