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Bats are one of evolution's great success stories.
蝙蝠是個非常成功的演化故事。
Their ancestors were small mammals that scurried on all fours and probably lived on an insect diet, as many bats do now.
它們的祖先是用四肢快步行走的小型哺乳動物，可能以昆蟲為食，就跟現代許多蝙蝠一樣。
How those ancestors came to fly is an unsolved mystery.
這些祖先獲得飛行能力的過程仍是未解之謎。
The oldest known bat fossils -- from the Green River geological formation in Wyoming, dating to more than 50 million years ago -- already show the transformed forearm and fingers that form the scaffolding for the thin, muscular membrane of the bat's wing.
已知最古老的蝙蝠化石出自懷俄明州的綠河地層，可追溯至超過5000萬年前，從這些化石已經可以看出變形的前肢和手指，它們形成支架結構，為蝙蝠輕薄而帶肌肉的翼膜提供支撐。
Thus the Latin name for the order of bats, Chiroptera, meaning "hand wing."
因此，蝙蝠目的拉丁文是Chiroptera，意思是“翼手”。
Once bats had taken flight, they filled every ecological niche available to winged creatures and spread around the globe.
蝙蝠獲得飛行能力后，就占據了每一個適合有翅動物的生態區位，并分布到全球各地。
One-fifth of all mammal species are bats. Only the order of rodents has more members.
蝙蝠占哺乳動物物種的五分之一，僅次于嚙齒目。
Bats eat everything: insects, fruit, nectar, blood, and fish.
蝙蝠什么都吃：昆蟲、水果、花蜜、血液、魚。
They range in size from the bumblebee bat, weighing in at less than an ounce, to the biggest flying fox, a fruit bat with a nearly six-foot wingspan and weighing up to three pounds.
它們的體型差異很大，最小的是蜜蜂蝠，有些體重不到一盎司，而最大的是一種狐蝠，翼展近6英尺、體重達3磅。
Some species are solitary, but many are social.
有些蝙蝠是獨居性動物，但許多蝙蝠是社會性動物。
They live in vast colonies and in small groups, roost in trees and caves and attics and behind house shutters.
它們生活在龐大群落或小型族群中，棲息環境包括樹林、洞穴、閣樓、百葉窗后。
They are an integral part of just about every ecosystem.
它們幾乎在所有生態系統里都是不可或缺的一分子。
They consume mosquitoes and agricultural pests, and pollinate plants like bananas, mangoes, avocados, and durians, the notoriously odorous and economically important Asian fruit.
它們會吃蚊子和農業害蟲，并為香蕉、芒果、牛油果、榴蓮等植物傳粉。
Not to mention the prized agaves of the Sonoran Desert. In short: No bats, no tequila.
更別提北美洲索諾蘭沙漠里備受珍視的龍舌蘭屬植物了，簡單來說，沒有蝙蝠就沒有龍舌蘭酒。
And they fly like no other creature, which is what first drew Swartz to that Australian golf course more than 30 years ago.
此外，它們的飛行方式獨特非凡，這也是三十幾年前首次吸引史沃茲前往澳洲那座高爾夫球場的原因。
At the time, she was studying the mechanics of movement in primates, looking at how skeletons evolved to balance the need for strength with the disadvantages of heavier bones.
當時她正在研究靈長類動物的運動機制，探討骨架如何演化，才能從對力量的需求和骨骼較重的劣勢之間找到平衡。
"It seemed obvious that weight is a problem for flying animals in a way that it isn't for anybody else," she said. "The structure of these limbs magnetized me in a way that no primate limb ever had."
“對于飛行動物而言，體重似乎明顯是一大問題，但對其他動物而言則不然?！彼f，“蝙蝠的肢體結構深深吸引了我，靈長類的肢體從未讓我有這樣的感受?！?/div>
Because bat wings are made of skin stretched on light bones with many joints, they interact with the air in ways that are not possible for less flexible bird and insect wings.
蝙蝠翅膀是由皮膚在具有許多關節的輕盈骨頭上延展所形成，所以這種翅膀與空氣的交互作用方式，是較不具彈性的鳥類和昆蟲翅膀無法做到的。
Bird wings have three joints, roughly corresponding with the human shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
鳥類翅膀具有三個關節，約略等同于人類的肩關節、肘關節和腕關節。
"Bats have almost as many joints in the wing as we have in a human hand," Swartz said, "and they also have these crazy muscles that are embedded in the skin."
史沃茲說：“蝙蝠翅膀的關節數量幾乎跟人類的一雙手一樣多，而且他們還有埋在皮膚里的強壯肌肉?！?/p>
Bat wings are covered with countless tiny hairs that sense shifts in airflow.
蝙蝠的翅膀上覆蓋著無數微小的毛發，可以感知氣流的變化。
They are in constant conversation with the air, changing shape, creating lift, responding with idiosyncratic invention to each puff and gust:
它們會不斷地與空氣交互作用，改變形狀、創造升力，并且以獨特方式應對每一股氣流和每一陣強風：
In tests that Swartz and her team ran to present a challenge to normal flight patterns, they found that when they injected a saline solution into bats' abdomens to mimic the weight of a big meal, each animal responded in a different way.
