本文选自经济学人，和学长一起来了解5G对美国航空公司的影响。

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1. 在语境中学习表达用法；

2. 着重把握学长标注的内容；

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Why do American airlines say 5G networks will ground their planes?

They claim the technology will interfere with instruments in some aircraft. Regulators are in a muddle.

他们声称该技术会干扰一些飞机上的仪器。监管机构陷入困境

AIRLINE PASSENGERS are familiar with being asked to turn off their phones before take-off. Now, in America at least, the airlines want mobile-phone companies not to turn on their networks in the first place. On January 17th the bosses of several American airlines warned of a “catastrophic” crisis unless the mobile firms delay switching on parts of their shiny new 5G networks which they plan to do on January 19th. Large numbers of aircraft could be rendered unusable, claimed the heads of Delta, United, Southwest and others. “The vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,” they wrote in a letter to the White House and America’s communications and air-travel regulators. Are they right? And how might 5G networks play havoc with planes?

航空公司的乘客很熟悉在起飞前被要求关闭他们的手机。现在，至少在美国，航空公司希望移动电话公司首先不要打开他们的网络。1 月 17 日，几家美国航空公司的老板警告说，除非移动公司推迟开启其闪亮的新 5G 网络的部分功能，否则将出现 "灾难性 "危机，他们计划在 1 月 19 日这样做。达美航空、美联航、西南航空和其他航空公司的负责人声称，大量的飞机可能无法使用。他们在给白宫和美国的通信和航空旅行监管机构的信中写道："绝大多数的旅行和航运公众基本上都会被禁止"。他们说得对吗？5G 网络又会对飞机造成怎样的破坏？

The airlines are worried about supposed interference between 5G transmitters near airports and radar altimeters, instruments on planes that use radio waves to determine an aircraft’s altitude. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates commercial use of the radio spectrum in America, studied the question in 2020 and concluded the two systems could work together. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for air travel, disagreed, and said that flying could be unsafe. After months of arguments the two agencies hammered out a compromise this month, in which mobile networks would implement “exclusion zones” around certain airports while more studies were carried out. The airlines’ last-minute announcement suggests that deal is now off, though on January 18th Verizon and AT&T, two telecoms companies, agreed to pause turning on some wireless towers. On the same day several international airlines—including Air India, Emirates, and Air Japan—cancelled flights to several American cities, citing concerns about 5G.

航空公司担心机场附近的 5G 发射器与雷达高度计之间的所谓干扰，雷达高度计是飞机上使用无线电波来确定飞机高度的仪器。联邦通信委员会（FCC）负责监管美国无线电频谱的商业使用，在 2020 年研究了这个问题，并认为这两个系统可以一起工作。负责航空旅行的联邦航空管理局（FAA）不同意，并说飞行可能是不安全的。经过几个月的争论，这两个机构本月达成了一项妥协，即移动网络将在某些机场周围实施 "禁区"，同时进行更多的研究。航空公司在最后一刻宣布的消息表明，该协议现已取消，尽管在 1 月 18 日，Verizon 和 AT&T 两家电信公司同意暂停打开一些无线塔。同一天，几家国际航空公司，包括印度航空、阿联酋航空和日本航空，取消了飞往美国几个城市的航班，他们的理由是对 5G 的担忧。

Most experts sympathise with the FCC. Similar 5G networks have been deployed in dozens of other countries, and the FAA admitted in November that there had been no reports of problems. It is hard to see how comparatively low-power 5G networks could cause problems when, for instance, much more potent military search radars do not. And there is a sizeable gap on the radio-frequency spectrum between the 5G networks in question, which operate between 3.7 and 3.98Ghz, and the altimeters, which use frequencies between 4.2 and 4.4Ghz. One possible explanation comes from the fact that airlines are not threatening that all planes will be grounded—only some. Some commentators speculate that the aircraft at risk may have older, poorer-quality altimeters that are more susceptible to interference. The FAA has conceded that the cost of replacing such altimeters would be “substantial”. Battered by covid-19, airlines may be unwilling to pay.

大多数专家对 FCC 表示同情。类似的 5G 网络已经在其他几十个国家部署，美国联邦航空局在 11 月承认，没有关于问题的报告。很难说相对较低的 5G 网络会造成问题，例如，更强大的军用搜索雷达就不会造成问题。而且，在 3.7 至 3.98Ghz 的 5G 网络和使用 4.2 至 4.4Ghz 频率的测高仪之间，存在着相当大的无线电频谱差距。一个可能的解释来自于这样一个事实，即航空公司没有威胁说所有的飞机都会被停飞--只有一些。一些评论家推测，面临风险的飞机可能有较旧的、质量较差的高度计，更容易受到干扰。美国联邦航空局承认，更换这种高度计的费用将是 "相当大的"。受到 covid-19 的打击，航空公司可能不愿意支付。

Whatever the truth, it is rare to solve technical questions like this by publicly threatening to disable entire industries. Political intervention is likely to be needed to break the logjam. None of this is a good advertisement for America’s regulators. And it is unlikely to be the last such problem either. The radio-frequency spectrum is limited and already crowded, and demand for it is growing. Two years ago the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration complained that 5G deployments using a different part of the spectrum, around 24Ghz, might interfere with weather radars. Keeping everyone happy is only going to get harder.

无论真相如何，通过公开威胁让整个行业瘫痪来解决这样的技术问题是很罕见的。可能需要政治干预来打破这一僵局。这对美国的监管机构来说都不是一个好广告。而且这也不可能是最后一个这样的问题。无线电频谱是有限的，而且已经很拥挤，对它的需求正在增长。两年前，美国国家海洋和大气管理局抱怨说，使用 24Ghz 左右的另一部分频谱的 5G 部署，可能会干扰气象雷达。让所有人都满意只会越来越难。