下载每日英语听力APP，解锁双语字幕及更多学习功能！
There's this coaster in Hershey Park Pennsylvania, called the Sooperdooperlooper.
在宾夕法尼亚州的好时公园有一个过山车，叫做 Sooperdooperlooper。
On it, you come around this bend that's full of trees blocking your view and before you know it you're hurtling down the track at 45 miles per hour toward a thrilling 75 foot loop.
在车上，你会绕过一个满是树木的弯道，它们挡住了你的视线，而在你还未意识到的时候，你就以每小时45英里的速度冲向一个惊险的75英尺高的环道。
According to Hershey's website, it's the "first-ever looping roller coaster on the east coast".
据好时官网介绍，这是“东海岸有史以来的第一辆环形过山车”。
But the good people at the Hershey company have that wrong.
但好时公司的好心人却说错了。
Because about 75 years before the Sooperdooperlooper, Coney Island — in my hometown of New York — was home to the first two looping roller coasters in America.
因为在 Sooperdooperlooper 诞生前75年，我的家乡纽约的科尼岛是美国最早的两个过山车的发源地。
Unlike the Sooperdooperlooper, which has been around for almost 50 years, these early looping roller coasters didn't even last a decade.
与已经存在近50年的 Sooperdooperlooper 不同，这些早期的环形过山车甚至没有坚持到10年。
Because, it turns out, loops shouldn't be made like this.
因为，事实证明，回环轨道不应该是这样的。
Looping roller coasters got their start in Europe as early as 1842.
早在1842年，环形过山车就在欧洲诞生了。
Back then, they were called centrifugal railways.
当时，它们被称为离心轨道。
They… weren't super popular or successful.
它们……不是特别受欢迎或成功。
They tried a few more in Europe, as we understand it, these were short-lived and more of a novelty.
据我们所知，他们在欧洲又尝试了几次，但这些东西都很短暂，更像是一种新尝试。
That's Randy Geisler, former president and current member of the historical committee for American Coaster Enthusiasts.
这是兰迪·盖斯勒——美国过山车爱好者历史委员会的前主席和现任成员。
I've loved roller coasters my entire life.
我这辈子都喜欢坐过山车。
The movements, the speed, and just the world whipping by you in every direction.
那运动，那速度，世界从你的各个方向呼啸而过。
People in the 1800s didn't have the same fondness for looping coasters.
19世纪的人可没这么喜欢过山车。
And that didn't change much when America built its first looping roller coaster in 1895: Coney Island's Flip Flap Railway.
1895年，美国建造了第一辆环形过山车：康尼岛的 Flip Flap Railway，但这并没有多少改变。
That's because these coasters had a few major problems.
这是因为这些过山车有一些重大问题。
The biggest one being, they made the loops circular.
最大的一个是，他们把回环轨道做得太圆了。
In physics, we love perfect circles.
在物理学中，我们喜欢完美的圆。
It's an easy shape.
这是一个简单的形状。
But from a human experience point of view, it is a nightmare.
但从人类的经验来看，这就是一场噩梦。
That's Matt Anderson.
这是马特·安德森。
I'm a physics professor at San Diego State University.
我是圣地亚哥州立大学的物理学教授。
To make it all the way around the Flip Flap's circular loop, cars needed to move really, really fast while changing directions.
过山车为了能一路通过 Flip Flap 的环形轨道，就需要在改变方向的同时移动得非常非常快。
The coaster itself is trying to push you up into a new direction.
过山车本身正试图把你推向一个新的方向。
Your head, your spine, everything else wants to keep going in a straight line.
而你的头，你的脊椎，所有的东西则都要想要继续走直线。
But the coaster is saying, no, you gotta curve into this arc.
但是过山车说，不行，你得弯到这个弧里。
Changing directions so rapidly causes a spike in G forces.
如此迅速地改变方向会导致重力的激增。
You've gone from one G instantly to 12 or 14 Gs.
会瞬间从一个 G 变成12或14个 G 。
That's a big problem.
这是个大问题。
6Gs is really the most a human body can handle on a rollercoaster and only for about a second.
6G 是人体在过山车上能承受的最大重力，而且只能维持一秒钟。
At that force…
在那种重力下……
Literally, all the blood is just being pulled out of your head and you will pass out.
你所有的血液都会从你的脑袋里流出来，然后你就会昏过去。
You can see how wild the G-forces are in this looping-coaster-simulation chart created by George Sidebotham, a mechanical engineering professor at the Cooper Union.
在这张由库珀联盟机械工程教授乔治·塞德博瑟姆绘制的环形过山车模拟图中，你可以看到其带来的重力有多疯狂。
Because of our chat, he became so obsessed with the circular loop problem that he made a bunch of looping-coaster-simulation charts.
因为我们的聊天，他变得非常痴迷于回环轨道问题，他做了一堆循环过山车模拟图表。
This line represents a circular loop like the Flip Flap's.
这条线代表一个类似于 Flip Flap 的循环。
After jumping from 1 to 14 Gs, it would decrease as you reached the top of the loop then ramp all the way up again to 14 at the bottom, and then back to 1 as the coaster leaves the curve.
