VOA慢速英语 科学家利用科技还原犯罪现场

Scientists Developing Technology to Recreate Crime Scenes 科学家利用科技还原犯罪现场

Police and prosecutors¹ sometimes recreate crime scenes in an effort to better understand complex cases. They may set up a room to make it look like the room where a murder took place. To do this, they use photographs from the murder scene to set up tables, chairs and other objects just where they were at the time of the murder.

Now, scientists in Switzerland are developing virtual reality technologies to recreate crimes scenes. The scientists say these computer-made images can be used for quality recreations of events.

They say this kind of technology can help police, investigators², judges and lawyers better visualize³ crime scenes. They say it can even perform virtual autopsies⁴ – recreating examinations of human remains⁵.

The scientists work at the Institute of Forensic⁶ Medicine in Zurich. They developed special computer software to create this virtual reality technology. The software program is called Forensic Holodeck. It recreates crime scenes using hand-held three-dimensional, 3-D, scanners. The scanners show the user an object’s length, width and height. The scientists also use the Oculus Rift⁷ headset, equipment often used for video games.

Investigators use the three-dimensional images to reconstruct the crime. The images are based on reports from witnesses and camera recordings⁸.

Steffen Ross is a radiologist at the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Mr. Ross explains how the technology works.

“We scan the crime scene and we are also able to scan the dead body, if there is a dead body involved, and then we can put all the data together in the computer and create a virtual crime scene, which is a 3D model of the crime scene.”

The software also rebuilds trajectories⁹ of bullets. Red and yellow lines are used to show their movement through the air. Mr. Ross says the technology gives the scientists a better idea of the trajectories than a traditional, two-dimensional image.

In addition to the virtual reality technology, the institute also developed a robot named Virtobot. Medical examiners can use Virtobot to perform virtual autopsies in great detail.

Robert Breitbeck is a scientist with the Institute of Forensic Medicine. He says the system provides a 3-D model of the human body.

He says scientists can make images of the injured skin in color and true to the exact size. This information can be stored, and later combined with three-dimensional data, which police can provide. From this information, he says, the scientists can do 3D reconstructions¹⁰, or recreate images, from murder cases or traffic accidents.

Several countries are already using both systems – the virtual reality technology and Virtobot.

Words in This Story

prosecutors – n. lawyers for the government

virtual – adj. existing online; not something you can touch

visualize – v. to make visible; to imagine

autopsies – n. an examination of a body to find the cause of death

reconstruct – v. recreate

accounts – n. reports

radiologist – n. scientist dealing¹¹ with X-rays or other radiation

trajectories – n. curved paths along which something (such as bullet) moves through the air.

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 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》

3 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

4 autopsies   

n.尸体解剖( autopsy的名词复数 )；验尸；现场验证；实地观察

参考例句：

• Autopsies cannot be performed and thus no recent histological examinations have been reported. 不能进行尸体解剖，因此没有新近的组织学检查的报道。 来自辞典例句
• I told you to supervise autopsies, not to set up a lot of fancy rules. 我叫你监督解剖室，不是去制定一些空想的规定。 来自辞典例句

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 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。

7 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

8 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

9 trajectories   

n.弹道( trajectory的名词复数 )；轨道；轨线；常角轨道

参考例句：

• To answer this question, we need to plot trajectories of principal stresses. 为了回答这个问题，我们尚须画出主应力迹线图。 来自辞典例句
• In the space program the theory is used to determine spaceship trajectories. 在空间计划中，这个理论用于确定飞船的轨道。 来自辞典例句

10 reconstructions   

重建( reconstruction的名词复数 )； 再现； 重建物； 复原物

参考例句：

• Multicolored reconstructions have been formed using (black and white) volume holographic plates. 利用黑白体积全息片已经做成了彩色重建象。
• The method gives ways to evaluate collision speed in traffic accident reconstructions. 该模型为交通事故再现推算碰撞速度提供了有效实用的方法。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。