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原標題：每日一篇 | 《經濟學人》讀譯參考 Day403

TEXT 403

經濟學人:空間探索:拂去塵埃(2)

Science and technology

科技

Space exploration: Dusting yourself down

空間探索：拂去塵埃

Half a century later NASA is pondering a return to the Moon, as a stepping stone for missions to Mars and the asteroids.At the same time a growing number of private firms have ambitions to mine precious metals from those celestial bodies, too.One of the (many) problems that NASA and the space-prospecting crowd will have to solve is what to do about the dust.

譯文

半個世紀後，美國國家航空和宇宙航行局將目光重新聚焦在月球上，因為月亮可以成為通往火星或是其他小行星的跳板。同時，許多私營公司都有從那些天體中開採貴金屬的野心。那麼，對於美國國家航空航天局與希望進行太空勘探的人來說，首要解決的麻煩之一就是對付這些揚塵。

Fortunately for them Kavya Manyapu, an engineer at Boeing who has been working with scientists from NASA』s Glenn Research Centre, may have a solution.Ms Manyapu has come up with a new kind of spacesuit material that neutralises the dust in two different ways, one passive and one active.

譯文

對他們來說有一個好消息：波音公司的一位工程師Kavya Manyapu現如今正在與來自美國國家航空航天局的格倫研究中心的科學家合作，而這個問題有望得到解決。Manyapu女士提出了兩種除塵方式：有源除塵和無源除塵，使用一種新型宇航服材料消除塵埃碎片威脅。

The passive strategy is a novel polymer-based coating that is applied to the top of an ordinary fabric spacesuit.It is impregnated with tiny dust-like particles of its own, which makes it harder for the real thing to stick.To get rid of any dust that does nevertheless manage to accumulate, the material also has embedded within it a yarn made of conducting carbon-nanotube fibres.Connect those to a power source, and the fabric can create an electric field that repels the charged dust particles.

譯文

無源除塵是將一種新型以高分子聚合物為主的材料覆蓋在普通太空服布料的外層，如同齏粉一樣微小的塵埃碎片將會被吸附在這種材料上難以脫身。有源除塵是將碳納米管傳導纖維做成的紗線與上述的高分子聚合物材料一同進行紡織。將織好的布料連接電源，此時織物能夠產生電場使塵埃碎片帶上電荷，而在電場的作用下帶上電荷的塵埃顆粒就會沿著碳纖維移動到相應的電極上。

In tests, the two systems managed to repel about 90% of the simulated lunar dust that the material was exposed to.That would be a useful trick for future lunar explorers.But as is traditional for technology developed for use in space, Boeing is keen on terrestrial applications, too.The firm reckons its dust-repellent fabric could find uses in medicine or clean-room manufacturing.But until it has patented the idea, the company is not going into specifics.

譯文

在實驗中，上述兩種除塵方式都能夠消除材料表面近九成的模擬月塵。對於未來的月球勘探者來說，這也許會成為一項有價值的研究。不過按照慣例，在一種傳統的技術發展到能在太空上運用之前，波音公司更希望能首先運用在地球上。該公司預計，能夠找到這種防塵纖維，並且能將其運用在醫療或者是工業的無塵室中。雖然該項研究已經成功申請專利，但至今該公司並未提出具體的發展計劃。

注釋

1.private firms 私營企業

例句:Private firms are willing to make large scale investments to help cure Russia"s economic troubles.

私有企業願意投巨資幫助俄羅斯渡過經濟難關。

2.electric field 電場

例句:Even in fair weather, a very small electric field is present in Earth"s atmosphere.

即使很好的天氣情況下，地球大氣層的電場依然存在。

3.precious metals 貴重金屬

例句:Platinum and gold are precious metals.

鉑和黃金是貴重金屬。

4.get rid of 擺脫；除去

例句:I began to have a sinking feeling that I was not going to get rid of her.

我開始有一種永遠也擺脫不了她的沮喪情緒。

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