目 录 上一节 下一节 
利用机器人技术提高工业效率 Robots, becoming increasingly prevalent in factories and industrial plants throughout the developed world, are programmed and engineered to perform industrial tasks without human intervention. 机器人在所有发达国家的工厂日益普及，它们被编程、设计，在无人情况下执行工业任务。 Most of today's robots are employed in the automotive industry, where they are programmed to take over such jobs as welding and spray painting automobile and truck bodies. They also load and unload hot, heavy metal forms used in machines casting automobile and truck frames. 现今大多数机器人用于汽车工业，人们对其编程，从事如汽车卡车车身焊接、喷漆之类的工作。它们也装卸汽车和卡车框架的机器中所有的炽热、笨重的金属铸模。 Robots, already taking over human tasks in the automotive field, are beginning to be seen, although to a lesser degree, in other industries as well. There they build electric motors, small appliances, pocket calculators, and even watches. The robots used in nuclear power plants handle the radioactive materials, preventing human personnel from being exposed to radiation. These are the robots responsible for the reduction in job-related injuries in this new industry. 机器人已经在汽车行业接任了人类工作，在其行业也开始看到它们的身影，虽然使用程度低一些。在那里它们制造电动马达、小型设备、袖珍计算器，甚至手表。用于核电站的机器人处理辐射材料，使职员不暴露于辐射。这些机器人可以减少这一新型工业中与工作有关的伤害。 What makes a robot a robot and not just another kind of automatic machine? Robots differ from automatic machines in that after completion of one specific task, they can be reprogrammed by a computer to do another one. As an example, a robot doing spot welding one month can be reprogrammed and switched to spray painting the next. Automatic machine, on the other hand, are not capable of many different uses; they are built to perform only one task. 什么使机器变成机器人，而不是其他的自动化机器呢？机器人与自动化机器的区别在于完成一项特定工作后，它们可以被电脑重新编程去执行一项任务。比如说，一个机器人做了一个月的点焊，可以重新编程，下个月转向喷漆。相反，自动化机器却没有许多不同用途，它们只是为了招待一项任务而被建造。 
下一代机器人将能看见物体，具有触觉，能作出关键性的决定。精通于微电子和电脑技术的工程师正在为机器人开发人造视力，有了"看"的能力，机器人就能从一推不同的材料中鉴别检查出具体的一类物体。机器人礼堂系统采用包含多行感官材料的电子数码相机。当一个物体上的光，如机器零件，照射到相机上时，敏感材料就可测量出光的强度，把光线转换为一组数字。这些数字是灰度系统的一部分，其亮度由一系列数值测量。一个刻度范围是0到15，另一个是0到225。0用黑色表示，最高值用白色，其间的数值用不同的灰色阴影来表示。然后计算机进行计算，并将数字转换为表明该无题形象的图像。现在还不知道有一天机器人是否具有人类一样的好视力。技术人员想信它们会的，只是需要多年的开发。 Engineers working on other advances are designing and experimenting with new types of metal hands and fingers, giving robots a sense of touch. Other engineers are writing new programs allowing robots to make decisions such as whether to discard defective parts in finished products. To do this, the robot will also have to be capable of identifying those defective parts. 在其他方面取得进展的工程技术人员正在设计和试验新型金属手臂和手指，使机器人具有触觉。其他工程人员正在编写新的程序使机器人做出如是否抛弃成品中有缺陷的零件的决定。要做到这点，机器人还必须具有鉴别有缺陷零件的能力。 These future robots, assembled with a sense of touch and the ability to see and make decisions, will have plenty of work to do. They can be used to explore for minerals on the ocean floor or in deep areas of mines too dangerous for humans to enter. They will work as gas station attendants, firemen, housekeepers, and security personnel. Anyone wanting to understand the industry of the future will have to know about robotics. 集触觉、看和做决定的能力于一体的这些未来机器人将会做大量的工作。它们可以用于海底探矿或探测对人类太危险的深层区域的矿物。它们可以做加油站服务人员、消防人员、房屋管理员和安全人员的工作。任何想了解未来工业的人必须懂机器人。 Predicting Earthquakes 预测地震 Can earthquakes be predicted? Scientists are working on programs to predict where and when an earthquake will occur. They hope to develop an early warning system that can be used to forecast earthquakes so that lives can be saved. 地震可以预报吗？科学家们正致力于研究预报何时何地会发生地震的计划，他们希望开发一种早期报警系统用来预报地震，以挽救人们的生命。 
