史上最小飞行器诞生

河南 刘同功

来自美国西北大学的一个研究团队，通过研究借风播散的种子，成功研发出迄今为止最小的微型飞行器。

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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 (流线型的) 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 （相当的） 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 （天线） 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.这种飞行器只有一粒沙子那么大，但是它有微型双翼和流线型的设计外形。由于它的这种设计和它肉眼难见的螺旋桨，它能够以一种可控的方式降落。

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句。主句是This thing is the size of a grain of sand but...design，that引导定语从句，先行词是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. 这种微型飞行器飞行稳定，能在空中长时间停留，所以它可能被用于各种用途。

【点石成金】本句是一个复合句，句中and连接两个并列句；which引导的是一个非限制性定语从句，在这个非限制性定语从句中有一个why引导的表语从句。