The Power of Wind

The Power of Wind, written by Michael Sandler. Focus question, how have people used wind to power things?

《风的力量》，作者：迈克尔·桑德勒 思考问题：人类是如何利用风来驱动物品的？

The first sailor. More than 5 ,000 years ago, a person took cloth and attached it to the mast of a boat. The wind caught the sail. It pushed the ship forward, sending it across the water. For the first time, people had harnessed the power of wind. It was just the beginning. Today, we use wind to power just about everything from computers to cars.

第一位风帆航行者 五千多年前，有人把一块布固定在船的桅杆上 风吹动了船帆 它推着船前进，带着船穿行在水面上 人类第一次驾驭了风的力量 这仅仅只是开始 如今，我们能用风能驱动几乎所有东西，小到电脑大到汽车

What is wind? The wind can be our friend. It cools us off on hot summer days and allows us to fly kites high in the sky. The wind can also cause great damage, downing power lines, trees, and even buildings. This moving air is mainly caused by differences in air pressure, which in are due to differences in temperature. Warm air rises and spreads out. This is known as low pressure. Cold air, on the other hand, sinks and compresses. This is known as high pressure. Air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure across the planet. This creates wind.

什么是风？ 风可以是我们的好朋友 炎热夏日它给我们降温，还能帮我们把风筝放上高高的天空 风也会造成很大破坏，吹倒电线、树木，甚至房屋 这种流动的空气主要由气压差造成，而气压差又源于温差 暖空气会上升并扩散开来 这就是低气压 反之，冷空气会下沉并收缩 这就是高气压 全球的空气都会从高气压区域流向低气压区域 这样就形成了风

The air in a balloon, for example, is under higher pressure than the air outside it. When you let air out of a balloon, the air rushes out into the area of lower pressure. That's wind. Areas of high and low pressure are always moving and changing as earth spins and moves around the sun. Usually, the greater the difference in pressure between two areas, the faster the wind blows.

举个例子，气球里的空气气压比气球外面的更高 当你放开气球放气，空气就会冲向外面气压更低的地方 这就是风 随着地球自转和绕太阳公转，高低气压区一直都在移动变化 通常来说，两个区域的气压差越大，风速就越快

Sailboats Sailboats were the first important use of wind power. Early sailboats were simple ships with a single sail. Wind power only helped people travel in one direction, the direction the wind was blowing. In time, people learned to use sailboats to travel against the wind. They built ships with many sails that could

帆船 帆船是人类对风能最早的重要利用 早期的帆船构造简单，只有一张帆 那时风能只能带着人们顺着风吹的方向航行 后来，人们学会了驾驶帆船逆风航行 他们造出了带有多张船帆的船，可以

In the 1500s, explorers used massive ships with sails to travel the globe. People coming to the Americas also used these types of ships. In time, engines replaced sails as the main way to power ships. Today, people still sail for fun.

十六世纪，探险家们乘坐大型帆船环游世界 去往美洲的人们也乘坐这种帆船 后来，发动机取代了船帆，成为船只的主要动力来源 如今，人们依旧会驾驶帆船休闲玩乐