大世界之旅（2016）

The Grand Tour S03E09

Part 4 May 6, 2021, 12:15 p.m.

Er...we'll drop that.
额就聊到这吧
That hasn't worked out quite as well as I'd hoped.
唠得有点超过我的预期
That is the end of Conversation Street.
唠嗑节告一段落
Yes Thank you very much.
没错谢谢大家
Lovely, lovely.
好的真棒
Now, this year marks the 50th anniversary
今年是人类首次登月的
of the first landings on the Moon,
50周年纪念
and I thought I should take a little celebratory look back
对于这项历史性的任务
at that truly historic mission.
我觉得我们应该做一次回顾纪念
James, this isn't a grand tour of whatever is in your head.
詹姆斯这不是伟大的任你行
You do know that? No, but I promise
你知道的吧当然不过我保证
there will be some cars in this film.
这段节目一定会说到车
Eventually.
最终
I believe that this nation should commit itself
我认为我们国家应致力于
to achieving the goal before this decade is out
在十年内
of landing a man on the Moon
实现人类登月
and returning him safely to the Earth.
且安全返回地球
When President Kennedy made that speech to Congress
1961年肯尼迪总统向国会
in 1961,
发表了如此言论后
he gave the scientists at NASA a planet-sized headache.
他让NASA的科学家们头大如星球
Let me try and put the size of that headache into some sort of perspective.
让我换个角度向你展示这个任务有多艰巨
When Kennedy said those words,
肯尼迪说这话时
America's total experience in space amounted to
美国所有的空间旅行经验是
just one 15-minute suborbital flight
一次15分钟的亚轨道飞行
that reached an altitude of just 116 miles above the Earth.
且距地面仅有187千米
By contrast, a journey to the Moon was 238,000 miles,
相比之下去往月球的征程却有38.3万千米
and no rocket existed that was powerful enough to get the astronauts there.
没有哪款火箭足够强大能将宇航员送出那么远
And even if they did reach their destination,
就算他们到达了目的地
there was then the immense challenge of getting them home again.
让宇航员平安返回也是巨大的挑战
Let's imagine this basketball I'm holding is the Earth,
假设我手上这颗篮球是地球
in which case the Moon can be represented by a baseball 23 feet away.
那么月球就相当于7米外的一颗棒球
There it is over there.
在那边
All the space exploration that had taken part so far,
之前所有的太空探索
so all the Mercury capsules, all the Soviet stuff,
比如水星计划和苏联航♥天♥计划
that happened about there.
都发生在这里
Now, the thickness of this piece of paper
这张纸的厚度
represents the corridor that the astronauts would have to fly along
就代表了宇航员为了安全返航
to get home safely.
所飞过的通道
Now, to do that, obviously you'd want some sort of guidance computer on board.
为此飞船上自然需要导航系统
Problem is, the computers of the time were so huge and so primitive,
问题是当时的电脑极大且很原始
they lived in their own buildings.
它们都有各自的楼♥盘♥
And the President wanted all this done within the decade.
而总统希望在十年内完成任务
People thought he was mad.
大家都认为他疯了
Nevertheless, the brains at NASA knuckled down,
尽管如此 NASA的科学家们铆足了干劲
and throughout the 1960s set about developing
整个20世纪60年代都在
and testing the rockets and the technology
开♥发♥试验火箭技术
that would be needed to crack this monumental nut.
以期攻克这道时代难题
However, machinery on its own was not enough.
然而仅有机器是不够的
Equally important to the success of the space programme
航♥空♥计划想要成功
were the astronauts.
宇航员同样重要
Now, these men were generally of a type.
通常这些都是一类人
They were fighter jocks and test pilots,
他们曾是战斗机飞行员试飞员
and they were very familiar with moving around at very high speed.
对于高速飞行十分熟悉
So, and I did promise we'd get some cars into this,
因此我确实保证过一定会说到车子
when it came to moving around on the face of the Earth,
在地面行动时
there was one car they favoured above all others.
有一款车是他们的最爱
The Corvette
科尔维特
America's "premier" sports car.
美国最佳跑车
The big love-in between the American astronauts and the Corvette
美国宇航员和科尔维特的渊源
started with Alan Shepard...
要从艾伦·谢泼德说起
...the first American in space in 1961.
1961年第一个进入太空的美国人
And on his safe return to Earth,
他安全返回地球后
he was given a free Corvette by General Motors,
通用汽车送了他一辆科尔维特
a sort of medal for services to the country.
作为为国贡献的奖励
However, even though Shepard was deemed worthy