史沃茲和團隊在測試中對蝙蝠的正常飛行模式進行考驗，他們將生理食鹽水注射進蝙蝠腹部，以模擬飽餐一頓后的重量，結果發現每只蝙蝠的應對方式都不同。
Dimitri Skandalis, who studies this extraordinary individual variation at Johns Hopkins University, compared the complexity of bat wing movement to human facial expressions.
迪米崔·斯坎達利斯在約翰霍普金斯大學研究這種驚人的個體差異，他曾經將蝙蝠翅膀動作的復雜性比作人類的面部表情。
All smiles are recognizable as smiles, but no two are exactly the same. Could this intricate, intuitive movement be replicated in a machine?
所有微笑都能視為微笑，但是每個人的微笑都不一樣。機器能夠復制這種精巧且直覺性的動作嗎？
Bat flight is "dancing in the air," said Alireza Ramezani, an assistant professor of engineering at Northeastern University. "For me, creating a drone that looked like that was exciting."
美國東北大學的工程學助理教授阿里雷扎·拉梅薩尼說，蝙蝠飛行就像“在空中起舞”?！拔矣X得打造飛行方式類似蝙蝠的無人機是很令人興奮的事?！?/div>
Inspired by Swartz's experiments, he took on the challenge of creating bat robots.
他受到史沃茲的實驗啟發，開始挑戰打造蝙蝠機器人。
With the flexibility of hands and the stretchiness of skin, bat wings can cope with rapid and complex shifts in airflow, particularly those that exist inside confined spaces.
蝙蝠翅膀擁有手的靈活度和皮膚的延展性，所以能夠應對快速且復雜的氣流變化，特別是在封閉空間內。
"There's so many challenges from an engineering design standpoint. How can you have all these components inside a system, a drone that weighs a hundred grams?"
“從工程設計的角度來看，挑戰實在很多。要怎樣將這些元素全部放進這套系統，放進100克重的無人機里？”
One of the keys to understanding and replicating bat flight, Ramezani said, is that bats do not consciously make every split-second decision.
拉梅薩尼說，了解及復制編蝠飛行的關鍵之一是蝙蝠不會有意識地做出每個瞬間決定。
The soft tissue of bat wings deforms and reshapes in response to air pressure without needing direction from the brain's air traffic control center -- an example of what engineers call passive dynamics.
蝙蝠翅膀的軟組織會因應氣壓而變形及重塑，過程中不需要腦部的航管中心給予指示，這就是工程師所謂的被動動力學的一個例子。
As bats move their major wing joints, the membrane of the wing transfers that movement to the smaller joints, and the stretchiness of the wing responds to the flow of air against it.
蝙蝠活動翅膀的主要關節時，翼膜會將這種運動傳遞到較小的關節，而翅膀的延展性會隨著接觸到的氣流而反應。
"In bats," said Ramezani, "you have the locomotion characteristics of jellyfish and the locomotion characteristics of birds."
拉梅薩尼說：“蝙蝠同時擁有水母和鳥的移動特征。”
Although the beauty and complexity of bat flight first caught his attention, Ramezani said, the potential usefulness of a bat drone helped drive the project forward.
拉梅薩尼說，盡管最初引起他注意的是蝙蝠飛行的優美姿態和復雜性，但蝙蝠無人機的潛在用途才是推動這項計劃繼續發展的要素。
Building on Swartz's findings, he and his team created a soft-bodied robot that can navigate in environments where quadcopter drones, now ubiquitous in peace and war, can't.
他和團隊根據史沃茲的研究結果，打造了一個身體柔軟的機器人，可以在廣泛使用于和平與戰爭用途的四軸無人機無法通過的環境中飛行。
In the United States alone, he said, there are more than a million miles of sewer lines that are difficult or dangerous for humans to inspect and monitor.
他說，光是在美國，就有超過100萬公里長的污水管道，是很難派人類進入檢查與監測，或者是有危險的。
And there are caves to explore, for mining and paleontological or archaeological research.
另外還有為了探礦及古生物學或考古學研究而需要探索的洞穴。
What better place to send a bat robot than a small, dark cave, in search of ancient bones or artifacts?
還有哪里比又小又暗的洞穴更適合派出蝙蝠機器人搜尋古代骨骸或文物呢？
| 重點單詞 | 查看全部解釋 | |||
| vast | [vɑ:st] |
想一想再看 adj. 巨大的，廣闊的 |
||
| archaeological | [.a:kiə'lɔdʒikəl] |
想一想再看 adj. 考古學的，考古學上的 |
||
| confined | [kən'faind] |
想一想再看 adj. 幽禁的；狹窄的；有限制的；在分娩中的 v. 限 |
聯想記憶 | |
| solution | [sə'lu:ʃən] |
想一想再看 n. 解答，解決辦法，溶解，溶液 |
聯想記憶 | |
| flight | [flait] |
想一想再看 n. 飛行，航班 |
||
| navigate | ['nævi.geit] |
想一想再看 vi. 航行，駕駛，操縱 vt. 航行，駕駛 |
聯想記憶 | |
| characteristics | [,kærəktə'ristiks] |
想一想再看 n. 特性，特征；特質；特色（characteristi |
||
| mechanics | [mi'kæniks] |
想一想再看 n. 力學，機械學，(技術的，操作的)過程，手法 |
聯想記憶 | |
| consciously | ['kɔnʃəsli] |
想一想再看 adv. 有意識地，自覺地 |
||
| notoriously | [nəu'tɔ:riəsli] |
想一想再看 adv. 臭名昭著地，眾所周知地 |
