The Water Cube is set to make a splash for the 2008 Olympics.
北京水立方势必在 2008 年奥运会引起轰动。

China is no doubt one the most remarkable places in the world today, particularly in terms of its architectural marvels. Its buildings, many of them epic in size and design, range from the ancient to the high-tech and modern. National Geographic Channel''s China Special Month is about the stories of the modern-day architectural projects in China that are producing amazing new buildings for the world to enjoy.

Beijing Water Cube is one of the programs in this series, and it is very much about the modern as opposed to the ancient. The Beijing Water Cube is a building for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The building, which will be the National Aquatics Center, is indeed in the shape of a cube, but its appearance is far from run-of-the-mill. It is made of a steel honeycomb-like frame covered in a unique skin that is modeled after soap bubbles. Simply put, the effect is that the Water Cube looks like an enormous cube-shaped bundle of bubbles.

The bubbles are made of a plastic called ETFE, which is also used to protect spaceships from cosmic radiation. One of the advantages of ETFE is that it traps solar energy in the winter and reflects it in the summer, helping to control the building''s temperature. 3,500 bubbles had to be cut individually and sized in order to create the honeycomb-like structure. The bubbles are not identical or symmetrical, but seem to be organized randomly, with different shapes and sizes nestled together. Despite its random appearance, however, the soap-bubble structure used in the design has a geometry that''s perfect for a high-tech building. Soap bubbles actually always cling together in regular patterns, and the fragile-looking skin of the building''s bubbles—the plastic covering is only 1/5 of a millimeter thick!—is entirely safe.

Tune in to Beijing Water Cube to get the full story on this incredible new structure.

中国无疑是现今世界上最值得注意的国家之一，尤其以建筑成就而言。中国的建物从古代建筑到高科技及现代化都有，其中更不乏规模及设计都相当壮观的建筑物。国家地理频道的《新中国特辑》节目将介绍中国现代建筑工程，看它们如何打造出让全世界惊叹的建筑物。

《北京水立方》是这系列节目的单元之一，本单元的内容无关古代，而是相当现代化。北京水立方是为 2008 奥运会所打造。这座建筑物将会成为国家游泳中心，它的外型正如其名成立方体状，但外观却非常与众不同。水立方是由蜂巢状的钢铁框架所构成，而框架被模仿肥皂泡泡结构的特殊薄膜所覆盖。简单来说，水立方看起来就像无数个泡泡所组成的巨大立方体。
　　
这些泡泡是由一种称为 ETFE（乙烯–四氟乙烯共聚物）的塑料所制成，它也用来保护宇宙飞船免于宇宙辐射的伤害。ETFE 的好处之一就是它能够在冬天时储存太阳能，而夏天时将太阳能反射出去，帮助控制建筑物的温度。3,500 个泡泡必须按一定大小分别切割，以建构出蜂巢状的建筑物。这些泡泡并非完全相同或对称，反而像是没有规则的组织，但不同形状及大小的泡泡却又紧紧相连。尽管外表看起来很不规则，这些肥皂般的泡泡却拥有足以建造高科技建筑的完美几何结构。事实上，肥皂泡泡总是以规则的模式紧靠在一起，而包覆建筑物的塑料泡泡薄膜虽仅 0.2 公厘厚，看起来很脆弱，但实际上却是安全无虞。
　　
请锁定《北京水立方》，以全面了解这座令人叹为观止的建筑物。