【英语语言学习】根据羽毛上留下的痕迹寻找捕猎者

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

You've probably heard of dusting for fingerprints² at the scene of a robbery or a murder. But now investigators³ can do the same thing for a different kind of crime - killing⁴ birds of prey⁵. In Britain and in other parts of Europe, these large birds are under threat from landowners and gamekeepers who trap, shoot and poison them. But until now, there was no good way to catch the perpetrators. Scientists at Abertay University say they have now come up with a breakthrough. Investigators can now lift human fingerprints from the feathers and eggs of those birds. The findings were made public by the journal Science & Justice. Joining us now is the lead researcher of that study, Dennis Gentles, in Dundee, Scotland. Welcome to the program.

DENNIS GENTLES: Well, thank you.

MARTIN: So what is new about this particular fingerprinting⁶ technique?

GENTLES: Actually, there's probably nothing new in it, Rachel. But we've put together a combination of things that's actually made it come together. With a machine called a quasar, which is a quasi-laser, we can fire light of particular wavelengths⁷ over this magnetic fluorescent⁸ powder, and it will fluoresce, which makes it stand out from the background. And that's why it's so handy to us for detecting finger marks on birds of prey.

MARTIN: This study, as I understand it, was actually inspired - is this right? - by an episode of "CSI"?

GENTLES: Yes.

MARTIN: Really?

GENTLES: Yes, it is. And as a former scenes of crime officer myself, we always sort of look down upon "CSI" and say, no, no, they can't do that.

MARTIN: Right?

GENTLES: That's impossible. But one of my former colleagues, his friend had said to him, I see you can now get fingerprints off feathers, and Malcolm (ph) had turned around and said, don't talk rubbish. But Malcolm, being the inquisitive⁹ type, decided¹⁰ to go out one day, and he found a couple of feathers lying on the ground, and he picked them up, put his own finger marks onto the feathers and tried dusting them with the various types of powders he's got. Nothing was happening. And down the bottom of his case, he had this box of red powder that sat there. He thought, I'll give that a try. And, of course, it gave it enough contrast to the sort of shades of gray feathers that he had picked up.

MARTIN: So we're talking about these large birds of prey. Why are these birds being targeted, and how will this particular technology prevent that?

GENTLES: Well, these have been targeted by probably landowners who are likely to lose some income to their land because birds of prey will take the grouse¹¹ on pheasants that they've raised upon that land. And other people will be taking the Peregrine falcon's eggs, which are status symbols in areas like the Middle East, and incubate them. Or they'll take chicks that have actually been hatched and rear them themselves. And then, of course, it becomes a lucrative¹² trade. So there's been over 2,5000 cases since 2006 of birds of prey being taken or killed illegally in the UK alone.

MARTIN: And how do you think this new technology - being able to dust for fingerprints on feathers - do think it'll slow the targeting of these birds?

GENTLES: Well, I hope it does, because, you know, now we're able to actually obtain a fingerprint¹ from the flight feathers of birds of prey. And even if we can't get a recognizable fingerprint, we can actually focus on the area where we can see a mark where someone has handled that bird. And that allows the forensic¹³ scientists who focus on the area which can lead to a DNA¹⁴ trace, and if we don't get the fingerprints, we can get hopefully the perpetrators by way of their DNA.

MARTIN: Dennis Gentles is a forensic scientist at Abertay University in Scotland. Thank you so much for talking with us and sharing your research.

GENTLES: Much appreciated.

1 fingerprint   

n.指纹；vt.取...的指纹

参考例句：

• The fingerprint expert was asked to testify at the trial.指纹专家应邀出庭作证。
• The court heard evidence from a fingerprint expert.法院听取了指纹专家的证词。

2 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

6 fingerprinting   

v.指纹( fingerprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Institutions from banks to pawnshops are fingerprinting to authenticate transactions. 从银行到当铺，都在使用指纹识别对交易进行验证。 来自互联网
• In addition, a digital fingerprinting algorithm based on binary codes is described. 介绍了一种二进制指纹编码方案。 来自互联网

7 wavelengths   

n.波长( wavelength的名词复数 )；具有相同的/不同的思路；合拍；不合拍

参考例句：

• I find him difficult to talk to—we're on completely different wavelengths. 我没法和他谈话，因为我们俩完全不对路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sunlight consists of different wavelengths of radiation. 阳光由几种不同波长的射线组成。 来自辞典例句

8 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

9 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 grouse   

n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦

参考例句：

• They're shooting grouse up on the moors.他们在荒野射猎松鸡。
• If you don't agree with me,please forget my grouse.如果你的看法不同，请不必介意我的牢骚之言。

12 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

13 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

14 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。