《经济学人》双语：飞行出租车适合短途旅行？

原文标题：
Ready for lift-off
Flying taxis could soon be a booming business
Electric aircraft are well-suited to short journeys
准备升空
飞行出租车的生意很快会欣欣向荣

电动飞机非常适合短途旅行

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PARIS HAS long been at the heart of the history of flight. It is where the Montgolfier brothers ascended in the first hot-air balloon in 1783, and where Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo transatlantic aeroplane journey in 1927.

长期以来，巴黎一直是飞行史上的中心。1783 年，蒙哥菲尔兄弟在这里乘坐第一个热气球升空，1927 年，查尔斯·林德伯格也是在这里完成了首次单人横跨大西洋飞行之旅。

Next year, if all goes to plan, Paris will be the site of another industry first when Volocopter, a German maker of electric aircraft, launches a flying-taxi service during the Olympic Games.

如果一切顺利的话，明年德国电动飞机制造商 Volocopter将在奥运会期间推出了飞行出租车服务，届时巴黎将再创行业先河。

At the Paris Airshow in June the company, and some of its rivals, paraded a new generation of battery-powered flying machines designed for urban transport.
在今年6月的巴黎航展上，该公司及其一些竞争对手展示了专为城市交通设计的新一代电池驱动飞行器。

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The electrification of aviation has often been written off as a pipe dream, with batteries presumed too heavy a substitute for hydrocarbon fuel in an airborne vehicle.
航空电动化往往被视为痴人说梦，因为人们认为电池太重而无法替代空中飞行器的碳氢燃料。

For longer journeys, such as Charles Lindbergh’s across the Atlantic, that may well be true.
对于像查尔斯·林德伯格横越大西洋那样的长途飞行，这种观点或许成立。

Yet upstarts like Volocopter are betting that electrification can unlock a boom in demand for clean and quick aerial journeys over shorter distances.
然而，Volocopter等新兴企业则押注于航空电动化，认为它能带来对清洁又快速的短途空中旅行的巨大需求。

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The main form of flying taxi under development, called an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, looks somewhat like a super-sized drone, carrying between one and four passengers, plus a pilot.
开发中的主要飞行出租车类型被称为电动垂直起降（eVTOL）飞机，外观类似超大型无人机，可搭载1-4名乘客和1名飞行员。

Powered by batteries, they are both quiet enough to quell complaints in crowded cities, and fast: capable of up to 300kph, enough to comfortably outpace a car, especially one stuck in traffic.
它们由电池驱动，安静又快速灵活，足以平息拥挤城市中的交通抱怨问题：最高速度可达300公里每小时，足以轻松超过汽车速度，尤其是陷入交通堵塞的汽车。

Indeed, optimists hope the absence of traffic in the sky will also make eVTOLs well-suited to autonomous operation.They could prove handy for transporting goods, too.
事实上，乐观者希望空中没有交通拥堵，这样电动垂直起降飞机就非常适合自动驾驶。它们也可以方便地运输货物。

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That vision has inspired giddy predictions.
这一愿景激发了令人兴奋的预测。

Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, reckons global spending on eVTOLs could hit $1trn by 2040.
投资银行摩根士丹利预估到 2040 年，全球电动垂直起降器的支出可能会达到1万亿美元。

Volocopter is not the only player staking out the terrain. According to the Vertical Flight Society, a non-profit, more than 400 contenders have developed eVTOL designs.
Volocopter并不是唯一一家涉足该领域的公司。据非营利组织“垂直飞行协会”称，已有 400 多家竞争者在研发电动垂直起降器的设计。

Joby, a Silicon Valley startup, has already raised $2bn from investors. Archer, another, hopes to have “hundreds or thousands” of its craft flying by the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
硅谷初创企业Joby已经从投资者那里筹集了20亿美元。另一个公司 Archer 希望在 2028 年洛杉矶奥运会之前能有“数百或数千”架飞行器起飞。

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Despite the enthusiasm, challenges remain. One is technical certification, which is turning out to be a lengthy process as aviation regulators grapple with an entirely new form of aircraft.
尽管热情高涨，但挑战依然存在。其中之一是技术认证，由于航空监管机构要应对一种全新形式的飞机，这将导致认证过程变得漫长。

Some manufacturers, such as Volocopter and EHang, a Chinese firm, are close to having machines in service. In April Volocopter opened an assembly plant in Germany.
Volocopter 和中国亿航智能等制造商即将有机器投入使用。今年4月，Volocopter 在德国建立了一家装配厂。

But others are further off. Late last year Joby was forced to push back its launch by a year to 2025 thanks to, among other things, regulatory delays. Many have even longer to go.
但其他制造商还有很长的路要走。去年年底，由于监管延迟等原因，Joby 被迫将推出时间推迟一年至 2025 年。许多公司甚至还有更长的路要走。

