史上最小飛行器誕生

河南 劉同功

來自美國西北大學的一個研究團隊，通過研究借風播散的種子，成功研發出迄今為止最小的微型飛行器。

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1It's raining microchips. One day， they could float gently through the air while gathering environmental data， land on the ground and then disappear when their work is done. That's the future a team of engineers sees for what they're calling “microflier”， a tiny winged microchip with designs inspired by nature.

2The accomplishment belongs to a team of scientists at the Northwestern University in Illinois，who developed the microflier， a flying microchip that spins like a helicopter. This thing is the size of a grain of sand but with small wings and an aerodynamic (流線型的) design that allows it to fall in a controlled manner thanks to its barely visible propellers.

3How does that work? Well， the engineers used nature's “manual” to get their inspiration for the microflier， analyzing the behavior of various types of wind-spread seeds.Instead of using a motor or engine， the tiny flying microchip uses the power of wind to catch a flight， spinning across the ground at a low speed. It is a stable flight， and the microflier can stand in the air for a long time， which is why it could prove to be useful for a variety of applications.

4While nature has designed seeds with very sophisticated aerodynamics， the Northwestern team claims its microflier is better， as it is even smaller and its structure allows it to fall with more stable paths and at slower speeds than equivalent （相當的） seeds from plants or trees.

5The engineers built the flying structure to be used for purposes such as population surveillance， pollution monitoring， disease tracking， to give just a few examples. And while this might look like a simple， limited device right now， researchers see its potential for becoming a highly functional electronic device. The microflier can be equipped with really sophisticated technology， such as tiny sensors， antennas （天線） for wireless communication， or embedded (嵌入的) memory for data storage.

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1. This thing is the size of a grain of sand but with small wings and an aerodynamic design that allows it to fall in a controlled manner thanks to its barely visible propellers.這種飛行器只有一粒沙子那么大，但是它有微型雙翼和流線型的設計外形。由于它的這種設計和它肉眼難見的螺旋槳，它能夠以一種可控的方式降落。

【點石成金】本句是一個復合句。主句是This thing is the size of a grain of sand but...design，that引導定語從句，先行詞是design.

2. It is a stable flight， and the microflier can stand in the air for a long time， which is why it could prove to be useful for a variety of applications. 這種微型飛行器飛行穩定，能在空中長時間停留，所以它可能被用于各種用途。

【點石成金】本句是一個復合句，句中and連接兩個并列句；which引導的是一個非限制性定語從句，在這個非限制性定語從句中有一個why引導的表語從句。