美国国家公共电台 NPR The Army, The Inventor And The Surprising Uses Of A Batman Machine

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

NPR's Joe Palca thinks a lot about thinking - specifically how people come up with the big ideas that change our lives. And as you'll hear in this next story, sometimes the inventor himself doesn't even recognize all the possible uses of the thing they have created.

JOE PALCA, BYLINE¹: About 15 years ago, the U.S. Army came to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a request.

NATE BALL: Can somebody build a powered device that can pull somebody up a rope like Batman?

PALCA: That's Nate Ball. At the time, he was an undergrad at MIT.

BALL: We looked at each other and said, that sounds awesome². We'd love to build that.

PALCA: The Army wanted the device for rescue operations. Ball's idea was to build a kind of battery-powered winch that someone could wear around their waist. In 2005, he formed a company called Atlas³ Devices to work on the project.

BALL: Twelve years later, with a lot of blood, sweat and tears along the way, Atlas Devices gets to build those powered ascenders.

PALCA: Ball sold the ascenders to the Army. And the Army used them in rescue operations. So did fire departments and other first responders. But one day, he heard that utility companies were buying them, and Ball wondered why. So he contacted the companies, and they explained they were using the ascenders to repair power lines.

BALL: They're able to use the ascender to haul conductor, which means actually, like, pick up the power lines and, you know, raise them up in the air to attach them to the tower.

PALCA: Ball says he would never have thought of that application for the ascender. He says that's when he realized something important about inventing. Sometimes you come up with a concept and put it out into the world with an initial vision for what it's good for and how people are going to use it.

BALL: And then they come up with new ways to use it. And that's one of the most exciting things about putting something new into the world, is you actually don't know all the things that it might get used for.

PALCA: Ball says this even happens with a seemingly straightforward⁴ invention. After he built the ascender, the military came back looking for a better ladder.

BALL: Ladders can still benefit from a lot of innovation.

PALCA: The military wanted something strong but lightweight and segmented, so it was easy to carry. Ball and his colleagues designed and built such a ladder. The military liked it, and then...

BALL: We found out that in a - you know, in a difficult situation, they had actually taken apart the ladder. And they had extracted a person who had been injured.

PALCA: Turning the ladder into a kind of stretcher - again, not what Ball had in mind at all. But for him, that's now part of the invention process - letting people who use his new tools and devices figure out what they're really useful for. Joe Palca, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOKHOV'S "ENDLESS SKIES")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

3 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

4 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。