It was 38 years ago this weekend that the 747, the "jumbo jet", first rolled out of a factory in Everett, Washington State.
卅八年前這個周末，七四七巨無霸客機首次在華盛頓州艾弗雷特出廠。

For many people, the jumbo ruled the skies, but time is now up for the early 747s.
對很多人，巨無霸宰制了天空，但早期出廠的七四七大限已至。 

The life span of most commercial aeroplanes is said to be around 30 years; and so, just as there was a 1970s explosion in aircraft production, now there's a big jump in the number of planes beyond use.
大部分商用客機的壽命據悉約卅年左右，因此，一如1970年代，飛機暴量生產，今天也有一大堆飛機已經無用武之地。

What's to be done with them Aircraft contain toxic materials, so dumping them at a far-off airfield or throwing them in the sea is clearly unacceptable. But that's just what has been happening, according to Bill Glover, Boeing's director of environmental performance for commercial aeroplanes. "There were some specific instances of bits of planes found in waterways. That obviously raised  a flag for everyone concerned."
該怎麼處理這些老舊的飛機？飛機含有毒物質，因此把他們丟棄在遙遠的機場或傾倒在海中顯然不可行。但據波音公司客機環境績效主任葛洛佛表示，這正是迄今的處理方式，「在水道上偶爾可以發現一些飛機碎片的個案。這顯然使每個相關人士提高警覺。」

Aware that getting rid of aeroplanes was only going to become more of an issue, Boeing set up the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (Afra). It's a union of recycling companies with two airports - Chateauroux in central France and Evergreen Air Centre in Arizona.
波音了解到處理廢機將成為越來越嚴重的問題，已經成立機隊回收協會，這是在法國中部沙特魯機場和亞利桑那州長青航空中心這兩個機場的回收公司所組成的工會。

Chateauroux airport is run by Martin Fraissignes (also the executive director of Afra), who estimates as many as 8,000 aircraft may be retired in the next decade.
沙特魯機場是由身兼機隊回收協會執行主任的佛雷塞恩總管，他估計，未來十年，有多達八千架飛機將退役。 

As we examine a plane which has been sliced in half, he points out the thinness and fragility of the shell and chuckles: "You're flying 900km per hour at 30,000ft... in this!"
檢視一架被切成兩半的飛機時，他指著薄薄脆弱的機殼笑稱：「你就坐這種飛機，在三萬呎高空，以九百公里的時速飛行！」

Heaps of metal and tangled wire litter Chateauroux's concrete surface on which all the dismantling and recycling takes place.
一堆堆廢鐵和糾纏如麻的線路，零散丟棄在沙特魯水泥地上，所有拆卸和回收都在這裡進行。

Parts that still work are taken away for re-sale. Metals are separated for re-use. But in years to come, plane recycling will become less of an exercise in processing scrap metal.
還管用的零組件取走再賣，金屬則拆解後重新使用，但未來幾年，飛機回收將不再只涉及處理廢金屬的問題。

Increasingly, aircraft are being made of carbon fibre - the substance makes up 50% of Boeing's 787. And this, says the company's Bill Glover, presents a new recycling challenge.
將有越來越多飛機由碳纖維製造，波音七八七有一半材質是碳纖。葛洛佛說，這會構成新的回收挑戰。

life span 壽命     dismantling 拆卸
recycling 回收     carbon fibre 碳纖維