时代周刊:无人机逐渐走入大众日常生活(1)

Drones Are Everywhere. Ge Used to It.

无人机已经无所不在 习惯就好

BY ALEX FITZPATRICK

文/阿历克斯·菲茨帕特里克

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico last September, it ravaged¹ the island’s electrical grid² and communications systems.

去年9月，飓风玛利亚袭击波多黎各，摧毁了岛上的电网和通讯系统。

For weeks, many of the approximately 5 million Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S. were unable to reach their loved ones.

连续数周，居住在美国大陆的大约500万波多黎各人中的许多人都与他们的亲属失去了联络。

While recovery groups worked to restore power and deliver aid, cell providers scrambled³ to repair their networks.

就在救援人群努力恢复电力，援助物资之际，手机运营商也在抢修他们的网络。

To get its service back up and running, AT&T tried something new: the Flying COW,

为了恢复运营，AT&T想到了新的办法：“飞牛”（Flying Cow），

a tethered drone that beamed mobile-data signals up to 40 miles in all directions.

一种系有绳子，可向周围40英里范围内的任何方向发送移动数据信号的无人机。

“As soon as we turned it on, people just started connecting to it instantly,”

“我们一打开，人们立刻就开始连网了，”

says Art Pregler, AT&T’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems program director.

AT&T无人机系统项目主管阿特·普雷格勒说道。

His team operated the Flying COW, short for “cell on wheels,” from the parking lot of a Walmart on the island,

就是他的团队在岛上的一家沃尔玛停车场操作“飞牛”，COW是“长翅膀的基地台”的缩写，

which provided the Internet connection for the airborne cell tower.

为机载蜂窝基站提供互联网连接。

With any technology, there are certain inflection points

任何技术都有一定的拐点，

when it goes from being something perpetually in the near future to being a part of everyday life.

从永远停留在不久的将来变成日常生活的一部分。

For years, drones have been hovering⁴ on the cusp—

多年来，无人机一直盘旋在尖端领域——

used by militaries and relatively⁵ small numbers of hobbyists but not part of the larger culture.

只有军方和小部分业余爱好者使用，并没有进入普罗大众的生活。

The U.S. military ushered⁶ in the drone age in 2001,

美国军方2001年就挺进了无人机时代，

when it began using the unmanned, remotely piloted technology to target al-Qaeda leaders in the wilds of Afghanistan.

开始利用这一无人驾驶的遥控技术攻击阿富汗野外的基地组织头目。

Drones have since become a key part of the military’s arsenal⁷,

从那时起，无人机就成了我方军火库的重要组成部分，

and their use in conflict zones around the world has expanded under both the Obama and Trump⁸ Administrations.

无论是奥巴马政府还是特朗普政府，无人机在世界各地的冲突地区的应用范围都已越来越广。

Civilian⁹ uses, however, have long been more promise than reality.

然而，长期以来，无人机在民用领域一直都更像是一种希望而非现实。

That’s finally changing.

如今，这一形势终于发生了改变。

Some 3 million drones were sold worldwide in 2017,

2017年，全球无人机销量达到了近300万架，

and more than 1 million drones are registered for U.S. use with the Federal Aviation Administration.

其中在美国联邦航空管理局登记的就超过100万架。

(Most store-bought drones have to be registered with the FAA.)

(大部分于商店购买的无人机都必须到联邦航空局注册。)

These consumer drones can fly vertically¹⁰, like helicopters, and are similar to remote-controlled airplanes

这些消费级无人机可以像直升机一样垂直飞行，还和遥控飞机有些类似，

but with more sophisticated technology such as GPS, wi-fi and obstacle-avoidance sensors¹¹.

但相比遥控飞机还拥有更先进的技术，如GPS、wi-fi和避障传感器。

They’re being used by tech-savvy farmers to monitor and spray crops,

精通技术的农民用它们来监测和播撒农作物，

by researchers to measure environmental pollution and by Hollywood studios to capture action-packed footage for blockbuster movies.

研究人员用它们测量环境污染，好莱坞电影公司用它们来拍摄大片的动作场面。

Drones are even saving lives, as first responders in places like Menlo Park, Calif.,

它们甚至还被用来拯救生命，加州门洛帕克等地用无人机开展急救工作，

use them to coordinate¹² operations and search for missing hikers.

用它们来配合行动，寻找失踪的徒步旅行者。

(Sixty five people have been rescued by drones, by one estimate.)

(据估计，已有65人被无人机救出。)

And of course, drones are being flown by hundreds of thousands of amateurs,

当然，还有成千上万的业余爱好者在操作无人机，

who use them for everything from taking vacation photos to buzzing around their local park.

用它们拍旅行照片或是在当地公园飞着玩等等等等。

While businesses used the first wave of drones to take overhead real estate photos and deliver pizza for public relations stunts¹³,

虽然企业最早利用无人机拍摄地产鸟瞰照片，为公关噱头递送披萨等，

now companies are experimenting in ways that could dramatically change entire industries.

如今，企业已经开始投入一些可能显著改变整个行业的未来的试验。

Amazon is working on drones that could deliver packages within minutes,

亚马逊正在研发几分钟就能完成包裹递送的无人机，

a technology that could one day be used for time-sensitive health emergencies like organ shipments.

有朝一日，这项技术或许可以应用到争分夺秒的突发卫生事件，比如器官运输领域。

1 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 hovering   

鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• The helicopter was hovering about 100 metres above the pad. 直升机在离发射台一百米的上空盘旋。
• I'm hovering between the concert and the play tonight. 我犹豫不决今晚是听音乐会还是看戏。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 ushered   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The secretary ushered me into his office. 秘书把我领进他的办公室。
• A round of parties ushered in the New Year. 一系列的晚会迎来了新年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

8 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

10 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

11 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

12 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

13 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》