剑桥雅思8Test3阅读Passage1原文翻译 Striking Back at Lightning with Lasers 用激光回击闪电
剑桥雅思8阅读第三套题目第一篇文章的主题为用激光回击闪电。文章一共10个自然段，大体可以分为四部分：闪电所带来的危害，之前回击闪电方法所存在的缺陷，激光技术的介绍，以及它在其他方面的用途。下面是具体每一段的翻译。
点击查看这篇雅思阅读中需要大家掌握的重点词汇以及对应的答案解析：
雅思真题阅读词汇 剑桥雅思8 test 3 passage 1 用激光回击闪电
剑桥雅思8Test3阅读Passage1答案解析 Striking Back at Lightning with Lasers 用激光反击闪电
剑桥雅思8 Test3 Passage1阅读原文翻译
第1段
Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death – out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt’s most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.
很少有天气比雷暴袭击更为剧烈。仅在美国，它们每年就造成500人死亡或重伤。随着云层翻滚中，一场悠闲的高尔夫可能变成与死亡的可怕赌博-站在开放地带，一个孤独的球员可能成为闪电最诱人的目标。财产也受到损害。雷电使美国电力公司每年损失超过1亿美元。
第2段
But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.
但是美国和日本的研究人员正计划进行反击。他们已经在实验室测试了中和雷暴力量的方案。今年冬天，他们将冒着真正的暴风雨，配备激光武器，指向天空以在雷电袭击之前释放雷云的电荷。
第3段
The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California. EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States’ power grid from lightning strikes. ‘We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets, ‘ says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.
强迫暴风云按命令释放闪电的想法并不新鲜。在20世纪60年代初期，研究人员试图发射火箭将电线拖入雷云中，从而为这些云产生的巨大电荷建立一条简易的放电路径。在加利福尼亚州电力研究所（EPRI）的支持下，该技术文章来自老烤鸭雅思在佛罗里达大学经营的一个测试点中一直使用到今天。由电力公司资助的EPRI正在研究保护美国电网免受雷击的方法。EPRI闪电项目经理拉尔夫·伯恩斯坦（Ralph Bernstein）说：“我们可以用火箭让闪电击中我们想要的位置”。火箭场可以精确测量闪电电量，并允许工程师检查电气设备的承受能力。
Bad Behaviour 不良行为
第4段
But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1, 200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. ‘Lightning is not perfectly well behaved, ‘ says Bernstein. ‘Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn’t supposed to go. ‘
但是，尽管火箭可以很好地用于研究，但它们并不能提供所有人所寻求的免除雷电袭击的保护。这些火箭的价格约为每枚1,200美元，只能以有限的频率发射，其失败率约为40％。即使它们确实触发了闪电，事情仍然不一定总是按计划进行。伯恩斯坦说：“闪电行为并不完美。有时，它会沿着一个分支，转到原本不应该去的地方”。
第5段
And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? ‘What goes up must come down, ‘ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely – and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With around $500, 000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.
而且无论如何，谁愿意在人口稠密地区发射火箭？新墨西哥大学的让-克洛德·戴尔斯指出，“发射上去的东西一定会下来”。戴尔斯领导了一个由EPRI支持的项目，试图使用激光安全地释放闪电-安全是一项基本要求，因为没有人愿意将自己或昂贵的设备置于危险之中。到目前为止，已投入约50万美元，实验室中刚刚出现了一个有前途的系统。
第6段
The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductors close by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun)would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.
这个想法始于20年前，当时高功率激光显示了它们从原子中提取电子并产生离子的能力。如果激光能在空气中产生一条直至暴雨云的电离线，这一传导路径就可以在电场变得足以分离空气之前将闪电引导到地面。为了阻止激光本身受到电击，它不会直指云层。取而代之的是对准镜子，然后从那里射向天空。镜子通过在附近放置避雷针来得到保护。理想的情况是，云吹弹枪（枪支）的价格会足够便宜，可安装在所有关键的动力装置周围，并具有足够的便携性，可被带到国际体育赛事上，驱散正在酿造暴风雨的乌云。
A stumbling block 绊脚石
第7段
However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.
但是，仍然有一个很大的绊脚石。激光不是轻巧的便携设备：它是一个占据整个房间的怪物。戴尔斯正在努力缩小尺寸，并说即将出现像小桌子大小的激光设备。他计划明年夏天在实时雷云上测试这个更易于管理的系统。
第8段
Bernstein says that Diels’s system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. ‘I cannot say I have money yet, but I’m working on it, ‘ says Bernstein. He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point – and he’s hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts ‘an avalanche of interest and support’ if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50, 000 to $100, 000 each.
伯恩斯坦说戴尔斯的系统吸引了电力公司的许多兴趣。但是他们还没有提供EPRI所说的开发商业系统所需要的500万美元。这些钱将用于将激光设备变得更小，更便宜。伯恩斯坦说：“我不能说我没有钱，但我正在努力。” 他认为即将进行的现场测试将成为转折点-他希望有个好消息。如果一切顺利的话，伯恩斯坦预计会出现“大量的兴趣和支持”。他希望看到每个云吹弹枪最终只花费5万到10万美元。
第9段
Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning ‘switch’ at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of ‘interactive meteorology’ – not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. ‘If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather, ‘ he says.
其他科学家也可以受益。拥有触手可及的闪电“开关”，材料科学家就能发现强大的电流遇到物质时会发生什么。戴尔斯还希望看到“交互式气象学”的诞生-它不仅可以预测天气，还可以控制天气。他说：“如果我们能够为云层放电，我们可能也会影响天气。”
第10段
And perhaps, says Diels, we’ll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. ‘We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning, ‘ he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back.
戴尔斯说，也许，我们将能够应对一些其他气象威胁。他说，“我们认为可以通过引发闪电来防止冰雹”。雷声，雷电产生的冲击波，被认为是暴风雨的触发因素。一家激光雷电工厂可以将水分从云层中抖出，也许可以防止形成威胁农作物的巨大冰雹。幸运的是，当今年冬天乌云密布的时候，携带激光的研究人员可以第一次反击。
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