The Alaska Pipeline

 The Alaska pipeline starts  at the frozen  edge  of the  Arctic ocean. It

 stretches southward across  the  largest and northernmost state in  the

 United States,  ending at a remote ice     free seaport  village  nearly  800 

 miles  from  where  it  begins.  It  is  massive  in  size  and  extremely

 complicated to operate. The steel  pipe crosses windswept  plains  and 

 endless miles of  delicate tundra that tops the frozen ground. It weaves

 through crooked canyons, climbs sheer mountains, plunges over rocky crags,

 makes its way through thick forests, and passes over or under hundreds of

 rivers and streams. The pipe is 4 feet in diameter, and up to 2 million

 barrels (or 84 million gallons) of crude  oil  can  be pumped through it

 daily. Resting on  H    shaped steel racks called

 "bents", long sections of the pipeline follow a zigzag course high above

 the frozen earth. Other long sections drop out of sight beneath spongy or

 rocky ground and return to the surface later on. The pattern of the

pipeline's up        and    down route is determined by the often harsh demands of

 the Arctic and subarctic climate, the tortuous lay of the land, and the

 varied compositions of soil, rock, or permafrost(permanently frozen

 ground). A little more than half of the pipeline is elevated above the

 ground. The remainder is buried anywhere from 3 to 12 feet, depending

 largely upon the type of  terrain and  the properties of  the soil. One of 

 the  largest  in  the world, the pipeline cost approximately  ＄8 billion

 and is by far the biggest and most expensive construction project ever

 undertaken by private industry. In fact, no single business could raise

 that much money, so 8 major oil companies formed a consortium in order to

 share the costs. Each company controlled oil rights to  particular  shares 

 of  land  in  the  oil  fields  and  paid  into  the  pipeline      construction

  fund according  to  the  size  of  its  holdings.  Today,  despite 

 enormous  problems  of  climate,  supply shortages, equipment breakdowns,

 labor disagreements,  treacherous terrain, a certain amount of

 mismanagement, and even theft, the Alaska pipeline has been completed and

is operating.

阿拉斯加輸油管

 阿拉斯加輸油管道以北冰洋的凍冰邊緣為起點，向南延伸穿過美國的最 北又是最大的州，在離起點 800 英里以外的一個偏僻的不凍海港中止。

 它跨幅巨大，而且 運作極端復雜。  這個鋼質管道穿過強風不斷的草原和無邊無盡的覆蓋于凍土之上的苔原。

 它盤垣于彎曲的峽谷之間，攀上陡峭的山峰，從巖石遍布的峭壁俯沖下來，穿越濃密的森林， 從上或從下經過成百上千  條的河流與溪水。

 管道的直徑有四英尺，每天能運送高達  200 百萬桶(合 8400 萬加侖)的原油。 枕在 H 型的鐵架上，管道長長的一部分在冰凍地面的上空

 走著"之"字形。 其它部分消失在松軟或堅硬的地面下然后又回到地面上。 管道這種或上或

 下的路線決定于嚴酷的極帶和副極帶氣候、復雜的地形和構造各異的土壤、巖石、永久凍土。 一大半管道懸在地面上空，其余部分則埋入 3 至 12 英尺的地下。

 深淺大部分由地形狀況和 土壤特征而定。 作為世上最大的管道之一，它花費了將近 80 億美元，至今仍是私有產業進 行的最浩大最昂貴的建筑工程。

 實際上，單個公司不可能拿出這么多的資金。 為了分擔成 本，八大石油公司組成了一個大財團。  每個公司都控制著油田中一定土地上的開采權，并

由股份的比例把資金投入到管道建設中。  盡管有氣候嚴寒、供應不足、設備損壞、勞工糾

紛、地形復雜等巨大困難，并有一些管理上的不善甚至被盜現象，阿拉斯加管道現已峻工并 正在運行。

譯路通武漢翻譯公司整理

2012.7.3