经济学人: 海洋生物的隐身斗篷 (1)

 　　THE ocean is dark and full of terrors, and the black dragonfish is the darkest of them all. 海洋中充满黑暗与恐惧，黑色的深海龙鱼是其中最黑暗的生物。

　　Its surface, new measurements reveal, is as black as the blackest material known—the result of an abyssal arms race. 最新测量数据表明其表面和最黑暗的已知物质一样黑—这是深海军备竞赛的结果。

　　"The trick to being really dark is to control the scattering¹ of light," says Sonke Johnsen of Duke University, in North Carolina, who studies the dragonfish. “黑暗是为了控制光的散射”，北卡罗来纳州杜克大学研究深海龙鱼的Sonke Johnsen说道。

　　"You have to let light into a material and let it bounce around a lot." “需要让光进入某种物质并让光反射出来。”

　　Black velvet², for instance, appears darker than other fabrics³ because photons (the particles of light) skip between its fine hairs and do not escape. 比如黑天鹅绒，看上去比其他纤维物质更加黑暗，因为光子（光的微粒）在细绒毛之间跳动且不会逃脱。

　　Similarly, Vantablack, the least reflective artificial material, traps photons in a forest of carbon nanotubes standing⁴ on their ends. 同样，Vantablack这种最不反光的人造材料将末端碳纳米管丛中的光子困住。

　　It absorbs 99.965% of visible light. Objects coated in it seem to disappear, leaving behind an inky silhouette⁵. 它可以吸收99.965%的可见光。包裹在其表面的物体好像消失了，只留下漆黑的轮廓。

　　Karen Osborn of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, DC, 华盛顿州史密森尼国家自然历史博物馆的凯伦·奥斯本

　　noticed a similar effect when she tried to photograph deep-sea fish, 发现了一种类似的效果，当时她在拍摄深海鱼，

　　many of which are coated in a fragile black film that has to be removed before a picture can be taken. Under a scanning electron microscope, 其中很多都鱼都被盖上了一层脆弱的黑膜，在拍摄照片前需要把它拿下来。在扫描电子显微镜下，

　　she discovered that this film is made of millions of microscopic⁶ melanin granules shaped like drug capsules, capped by a thin gelatinous layer. 她发现这层膜是由百万个药物胶囊一样的微观黑素颗粒制成，这些黑色颗粒表面有一层薄薄的凝胶层。

　　The absorbing effect of the film is so great that instruments calibrated⁷ in the usual way cannot detect any light reflected from the fish at all. 薄膜的吸收效果很好，普通的仪器无法探测到鱼反射出的任何光。

　　Dr Osborn's attempts to measure the light inside an empty pitch black room yielded the same result. 奥斯本博士尝试在一间空旷漆黑的房间中测量光线，但结果也是一样。

　　Eventually, she and her colleagues worked out that the dragonfish reflects just one in every 2,000 photons incident upon it—an absorbance of 99.95%. 最终，她和她的同事发现深海龙鱼仅反射入射到其表面的1/2000的光—吸光度为99.95%。

　　Similar measurements hold true for a whole range of fishes brought up from the abyss. 类似测量值也适用于来自深海的各种鱼类。

　　In the deepest depths of the ocean, what light could these animals be trying to avoid? 在海洋最深处，这些动物是为了躲避什么光呢？

　　The photic zone, which is bathed in sunlight during the day, and starlight and moonlight at night, reaches down a few hundred metres. 透光层白天沐浴在阳光之中，夜晚沐浴星光和月光，透光层低达几百米。

　　Yet blacker-than-black fish are found much deeper than that. The black dragonfish, for instance, lives up to 2,000 metres beneath the surface. 但更黑的鱼生活在透光层之下。例如，黑深海龙鱼生活在水面两千米之下。

1 scattering   

n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散

参考例句：

• The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒，把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

3 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 silhouette   

n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓

参考例句：

• I could see its black silhouette against the evening sky.我能看到夜幕下它黑色的轮廓。
• I could see the silhouette of the woman in the pickup.我可以见到小卡车的女人黑色半身侧面影。

6 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

7 calibrated   

v.校准( calibrate的过去式和过去分词 )；使标准化；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Power pesticide dusters can be calibrated and used to apply pertilizer. 动力杀虫剂可以调整用来施肥。 来自辞典例句
• The flexible diaphragm is connected to a plat cantilever-calibrated spring. 柔韧的膜片一扁平的悬臂校正弹簧相连。 来自辞典例句