读者文摘:成功预测新技术的人们

Hoverboard. Sure, the DeLorean in the Back to the Future movies was a cool time traveler,

悬浮板。电影《回到未来》中的德罗宁是一个很酷的时间旅行者，

but it had nothing on the levitating¹ skateboard that Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) hopped² on to escape a bunch of thugs.

马蒂·麦克弗莱(迈克尔·J·福克斯饰)为了躲避一群暴徒，跳上了悬浮滑板，但滑板上什么也没有。

Three decades later, a 40-year-old French inventor proved the scriptwriters prescient by hovering³ across the English Channel.

三十年后，一位40岁的法国发明家悬停在英吉利海峡的上空，证明了编剧的先见之明。

Franky Zapata strapped⁴ his boots to a board connected to five small turbine engines (right) and made the 22-mile trip from France in 22 minutes.

弗兰克·扎帕塔将他的鞋绑在了一个连接有5个小涡轮发动机的板子上（右图），从法国出发在22分钟内完成了22英里的旅行。

And, unlike Marty, Zapata was smart enough to wear a helmet.

与马蒂不同的是，萨帕塔很聪明，戴了一个头盔。

Bluetooth. In his futuristic 1953 novel Fahrenheit⁵ 451, Ray Bradbury anticipated Bluetooth,

蓝牙。雷·布拉德伯里在他1953年的科幻小说《华氏451度》中预测了蓝牙，

describing wireless⁶ earphones that allowed for "an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk" to be transmitted through the air.

他在书中描述了无线耳机，它可以使“电子海洋的声音、音乐和谈话”通过空气传播。

Imagine how thrilled he would have been with a Bluetooth toaster!

想象一下，如果他有一个蓝牙烤面包机，他会多么激动！

That was the idea behind Griffin's Connected Toaster, which alerted you via smartphone when your toast was done.

这就是格里芬联网烤面包机背后的想法，当面包烤好时，它会通过智能手机提醒你。

At $100, this baby cost a lot of bread, which maybe why it was discontinued just two years after launch.

这款面包机价格不菲，售价100美元，这也许就是为什么它在上市两年后就停产了。

Smart Watch. The Apple Watch lets you chat, play games, and watch videos on a device strapped to your wrist. Cool, huh?

智能手表。苹果手表这个戴在手腕上的设备，你可以用它聊天，玩游戏，看视频。很棒吧。

The Jetsons thought so ... in 1962—when Steve Jobs was still in second grade!

杰森一家在1962年就想到这个点子了，那时史蒂夫·乔布斯还在上二年级！

Wifi. Nikola Tesla called it! In 1909, the famed electrical engineer told the New York Times,

无线网络。尼古拉·特斯拉起的名字！1909年，这位著名的电气工程师告诉《纽约时报》，

"I will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages all over the world so simply that any individual can carry and operate his own apparatus⁷."

“在全世界范围内，我不久将有可能实现简单地传送无线信息，任何人都可以携带和操作自己的设备。”

No doubt he was thinking of the Kérastase Hair Coach brush, which measured brushing speed and employed a microphone to listen to your hair,

毫无疑问，他想到的是卡诗智能发梳，它可测量刷牙速度，用麦克风听你的头发，

all to compute⁸ an overall hair-quality score sent to your smartphone. (Alas, it too is gone.)

所有这些都是为了计算发送到智能手机的整体头发质量评分。(唉，它也消失了。)

GPS. Writer Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) saw a world in which no one got lost.

全球定位系统。作家亚瑟·C·克拉克(2001：太空漫游)预测到了一个没有人迷路的世界。

In 1956, he wrote that satellites "could make possible a position-finding grid⁹ whereby anyone could locate himself by means of a couple of dials on an instrument about the size of a watch."

1956年，他写道，卫星“可能使定位网格成为可能”，这样，任何人都可以通过手表大小的仪器上的两个刻度盘来确定自己的位置。”

Clarke didn't mention that his system might also track another person, such as a criminal.

克拉克没有提到他的系统可以跟踪另外一个人，比如一个罪犯。

Last year, the New York City police nabbed a burglar who was wearing a GPS ankle monitor—because he was still on probation¹⁰ for a prior conviction.

去年，纽约市警察逮捕了一个戴着GPS脚踝监视器的窃贼，因为他还在缓刑中。

1 levitating   

v.（使）升空，（使）漂浮( levitate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• It will not mean things like levitating objects and reading others minds. 你将开始明白掌握力量的真正意义。 来自互联网
• As the pole rotates the balls spin out levitating higher the faster the system spins. 柱子旋转的时候，这两个球也会转起来，这个系统转得越快，它们飞得越高。 来自互联网

2 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

3 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。

4 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。

6 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

7 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

8 compute   

v./n.计算，估计

参考例句：

• I compute my losses at 500 dollars.我估计我的损失有五百元。
• The losses caused by the floods were beyond compute.洪水造成的损失难以估量。

9 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。

10 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。