中国研发高速列车 时速将达4000公里

Apparently not content with lumbering across the country at a mere 350 km/h, China is now working on developing technology that will boost its max speed all the way up to 4,000 km/h.

似乎是不满足于目前时速为350公里的高铁，中国目前正致力于研发将其最高时速提升至4000公里的技术。

The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), one of the nation's major space contractors, announced that it had begun research and development into a new, futuristic type of transport which would operate via supersonic "near ground flight."

日前，国内主要的航天承包商--中国航天科工集团公司宣布，他们已经开始研发一种新型的未来式交通方式，这种交通方式是利用超音速原理，实现“近地面飞行”。

The system would presumably be similar to that of the Hyperloop, proposed earlier this decade by Elon Musk, in which capsules would fly at ultrafast speeds down reduced-pressure tubes, dramatically reducing travel times.

这种系统与伊隆·马斯克在近几年提出的超级高铁原理类似，即运输舱会在搭建的减压管道内以接近超音速的速度行驶，大大减少了旅程时间。

Of course, the CASIC isn't looking to reach speeds of 4,000 km/h right away.

当然，中国航天科工集团公司并不是要现在就达到时速4000公里的速度。

The first stage of the company's plan will be to create an intercity network of these "flying trains" operating at 1,000 km/h. In the second phase, this network would be extended and the max speed of the pods increased to 2,000 km/h.

该公司第一阶段的计划，是建设时速为1000公里的区域性城际飞行列车交通网。第二阶段，该交通网将被扩张，而运输舱的最高时速将达到2000公里。

Finally, in the third stage, the speed would be boosted all the way up to 4,000 km/h -- five times the speed of civil aviation aircraft today.

最终，在第三阶段，该时速将会提升至4000公里，该速度将是民航飞机飞行速度的五倍。