VOA慢速英語: 新型相機(jī)每秒拍攝數(shù)十萬照片

New Camera Takes Billions of Pictures Every Second
新型照相機(jī)每秒拍攝數(shù)十億的照片
Imagine a camera that can take one hundred billion pictures a second -- that is enough to record the fastest movements in the universe.
想象一下一個相機(jī)一秒鐘能夠拍攝1千億的圖片——這足以記錄宇宙中最快物體的運(yùn)動了。
But we do not have to imagine it, because a scientist has invented such a camera. He calls it an imaging system. It may seem like science fiction, but it is science reality.
但是我們不需要想象了，因為一位科學(xué)家已經(jīng)發(fā)明這樣一款相機(jī)。他稱之為成像系統(tǒng)，這似乎有點象科幻小說，但是確實是科學(xué)事實。
Lihong Wang is a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He leads a team of researchers who have discovered several new imaging techniques.
王力宏是密蘇里州圣路易斯華盛頓大學(xué)的生物工程師。他負(fù)責(zé)一個的研究小組已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)多項新型的成像技術(shù)。
"For the first time, humans can literally see light pulses traveling in space at the speed of light."
“人類第一次能夠看到太空中的光脈沖的速度。”
The speed of light is almost 300 million meters per second. At that speed, it would take just one second to travel around the world seven-and-a-half times. Mr. Wang photographs light particles moving at that speed using a unique camera.
光的速度大概每秒3億米，照這樣的速度，只需要一秒種，光就能繞地球七圈半。王先生用一款特別的相機(jī)拍下來光離子的運(yùn)動。
"The streak camera is a very specialized device that allows us to convert time into space. We convert light particles, or photons, into electrons, then pull the electrons, really hard, at different rates, depending on the time of arrival. So the time of arrival will be converted into different vertical positions."
“這種光線相機(jī)是一種專業(yè)的設(shè)備，能夠讓我們將時間轉(zhuǎn)換到太空中。我們將光能粒子或光子轉(zhuǎn)換成電子，然后非常艱難地根據(jù)捕捉到的不同時間將電子轉(zhuǎn)換成不同的射線。因此，到達(dá)的時間不同會被轉(zhuǎn)換到不同的垂直位置中。”
Mr. Wang's new technology improves on other ultra-fast cameras in important ways. Until now, streak cameras could only take a one-dimensional photograph. That is like looking through a vertical opening and trying to take a picture of something flying by really fast.
王先生的新技術(shù)對于其它超高速相機(jī)的研究有重要的作用。直到現(xiàn)在，光線相機(jī)只能夠拍攝到一維的照片。就好像是通過垂直性張開，試圖拍下快速飛行的物體的照片。
The fastest cameras had to have an external, or outside, light source to work. But Mr. Wang's technique does not need special lighting. It produces two-dimensional images like regular photographs, but at a speed of one image every 10 trillionths of a second.
最快的攝像機(jī)需要有外部的光源來運(yùn)作。但是王教授的技術(shù)不需要特殊的光，這種成像技術(shù)能夠呈現(xiàn)像普通照片那樣的二維圖像，但是能夠一秒鐘拍到數(shù)萬億的圖像。
Brian Pogue is a biomedical engineer at Dartmouth College in the eastern American state of New Hampshire. He reviewed the new imaging system for the science publication Nature. He says this new way of seeing the movement of light could lead to major scientific discoveries in areas like optical cloaking.
布瑞恩·波格是美國東部新罕布什爾州達(dá)特茅斯學(xué)院的生物工程師。他在《自然》科學(xué)出版雜志上評論了新的成像系統(tǒng)的技術(shù)。他稱這種看到光運(yùn)動的新方式會引起一些領(lǐng)域諸如隱形光學(xué)等方面的一些重要科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)。
"Cloaking" is a kind of technology that can make an object -- like a spaceship -- seem to disappear. Mr. Pogue says the military would like to use cloaking.
"Cloaking"是一種技術(shù)，能夠讓一種物體，比如太空飛船看起來消失，波格表示軍隊會使用這種隱形技術(shù)。
"There's a lot of interest in getting light to bend around objects, so it sort of looks like you're seeing through them."
“讓光在物體周圍彎曲是很有趣的事，就好像你能看穿這些光。”
Brian Pogue says Mr. Wang's new system lets researchers photograph light as it bends. He says they have not been able to do that until now. He says this development could help make optical cloaking a reality.
布瑞恩·波格表示王教授的新成像系統(tǒng)因為可以彎曲所以能夠讓研究者拍到光的運(yùn)動。他說直到現(xiàn)在才能夠做到這一點。這一研究法陣能夠讓隱形的光學(xué)成為實實在在的東西。
Lihong Wang imagines other uses for the new camera in such scientific fields as molecular biology and astronomy. He says ultrafast imaging could lead to new discoveries.
王力宏設(shè)想這款新型相機(jī)的其它功能，比如在科學(xué)領(lǐng)域的分子生物學(xué)和太空領(lǐng)域的使用。他說這種超高速成像技術(shù)會引發(fā)一些新發(fā)現(xiàn)。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是喬納森·伊凡斯。
Correspondent Veronique LaCapra reported this story from St. Louis, Missouri. Jonathan Evans wrote it for VOA Learning English. Christopher Cruise was the editor.
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Words in this Story
astronomy – n. the scientific study of stars, planets, and other objects in outer space
optical – adj. relating to or using light
cloak – v. to hide or disguise something
molecule – n. the smallest possible amount of a particular substance that has all the characteristics of that substance
technique – n. a way of doing something by using special knowledge or skill
What would you photograph with such a camera? What inventions have you read about in science fiction books or seen on television programs or in movies about the future that you would like to use? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the comments section.