強化橋梁結構 問題是船愈來愈大

As larger and faster container ships began to chug up the Delaware River in recent years, transportation officials feared the prospect of one going astray that would lead to a repeat, or worse, of what happened in 1969, when a tanker struck the Delaware Memorial Bridge and caused significant damage.

隨著近年來更大與更快的貨櫃輪開始在德拉瓦河呼嘯而過，運輸官員擔心，一旦有船開錯方向，將導致1969年的事件重演，或者更糟；當時一艘油輪撞上德拉瓦紀念大橋，造成嚴重損壞。

So, last year, work began on a $93 million project to build eight massive cylinders that would stand guard in front of the bridge’s piers in order to protect a system that carries tens of thousands of vehicles a day.

所以，去年，一項9300萬美元的計畫開始動工，要修建8個巨大圓柱，在橋墩前方守衛，以保護一天承載數以萬計車輛的系統。

“The tankers and cargo ships of 1950 aren’t the tankers and cargo ships of today,” said James Salmon, a spokesperson for the Delaware River and Bay Authority.

德拉瓦河灣管理局的發言人薩蒙說，「1950年的油輪和貨船可不是今日的」。

Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after a cargo ship nearly three football fields long crashed into it, claiming the lives of six people, has prompted questions about whether similar disasters could happen elsewhere.

巴爾的摩基伊大橋周二遭一艘將近3個足球場長的貨輪撞上坍塌，奪走6個人性命，引發類似災難是否會在別處發生的質疑。

But the work on the Delaware Memorial Bridge reflects the fact that some transportation and maritime experts have been mulling the hazards of new cargo ships squeezing under decades-old bridges for some time. There are no easy answers, in part because ships keep getting bigger.

但德拉瓦紀念大橋的工程反映出一個事實，即長久以來，一些運輸與海事專家一直在考量新貨船擠在數十年歷史橋梁下方的危險。沒有簡單的答案，部分原因出在船隻愈來愈大。

Many transportation officials say drawing parallels to the Key Bridge is difficult because what happened in Baltimore appeared to be such an unusual event — a confluence of factors at the worst time. As the ship, the Dali, hurtled through the harbor without a tugboat connected to it, it experienced a “complete blackout” and lost control, then struck a pier that had small protective barriers.

官員表示，要跟基伊大橋對照有困難，因為巴爾的摩發生的事似乎是個很不尋常的事件，是多種因素在最壞時刻的匯集。「達利號」這艘船沒有拖船連接就衝過港口，經歷一次「完全停電」並失去控制，然後撞上一個只有小型防護圍籬的橋墩。

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that they were not only examining the protection system around the Key Bridge, but seeking records about the protections around other bridges in Maryland.

國家運輸安全委員會的官員周三表示，他們不只正在檢查圍繞基伊大橋的保護系統，還在尋找馬里蘭州其他橋梁周圍防護的相關紀錄。

Efforts to enhance bridges are frequently slowed because of the many state and federal governmental entities involved, the often glacial pace of funding and the construction time required for such large-scale projects. Still, some places have seen results.

因涉及許多州跟聯邦政府單位，強化橋梁行動經常拖延，這類大型計畫撥款往往牛步，施工也要時間。儘管如此，一些地方已有成果。

In Minnesota, a boat pushing 12 barges rammed into a Union Pacific railroad bridge near St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2017, damaging a century-old pier. A protection system was built around the new pier.

2017年在明尼蘇達州，一艘船推著12艘平底船，撞上明州聖保羅附近一座聯合太平洋鐵路橋，破壞了一個百年歷史橋墩。新橋墩周圍興建了保護系統。

In New York, the Bayonne Bridge was raised by 64 feet in 2019 to accommodate increasingly larger vessels calling at the container ports in New Jersey and Staten Island.

