VOA慢速英语:微小的苍蝇可能是新一代助听器研发的关键（双语）

微小的苍蝇可能是新一代助听器研发的关键

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

A fly with an extremely unusual ability to hear is the model for what may be the future of new and improved hearing aids. The insect behaves like a parasite -- an organism that lives on or in another organism called a host. This exceptional fly places larvae -- a young fly onto a cricket host. The larvae digs into the cricket and eats the insect from the inside out.

有着极不寻常听力能力的苍蝇可能会是未来经过改良的新一代助听器研发的模型。这种昆虫就像一个寄生虫——一种寄生在另一个生物体(被称为宿主)上的生物。这种特殊的苍蝇将幼虫放置在宿主蟋蟀上，这种幼虫会钻进蟋蟀体内，并由内而外把蟋蟀给吃掉。

The tiny yellow fly lives in Central America and the southern United States. It finds its host by listening for the cricket's high chirping voice. The fly can easily find a cricket from as far away as 91 meters.

这种黄色的小苍蝇生活在中美洲和美国南部。它通过听蟋蟀的鸣叫声来寻找它的宿主。这种苍蝇可以轻易地发现距离它91米远的蟋蟀。

Neal Hall is a sound engineer who worked on the new hearing aid model. He says the fly's behavior is very strange. Mr. Hall and his team at the University of Texas made a copy of the fly's hearing structure.

致力于研究这种新型助听器的音响工程师尼尔·霍尔称，这种苍蝇的行为非常奇怪。霍尔先生及其在德克萨斯州大学的团队复制了这种苍蝇的听觉结构。

"And they discovered that the fly has a clever mechanism that instead of using two independent ears, like a human would, the fly's ears are actually coupled," says Hall.

霍尔先生说：“他们发现，这种苍蝇拥有非常聪敏的身体机制，它不像人类一样有两个独立的耳朵，这种苍蝇的耳朵实际上是一对。”

The fly's ears are two millimeters apart. That distance is so small, that sound reaches one ear just four millionths of a second before arriving at the other. Experts say it should be impossible to identify where a sound is coming from. But inside this fly's ear is a 1.5 millimeters long structure similar to a see-saw -- a piece of children's party equipment.

这种苍蝇的两个耳朵之间只相距2毫米，该距离是如此之小，以至于声音传播到一只耳朵的时间只比传播到另一只耳朵快百万分之四秒。专家称，想判断出声音的来源，这应该不可能的。但是在这种苍蝇的耳朵里面，有一块类似儿童玩具跷跷板的长达1.5毫米的组织结构。

Like the see-saw, the fly's ear structure goes up and down from a central point. Pressure waves against the structure increase the time it takes for sound to travel and permit the fly to find its host.

就像跷跷板一样，这种苍蝇的耳朵结构由其中心点而上下移动，碰撞到该结构的压力波增加了声音传播所花费的时间，从而使得这种苍蝇可以找到它的宿主。

Mr. Hall and his team used the chemical element silicon to copy the fly's ear structure. They also used special electric materials that enable them to measure its movements at the same time.

霍尔先生和他的团队利用化学元素硅来复制这种苍蝇的耳朵结构，与此同时，他们还利用特殊的电工材料，这使得他们可以对其运动进行测量。

Hall says the hearing aid device could be used in two ways. One way would be to help the military on the battle field, there, sensors could find where shots are coming from. The second way would be to remove unwanted noise from a person's surroundings.

霍尔先生称，这种助听器可以被用于两个方面，一方面，它的传感器可以帮助战场上的军队找出敌人在哪里射击。另一方面，它可以移除掉一个人周围多余的噪音。

"That is a feature that is incredibly useful for hearing aids, for example, where right now, if you turn up the gain of a hearing aid or turn up the volume to hear someone across from you, it also amplifies everything else in the room," said Hall.

霍尔先生说：“这对于助听器来说是一个非常有用的功能，例如，就在现在，如果你调大助听器的音量来听你周围人的声音，它也会放大屋中所有的其他声音。”

Hall says the next test in marketing the hearing aid device is to make it usable. He says the device must be handled carefully because it is so small. He notes that the fly does not have this concern.

霍尔先生称，要推广这种助听器，所面临的另一大考验是确保其可用。他称，因为这种设备是如此微小，所以必须要小心操作。他指出，苍蝇就不会有这种担忧。

And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. I'm Jonathan Evans.

以上就是本期美国之音慢速英语科技报道的全部内容，我是乔纳森·埃文斯。