VOA标准英语2012--High-Tech Edge Sharpens Olympic Games

 

High-Tech¹ Edge Sharpens Olympic Games

At the very first Olympic Games, in 1896, an American won a gold medal in the pole vault² event after jumping 3.30 meters using a wooden pole.

Four years ago in Beijing, an Australian won gold in the same event with a 5.96-meter jump. The pole he used was lighter³ and stronger and made from carbon fibers⁵. 

When the 2012 Olympic games begin later this month in London, athletes will not only be better-trained than ever before, but also better-equipped.

“What we have seen really is nothing short of a revolution, particularly in the use of advanced materials, integrated with engineering design,” says Michael Caine, a professor of sports technology at Loughborough University in England. 

Breaking records

He says athletes with lighter and stronger bats, rackets and golf clubs can hit balls further, harder or with more spin. Often these engineering innovations can be tracked by the records in the sport. 

Australia's Steven Hooker, seen here at the World Athletics⁷ Championships in Berlin in 2009, used a pole made from carbon fibers to capture the gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 

Until the Beijing Games in 2008, there was an average of 22 record-breaking performances during each Olympiad. At the Beijing Games, 108 new records were set. Caine says in swimming, 94 percent of the races were won by athletes wearing full-body swimsuits made with engineered materials.

“Which was making the athletes’ hydrodynamics much superior [than] with previous suits," Caine says. "And you could see that in the times that were set and the number of world records that were falling.” 

This ignited a debate over what Caine calls "technological⁸ doping," that materials - like those in the swimsuit - give the 'haves' an unfair advantage over the 'have-nots.' The governing body for swimming later banned the special suits from competition.

“Of course if you have technology dominating, or if you have a technology that’s limited to richer nations, then the ethos of fair competition comes into question,” Caine says.

Boosting performance

While the full body swimsuits made a big splash in Beijing, new equipment won’t be as visible in London. Most of the technological innovations boosting athletic⁶ performance are more evident during the training process.

“For monitoring and feedback between the coach and the athletes," Caine says. "We’ve seen a huge amount of advance in miniaturization of sensors⁹, in wireless¹⁰ technologies, in the way athletes communicate with their performance teams, in the way we monitor an athlete’s recovery from a training program, in the way we look at their nutritional¹¹ status and make changes to what they are eating and drinking and so on.”

The materials engineered for elite¹² athletes, like the strong, flexible carbon fiber⁴ used in clubs, rackets and bikes, have also found a solid foothold in the market place. They are common components¹³ in cars and airplanes and have been incorporated into the design of modern wheelchairs. 

Motion tracking is another sports-training innovation.

“It was developed for monitoring the swing profile of tennis players and golfers," Caine says. "It is now being used for stroke rehabilitation¹⁴, where you can look at the gait patterns of the patient and how closely they are to a normal gait pattern.”

Despite the boost these innovations can give an athlete’s performance, Caine says what he hopes to see in London is that the best, most dedicated¹⁵ athletes win. Writing in Nature Materials, he adds, “The need to balance innovation and tradition in sport is set to remain an enduring and compelling challenge.”

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

3 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。

4 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

5 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

6 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

7 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

8 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

9 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

10 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

11 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

12 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

13 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

14 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

15 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。