紐約貝玉揚橋2019年抬高64呎，以配合停靠新澤西州與史泰登島貨櫃港的船隻愈來愈大。

哥吉拉與金剛：人類死活誰在乎？

By the end of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” the latest in the so-called Monsterverse franchise from Warner Bros., multiple cities around the world have been rendered essentially uninhabitable and treasured monuments have been turned to dust. Godzilla, Kong and their adversaries flatten sections of Rio de Janeiro, ripping buildings in half during their climactic brawl, as a monster that can shoot ice from its mouth coats the coastal setting, presumably freezing a bunch of citizens as well.

華納兄弟推出的所謂「怪獸宇宙」系列最新作品「哥吉拉與金剛：新帝國」結尾時，世界各地多座城市都被搞得根本不宜人居，多個珍貴地標化為齏粉。哥吉拉、金剛與牠們的敵手將里約熱內盧多處夷為平地，在最終高潮鬥毆時將建築劈成兩半，同時有一隻能口吐寒冰的怪獸冰封海岸場景，想必也凍住一堆民眾。

Earlier, the two big guys punch their way through the pyramids in Cairo as tourists and locals scramble away from falling rocks. On top of that, at one point, Godzilla also takes up temporary residence in the Colosseum in Rome after he stomps through that locale. It’s frankly pretty cute the way he curls up to nap in the ancient amphitheater like a puppy, but the fact that he probably killed thousands of people getting to his makeshift bed isn’t really addressed.

先前，這兩隻龐然大物還一路打到開羅金字塔，遊客和當地人倉皇躲避墜落的石塊。不僅如此，在某個片段，哥吉拉還在大步闖進羅馬圓形競技場後，於該地暫時住下。他像隻小狗般蜷曲身體，在這座古老劇場裡小寐的模樣著實相當可愛，但他在到達他的臨時床鋪途中，大概殺了成千上萬的人，此一事實卻沒有好好處理。

Over the years, films starring Godzilla and his pals have varied wildly in how they deal with the creatures’ victims — they have been serious and outright silly. While sometimes, Godzilla can be a way to explore very human fears, at other times, he’s just an outlet to watch things go boom. “Godzilla x Kong” puts him firmly in this noisy camp, which makes the treatment of death just seem careless.

這些年來以哥吉拉和他的夥伴們為主角的電影，在處理這些怪物的受害者時，方式各自迥異，從嚴肅以對到徹底滑稽都有。雖然有時哥吉拉可以是探索真正人性恐懼的方式，但其他時候，他可能只是要看到萬物失控的宣洩口。「哥吉拉與金剛」確實的把哥吉拉放入這個紛鬧的陣營裡，讓其對死亡的刻畫顯得漫不經心。

But as the Monsterverse has gone on, the material has gotten goofier, landing us where we are with “Godzilla x Kong.” It’s a pattern that also occurs in the original run of Japanese Godzilla films. Yes, Ishiro Honda’s 1954 original is a reflection of nuclear anxiety made in the shadow of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But by 1968, Honda made the bonkers “Destroy All Monsters,” in which Godzilla and his kaiju buddies on an island known as Monsterland are released by an alien species known as Kilaaks and attack global hubs such as Moscow and Paris.

但隨著「怪獸宇宙」持續發展，這個題材變得日益滑稽可笑，讓我們到達「哥吉拉與金剛」這個境地。這個模式也發生在日本原作哥吉拉系列電影。是的，導演本多豬四郎在1954年的原作是一部對核子焦慮感的反思，誕生於廣島與長崎所受轟炸的陰影下。但到1968年，本多拍了無厘頭的「怪獸總進擊」，劇中哥吉拉和他的怪獸同伴，被叫做「基拉克星人」的外星物種從名為「怪獸島」的島嶼釋放，並襲擊莫斯科、巴黎等全球重鎮。

“Godzilla x Kong” also has something else in common with the superhero genre: In this movie, Godzilla and Kong are supposed to be the good guys stopping monsters that are more evil than they are. If so, why does no one care that they kill so many people in the process? The audience might, but no one on screen gives a damn.

「哥吉拉與金剛」也和超級英雄電影有其他共通點：電影裡哥吉拉和金剛理應是阻止比牠們更邪惡怪獸的好人。若如此，為何沒人在意牠們過程中奪走這麼多性命？觀眾可能在意，但螢幕上沒人理會。