2020年经济学人 环球航海家马文·克里默(2)

To prepare himself he had done some hard study of oceanography and meteorology, in the gaps between teaching geography in the department he had founded at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University. And he had gone seafaring: first fishing on small outboards past the barrier islands off New Jersey¹, where he would venture out so far that his colleagues thought him either lost, or mad, and later sailing across the Atlantic to Ireland and Africa.

克里默在格拉斯伯勒州立学院自己创办的系教地理，即现在的罗文大学。为了做好准备，他抽出时间认真研究了海洋学和气象学。他还做过海员：起初是驾着小型舷外船在新泽西外的障壁岛捕鱼，他会冒险走得很远，以至于他的同事们认为他要么是迷路了，要么是疯了，之后他横渡大西洋到达爱尔兰和非洲。

It was on a voyage back from the Azores in 1974, when he had taken the dark-to-daylight watch and the compass-light kept failing, that he looked up and thought: why not? All he had to do at that moment was find Polaris, the Pole Star, put his shoulder in line with the keel, and steer² straight on. It worked like a dream. Star-steering had intrigued³ him since childhood, when his farmer-father taught him to observe the different positions of the setting sun from the south-west corner of the barn.

1974年它在从亚速尔群岛返回的途中，他已经开始了从天黑到天亮的守望，罗盘的灯光也一直在减弱，所以他抬起头来想：为什么不呢？那时，他要做的事情就是找到北极星，使他的肩膀和船的龙骨维持在一条直线上，一直向前行驶。那就像做梦一样。自从孩童时期他就着迷于星球导航，那时，他的农民父亲教他从谷仓的西南角观察不同位置的夕阳。

On his voyage, a clear view of sunset or sunrise could tell him his position; but for latitude⁴ without a sextant he needed to make a geometry of the night sky, drawing an imaginary line between Polaris and his chosen navigation-star and watching where that star made its meridian⁵ transit⁶. Finding a fixed⁷ point in the southern hemisphere was tricky⁸ until he learned to use Acrux and Gacrux, two of the brightest stars in the Southern Cross, as pointers to the southern celestial⁹ Pole. (Delta Orionis, right over the celestial Equator, was most useful for longitude¹⁰.)

在航行中，如果能清楚地看到日出日落，他就能知道自己的位置；但在没有六分仪的情况下，他需要画出夜空的几何图形来得知纬度，在北极星和他选择的导航星之间画一条假想的线，观察这颗星在哪里越过子午线。在南半球找到一个固定的点是很棘手的，但他后来学会了用南十字星座中最亮的两颗恒星十字架二和十字架一作为指向南天极的指针。（位于天球赤道上方的参宿三对获取经度最有用。）

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

3 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

4 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

5 meridian   

adj.子午线的；全盛期的

参考例句：

• All places on the same meridian have the same longitude.在同一子午线上的地方都有相同的经度。
• He is now at the meridian of his intellectual power.他现在正值智力全盛期。

6 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

9 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

10 longitude   

n.经线，经度

参考例句：

• The city is at longitude 21°east.这个城市位于东经21度。
• He noted the latitude and longitude,then made a mark on the admiralty chart.他记下纬度和经度，然后在航海图上做了个标记。