然而尽管谢泼德完全有资格
of a tickertape hero's welcome by the American public,
受到美国民众张灯结彩的欢迎
NASA saw astronauts like him as government employees,
但NASA将这些宇航员们都视为政♥府♥雇员
and as such, unable to accept free gifts.
自然也不允许接受免费礼物
So, an enterprising Corvette dealer near the Cape Kennedy Space Center in Florida
于是弗罗里达州肯尼迪发射中心附近的科尔维特经销商
came up with a cunning idea.
打了一个擦边球
He offered the astronauts a special deal
他们给宇航员提供了一项特别优♥惠♥
whereby they could lease a Corvette for the enormous sum of...one dollar.
他们能以一美元的巨款租用科尔维特
Now, NASA couldn't complain about that.
这样 NASA就无话可说了
Technically the cars weren't free, they were being paid for.
严格来讲车子并非免费而是花钱用的
So all the astronauts bit his hand off.
所有的宇航员都高兴极了
Gus Grissom, the second American in space, had one.
美国第二位进入太空的宇航员加斯·格里森也有一辆
So did Gordon Cooper, a man so cool
戈登·库珀也是这位酷到
he actually fell asleep on the launch pad
等待起飞时
while waiting for lift-off.
在发射台真的睡着了
Jim Lovell, the hero of the ill-fated
吉姆·洛威尔在悲剧的阿波罗13号♥上说出了
"Houston, we've had a problem" Apollo 13 mission -
"休斯顿我们有麻烦了"这句名言的英雄
he too was a Corvette man.
他也有辆科尔维特
Basically, in the '60s and '70s,
基本上在60 70年代
Cape Kennedy and the surrounding roads
肯尼迪发射中心附近
were awash with spacemen driving one-dollar Corvettes.
到处都是开着一美元科尔维特的宇航员
But it was the holy trinity of Shepard, Cooper and Grissom
但谢泼德库珀和格里森这三圣
who were the real petrolheads.
才是真正车迷
The good news for them was that the Space Center here at Kennedy
对他们来说最好的一点就是肯尼迪发射中心附近的道路
was criss-crossed with lovely wide, straight roads
都是横平竖直的宽阔马路
which NASA engineers used to move stuff about -
NASA的工程师们常用其运送货物
i.e. rockets.
也就是火箭
But that meant, as far as those three were concerned,
对他们三位来说
that they were in heaven.
这就是天堂
They'd come to places like this after work
他们会在工作结束后来到这里
and just drag race the hell out of their cars,
疯狂的跑直线加速赛
and then they'd have them modified,
然后在他们的车子改装完后
and then they'd drag race them a bit more.
继续疯狂的直线加速赛
Gordon Cooper allegedly had his car modified up to 180 miles an hour,
据说戈登·库珀的车改装后最高时速为290km/h
and he and Gus Grissom even used to go and pit crew
他和加斯·格里森在休息日甚至会去
for a racing team if they had a weekend off.
赛车车队做技师
They liked cars.
他们爱极了车
Then there was astronaut John Glenn,
还有一位叫约翰·格伦的宇航员
the first American to orbit the Earth,
第一位绕地球飞行的美国人
and as a test pilot, the first man
作为一位试飞员
to cross the American continent at supersonic speeds.
他也是第一个以超音速跨越美洲大♥陆♥的人
Clearly, this was a man comfortable with putting his foot down.
显然这是一位习惯踩油门的人
However, the car he drove
然而他开的车
was not quite as sporty as a Corvette.
却没有科尔维特那么运动
Yes, John Glenn, holder of supersonic flight records
没错约翰·格伦超音速飞行的纪录保持者
and the first American to orbit the Earth, drove this.
美国第一位绕飞地球的人开这车
It's called a Prinz.
它叫Prinz
It's made by the long-dead German car maker NSU,
由早已破产的德国公♥司♥NSU制♥造♥
and it's a microscopic economy car.
这是一辆微型经济型车
It has an engine of just under 600cc, two cylinders.
发动机仅有600CC的排量两缸
0-60?
0到96公里加速
35 seconds.
35秒
But Glenn wasn't worried about the sedate pace.
但Glenn并不为这平缓的步调烦恼
He lived out in the sticks,
他住在很远的乡下
he had a long commute to Cape Kennedy,
距肯尼迪角很远
and he wanted a car that gave him good gas mileage.
他需要一辆油耗比较低的车
Right, let's give it some beans and see what it'll do.
让我们来看看这车有多大的能耐
That's what it'll do.
就这样了
Oh, man!
不是吧
I've read accounts by the astronauts of what the rocket launches were actually like
我读过宇航员们对火箭发射场景的描述
a lot of noise, a lot of clattering, a lot of banging.
噪音巨大噼里啪啦各种巨响
Well, John Glenn was ready.
约翰·格伦肯定早有心理准备
By 1969, just inside Kennedy's deadline,
1969年肯尼迪任期将满之时
NASA was ready to try landing some men on the Moon.
NASA已经准备好了人类登月
The astronauts chosen were Buzz Aldrin,
选定的宇航员是巴兹·奥尔德林
who drove a Corvette,
他开科尔维特