(1). THE job of the professional astrophysicist is to contemplate the music of the spheres.
天体物理学家的工作是凝视太空,欣赏太空中的天体音乐。
(2). Given the global nature of modern science,
然而,全球化的现代科学,
(3). however, today’s astrophysicists often spend just as much time confronting the cacophony of the airport.
使得今天的天体物理学家也经常花费同样的时间去消除机场方面的不和谐音符。
(4). Jason Steffen, from Fermilab, near Chicago, has designed and experimentally tested a faster method of boarding aeroplanes.
贾森·史蒂芬,来自于芝加哥附近的费米实验室,已经设计并且实践测试了一种快速登机的方法。
(5). By his calculation, it could save airlines hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
经过他的测算,这种方法可以为航空公司每年节约数亿美元的开销。
(6). The first is that passengers are often forced to wait in the aisle while those ahead of them stow their luggage and then get out of the way.
第一个是前面的乘客需要安放好他们的行李后才能让开过道,让后面被迫等候的乘客通过;
(7). The second is that passengers already seated in aisle or middle seats often have to get up and move into the aisle to let others take seats nearer the window.
第二个是已经就坐在靠过道或者中间位置的乘客需要重新起身站到过道上,让同排靠窗的乘客就坐。
(8). In the Steffen method, passengers are boarded by seat type while also ensuring that neighbours in the boarding queue are seated in alternating rows.
史蒂芬的方法是将乘客按照座位类型分类,同时确认前后的乘客都是按照座位的不同排次交替排队的。
(9). First, the window seats for every other row on one side of the plane are boarded.
首先让飞机侧靠窗的隔排乘客率先登机,
(10). Next, alternate rows of window seats on the opposite side are boarded.
接着再换另一侧靠窗的隔排乘客登机。
(11). Then, the window seats in the skipped rows are filled in on each side.
接下去让两边被跳过的排序乘客先后就坐,这样就靠窗的位子就坐满了。
(12). The procedure then repeats with the middle seats and the aisles.
然后重复同样的方法来使得中间位子和靠过道的位子相继就坐。
(13). By boarding alternate rows in this way, passengers are spaced far enough apart along the aisle to stow their luggage in parallel, all at the same time.
用这种方法让交叉排序的乘客登机,使得他们可以同时在过道上有足够的空间来将他们的行李安放到行李架上,
(14). Because passengers in the same seat types board together, they do not have to step over each other to swap seats.
而且因为每次登机时的乘客都是同一个座位分类,因此他们不需要从座位上起身给别人让行。
(15). Seventy-two passengers boarded, towing their bags and roll-aboard suitcases.
实验中72名乘客登机,并安放他们的包裹和行李箱。
(16). In addition to the Steffen method, the team tried boarding in a strict back-to-front order, block boardingand boarding in random order.
除了史蒂芬的方法外,实验团队还尝试了另外两种登机方法,有严格按照后排先上按区块顺序登机的分块登机法和随机登机法。
(17). Previous work has shown that every minute a plane spends at the terminal costs $30.
有数据表明飞机在停机位每分钟的开销是30美元,
(18). Assuming the average carrier runs 1,500 flights a day, saving as little as six minutes per flight would add up to $100m a year.
假设平均每个机场每天起飞1500架次飞机,每架次可以节约6分钟的话,那每年至少可以节约一亿美元。