首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
If you choose lobster from a menu, then wherever you are in the world, the odds are that your dinner may have come from Arichat
If you choose lobster from a menu, then wherever you are in the world, the odds are that your dinner may have come from Arichat
admin
2010-12-21
56
问题
If you choose lobster from a menu, then wherever you are in the world, the odds are that your dinner may have come from Arichat in Nova Scotia. The lobster, trapped off the Canadian coast, would have been driven to Louisville, Kentucky, where, cocooned in gel packs and styrofoam, it went for a wild ride on the carousels of the UPS superhub, where 17,000 high-speed conveyor belts, carrying more than 8m packages a week, whisk your living lobster to a plane and on onto tables across the globe.
John McPhee’s new book is about supply lines: how a lobster shares a conveyor belt with Bentley spare parts and jockey underwear. It is about boats, trains and trucks, but mostly it is about the people who drive, tend and love the machines. Don Ainsworth owns an 18-wheeler with "a tractor of such dark sapphire that only bright sunlight could bring forth its colour." To wash his truck Mr. Ainsworth uses only water that has either been de-ionised or has undergone reverse-osmosis; anything else leaves spots. "This is as close as a man will ever know", he says, "what it feels like to be a truly gorgeous woman. People give us looks, going thumbs up."
He carries chemicals all across North America where his enemies are gators, bears and four-wheelers.’ Gators are huge strips of shredded tyre littering the highways and just one of them "can rip off your fuel-crossover line". A bear is a policeman, while a four-wheeler is any vehicle that has fewer than 18 wheels. They buzz around like gnats, seemingly unaware that a real vehicle, one with 18 wheels or more, cannot stop on a dime.
The Billy Joe Bolingis a towboat which, perversely, pushes 15 barges up the Illinois River. The barges carry 30,000 tons of pig-iron, steel, coils, fertiliser and furnace coke. Lashed together with steel cables which are then tightened with cheater bars, the Billy Joe Bolingshoves forward a metal raft that is longer than an aircraft carrier. Along the way, the captain copes with bridges, locks, currents, shoals, winter ice 18 inches thick and summer ladies flashing at him. " We brought 12,000 tons of coke up the Illinois River," the skipper tells the author, "and now we’re pushing 14,000 tons of coke down the Illinois River. One day they’ll figure it out and put us out of a job."
The bosses also want to put the drivers of the coal train out of a job. They dream of automated trains running endlessly along the 1,800 miles between the strip-mines of the Powder River Basin and Georgia’s Plant Scherer, the world’s largest coal-fired power station. A mile-and-half long train has 133 gondolas, each of which carries 115 tons of coal, and the whole trainload will keep Plant Scherer burning for just eight hours. This book will keep you much longer. It is Mr. McPhee at his wise, wry best, writing in top gear which, as Mr Ainsworth will tell you, is the 18th: "the going home gear, the smoke hole".
What does Mr. Ainsworth mean by "the 18th gear"?
选项
答案
Mr. Ainsworth means it’s at top or best speed.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/IHua777K
本试题收录于:
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)题库专业硕士分类
0
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)
专业硕士
相关试题推荐
PresidentObama’srecenttriptoChinareflectsasymbioticrelationshipattheheartoftheglobaleconomy:ChinausesAmerica
Atthebeginningof17thcenturyappearedaschoolofpoetscalledmetaphysics.________isthefounderofmetaphysicalpoetry.
中非合作论坛(ForumonChina-AfricaCooperation,简称FOCAC),是中华人民共和国和非洲国家之间在南南合作范畴内的集体对话机制,成立于2000。论坛的宗旨是平等【R21】________、增进了解、扩大【R22】_____
PopstarstodayenjoyastyleoflivingwhichwasoncetheprerogativeonlyofRoyalty.Wherevertheygo,peopleturnoutinthe
Mencannotmanufacturebloodasefficientlyaswomencan.Thismakessurgeryriskierformen.Menalsoneedmoreoxygenbecause
Althougharchitecturehasartisticqualities,itmustalsosatisfyanumberofimportantpractical______.
Inspiteofhis______appearance,hismovementswereasspiritedasayoungman’s.
Thatcustomerwantedtoreturnthepensheboughtbecausehesaidthey______easily.
Theoldcouplemovedtothecountryside______theirhealthforthedoctorsaidfreshairwoulddothemgood.
Theprojectrequiresmorelaborthan______becauseitisextremelydifficult.
随机试题
行政环境的构成、影响都不是一成不变的,这体现了行政环境的()
[*]
在甲状腺危象中。抗甲状腺药必须先于碘剂的应用,其理由为__________。
功能性活动保持器的适应证为
A.劣药B.假药C.残次药品D.仿制药品E.特殊管理的药品药品成分的含量不符合国家药品标准的是
女,30岁。继发不孕伴痛经2年。妇科检查:宫颈光滑,子宫后位,正常大小,粘连固定,经阴道后穹隆扪及触痛结节。应诊断为( )。
下面交易中,损益平衡点等于执行价格加权利金的有()。Ⅰ.买入看涨期权Ⅱ.卖出看涨期权Ⅲ.买入看跌期权Ⅳ.卖出看跌期权
我国确定了用信息化带动工业化的发展战略。信息化代表的高新技术能够()。
软件按功能可以分为:应用软件、系统软件和支撑软件(或工具软件)。下面属于系统软件的是
WhoistelephoningMary?
最新回复
(
0
)