Hoover Dam is a triumph of civil engineering, a spectacular edifice of sculpted concrete, rising majestically in an imposing canyon, taming a wild river once thought to be untamable. It’s a colossal statement about man conquering nature. Now imagine there is no Hoover Dam and one must be built: how would engineers build it today? What would they do differently and what would stay the same? Join us now, as we reinvent Hoover Dam.
胡佛水壩是土木工程的勝利，這個雕塑混凝土的雄偉建築，堂皇矗立在壯觀的峽谷之中，降服曾被認為無可馴服的河流。這是人類征服自然的巨大宣言。現在請想像沒有胡佛水壩，必須打造一座新水壩的情形：今日的工程師會如何建造？他們會有哪些不同作法？哪些部分又會照舊？請跟著我們一同再造胡佛水壩。
Hoover Dam is an American icon. The US Bureau of Reclamation built it in the 1930s, and it’s been the model of modern dam engineering ever since. Its purpose is threefold: to harness the wild Colorado River and control flooding; to store water to irrigate vast desert farmlands and quench the thirst of growing cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas; and to provide clean, consistent power to the American southwest, enabling a population boom unmatched in history. To do so required a monumental engineering achievement.
胡佛水壩是美國的象徵，一九三０年代由美國墾務局所興建，此後成為現代水壩工程的模範。其目的有三：控制科羅拉多河的氾濫；儲水灌溉偌大的沙漠農地，並提供洛杉磯和拉斯維加斯等成長中城市的用水；提供美國西南部乾淨而持續的用電，達成史無前例的人口成長。為此，需要完成一項不朽的工程。
When you consider that the Colorado River had been running through Black Canyon for millions and millions of years, actually cutting the canyon in many places, to have been able to move the river first of all, and then to put this enormous chunk of concrete right in the middle of it, was a feat of engineering that had never been done before.
想到科羅拉多河流經布拉克峽谷千百萬年，切穿了峽谷許多地方，而這會兒還能先讓河流改道，然後把巨大混凝土置於其中，這真是前無古人的工程壯舉。
When it was completed in 1935, Hoover Dam was called the eighth wonder of the world. Rising 221m, it contains six million tonnes of concrete — enough to pave a road from New York to Los Angeles. It’s a gigantic concrete pyramid wedged in a desolate canyon, straddling the Nevada-Arizona border, 56km from Las Vegas. The reservoir created by Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, covers 620km2 and has a storage capacity of over 35 trillion liters — enough to cover the entire state of New York in 30cm of water. Hoover’s hydroelectric power plant has 17 generators, capable of producing two million kilowatts of electricity — enough for 1.7 million homes. In sum, it’s a gargantuan public works enterprise.
胡佛水壩一九三五年完工時，被稱為世界第八大奇觀，高兩百二十一公尺，內有六百萬公噸混凝土──足以鋪出一條從紐約到洛杉磯的公路。這巨大的混凝土金字塔，楔立在荒涼的峽谷之中，橫跨內華達和亞利桑那州，五十六公里之外就是賭城拉斯維加斯。由胡佛水壩構成的米德湖水庫，占地六百二十平方公里，蓄水量超過三十五兆公升，足以讓整個紐約州泡在三十公分深的水裡。胡佛的水力發電廠有十七座發電機，發電量達兩百萬千瓦，足敷一百七十萬戶用電所需。簡言之，這是巨大的公共事業。
Photographer Franziska Stuenkel likes to take spontaneous urban shots, so she needs a nimble camera that is ready to go when inspiration strikes: her German-made Leica M11. “I have to be very quick and discreet,” said the Berlin-based artist who captures reflections of people walking past windows, their contours merging with the shapes behind the glass. Stuenkel’s compact Leica is the perfect camera for the job, the 51-year-old told AFP. Famous for its pocket-sized and retro-style devices, the Leica brand is celebrating a milestone as it marks 100 years since its first commercial camera was presented to the public. The
Picture a 45-foot-long animal with a 5-foot-long skull and 3-foot-long arms. It may not seem strange until you realize that a human with those proportions would be 6 feet tall with 5-inch arms. Although the Tyrannosaurus rex went extinct 65 million years ago, the mystery of its unusual body __1__ has fascinated scientists for over a century. Barnum Brown, the paleontologist who first discovered T. rex fossils, initially found it hard to believe that the tiny arms belonged to such a __2__ creature. One of his colleagues speculated that the short forelimbs might have been used to hold the
A: Actually, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is particularly good for small people like you. B: Really? How so? A: According to Diana Wang, a US doctor of physical therapy, the BJJ’s purpose is to help smaller, weaker people defend themselves by using various techniques, such as leverage. B: That sounds interesting. What time does Dr Wang’s BJJ seminar begin tonight? A: The event is scheduled for 7:30pm at PMA Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in Taipei. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. A: 其實你的個子比較小，很適合練巴西柔術呢。 B: 真的嗎？為什麼？ A: 據美國理療醫師王幼瑞博士說，巴西柔術的概念是讓弱小的人，也能利用槓桿作用等技巧防身。 B: 真有趣，王醫師的巴柔研討會幾點開始？ A: 今晚7點半在「台北巴柔運動館」，免費入場自由樂捐唷！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
Dogs’ noses are incredibly keen. They can even detect changes in cortisol levels in human sweat and breath. Known as the “stress hormone,” cortisol increases when humans are under pressure. Recent research indicates that the smell of human stress can influence a dog’s behavior and emotions. In the study, human volunteers were exposed to the stressful tasks of preparing and delivering a speech on the spot and then solving math problems. __1__ Researchers collected sweat and breath samples from the volunteers on pieces of cloth during both their stressful and restful states. Meanwhile, other researchers worked with 18
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