财经金融新闻 中国成功发射世界首颗量子科学卫星

It's one small step for a team of researchers and one quantum leap for China. On August 16, China successfully launched the world's first quantum communications satellite from a launch center in Gansu province. It's the first step in China's ambitious plan to build a worldwide quantum satellite network by 2030, and it could be used to send messages that are nearly impossible to hack¹.

团队一小步，中国一大步。8月16日，中国甘肃省发射中心成功发射了世界上第一颗量子通信卫星。这是中国立志于2030年之前建造一个世界范围内的量子卫星网络计划的第一步，而且用它发送信息几乎不可能被拦截。

The Quantum Science Satellite, or QSS, will be used to send a test message from Beijing to Vienna through quantum key distribution. This means that information will be stored and encrypted on tiny particles called photons, which will be beamed up to the satellite and back to earth.

量子科学卫星，简称QSS，将通过量子秘钥分配来发送从北京到维也纳的测试信息。也就是说信息将会被存储和加密在量子微粒上，并传送到卫星上，再返还至地球。

QSS is the creation of a team led by Pan Jianwei, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Pan's team has been working on the satellite since 2011, and has also designed quantum communication cables in several Chinese cities.

量子科学卫星是由中国科学院学者潘建伟领导的团队发明的。潘建伟的团队自2011年就开始研究该卫星，并且在中国的几个城市中设计了量子通信电缆。

Why is information sent through quantum communication so hard to hack? The answer lies in the type of particles used for transmission. Professor Vladimir Makarov of the University of Waterloo says that traditional telecommunications, like phone calls, can be tapped because they use electrons to send information. Hackers² can divert enough electrons to read a message without altering it. But the properties of a photon change as soon as they are measured, which means that trying to read information encoded on a photon will cause the message to self-destruct.

为什么通过量子通信发送的信息难以拦截？原因藏于用来传输的微粒类型上。滑铁卢大学的弗拉德米尔·马卡洛夫教授说，诸如电话这样的传统通讯方式会被侦测到，因为它是用电子来发送信息的。黑客可以转移足够的电子来阅读信息并且不会改变信息内容。但是量子只要一受到干扰，其性能就会改变，这就意味着试图阅读在量子上加密的信息只会让它自毁。

If the transmission is successful, Chinese physicists³ plan to use the satellite to set up secure communications between Beijing and Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

传输如果成功，中国物理学家计划用该卫星来建立北京和新疆省会乌鲁木齐之间的安全通信系统。

Although Western scientists have also been working to develop quantum communications technology, they have been frustrated⁴ by budget cuts and red tape, helping⁵ China take the lead. In a stroke of national pride, Pan and his team nicknamed the satellite "Micius" after an ancient Chinese philosopher who theorized that the universe was made of particles.

虽然西方科学家也一直致力于研发量子通信技术，但是他们总是遭遇预算削减和官僚作风的阻碍，让中国占了先机。沉浸在民族自豪感中，潘建伟和他的团队用中国古代哲学家的名字“墨子”给这颗卫星起了绰号，正是他提出了宇宙是由量子组成的理论。

Wang Jianyu, who co-led the satellite team, said China "has been trailing the footsteps of others for more than a century" in scientific and aerospace⁶ technology. But the launch of QSS has propelled China ahead of the pack by quantum leaps and bounds.

该团队的共同领导者王建宇说，中国在科技和航天技术领域“一个多世纪以来都是跟随着别人的脚步”。但是量子科学卫星的发射让中国遥遥领先于其他国家。

1 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

2 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

3 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。