2015年经济学人 苏格兰的工程 从轮船到卫星的发展

Scottish engineering

From ships to satellites

How high-end engineering escaped industrial meltdown

Box me up Scotty

SCOTLAND may not have broken off from Britain last year, but at least it got into space.

Overshadowed by the ballyhoo over the referendum, the first satellite built in Scotland, UKube-1 (pictured below), was launched.

The same dimensions as a boxed bottle of whisky, it was assembled on the banks of the river Clyde in central Glasgow by the country's first satellite manufacturer,

Clyde Space. It is but one example of Scotland's surprisingly healthy engineering industry.

The clean room where Clyde Space makes its satellites affords an excellent view of Govan,

once a centre of world shipbuilding and now a reminder¹ of how quickly huge industries can collapse².

Rather than trying to build everything, therefore, as the Clyde shipyards used to, Craig Clark,

the founder³ of Clyde Space, is trying to master one small, but growing, niche⁴ of his industry.

He builds only the smallest satellites, often costing as little as $50,000 (33,000) each, and also makes parts for bigger ones.

The company was the first such to sell its products online. Mr Clark's firm, which employs 45 people, turned over 3m this year, and expects to double that next year.

A few big engineering firms remain in Scotland, such as Babcock Marine⁵ and Thales, both of which supply defence equipment.

But most of the country's 7,500 engineering companies belong to a long, thin tail. Often family-owned and generations old,

the best of them combine technological⁶ savvy⁷ with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Often, they are niche manufacturers to the world.

One such is Castle Precision Engineering, in south-west Glasgow.

It started out in 1951 making machines for the giant local Singer sewing-machine factory, then moved into car parts,

medical equipment and aerospace—now its biggest market. On March 9th it created the fastest wheels ever made,

for the “Bloodhound” car that will try to set a new land speed record next year.

The wheels are strong enough to take a driver to 1,000mph in 55 seconds, rotating 177 times a second.

In one respect, these firms are exceptions to the British rule. In a kingdom with a balance-of-trade deficit⁸ in goods amounting to fully⁹ 10 billion a month,

they are fierce exporters. Castle sends about one-third of its wares¹⁰ abroad. Another niche firm, Clark Tracks,

which makes caterpillar¹¹ tracks for forestry¹² vehicles, sells 90% of its products to Europe.

Overall, engineering and technology companies account for over one-quarter of Scotland's exports.

But in another way they illustrate¹³ a familiar weakness in British industry.

The country's firms tend to remain small or medium-sized—smaller than the German Mittelstand of export-orientated businesses.

Even before the financial crisis Scotland's small engineering companies found it hard to raise money locally to expand.

Some looked overseas instead. Clark Tracks was bought in 2007 by a Swedish company.

The defence giant Thales acquired the illustrious old Glaswegian firm of Barr and Stroud in 2000.

Its factory, now employing about 700 people, still specialises in submarine periscopes¹⁴ and optronics for the military.

Now change is coming to Scottish engineering, via the North Sea. The oil and gas industry is both a blessing¹⁵ and a curse for engineers.

It is a big market for their products, but it also competes fiercely for labour.

Glasgow-based companies complain about the shortage of skilled workers even more than do firms elsewhere in Britain.

Yan Tiefenbrun, the boss of Castle, got involved in the Bloodhound project to create publicity¹⁶, hoping talent would be drawn¹⁷ to his apprenticeship¹⁸ scheme.

The current woes¹⁹ of Aberdeen's offshore²⁰ industry, facing tumbling oil prices and squeezed margins²¹, could be a boon²² for the country's other engineers.

1 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

5 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

7 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

8 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

11 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

12 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。

13 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

14 periscopes   

n.潜望镜( periscope的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Periscopes at various heights and apparatus of visual relationship between the departed and the living souls. 借助不同高度和方位的潜望镜，人们可以看到逝去与活着的灵魂之间的视觉关系。 来自互联网

15 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

16 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

17 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

18 apprenticeship   

n.学徒身份；学徒期

参考例句：

• She was in the second year of her apprenticeship as a carpenter. 她当木工学徒已是第二年了。
• He served his apprenticeship with Bob. 他跟鲍勃当学徒。

19 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

20 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

21 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

22 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。