TED演讲 第45期:从20马赫的滑翔机到蜂鸟无人机的感想(4)

 Matt is the first ever hummingbird¹ pilot.  马特是首位蜂鸟飞行员。

Failure is part of creating new and amazing things.  失败是创造美妙新事物的必经之路。

We cannot both fear failure and make amazing new things like a robot ith the stability of a dog on rough terrain². 我们不能害怕失败。创造神奇的新事物—像机器人能像狗一样平稳地在崎岖的地形。

or maybe even ice; a robot that can run like a cheetah,or climb stairs like a human with the occasional clumsiness of a human.  甚至冰面上行走；象猎豹一样奔跑的机器人或者像人一样爬楼梯的略带趔趄的机器人。

Or perhaps, Spider Man will one day be Gecko Man.  或者，蜘蛛人有一天将变成壁虎人。

A gecko can support its entire body weight with one toe.  壁虎能挂住整个身体,只用一个脚趾头。

One square millimeter of a gecko's footpad has 14,000 hair-like structures called setae.  壁虎脚趾上一平方毫米，有一万四千个毛发状结构叫刚毛。

They are used to help it grip to surfaces using intermolecular forces.  它们帮助壁虎抓住物体表面采用分子间作用力。

Today we can manufacture structures that mimic³ the hairs of a gecko's foot.  今天我们能够造出模仿壁虎脚趾毛发的结构。

The result,a four-by-four-inch artificial nano-gecko adhesive⁴.  结果是一个四乘四英尺的人造奈米壁虎胶粘剂。

can support a static load of 660 pounds.  能够承载静态负荷660磅。

That's enough to stick six 42-inch plasma⁵ TV's to your wall,no nails. 这足以把一台42英尺的等离子电视机贴在墙上一个钉子都不要。

So much for Velcro, right?  这就是所谓魔术贴，对不对？

And it's not just passive structures, it's entire machines.  不光是被动式结构，整个机器也已经造出来了。

This is a spider mite⁶.  这就是个红蜘蛛。

It's one millimeter long,but it looks like Godzilla next to these micromachines.  只有一毫米长，但在微型机器旁。它看上去跟哥斯拉怪兽一样大。

In the world of Godzilla spider mites,we can make millions of mirrors,each one-fifth the diameter of a human hair, moving at hundreds of thousands of times per second. 在哥斯拉红蜘蛛怪兽世界里我们可造出上百万个镜子。每个镜子的直径。只有人类毛发直径的1/5,每秒以成千上万次的频率移动。

to make large screen displays, so that we can watch movies like Godzilla in high-def.  来创造出大型的屏幕显示这样，我们就能观看到高清电影。比如《哥斯拉》。

And if we can build machines at that scale,what about Eiffel Tower-like trusses at the microscale?  而且，如果我们能制造那种尺寸的机器。那么像埃菲尔铁塔一样微型桁架结构？

Today we are making metals that are lighter⁷ than Styrofoam, so light,they can sit atop a dandelion puff⁸. 如今我们制造比发泡胶还轻的金属。很轻。能架在一个蒲公英蓬蓬上。

and be blown away with a wisp of air so light  轻轻一吹便吹走了,很轻。

That you can make a car that two people can lift,but so strong that it has the crash-worthiness of an SUV.  你可以制造一辆两个人就能抬起来的轿车。但很强大。它具备越野车的耐撞性。

From the smallest wisp of air to the powerful forces of nature's storms.  我们从最小的一缕空气谈到大自然风暴的强大力量。

There are 44 lightning strikes per second around the globe.  全球每秒会产生44次闪电。

1 hummingbird   

n.蜂鸟

参考例句：

• The hummingbird perches on a twig of the hawthorn.小蜂鸟栖在山楂树枝上。
• The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward.蜂鸟是唯一能倒退向后飞的鸟。

2 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

3 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

4 adhesive   

n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的

参考例句：

• You'll need a strong adhesive to mend that chair. 你需要一种粘性很强的东西来修理那把椅子。
• Would you give me an adhesive stamp?请给我一枚带胶邮票好吗？

5 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。

6 mite   

n.极小的东西；小铜币

参考例句：

• The poor mite was so ill.可怜的孩子病得这么重。
• He is a mite taller than I.他比我高一点点。

7 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

8 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。