【经济学人】雄蜂，你的竞争者来了—人造雄峰丨2017.02.11丨总第805期

IT IS, in one way, the ultimate drone . In another, though, it is the antithesis of what a drone should be. Drones are supposed to laze around in the hive while their sisters collect nectar and pollinate flowers. But pollination is this drone’s very reason for existing.

人造雄蜂堪称终极的飞行利器，但它与自然界的雄蜂截然不同。雄蜂一般都在蜂巢附近徘徊，而由工蜂采集花蜜和为花朵授粉。但是，今天我们所说的是生来就是为了授粉的人造雄蜂。

• Drone n. 雄蜂；无人机

• Antithesis n. 对立面；对照

• Nectar n. 花蜜；甘露；神酒；美味的饮料

• Pollinate vt. 对...授粉

The drone in question is the brainchild of Eijiro Miyako, of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, in Tsukuba, Japan. It is the first attempt by an engineer to deal with what many perceive as an impending agricultural crisis. Pollinating insects in general, and bees in particular, are falling in numbers. The reasons why are obscure . But some fear certain crops will become scarcer and more expensive as a result. Attempts to boost the number of natural pollinators have so far failed. Perhaps, thinks Dr Miyako, it is time to build some artificial ones instead.

人造雄蜂的构想由日本筑波市产业技术综合研究所的宫古博士率先提出。对于大家觉得即将发生的农业危机，这是第一次有工程人员出面加以应对。基本上，授粉昆虫（尤其是蜜蜂）的数量正日渐减少，而原因却不甚分明。但有些人担忧的是，这种现象将导致某些特定作物的产量下降，价格上涨。至今，所有试图增加授粉生物数量的尝试均告失败。可能正如宫古博士所想，人造授粉者登场的时候到了。

• Brainchild n. 脑力劳动的产物

• Impending adj. 即将发生的；迫切的；悬挂的

• Obscure adj. 昏暗的，朦胧的；晦涩的，不清楚的

His pollinator-bot does not, it must be said, look much like a bee. It is a modified version of a commercially available robot quadcopter , 42mm across. (By comparison, a honeybee worker is about 15mm long.) But the modifications mean it can, indeed, pollinate flowers. Specifically—and crucially—Dr Miyako has armed it with paintbrush hairs that are covered in a special gel sticky enough to pick pollen up, but not so sticky that it holds on to that pollen when it brushes up against something else.（读者试译）

实际上，宫古博士的授粉机器人看上去并不像真的蜜蜂。它就是市面上可以见到的那种四轴飞行器，只不过经过了改装，全长仅为42mm（相比之下，工蜂约为15mm长）。但是，改装后的飞行器可以进行授粉作业。 （期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~）

• Quadcopter n. 四轴飞行器

• Pollen：n. 花粉

Previous attempts to build artificial pollinators have failed to manage this. Dr Miyako, though, has succeeded. Experiments flying the drone up to lily and tulip flowers, so that the gel-laden hairs come into contact with both the pollen-bearing anthers and the pollen-receiving stigmata of those flowers, show that the drone can indeed carry pollen from flower to flower in the way an insect would—though he has yet to confirm that seeds result from this pollination.

此前的人造授粉设备都无法做到这一点，而宫古博士成功了。在实验中，人造雄蜂飞行至百合和郁金香花朵上方，涂有胶体的刷毛先接触花药黏附花粉，然后接触雌蕊柱头使花粉落下，从而完成授粉过程。实验表明，人造雄蜂确实可以像昆虫那样在花朵之间传递花粉，但作物经过授粉后能否受精发育出种子还有待进一步研究确认。

• Anther：n. 花药；花粉囊

• Stigmata：n. 气孔

• Artificial adj. 人造的；仿造的

• Tulip n. 郁金香

授粉机器

At the moment, Dr Miyako’s drones have to be guided to their targets by a human operator. The next stage will be to fit them with vision that lets them recognise flowers by themselves. Fortunately, visual-recognition software is sufficiently developed that this should not be too hard. In future, when you are walking through an orchard in bloom, listen out for the humming of the drones as well as the buzzing of the bees.

目前，宫古博士的人造雄蜂需要操作人员手动进行目标引导。下一步是要为这些小家伙安上“眼睛”，使其能够自行辨识花朵。令人欣慰的是，视觉识别技术已足够成熟，实现这一点并不困难。未来，你可以一边徜徉在怒放的花海中，一边聆听蜜蜂与人造雄蜂在身畔交织飞舞时的嗡鸣。

• Orchard n. 果园；果树林

翻译 ▍陌生

审核 ▍妖精

编辑 ▍毛毛