“生态赤字”与科学双刃剑

紧紧系在悬索上的大圆盘形太阳帆，已经鼓满了宇宙间的长风，像一名斗志昂扬、整装待发的勇士。三分钟内比赛就要开始了，约翰·默顿的心中却异常的轻松与平静。

The big disk-shaped solar sail tightly tied to the suspension has been filled with the long wind in the universe, like a warrior with high morale and ready to go. The game is about to start in three minutes, but John Merton's heart is very relaxed and calm.

“最后两分钟，”座舱无线电发出指令，“请检查准备情况。”船长们逐个回答。“1号——‘游丝’号，准备好出发！”“2号——‘圣玛利亚’号，一切准备就绪！”“3号——‘阳光’号，准备就绪！”“4号——‘投标器’号，一切系统正常！”“5号——‘列别捷夫’号，我们准备就绪！”“6号——‘蜘蛛’号，准备就绪！”默顿在出发线的末端，听着朋友和对手们的声音，现在轮到他回答了。“7号——‘狄安娜’号，准备好出发！”裁判员的声音异常平静，“现在，最后１分钟。”“……5、4、3、2、1，断缆！”

"The last two minutes," the cockpit radio ordered, "please check your preparation." The captains answered one by one. "No.1 -" cruise ", ready to go!" "No. 2 - Santa Maria, everything is ready!" "No. 3 - sunshine, ready!" "NO.4 -" tender "No., all systems are normal!" "No. 5 - Lebedev, we're ready!" "No. 6 - Spider, ready!" Merton was at the end of the starting line, listening to friends and rivals, and now it was his turn to answer. "No. 7 - Diana, ready to go!" The referee's voice was unusually calm. "Now, the last minute." "... 5. 4, 3, 2, 1, cable break! "

刀片割断了把飞船拴在为其进行总装和维护的母船上的细线。七艘帆船开始散开，宛如蒲公英的花籽在轻风中飘散。优胜者将是第一个飘过月球的人。座舱仪表表明“狄安娜”号正以千分之一的推动力增加着速度。这全是太阳风的力量！按这个速度，绕地球两圈之后，就能达到第二宇宙速度，那时它将向月球飞去。

The blades cut the threads that tie the spacecraft to the mother ship for assembly and maintenance. Seven sailboats began to disperse, like dandelion seeds in the breeze. The winner will be the first to fly across the moon. The cockpit instrumentation indicates that the Diana is increasing its speed by one thousandth of its power. It's all the power of the solar wind! At this speed, after two circles around the earth, you can reach the second cosmic speed, when it will fly to the moon.

默顿看到了他的对手们，他们犹如朵朵银花绽放在幽暗的宇宙空间。做了40多年的飞船设计师，他渴望独自驾着飞船，赢得成功。

Merton saw his rivals, like silver flowers blooming in the dark space. As a spaceship designer for more than 40 years, he is eager to drive the spaceship alone and win success.

刚睡了两个小时，警钟响亮而刺耳的声音就把他从无梦的酣睡中惊醒。默顿敏捷地检查了一下指示吊索拉力的仪表，在太阳帆一侧，读数正常--可是，在另一侧，拉力在慢慢下降。

Just after sleeping for two hours, the loud and harsh sound of the alarm clock woke him up from the dreamless sleep. Merton quickly checked the gauge indicating the sling pull. On one side of the sail, the reading was normal - but on the other side, the pull was slowly falling.

光线在渐渐消失，“狄安娜”号静悄悄地滑进地球的阴影里，太阳垂直落在不可见的地平线之下，夜幕降临了。飞船已经走过四分之一的轨道，进入短暂的夜晚，一小时后太阳才能从巨大的黑影中浮现出来，在这一小时中，飞船将做无动力滑行。

As the light faded, Diana slipped quietly into the shadow of the earth, the sun set vertically below the invisible horizon, and night fell. The spacecraft has passed a quarter of its orbit and entered a short night. Only an hour later can the sun emerge from the huge dark shadow. In this hour, the spacecraft will do unpowered taxiing.

现在只剩下“狄安娜”号、“列别捷夫”号和“投标器”号了，但“投标器”号为了追赶前两艘太阳帆船，把悬索减修到最小重量，但当它再次从几千公里高的出发线上经过时，太阳射线的额外能量把悬索压断了，帆船像一块手帕在太空中飘动着。

Now there are only Diana, Lebedev and Bider, but Bider reduces the suspension to the minimum weight in order to catch up with the first two solar sailboats, but when it passes through the starting line several thousand kilometers high again, the additional energy of the solar ray breaks the suspension, and the sailboat floats like a handkerchief in space.

“狄安娜”号和“列别捷夫”号展开了直接对抗，“狄安娜”号暂时领先。

"Diana" and "Lebedev" launched a direct confrontation, "Diana" temporarily ahead.

默顿毫不感到疲倦，他只有两种担心：第一是担心8号悬索，它已不能调整了，只能用其他悬索尽力做最佳航行；第二是担心“列别捷夫”号，它正在300公里之后尾随着他。俄国人的飞船有可围绕中心帆而倾斜跷起的四块巨大翼板，显示出极大的灵活性。

Merton did not feel tired. He had only two kinds of worries. The first was that he was worried about the No. 8 suspension, which could not be adjusted and could only make the best navigation with other suspension cables. The second was that he was worried about the Lebedev, which was following him 300 kilometers later. The Russian spacecraft has four huge wings that can be tilted around the central sail, showing great flexibility.

然而，在比赛的第五十个小时，接近地球第二圈末尾时，“列别捷夫”号使默顿略吃一惊，帆桁和悬索与中心方形帆分离开，飘然进入宇宙空间。“列别捷夫”号放弃了一切不必要的东西，这样，它很快达到了第二宇宙速度。默顿在像火柴盒那么大的计算机上算出，“列别捷夫”号将正好在他期待的通过月球的时刻赶上他。

However, in the 50th hour of the race, near the end of the second circle of the earth, Lebedev surprised Merton a little. The yard and the suspension were separated from the central square sail and floated into space. Lebedev gave up all unnecessary things, so it quickly reached the second cosmic speed. On a matchbox sized computer, Merton calculated that the Lebedev would catch up with him just as he expected to cross the moon.

官方救险发射装置上的指挥官范·斯特拉注视着从高悬在太阳炽热表面的太阳观察站上发回的照片，他的双眼，充满了失望，比赛将不得不放弃。默顿为自己和“列别捷夫”号遗憾，他们都应该赢得比赛，而今胜利却不属于任何人。太阳处于愤怒中，没有人能争胜负了。

Van Stella, commander of the official rescue launch vehicle, watched the photos sent back from the sun observation station suspended on the hot surface of the sun. His eyes were filled with disappointment and the game would have to be abandoned. Merton is sorry for himself and the Lebedev. They should all win the game, but now the victory doesn't belong to anyone. The sun is in rage, no one can win.

默顿切断了悬索，银色的太阳帆飞走了，他搭上了救险的太空飞艇。他的心情慢慢平静下来，他永远不能赢得飞往月球的比赛了，但他的帆船却将是飞行在星际的漫长航程上的第一艘人造太阳帆船。

Merton cut the suspension, the Silver Sail flew away, and he boarded the rescue spaceship. His mood calms down slowly. He will never win the race to the moon, but his sailboat will be the first man-made sun sailboat on the long voyage of interstellar space.