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The bigger question is whether the business of flying taxis will be viable. eVTOLs currently range in price from $1m to $4m.
更重要的问题是飞行出租车的商业模式是否行得通。目前，电动垂直起降器的价格范围在100万美元到400万美元之间。

Although their cost may come down as the industry develops, they are likely to remain expensive pieces of machinery.
虽然随着行业的发展，它们的成本可能会降低，但它们可能仍然是昂贵的机器。

Brian Yutko of Wisk, a maker backed by Boeing, says that flying-taxi rides will be “accessible to the masses”.
波音公司资助的制造商 Wisk 的布莱恩·尤特科表示，飞行出租车将“面向大众”。

Joby promises that its fares will be comparable to catching a taxi. Yet some studies suggest the cost could end up as high as $7 per km, many times a regular taxi fare.
Joby 承诺飞行出租车的费用将与出租车价格相当。然而一些研究表明，最终费用可能高达每公里7美元，是普通出租车费用的几倍。

Even without a pilot, flying taxis may remain a convenience affordable only to a lucky few.
即使没有飞行员，也仍然只有少数幸运儿才能负担得起飞行出租车的便利。

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An alternative opportunity for electrification lies with small fixed-wing planes designed to transport a few dozen passengers over distances of a few hundred kilometres—for instance, between nearby cities.
电动化的另一个机会是小型固定翼飞机，这种飞机可以在几百公里的距离内运送几十名乘客，例如在附近城市之间运送乘客。

Heart Aerospace, a Swedish firm, plans to have a 30-seater plane with an all-electric range of 200km in the air by 2028.
瑞典公司 Heart Aerospace 计划到 2028 年推出一款 30 座纯电动飞机，空中航程可达 200 公里。

In September last year Eviation, an Israeli company, successfully tested a nine-seater electric plane with a range of 400km.
去年 9 月，以色列公司 Eviation 成功测试了一架 9 座电动飞机，航程可达400公里。

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According to McKinsey, a consultancy, air travel accounts for just 8% of journeys between 150km and 800km in America. In Europe it is only 4%.
根据麦肯锡咨询公司的数据，在美国150公里至800公里的旅程中，航空旅行仅占8%。在欧洲，这一比例仅为 4%。

Most such journeys are taken by car, even in Europe, where buses and trains are more readily available.
大多数人选择驾车旅行，即使在欧洲，那里的人们也会选择更加便捷的公共汽车和火车。

That creates a big opportunity for environmentally friendly short-haul flights, especially given that 90% of America’s population and 50% of Europe’s live within a 30-minute drive of a regional airport.
这为环保的短途航班创造了巨大的机会，特别是考虑到 90% 的美国人口和 50% 的欧洲人口居住在距离地区机场30分钟的车程内。

Expect plenty more experiments with electric aircraft in the years ahead.
未来几年将会有更多的电动飞机试验。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量709左右）
原文出自：2023年8月19日《The Economist》Business版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
电动垂直起降飞行器（Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircraft，简称eVTOL）是一种革命性的航空交通工具，具有垂直起降的能力，无需传统固定翼飞机所需的长跑道。eVTOL飞行器采用电动动力系统，可以通过电池驱动或电动发动机驱动，从而实现零排放的飞行。在城市环境中能够灵活、安全地垂直起降，并在垂直起降后转换为前进飞行模式。这种革新的设计使得eVTOL飞行器可以快速准确地穿越城市交通拥堵，为人们提供便捷的航空交通选择。飞行器拥有无人驾驶和有人驾驶两种模式，有人驾驶模式可以提供更高的灵活性和控制权，而无人驾驶模式则可以提高安全性和降低操作成本。这些飞行器还可以根据需要进行不同的配置，如载客乘坐、货物运输或医疗救援等。eVTOL飞行器有望改善城市空中交通，并为可持续发展的城市提供更环保、高效的交通方案。未来几年，预计将会有更多的eVTOL飞行器进入市场，并逐渐成为城市交通的一部分。

【重点句子】（3个）
The electrification of aviation has often been written off as a pipe dream, with batteries presumed too heavy a substitute for hydrocarbon fuel in an airborne vehicle.
航空电动化往往被视为痴人说梦，因为人们认为电池太重而无法替代空中飞行器的碳氢燃料。

Indeed, optimists hope the absence of traffic in the sky will also make eVTOLs well-suited to autonomous operation.They could prove handy for transporting goods, too.
事实上，乐观者希望空中没有交通拥堵，这样电动垂直起降飞机就非常适合自动驾驶。它们也可以方便地运输货物。

Despite the enthusiasm, challenges remain. One is technical certification, which is turning out to be a lengthy process as aviation regulators grapple with an entirely new form of aircraft.
尽管热情高涨，但挑战依然存在。其中之一是技术认证，由于航空监管机构要应对一种全新形式的飞机，这将导致认证过程变得漫长。