从1G上升到14G之后，当你到达回环的顶部时，重力会下降，然后在底部再次上升到14G，然后当过山车离开曲线时又回到1G。
Passengers were completely rattled.
乘客们直接就被吓傻了。
The Flip Flap, being made mostly of wood, didn't help either.
而 Flip Flap 主要是木制的轨道，这也没有多少帮助。
Wood is stretchy and compress-y.
木材具有弹性和压缩性。
You can see the circle moving as the cart goes around.
你可以看到过山车经过时圆环也在动。
It's stressing it this way and then it's stressing it that way.
它这边受力，那边也受力。
It just looks like an engineering catastrophe about to happen.
看起来就像一场即将发生的工程灾难。
The next looping coaster built on Coney Island, the Loop the Loop, was crafted to avoid all those issues.
下一个在康尼岛上建造的环形过山车Loop the Loop 就是为了避免这些问题而设计的。
It was made entirely out of steel, which offered more stability.
它完全由钢制成，稳定性更好。
And the circle was switched to more of an upside-down teardrop shape.
圆环轨道变成了倒过来的泪滴形状。
Squeezing the sides in helped ease the transition into and out of the curvature reducing the G forces and creating a smoother, less body-damaging ride.
挤压两侧有助于缓解进入和离开弧线的过渡，减少重力，创造了一个更平稳、对身体伤害更少的体验。
But still, they had the capacity problem.
但它们都存在载客力方面的问题。
Neither the Flip Flap nor the Loop the Loop could support more than a few riders at a time because the loops were small, and so the cars had to be small, too.
“ Flip Flap”和“Loop the Loop”一次都只能承载几个乘客，因为环很小，所以车也必须很小。
Most of the cars, they seated 4 people, and pretty much you could only send people about once every 5 minutes.
大多数车都只能坐4个人，基本上每5分钟也只能出发一次。
They just couldn't make enough money.
他们赚不到足够的钱。
There were more people that would watch than ride.
看的人比玩儿的人多。
The Flip Flap lasted 7 years, the Loop the Loop lasted 9.
Flip Flap 坚持了7年，Loop The Loop 坚持了9年。
And all other looping coasters around the world shut down shortly after.
世界上所有的环形过山车都在问世不久后关停了。
It seemed like the end of the track for loops.
似乎环形过山车走到了尽头。
That is… until something new came along.
直到有新的东西出现之后才改变了这个状况。
In 1959, Disney unveiled the Matterhorn.
1959年，迪士尼推出了 Matterhorn。
It didn't have a loop but it was the very first tubular steel coaster.
它没有环形轨道，但它是第一个管状钢制过山车。
Unlike regular steel which was solid throughout, tubular steel was hollow in the middle, making it lighter-weight, and easier to bend into smooth arcs and curves.
与整体坚固的普通钢材不同，其钢管中间是空心的，因此重量更轻，更容易弯曲成光滑的弧形和曲线。
Unlike wood, tubular steel could support heavy weight, and more dynamic movement.
与木材不同的是，钢管可以承受较重的重量，并能承受更有活力的运动。
And in 1976, Six Flags Magic Mountain debuted the first modern vertical looping coaster, made with tubular steel.
1976年，六旗魔术山首次推出了现代垂直循环过山车，由管状钢制成。
The Great American Revolution squeezed the loop even more than the Loop the Loop, creating what's known as a "clothoid loop".
The Great American Revolution 的圆环要比 Loop the Loop 还窄，创造了所谓的“回旋曲线环”。
It gets smaller and smaller as you get to the top to try and even out the G forces.
当你到达顶端的途中，曲线变得越来越小，以平衡重力。
And then it does exact opposite as it comes back down.
然后当它回来的时候则正好相反。
With clothoid loop-shaped coasters, designers could distribute the G's more evenly and decide more precisely how many Gs to hit… about 4.9 in the case of the Great American Revolution.
有了回旋环状过山车，设计师就可以更均匀地分配重力，更精确地决定达到多少G……在 the Great American Revolution 中大约是4。9G。
A much smoother experience compared to the Flip Flap's uneven G force spikes from 1 to 14 to 9 to 1.
相对于 Flip Flap 从1G到14G到9G到1G那种不均匀的重力峰值分布来说，这会是一个更流畅的体验。
This clothoid loop — crafted using strong and easy-to-bend tubular steel, and built 113 feet high meant that the Great American Revolution could support 20 riders at g forces that feel exhilarating instead of harmful.
这个回旋曲线环状轨道用坚固且易于弯曲的钢管制作而成，高113英尺，这意味着 the Great American Revolution 可以支持一次容纳20名乘客，人受的重力会令人感到兴奋，而不是伤害。
And since then loops have exploded in popularity.
从那时起，环形轨道就开始流行起来。
Double loops!
双重环！
Crazy loops!
疯狂环！
And that Sooperdooperlooper in Hershey Park which, by the way, can proudly claim that it's the first modern looping roller coaster on the east coast.
还有好时公园里的 Sooperdooperlooper——顺便说一句，它可以自豪地宣称自己是东海岸第一辆现代环形过山车。
柠檬小区
来啦来啦！！第一