评论
打印
This has nothing to do with physics, but we're all familiar with the nursery rhyme
本期视频无关物理，而是和一首我们都熟悉的童谣有关
'London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London bridge is falling down, and was rebuilt in Arizona.'
‘伦敦桥要塌下来，塌下来，塌下来，伦敦桥要塌下来，在亚利桑那州重建 。’
Wait, Arizona? THIS Arizona? Yup! Here it is in Lake Havasu City, near artificial Lake Havasu in the middle of the Arizona desert.
等等，亚利桑那州？美国的那个亚利桑那州？是的！在哈瓦苏湖城，位于亚利桑那州沙漠中心的哈瓦苏人工湖附近。
London, I think this merits some explanation.
伦敦，我认为这值得解释一下。
I mean, in the early 1800s, when the already 600-year-old London bridge - that's the one that had all of the houses and shops on it - was on its last legs,
在19世纪初期，当时已拥有600年历史的伦敦桥——就是有很多房子和商店那座桥——濒临绝境时，
it made sense to replace it with the less-awesome but brand spanking new 'New London Bridge.'
所以把它换成没那么华丽但却是全新的‘新伦敦桥’是有道理的。
But by the 1960s, this new bridge was barely even 130 years old and already needed to be replaced because it was sinking into the river Thames.
但是到20世纪60年代，刚满130岁的新伦敦桥已经需要翻修了，因为它机会要沉入泰晤士河中了。
Was the City of London really so short on cash that it a) couldn't afford to fix it
伦敦市真的那么缺钱，以至于它 a) 修不起
and b) needed to sell the old bridge to fund a new, even more boring one? Apparently so.
以及b) 需要卖掉旧桥筹钱建一个甚至更加无趣的新桥？显然是这样的。
Also apparently, when American chainsaw tycoon Robert McCulloch actually offered to buy the bridge,
显然，当美国电锯大亨罗伯特·麦卡洛克提出买下这座桥时，
he though he was bidding on Tower Bridge (which, while it's often confused with London Bridge by ignorant Americans like me,
他以为他在竞标伦敦塔桥（虽然像我这样无知的美国人经常把它和伦敦桥混淆，
you'd think you'd do your research if you were spending two and a half million dollars and buying a bridge).
但如果你花250万美元买一座桥，你认为你会做研究吗）。
And maybe McCulloch did do his research after all, because the Council member from the City of London
也许麦卡洛克最终还是做了研究，因为伦敦市负责卖桥的理事会委员宣称
who was responsible for the sale of the bridge claimed that McCulloch knew all along which bridge he was buying.
麦卡洛克自始至终都知道他要买的是哪座桥。
But, really, who would admit otherwise? Anonymous sources from within the City of London still hint that
但是，说真的，谁会不承认呢？来自伦敦市内部的匿名消息人士仍暗示说，
'the silly American really thought he was buying Tower Bridge.'
‘这个愚蠢的美国人真的以为自己买的是伦敦塔桥。’
But whether McCulloch got a bridge he wanted or a bridge he didn't but was too ashamed to take back for a refund,
但不论麦卡洛克买下的是不是他想要的那座桥，他都不会要求退款了，
he brought London Bridge to the town he had founded in Arizona so he could have workers for his chainsaw factories,
他把伦敦桥带到了他在亚利桑那州建立的小镇，让他在电锯工厂的工人
put it back together as a facade built on land over a concrete frame… and then dug a channel under it and filled it with water.
把它重新组装起来，作为一个建在陆地上的混凝土框架的立面……然后在它下面挖一个通道，把它灌满水。
And now the New Old New London Bridge lives out the rest of its days as an artificial bridge in an artificial town on an artificial lake.
现在，新老新伦敦桥就像一座人造桥，在人工湖上的一座人造城镇里度过余生。
Oh yeah, and it's the third-biggest tourist attraction in the State of Arizona.
哦，对了，它还是亚利桑那州第三大旅游景点。
