VOA慢速英語:無人機真的能拯救南非犀牛嗎？

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

自2008年起，捕獵者非法獵殺了南非3000只犀牛。

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

聯(lián)合國自然保護聯(lián)盟警告稱犀牛物種可能在2026年滅絕。

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.

有非法獵殺珍貴物種行為的人被稱為偷獵者。而防止非法偷獵行為最有效的方法就是在空中進行監(jiān)視。但是這種空中監(jiān)視行為成本非常高?，F在一些西班牙大學生設計出了一種無人機用來監(jiān)視偷獵者。并且無人機比一架普通飛機或者直升機觀察到的范圍更廣。

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是西班牙加泰羅尼亞理工學院的一名航空工程專業(yè)的學生。他說空中很難觀察到躲藏在樹下的偷獵者。

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和其他同學一起為無人機制造商HEMAV工作來幫助他們尋找到躲藏起來的偷獵者。他們通過熱感應相機可以探測到身體熱量。

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和他的團隊設計了一架裝有聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料和電動馬達的無人機。這架無人機在有風的情況下可以達到每小時55公里的速度。它有一個自動駕駛系統(tǒng)，可以記錄飛行路線。無人機還裝有麥克風，攝像頭和GPS系統(tǒng)。這些設備可以準確記錄拍攝照片的地點。

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.

每次飛行結束無人機會將犀牛所在位置，水域和植被條件，還有疑似偷獵者躲藏位置帶回來。

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，他說無人機速度每小時可達90公里，飛行距離可以達到距基地70公里。他說這就意味著他們可以在大面積區(qū)域內快速發(fā)現偷獵者位置，而同樣的搜索行動用人駕駛飛機來觀察可能需要幾天時間。

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還指出了使用無人機的成本效益。他說南非國家公館雇傭一架直升機的成本換做是無人機的話可以鋪滿整個區(qū)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)