Tuesday’s crash was at least the second in just over a month in which a container ship hit a major road bridge, raising questions about the safety standards of increasingly large ships and the ability of bridges around the world to withstand crashes.
巴尔的摩的撞击事故一个多月来至少第二起集装箱船撞上大型公路桥的事件，令人对尺寸日益增加的船只的安全标准以及世界各地桥梁的抗撞击能力产生疑问。

On Feb. 22 in Guangzhou, a port in southern China, a much smaller vessel carrying stacks of containers hit the base of a two-lane bridge, causing vehicles to fall. Officials said that five people were killed.
2月22日，在中国南方港口城市广州，一艘载有成堆集装箱的较小船只撞上了一座双车道大桥的底部，导致车辆坠落。官方称有五人丧生。

The crashes have also raised questions about whether more ships should be required to be ready to drop anchors quickly during port emergencies, and whether tugboats should accompany more vessels as they enter and leave harbors.
这些事故也引发了一些问题：是否应该要求更多的船只做好准备，在港口发生紧急情况时迅速抛锚，以及是否应该让更多的船只在进出港口时有拖船伴随。

There has not been a final report on the Guangzhou incident, and investigators have barely begun to look at what happened in Baltimore. But ship collision barriers are standard around the support piers of bridges over major waterways like the entrance to Baltimore’s harbor. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, for example, has massive barriers of concrete and rocks around the bases of the piers that support it.
广州事件还没有最终报告，调查人员对巴尔的摩事件的调查也刚刚开始。但在巴尔的摩港口入口等主要水道上的桥梁支撑桥墩周围，船舶碰撞屏障是标准设置。例如，纽约市的维拉扎诺海峡大桥在支撑桥墩底部周围设置了巨大的混凝土和石块屏障。

It was not immediately clear how old the barriers are around the piers that supported the bridge in Baltimore. The bridge was built almost half a century ago and designed before then. Vessels have become considerably larger in that time.
目前还不清楚支撑巴尔的摩大桥的桥墩周围的屏障有多古老。这座桥建于近半个世纪前，设计时间就更早了。那时的船只远没有现在这么大。

The crash in Guangzhou occurred on a less important waterway, a minor channel of the Pearl River. The bridge there was being fitted with devices designed to protect the piers in case of any ship crash. The work was supposed to have been completed by 2022 but had been delayed, and the latest target for completion was August of this year, according to China Central Television, the state broadcaster.
广州的撞船事故发生在一条不太重要的水路上，是珠江的一条小航道。那里的大桥当时正在安装保护桥墩、防止船只撞击的装置。据官方电视台CCTV报道，这项工程本应在2022年完工，但一直被推迟，最新的完工目标是今年8月。

Harbor pilots and crews of many large ships have two anchors ready to drop as they enter or leave a harbor, in case an emergency such as a loss of power means that they need to try to stop quickly. Basil M. Karatzas, the chief executive of Karatzas Marine Advisors, a ship inspection company in New York, said that while he had seen tanker crews commonly take this precaution, it was less common for container ships.
许多大型船只的领航员和船员在进出港口时都会准备好两个锚，以备在发生失去动力等紧急情况时需要迅速停船。纽约验船公司卡拉扎斯航行顾问的首席执行官巴兹尔·卡拉扎斯说，他看到油轮船员普遍采取这种预防措施，但在集装箱船上却不太常见。

“The anchors have to be unlocked and ready to be dropped, and this takes some time to prepare, as generally crew members physically at the bow have to unlock them and release them,” he said. “That’s not something you can do in an emergency.”
“船锚必须解开并准备好抛下，这需要一些时间来准备，因为一般来说，船头的船员必须亲手去解开并且放下船锚，”他说。“这不是紧急情况下可以做到的。”

Large ships are often accompanied by tugboats as they leave or enter harbors so that the tugboats can push them away from harm if the ship has difficulties. It was not immediately clear whether tugboats had accompanied the ship that struck the bridge on Tuesday.
大型船舶在驶离或进入港口时通常有拖船伴随，在船舶遇到困难时，拖船可以推动它们脱离险境。目前还不清楚周二撞桥的那艘船是否有拖船随行。

The ship in Baltimore was exiting the harbor as a spring tide was rushing out of the harbor. The moon was still almost completely full, having reached its fullest less than 24 hours earlier.
巴尔的摩的这艘船驶离时正值大潮涌出港口。月亮几乎还是满月，在不到24小时前达到最圆。

Full moons in springtime are associated with some of the largest tidal changes in local sea level. And while Baltimore’s harbor experiences fairly small changes even during springtime full moon tides, tidal movements of water could have been a factor in the bridge impact.
春天满月期间，在当地海平面会出现最大幅度的潮汐变化。虽然巴尔的摩的港口即使在春季满月潮汐期间变化也相当小，但潮汐运动可能是造成撞桥事故的一个因素。

“The ebbing tide increases the speed of the water seaward, which effectively has a cumulative effect on the speed of an outbound vessel, and any currents in the water could also have complicated navigation,” Mr. Karatzas said.
“退潮会增加海水向海方向的速度，这实际上会对出港船只的速度产生累积效应，而且任何水流都可能使航行变得复杂，”卡拉扎斯说。

Amy Chang Chien对本文有研究贡献。

Keith Bradsher是《纽约时报》北京分社社长，此前曾任上海分社社长、香港分社社长、底特律分社社长，以及华盛顿记者。他在新冠疫情期间常驻中国进行报道。

翻译：纽约时报中文网