高级笔译训练：科幻小说中的五大鸡肋发明（一）_第2页
Even worse, even a minor crash with another flying car could send both vehicles plummeting to the ground while you scream in terror. Imagine the poor guy on the ground, sitting there at a red light, as a flaming five car pile-up is hurdling down towards him from the sky. If you're not scared yet, try to imagine what they're going to charge you in insurance premiums as a result.
更糟的是，即使一次与飞车的轻微碰撞，都可能让两辆车直落地面，而你只能惊恐地在车里大叫。想像一下在地上的那位可怜的哥们儿，正等着红灯呢，就眼看着五辆燃着大火的车从天上向他砸过来。要是你还是没有被吓到，那就想一下，他们会怎么让你出血来给他们付保险费。
4.Jet Packs
第四名：飞行背包
As seen in:
The Jetsons (again), The Rocketeer, James Bond used one in Thunderball, Boba Fett... too many to count. If you've never heard about and/or purchased a toy featuring a jet pack, you are from the 1800s.
曾经出现在：
《杰森一家》(又来了), 《火箭人》, 詹姆斯邦德在《雷霆万钧》里也用过一次, 星球大战里的Boba Fett... 数不胜数。要是你从来没有听说过它，或者没有买过一个带着飞行背包的玩具，那你肯定是从19世纪来的。
Why we thought we wanted them:
Because every single human wants the ability to fly, pretty much from birth. We're talking the ability to fly, not ride in a thing that flies.
我们想要它的原因：
因为每个人从生下来就都渴望能够飞翔。我们说的是具有飞翔的能力，而不是说坐在一个能飞的东西里。
Why we were wrong:
We're going to skip past the obvious point that the Rocketeer here would be left with charred stumps below the thigh, since that exhaust is coming out at around 2,000 degrees.
我们是笨笨：
我们先不说最明显的一点，即那个火箭人的大腿会被烤得像截烧焦的树桩，因为火箭的气流会以大约2000度的高温喷出来。
Modern jetpacks just use tanks of compressed gas that basically fart you into the air. If that sounds lame, you're right. The prototypes they have now let you fly a whole 30 seconds.
现在的飞行背包用的是装着压缩天然气的罐子，基本上只能把你“喷”离地面。如果那听起来很衰的话，正是如此。现在研究出来的原型机只能让你飞整整的30秒。
But let's assume they overcome all that and make one that actually works. All those safety issues we have with the flying cars? You've got all that, only without a car around you to protect your fragile body. The only possible method of saving your ass when you crash/fall asleep/run out of fuel is probably a parachute, which means you'd need extensive training on how to land without impaling yourself on a tree branch.
但是让我们假设一下，他们克服了所有困难，做出来一个有实际作用的飞行背包。那么，那些飞车带来的问题呢？对了，只有你身边一辆车都没有，才能真正保护你那脆弱的躯体。当你撞车、开车睡着或者是没有燃料的时候，唯一能救你的可能就是一顶降落伞。也就是说，你还得接受大量的训练，才能避免在落地的时候自己不被树枝插到。
The only alternative would have to be some kind of air bag that instantly inflates around you in an emergency, letting you bounce gently to safety while you involuntarily shout, "WHEEEE!!!" The problem with that, of course, is that we'd be intentionally crashing all the time just so they can do that happen.
这个时候除了拥有一种气囊，当危急时能在你四周迅速膨胀起来以外，别无它法。这种气囊能在你大声地喊“啊！！”的同时，让你优雅地在蹦跳中安全着陆。当然，这也有问题，因为要是想让它起作用，我们总是得故意地撞个什么东西。
