The tower of Big Ben, London's most famous building, has always leaned slightly, but construction work on a new line for the London Underground seemed likely to give the tower a real lean. Engineers have had to prop up its base to prevent it from damaging the rest of the Houses of Parliament.
伦敦最著名的建筑大本钟一直有点倾斜，但伦敦地铁一条新线路的施工似乎可能会让这座钟楼真正倾斜。工程师们不得不加固它的基座，防止它损坏议会大厦。
To control the tower's movement, engineers pumped grout into the soil under the tower. The tower not leans an extra few centimeters, but the lean can only be seen by the most sharp-eyed observer.
为了控制大本钟的移动，工程师们向钟楼底部的土壤中注入水泥浆。钟楼没有再倾斜几厘米，倾斜的部分只有目光最敏锐的观察者才能看到。
Between 1995 and 1997, to lengthen the Jubilee line of the Underground, builders dug a 40-metre-deep hole just 31 metres north of the clock tower. And the new tube (underground) tunnels were even nearer to the tower. John Burland, who recently helped stop the increasing lean in the Leaning Tower of Pisa and was an adviser to the Jubilee line project, believed the work would affect the tower. In his opinion, no further lean should go beyond a safety limit of 27.5 millimetres over the existing lean of 220 millimetres.
1995年至1997年间，为了延长地铁禧年线，建筑商在钟楼以北31米处挖了一个40米深的洞，而新的地下隧道更靠近钟楼。最近参与防止比萨斜塔越来越倾斜的约翰·伯兰，也是禧年线项目的顾问，他相信这项施工会影响钟楼。他认为，在现有220毫米倾斜的基础上，不能再有超过27.5毫米安全极限的倾斜。
To keep the lean within this limit, Burland told the British Association about the new method of pumping grout immediately unde the base of the tower. More than 300 tons of grout were pumped in during construction.The tower's additional lean went between 10 and 25 millimetres, but never passed 27.5 millimetres.
为了将倾斜度控制在这一限制范围内，伯兰向英国协会介绍了一种新的方法，即立即将水泥浆泵入钟楼底部。施工过程中注入了300多吨水泥浆。钟楼增加的倾斜在10到25毫米之间，但从未超过27.5毫米。
After the construction work was completed in last 1997, a review of movements in nearby walls showed that the building was in better shape than had been thought before and the safety limit was raised to 35 millimetres before any action needs to be taken.
去年1997年完工后，对附近墙体移动情况的审查显示，钟楼的外形比原来想象的要好，在采取任何行动之前，安全限值已提高至35毫米。
Since 1997, the tower had continued to lean, Burland told Modern Constuction.The latest measurements, taken this year, suggest that the tower's lean had just reached 35 millimetres. But
following regular re-examinations of the tower, experts are sure that the tower has stabilised. A spokesman for London Underground says: "We understand the tower has stabilised and retuned to its normal movement cycle."
伯兰告诉《现代建筑》，自1997年以来，大本钟一直在倾斜。今年进行的最新测量表明，倾斜刚达到35毫米。但在对钟楼进行定期重新检查后，专家们确信钟楼已经稳定。伦敦地铁公司的一位发言人说：“我们了解到大本钟已经稳定，重新回到了正常的运行周期。”
From Modern Construction, 16 September 2000
来自2000年9月16日《现代建筑》
