七大工业奇迹（2003）

Seven Wonders of the Industrial World S01E02

Part 2 May 23, 2022, 9:42 a.m.

The bridge is barely two weeks
in to construction.
连一块石头都还没放上去
Not a stone has been laid.
它的设计师兼总工程师．．过世了
And its designer and
chief engineer is gone.
我倚靠的盘石倒塌了
The rock on which
I hither to lean had fallen.
父亲过世之后
我也只能靠自己了
With my father gone hence forth
I would have to rely upon myself.
华盛顿罗布尔
将面对生命的重大考验
Washington Roebling faced
the defining challenge of his life.
华盛顿答应他的父亲
要完成这座大桥
Washington has promised his father
that he'll finish the bridge.
非做不可，这是他的责任
He must, it's his duty.
投资者纷纷退出
Investors were ready to pull out.
造桥公♥司♥快速转向
他们最后的希望，华盛顿
The bridge company quickly turned
to Washington, their one last hope.
华盛顿罗布尔
将是我们的总工程师
Washington Roebling,
our new Chief Engineer.
罗布林先生，罗布林先生
Herr Roebling, Herr Roebling sir,
你为什么认为
可以接任你父亲的工作？
what makes you suitable
to take on your father's role.
你从没真正建造过一座桥
Is it not true
是真的吗？
that you have never managed the
construction of a bridge on this scale?
没有人建造过这座桥
No man has done that sir.
我父亲也一样
Not even my father.
这是一项前所未见的巨大工程
This is a construction project
without precedence.
我具有三个条件
适合担任总工程师
But there are three good reasons why
I am suited to the job of Chief Engineer.
首先，是钢索
First the cables,
我是唯一拥有实际经验
懂得如何制♥造♥大型钢索
I’m the only man living with the practical
experience to build those great cables
以及分摊重量钢索的人
and make every wire bear its share.
第二，塔楼跟它的地基
Second, the towers and their foundations,
在我父亲的指示之下
我到欧洲一年
on my father's instructions
I have spent a year in Europe
研习如何将压气式沉箱放进河里
studying the sinking of caissons
with compressed air.
这表示他意图在河里建造塔楼
The means he intended to build
those towers out in the river.
第三，设计，我协助家父
进行第一次设计的准备工作
Third design, I have assisted my father
in the preparations for the first designs.
他当然是主要策划者
He being the mastermind of course.
我也因此熟悉他的想法
与整个计划
I am therefore familiar with his ideas
and with the whole project and gentlemen
各位，我认为没有人．．比我更了解
if I may suggest no one else is.
真的没有
No one else is.
我当时是32岁
There I was at the age of thirty two,
突然要承接下一桩
suddenly put in charge
of the most stupendous
当代最艰巨的工程建设
engineering structure of the age.
我有责任完成
父亲起始的工作
What my father has started
it is my duty to finish,
让我更为骄傲的
是能与父亲召集的小组合作
and I will be more than proud to work
with the team that he has assembled.
想要成功就要努力，奉献与坚持
Our success depends on diligence,
谢谢各位
sacrifice and loyalty,
thank you gentlemen.
起初我以为自己会退缩
At first I thought I would succumb.
但是我有一个强力的靠山
But I had a strong tower to lean upon,
我的妻子
她的机智是我最好的顾问
my wife, a woman of
infinite tact and wisest council.
华盛顿继承父亲的产业
Washington inherited his father's fortune,
一家钢索公♥司♥
加上他对这座桥的见解
his wire cable company
and his vision for the bridge.
他是个比较亲切的人
很快就赢得工作团队的尊敬
He was a more approachable man, he
quickly won the respect of the workforce.
我的本性与教育
要我不要视权威与前例为一切
By nature and education I trust
neither authority nor precedent.
万一遇上问题
父亲教导我要思虑周详
If there is a problem my father
taught me to think it through,
参考一般常识
referring to general
principles and then work
然后就得到的结果开始动手
...from the conclusions that I have drawn.
是要相信
我自己的想法
To trust only my own ideas.
必须竭尽所能
来建造这座桥
He has all the knowledge
to build this bridge.
华盛顿终其一生
总是勇于接受各种挑战
Throughout his entire life Washington has
met every challenge that has come to him.
他在内战担任陆军上校
建造过自己的桥
He was a colonel in the civil war,
he's built his own bridges,
到欧洲旅游，他是个出色的工程师
he's travelled in Europe,
he's a brilliant engineer.
他只要下定决心就会做到
If he sets his mind
on something he does it.
的第一项任务
就石破天惊，艰难万分
His first task was
the most daring and dangerous.
为了把两座高塔的沉重基石
沉入河床
To sink heavy foundations in to the
river bed for the two colossal towers.
他计划用密闭式沉箱
上下倒置的大型木箱
He planned to use airtight caissons,
giant upside down wooden boxes.
160英尺长，1百英尺宽
A hundred and sixty feet long
by a hundred wide.
上方塔楼的重量
They would be pushed down through the mud
会将它们压到泥土与石块当中
and rocks by the weight
of the tower being built on top.
以厚实木头制成
四个角皆包上锋利铁皮
Made of thick timber, with a sharp iron
cutting edge all the way round,
再于沉箱的内部打入压缩空气
the caisson chamber where the men worked
不让水跑进去
would be pumped full of
compressed air to keep water out.
当上面层层叠上花岗岩块
As granite blocks piled
on above their weight
重量会使得沉箱往下深入泥里
would force the caissons
down in to the mud,
一寸险过一寸，直到碰到床岩
inch by dangerous inch,
'til they reached bedrock.
然后再灌入水泥
制♥作♥成实心的基石
Then they would be filled with concrete
to make the solid foundations.
这些沉箱是木制的
会深深沉入河床的下面
The caissons are wooden structures
which will sink deep below the river bed,
穿越泥土，最后到达最深的床岩
through the mud, finally resting
upon the deepest bedrock.
沉箱里的空气
可以防止河水涌进去
The air in a container
prevents any water flooding in.
可是沉箱渐渐往下沉
里头放的必须是压缩空气
But as the caisson sinks deeper the air
inside the chamber must be compressed,
才能避免外在压力挤碎木箱
to prevent the exterior pressure
crushing the structure.
这种做法有好有坏
This is a double-edged sword.
我们的工人必须在沉箱
这个受到压♥迫♥的环境里
Our workmen have to work for long periods
工作很长一段时间
inside the caisson
in a compressed environment.
这样会让工人觉得
不舒服又很难受
This can cause distress and
great suffering to our men.
在压缩空气中工作
会造成死亡与瘫痪
There were reports of death and paralysis
afflicting workers in compressed air.
但是他们快速雇用移♥民♥劳工
But they were soon hiring
scores of immigrant labourers.
这座气密舱是他们进入河底
艰难新世界的最后门槛
The airlock was their final gateway to
a harsh new world beneath the river.
我们带着十字锹
在下面铲河中的砂砾
We all go down to work with pick
and shovel on the gravelly.
我们在泥泞与软土里挖掘
The bit of the excavation
is slush and mud.
在大石头上钻孔
We're drilling large boulders and
breaking them in to fragments
把它们拆成碎块再送出去
before being taken out.
一切看起来
好像很怪异又不自然
Everything wears a weird,