地震是自然灾害中最危险的最致命的，发生在世界许多地方。伊朗、中国、危地马拉、智利、印度和阿拉斯加都有过大地震的记录。有记载的最大两次地震是发生在中国和阿拉斯加。这两次地震经测量约为里氏8.5级。里氏震级是1935年查尔斯·里克特发明的，用来比较地震的能量等级。里氏地震级测出的2级地震可以感觉到，但几乎没什么破坏；测出的4.5级地震能够造成轻微破坏，读数超过7级的地震会带来重大破坏。必须注意的是，读数为4级的地震表明其强度是读数为3级的10倍。科学家想预测那些读数超过里氏4级的地震。 How do earthquakes occur? Earthquakes are caused by the shifting of rocks along cracks, or faults, in the earth's crust. The fault is produced when rocks near each other are pulled in different directions. The best-known fault in North America is the San Andreas fault in the state of California in the United States. 地震是怎么发生的呢？地震是由地壳中的裂缝，或称断层处的岩石发生移位而引起的。当邻近岩石受到不同方向的拉力时便产生了断层。北美洲最著名的断层是位于美国加利福尼亚的圣安德烈亚斯断层。 The nations that are actively involved in earthquake prediction programs include Japan, China, Russia, and the United States. These countries have set up seismic networks in areas of their countries where earthquakes are known to occur. These networks are on the alert for warning signs that show the weakening of rock layers that can precede an earthquake. Many kinds of seismic instruments are used by the networks to monitor the movements of the earth's crust. The scientists also check water in deep wells. They watch for changes in the water level and temperature that are associated with movement along faults. 积极参与地震预测计划的国家包括日本、中国、俄罗斯和美国。这些国家在已知发生地震的地区建立了地震网络，这些网络一直处于戒备状态，搜索着告警的迹象，这些迹象显示出在地震前可能发生的岩层松动的状况。这些网络使用多种地震仪器来监测地壳的运动。科学家还检查深井里的水，观察与断层运动有关的水位与温度的变化。 Scientists in China, Russia, and the United States measure radon in ground water. Radon is a gas that comes from the radioactive decay of radium in rocks. The gas flows through the ground and dissolves in underground streams and wells. Scientists speculate that the amount of radon increases in the ground when rocks layers shift, exposing new rock, and thus more radon.Chinese and Russian scientists have reported that in places where stress is building up, the radon levels of the water build up too. When the radon levels of the water subside and drop back to normal readings, an earthquake may occur. United States scientists have also placed radon monitoring stations in earthquake zones, particularly California. However, all the scientists agree that more data is necessary to prove that radon levels in water are associated with the possible birth of an earthquake. 中国、俄罗斯和美国的科学家测量地下水的氡含量。氡是来自岩石中镭辐射衰变而产生的气体。这种气体溢出地面并溶解到地下溪流和井里。科学家推测当岩层移位时，新岩石露出，产生更多的氮，这样地层中的氡数量就增加了。中国和俄罗斯报告说压力增加的地方，水中氡的含量也会增加。当水中氡的含量下降，回到正常读数时，地震就可能发生。美国科学家也在地震区，特别是加利福尼亚，设置了检测站。不过，所有的科学家都一致认为，需要更多的资料才能证明水中氡的含量和可能发生的地震有关。 Earthquake prediction is still a young science. Everyone agrees that earthquakes cannot be predicted with any reliability. Scientists have only a partial understanding of the physical processes that cause earthquakes. Much more research has to be done. New and more up to-date methods have to be found for collecting earthquake data and analyzing it. However, scientists have had some success in predicting earthquakes. Several small earthquakes were predicted in New York State, in the eastern part of the United States. Chinese scientists predicted a major one in Haicheng in 1975, and Russian scientists predicted a major one in Garm in 1978. While this is a small start, it is still a beginning. 地震预测仍然是一门年轻的科学。人们都认为地震不可能可靠地预测。科学家对引起地震的物理过程只是部分了解，还必须作更多的研究，必须找到新的和更先进的方法收集地震数据并加以分析。不过，科学家已经在地震预测方面取得了一些成功：美国东部纽约州的几次小地震就已预测到了，1975年中国科学家预测到了海城大地震，1978年俄罗斯科学家预测了加尔姆大地震。虽然这只是个小小的起步，但毕竟是一个开端。
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