VOA慢速英语:无人机真的能拯救南非犀牛吗？

Since 2008, hunters have illegally killed more than3,000 rhinos in South Africa.

自2008年起，捕猎者非法猎杀了南非3000只犀牛。

The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that rhinos may disappear by 2026.

联合国自然保护联盟警告称犀牛物种可能在2026年灭绝。

People who hunt and kill illegally are called poachers. The most effective wayto watch for illegal hunting is from the air. But piloted flights are costly. Now,some Spanish college students have designed a drone that can look for poachers. And the drone can observe more places than a plane or helicopter.

有非法猎杀珍贵物种行为的人被称为偷猎者。而防止非法偷猎行为最有效的方法就是在空中进行监视。但是这种空中监视行为成本非常高。现在一些西班牙大学生设计出了一种无人机用来监视偷猎者。并且无人机比一架普通飞机或者直升机观察到的范围更广。

Arnau Garcia is an aeronautical engineering student at the Polytechnic Institute of Catalonia, in Spain. He says observers from air have trouble finding poachers when they hide under the trees.

Arnau Garcia是西班牙加泰罗尼亚理工学院的一名航空工程专业的学生。他说空中很难观察到躲藏在树下的偷猎者。

Mr. Garcia and other students have worked with the drone manufacturer HEMAV to help them find the hidden poachers. They do this by using thermal cameras, which are sensitive to body heat.

Arnau Garcia和其他同学一起为无人机制造商HEMAV工作来帮助他们寻找到躲藏起来的偷猎者。他们通过热感应相机可以探测到身体热量。

Mr. Garcia and his team members designed a drone made with styrofoam and an electric motor. The drone can fly in winds up to 55 kilometers perhour. It has an autopilot system, so it memorizes the flight path. The drone also has microphones, cameras and a GPS system. This permits it to report exactly where a picture was taken.

Arnau Garcia和他的团队设计了一架装有聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料和电动马达的无人机。这架无人机在有风的情况下可以达到每小时55公里的速度。它有一个自动驾驶系统，可以记录飞行路线。无人机还装有麦克风，摄像头和GPS系统。这些设备可以准确记录拍摄照片的地点。

After each flight, drones bring back information about where rhinos were found, the conditions of water and vegetation in the area, and the positions of suspected poachers.

每次飞行结束无人机会将犀牛所在位置，水域和植被条件，还有疑似偷猎者躲藏位置带回来。

Carlos Ferraz works at HEMAV. Mr. Ferraz says drones can fly 90 kilometers per hour and as far as 70 kilometers from their base. He says that means that they could quickly observe large areas for poachers. He says the same search operation would take days for human observer.

Carlos Ferraz在HEMAV工作，他说无人机速度每小时可达90公里，飞行距离可以达到距基地70公里。他说这就意味着他们可以在大面积区域内快速发现偷猎者位置，而同样的搜索行动用人驾驶飞机来观察可能需要几天时间。

And, Mr. Ferraz notes cost effectiveness with drone use. He says South African national park officials could fill the air with drones for the same cost as renting one helicopter.

Carlos Ferraz还指出了使用无人机的成本效益。他说南非国家公馆雇佣一架直升机的成本换做是无人机的话可以铺满整个区域上空。

I’m Caty Weaver.

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Words in This Story

poacher - n. someone who catches or hunts animals illegally

drone – n. a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft

styrofoam - n. a type of light and usually white plastic

GPS - n. a radio system that uses signals from satellites to tell you where youare and to give you directions to other places (short for Global PositioningSystem)

rent – v. to pay money in return for being able to use (something that belongsto someone else)