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Malaria killed 435,000 people last year, most of them in Africa.
去年435,000人死于瘧疾，其中大部分在非洲。
The parasite that causes the illness is carried by females of some, but not all, species of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles.
一些，并非所有，按蚊屬雌性瘧蚊都攜帶致病的寄生蟲(chóng)。
An insect becomes infected by biting an infected human being. Over the course of ten to 12 days, the parasites then multiply inside her.
當(dāng)一只昆蟲(chóng)叮咬了被感染人群后，這只昆蟲(chóng)會(huì)被感染。在10 到12天內(nèi)，寄生蟲(chóng)迅速在她的體內(nèi)繁殖。
Once this has happened she transmits them with her bite.
一旦繁殖，她就會(huì)通過(guò)叮咬傳播這些寄生蟲(chóng)。
The threat posed by an individual mosquito thus depends on its species, sex and age.
一只蚊子所造成的威脅取決于它的種類、性別和年齡。
Knowing these for lots of local insects gives a better idea of where, when and how to intervene in a particular place.
知道本地昆蟲(chóng)的這些信息可以更好的了解在哪、何時(shí)以及如何對(duì)某個(gè)特定地點(diǎn)進(jìn)行干預(yù)。
If the locals are, for example, of a species that prefers to bite people inside houses,
例如，如果本地的一種種類喜歡叮咬房子里的人，
or to rest indoors after feeding, fumigating household interiors is the best approach.
或是喜歡在吃飽后在室內(nèi)休息，那么對(duì)房屋內(nèi)部進(jìn)行消毒是最好的方法。
If not, it may be better to locate and disrupt breeding sites, using aerial spraying.
如果不是，那么最好是利用飛機(jī)噴霧對(duì)它們的繁殖點(diǎn)進(jìn)行定位和破壞。
Sex is easy to determine. Males have bushy mouths—in essence, beards. Females do not.
性別很容易進(jìn)行確定。雄性嘴部（其實(shí)是胡須）濃密。雌性則不是。
Determining species and age, though, is slow and laborious. DNA must be sequenced. Bodies must be dissected under microscopes.
雖然確定種類、年齡慢且費(fèi)勁。DNA必須要進(jìn)行排序。必須在顯微鏡下對(duì)尸體進(jìn)行解剖。
Chemical analyses must be performed. Laboratories in Britain and Tanzania are therefore testing an alternative—infrared spectroscopy.
必須由化學(xué)分析師執(zhí)行。因此英國(guó)和坦桑尼亞的實(shí)驗(yàn)室對(duì)一種替換方法—紅外光譜法，進(jìn)行測(cè)驗(yàn)。
Mario González-Jiménez, a chemist at the University of Glasgow, uses a diamond and a piece of steel that act as a hammer and anvil,
格拉斯哥大學(xué)化學(xué)家Mario González-Jiménez使用一顆鉆石和一塊鋼充當(dāng)錘子和鐵砧
crushing the mosquito to be analysed. The infrared light is then provided by a laser.
壓碎需要被分析的蚊子。然后用激光提供紅外光。
With the insect duly splattered across one facet of the diamond, this laser is shone through the crystal onto it.
隨著鉆石的一面砸過(guò)這只昆蟲(chóng)，這束激光射過(guò)這面晶體。
The light reflected back out of the crystal by the insect's remains is run through a spectroscope for analysis.
通過(guò)昆蟲(chóng)尸體反射出的鉆石光線穿過(guò)分光鏡。
Part of the incident light will have been absorbed by various chemicals in the mosquito—
部分入射光將被蚊子中的各種化學(xué)物質(zhì)吸收—
particularly chitin (a structural carbohydrate), proteins and lipids in the animal's cuticle.
尤其是幾丁質(zhì)（一種結(jié)構(gòu)性碳水化合物）、蛋白質(zhì)以及動(dòng)物外皮的脂肪。
This absorption shows up in the reflected light's spectrum as an absence of certain frequencies.
這種出現(xiàn)在反射光光譜中的吸收顯現(xiàn)的是某種頻率的缺失。
These absences are called Fraunhofer lines, after the German physicist who discovered them two centuries ago.
這些缺失的頻率被稱為夫瑯和費(fèi)譜線，200年前，德國(guó)物理學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)了它們。
Particular molecules create particular patterns of Fraunhofer lines,
隨著消失的光能被吸收，也驅(qū)動(dòng)了特定分子中的原子鍵振動(dòng)，
as the missing light energy has been absorbed to drive the vibrations of atomic bonds within those molecules.
那些分子就可以創(chuàng)造出某些模式的夫瑯和費(fèi)譜線。
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