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双语故事·不一样的生活 A different life
A different life
I've never been given a company car but I do drive something very special at work.
I'm in charge of a “mole”, one of the giant tunnel-digging machines that are burrowing under London for the Crossrail project, linking the east and west of the city.
Each mole is as long as 14 London buses and weighs 1,000 tons, yet is incredibly precise.
It has to be to cut a path between the capital's subterranean maze of sewers,
Tube lines and underground rivers.
I'm 44 and have worked in tunnel digging since I was 16.
My uncle ran a boring company and he gave me my first job, on a sewer project under Sheffield. In those days tunnelling was hard labour with shovels and picks.
Now I sit at a control panel and it isn't physically demanding at all.
I'd rather pick up a rattlesnake than go back to the old way of working.
There have always been plenty of opportunities in my line but because it's underground,
people don't always realise.
I've helped dig miles of tunnels over the years,
including the Channel Tunnel rail link and a tunnel that carries the electrical power supplies underneath the Olympic Village in London.
For the Crossrail project I drive one of the latest tunnel-boring machines (TBMs).
The one that I run is nicknamed Jessica and the power that drives it forward is equivalent to the force needed to lift more than 2,900 London taxis.
Despite that, you barely feel anything when it is running.
You do hear a hum from the cutter head,
which revolves just two or three times per minute - but we are crawling forward at 100m a week.
不一样的生活
不一样的生活 我在伦敦地下做"鼹鼠"我从没有得到过公司用车，但我确实在工作时开着一种非常特别的车。我掌管着一台“鼹鼠”，这是一种大型隧道掘进机，这些机械正在地下为连通伦敦东部和西部的横贯铁路(Crossrail)项目作业。每部机械有14辆伦敦公交车那么长，重达1000吨，却令人难以置信的精准。它必须在伦敦地下迷宫般错综复杂的下水道、地铁隧道和地下河道之间开辟出一条道路。我今年44岁，16岁时就开始做这种挖掘隧道的工作了。我的叔叔经营着一家钻探公司，他给了我第一份工作，是谢菲尔德的一个下水道项目。在那个年代，隧道挖掘是一份艰苦的工作，要用铁锹和镐。如今，我是坐在一个控制面板前，根本不需要体力劳动了。我宁愿拾起一条响尾蛇，也不愿回到过去的工作方式。
在我这个行当里，总是有很多机会，但由于是在地下，人们不会总注意到。多年来，我帮助挖掘了数英里长的隧道，包括英法海底铁路隧道(Channel Tunnel rail link)以及伦敦奥运村(Olympic Village)地下的输电线路隧道。
在Crossrail项目中，我驾驶的是最新隧道掘进机之一。我开的那辆机车有个绰号叫杰西卡(Jessica)，驾驶它前进的动力相当于举升2900多辆伦敦出租车所需的力量。尽管如此，在机器作业时，你几乎没有任何感觉。你确实会听到掘进机刀头发出的嗡嗡声，每分钟仅旋转两三次——我们以每周100米的速度缓慢推进。
I've never been given a company car but I do drive something very special at work.
I'm in charge of a “mole”, one of the giant tunnel-digging machines that are burrowing under London for the Crossrail project, linking the east and west of the city.
Each mole is as long as 14 London buses and weighs 1,000 tons, yet is incredibly precise.
It has to be to cut a path between the capital's subterranean maze of sewers,
Tube lines and underground rivers.
I'm 44 and have worked in tunnel digging since I was 16.
My uncle ran a boring company and he gave me my first job, on a sewer project under Sheffield. In those days tunnelling was hard labour with shovels and picks.
Now I sit at a control panel and it isn't physically demanding at all.
I'd rather pick up a rattlesnake than go back to the old way of working.
There have always been plenty of opportunities in my line but because it's underground,
people don't always realise.
I've helped dig miles of tunnels over the years,
including the Channel Tunnel rail link and a tunnel that carries the electrical power supplies underneath the Olympic Village in London.
For the Crossrail project I drive one of the latest tunnel-boring machines (TBMs).
The one that I run is nicknamed Jessica and the power that drives it forward is equivalent to the force needed to lift more than 2,900 London taxis.
Despite that, you barely feel anything when it is running.
You do hear a hum from the cutter head,
which revolves just two or three times per minute - but we are crawling forward at 100m a week.
不一样的生活
不一样的生活 我在伦敦地下做"鼹鼠"我从没有得到过公司用车，但我确实在工作时开着一种非常特别的车。我掌管着一台“鼹鼠”，这是一种大型隧道掘进机，这些机械正在地下为连通伦敦东部和西部的横贯铁路(Crossrail)项目作业。每部机械有14辆伦敦公交车那么长，重达1000吨，却令人难以置信的精准。它必须在伦敦地下迷宫般错综复杂的下水道、地铁隧道和地下河道之间开辟出一条道路。我今年44岁，16岁时就开始做这种挖掘隧道的工作了。我的叔叔经营着一家钻探公司，他给了我第一份工作，是谢菲尔德的一个下水道项目。在那个年代，隧道挖掘是一份艰苦的工作，要用铁锹和镐。如今，我是坐在一个控制面板前，根本不需要体力劳动了。我宁愿拾起一条响尾蛇，也不愿回到过去的工作方式。
在我这个行当里，总是有很多机会，但由于是在地下，人们不会总注意到。多年来，我帮助挖掘了数英里长的隧道，包括英法海底铁路隧道(Channel Tunnel rail link)以及伦敦奥运村(Olympic Village)地下的输电线路隧道。
在Crossrail项目中，我驾驶的是最新隧道掘进机之一。我开的那辆机车有个绰号叫杰西卡(Jessica)，驾驶它前进的动力相当于举升2900多辆伦敦出租车所需的力量。尽管如此，在机器作业时，你几乎没有任何感觉。你确实会听到掘进机刀头发出的嗡嗡声，每分钟仅旋转两三次——我们以每周100米的速度缓慢推进。
