70 years of Read On: Travelling then and now in the September issue

Man sieht es ihr nicht an, aber die Read On wird dieses Jahr 70! Dieses Jubiläum nehmen wir zum Anlass, auf die vergangenen sieben Jahrzehnte zurückzublicken. Dazu stöbern wir in unseren Archiven und veröffentlichen jeden Monat im Jahr 2023 einen Artikel aus einer Read-On-Ausgabe der letzten 70 Jahre. Da die Read On aber noch lange nicht old school ist, gibt es dazu einen frischen, neuen Blick auf das Thema aus dem Hier und Jetzt – ganz new school. Passend zur Reisezeit gibt es in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On einen Artikel über damals noch futuristisch anmutende Reiseformen und dazu eine Innovation, die eine Reise um die halbe Welt in einer atemberaubenden Flugzeit möglich machen könnte.

OLD SCHOOL (1958)

Travelling Then and Now

1                 Soon highways will be crowded with summer travellers. People will be on their way to holiday spots in the country; they will travel to the mountains, to the seashore, or to foreign countries. The new highways make car travel easier. Some highways are built high above the streets and city buildings; others go around the cities.

2                 Ford has built the model of a car which is called the Glideair. It has no wheels. The bottom of the car fits around a rail, but does not touch it. Jets of air push down on the rail and from either side. So the car can guide itself by the rail without touching it and the ground.

3                 Glideair is the newest step in transportation which started thousands of years ago, long before there were any roads or towns. Transportation began when people carried firewood and other loads on their backs. Later they tied such loads on the backs of tame animals. But they found that an animal could drag a heavier load than it could carry. Also, the load was easier to drag when it was raised off the ground. So men began to use wooden sledges.

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Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–1             then and now früher und heute — highway (AE) Schnellstraße — holiday spot Ferien-, Urlaubsort — seashore Meeresküste, -strand — foreign countries Ausland

2                 Ford (Motor Company) Autofabrik in Detroit — Glideair Luftgleiter — to fit around passen um — rail Schiene — jet of air Luftstrahl, -strom — to push down on herabstoßen auf — from either side von beiden Seiten — to guide o.s. sich selbst führen, leiten — ground Erdboden

3                 step Schritt, Stufe — transportation Transport, Beförderung — firewood Brennholz — load Last, Ladung — to tie binden, befestigen — tame zahm — to drag ziehen — to raise off anheben — wooden sledge Holzschlitten

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NEW SCHOOL (Today)

From London to Sydney in two hours

FUTURE TRAVEL

Suborbital flight could drastically reduce flight times within the next ten years.

By Franziska Lange

1                 These days, a flight from London to Sydney takes around 22 hours. But within the next ten years, that same journey might take no more than two hours, thanks to suborbital flight.

2                 On such a suborbital flight, passengers would be sent 100 kilometres up into the air, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere and entering space. The spacecraft would stay on a suborbital trajectory before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere to land on the other side of the world.

3                 This would reduce flight time by a whopping 20 hours, but it would also impose very high forces of gravity, or G-forces, on passengers.

4                 On a suborbital flight, G-forces would be four times the usual force of the Earth’s gravity, or 4G, for 20 to 30 seconds on the way up. On the way down, they would even be six times the force of the Earth’s gravity, or 6G, for 10 to 15 seconds.

5                 King’s College London, the Royal Air Force, and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) looked at the effects this would have on passengers.

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Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–2             suborbital flight Suborbitalflug — within innerhalb — Earth Erde — space Weltraum — spacecraft Raumfahrzeug — suborbital trajectory suborbitale Flugbahn — to re-enter … wiedereintreten in …

3                 by a whopping … um satte … — to impose s.th. on s.o. h.: jdn. etw. aussetzen — force of gravity Schwerkraft; Erdanziehungskraft — G-forces G(ravitations)-Kräfte

4–5             X times the usual … X-mal mehr als die übliche … — Civil Aviation Authority Behörde für Zivilluftfahrt — effect Auswirkung

Foto: Pixabay/Drajt