| 原文 | | 译文 |
| WHAT'S your main reason for going to an amusement park? Nine out of ten people say "to ride a roller coaster". It is sometimes called a scream machine. | | 为什么要去游乐场？十有八九人们都会回答是去“坐过山车”。过山车有时也被称作尖叫机器。 |
| A roller coaster makes you feel like you are flying. It rolls over sharp crests, and one second you are looking at the sky and the next you are staring straight down at the ground. The higher and steeper the hills and the larger the drops and rolls, the faster the speed. It is one heart-stopping thrill after another! | | 过山车会带给你飞翔的感觉。它在陡峭的顶峰翻滚，让你前一秒冲到高空仰望，下一秒却落到地面俯视。山峰越高、坡度越陡峭、起落的幅度越大，过山车的速度就会越快。它带来一次又一次的动人心魄之旅。 |
| Roller coasters keep breaking records. The tallest and fastest on earth, Kingda Ka, opened in New Jersey, US, last month. | | 过山车总是在不断刷新记录。世界上最高最快的过山车京达卡（Kingda Ka）于上月在美国新泽西开放。 |
The "rocket coaster" begins with an amazing launch from zero to 206 kilometres per hour in just 3.5 seconds. It then sends riders straight into the sky at a 90-degree angle, up to nearly 140 metres, or about 45 storeys up.
| | “火箭”过山车拥有惊人的发动力，短短3.5秒内它就可以由零速度达到时速206公里。它以90度的角度把游客径直送入将近140米的高空，约相当于45层楼那么高。 |
| The view from the top - if you had the chance to stop and have a look - would be impressive. But this is not an observation tower, it is a thrill ride! Kingda Ka does not wait to let you admire the view. Instead it immediately starts a terrifying 127-metre vertical freefall. | | 从高空看下去——如果您有机会停下来看一眼的话——必定很难忘。但这不是观光塔，而是惊险刺激之旅！“京达卡”不会等待你去欣赏美景。相反，它会立即从127米的高空开始垂直降落，令人心惊胆战。 |
| The history of roller coasters shows our constant search for greater thrills. The first scream machines were not out-of-control trains, but wooden sleds on man-made ice-covered hills in the mid-1600s in Russia. Later, carriages travelled over hills on grooved tracks. | | 过山车发展的历史见证了人类对更大刺激的不懈追求。史上最早的尖叫机器并不是失控的火车，而是17世纪中期俄罗斯人造冰山上的木制雪橇。后来，出现了运行在凹槽的轨道上穿越山间的马车。 |
| It was the French who added wheels to the slides. The world's first roller coaster was built in France in 1817. | | 法国人在滑道上安装了轮子。1817年，世界上的首辆过山车在法国问世。 |
| It is a very complicated machine built only for fun. The ride is so exciting because of our basic fear of losing control. Once the cars start, you can do nothing but scream. | | 它是一种仅仅为娱乐而建造的复杂机器。正是由于人类对失控的本能恐惧感，过山车之旅才如此动人心弦。过山车一旦开动，你所能做的就只有尖叫了。 |
Turning fear into fun depends on illusion. No matter how dangerous a roller coaster may appear, it must be totally safe. "We always try to make them look and feel more dangerous than they are," says Michael Boodley, president of Great Coasters International, in the US.
| | 恐惧变成娱乐的原因在于错觉。一辆过山车不管看起来多么危险，它绝对是非常安全的。美国国际柯斯达集团总裁麦克尔·布德利先生说：“我们一直尽量使它看起来感觉比实际上要更危险。” |
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