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【经济学人】双语阅读：律师事务所 标价更高 收益更少

Busine 商业报道

Law firms 律师事务所

Charging more, getting le 标价更高，收益更少

Lawyers' biggest customers are discovering that they can haggle 律师的最大客户们发现他们能与律师还价

THERE were groans in big companies' legal departments in the mid-2000s, when the fees of America's priciest lawyers first hit 1,000 an hour.当美国最高的律师酬金达到每小时1000美元，20世纪中期，一些大公司的法律部门里开始抱怨连连。

Such rates have since become common at firms with prestige.自此以后，这样的价格在名企变得普遍。

A survey published this week by the National Law Journal found that they now go as high as 1,800.美国法律期刊刊登的一项调查表明，现在的律师费用已经高达1800美元/时，But the general counsels of large businees are increasingly finding that they can ignore these extravagant rates, and insist on big discounts.但是那些为大公司效力的法律顾问却逐渐发现，他们忽视高额酬金，并坚持较大折扣。

Price-discounting tends to be aociated more with used-car lots than with posh law firms.There was a time when a lawyer could submit his bill and be confident of receiving a cheque for the same amount.价格折扣渐渐常见于二手车交易，并非光鲜的律师律师事务所。有一段时间，律师收到的支票跟账单数目一样，并且，他们引以为豪。

In banner years, some even got more, as grateful clients tipped them a little extra for a job well done.在收益相当的那些年，一些慷慨的客户还会给点小费，来奖励他们的良好表现，因此有些律师能得到更多。

Since the financial crisis, however, the realisation of law firms—the proportion of their standard rates that they collect in practice—has been sliding.然，自金融危机，律师律师事务所的个人实现，即他们在实际中累积到标准价格的部分在下滑。

Earlier this month Peer Monitor, a company that tracks the legal industry, said that the ratio

in the United States dropped from 92% in 2007 to an all-time low of 83.5% in 2013.本月初，一家跟踪报道法律产业的公司，Peer Monitor表示，在美国，价格比率已由07年的92%下滑到空前低值，13年的83.5%。

British lawyers have seen a similar decline.英国律师界也有类似情况。

Discounts are rampant, says Brad Hildebrandt, a consultant to law firms.折扣现象在蔓延。一家律师律师事务所的顾问Brad Hildebrandt如是说。

The economic forces driving high-flying legal eagles into the bargain bin are no mystery.经济力量将这些高身段的律师界雄鹰打入廉价区，这已不再是秘密。

Demand for corporate legal work on such things as mergers, takeovers and share and bond iues plummeted in the 2008-09 receion, and has yet to recover.在企业合并、收购、股票债券问题等的法律合作需求也在08-09年的经济衰退中减弱，至今没恢复。

Simultaneously, the easy profits once earned in litigation departments have also dried up: the tedious task of reviewing mountains of documents, which law firms used to farm out to battalions of newly qualified aociates, can increasingly be done by computers.同时，诉讼部的易得利润也枯竭了：枯燥的审核成堆文件工作，之前律师事务所都是承包给大批刚合格的伙伴，现也被电脑代替了。

Putting up prices at a time of weak demand and fierce competition seems perverse.在需求小，竞争激烈的时候提高价格似乎有些悖于常理，Yet the industry has continued to increase its sticker prices by 2-3% every year—only to give back almost all the gain by offering ever-greater discounts.但是律师行业仍旧持续以每年2%-3%的速度提高标价—仅仅只是提供一个更好的折扣给顾客。

One reason for this is that, as ever more big clients discover they can haggle, law firms have realised that the best way for them to start the negotiation is with the highest poible asking-price.原因之一在于，因为更多的客户发现他们能讨价还价，律师律师事务所意识到开始协商的最好办法就是给出最高索价。

In this, lawyers now find themselves in the same boat as accountants and other profeionals who have long been used to having to bargain with bigger customers.而如今，律师们发现他们跟会计以及其他职业的人一样，一直以来都在跟较大客户还价。

Another reason is that sophisticated legal services are somewhat like luxury cars and handbags, in that a high asking-price is taken as a sign of quality.另一个原因是，错综复杂的法律服务体系有点像豪车和高端手提包一样，高价意味着高质。

No one wants to have hired the cheaper firm in a high-stakes lawsuit.没人想在一个赌注高的诉讼中雇佣一个廉价律师事务所来为自己工作。

But perhaps the most important rationale for discounting is that it lets law firms charge different prices to different clients, depending on their willingne to pay.但折扣最重要的理论基础是，它使得律师事务所根据不同的客户收取不一样的费用，当然，这取决于客户的意愿。

And even among busine clients with big budgets, this varies markedly.甚至是与预算高的商业客户，价格也明显不同。

Over the past 25 years some large companies have built up their in-house legal departments, so that these can now deal with outside law firms on an equal footing.在过去的25年中，大公司自己内设了法律部门，像外面的律师事务所一样处理相关问题。

In-house lawyers know the market value of every type of service, and have sophisticated software that scrutinises invoices and queries anomalies.内部律师了解每一种服务的市场价值，拥有完善的软件细查发票，质疑异常。

Such clients no longer just take the law firm's word for how many hours its lawyers spent on a job: if the bill looks padded, they will not hesitate to demand cuts.这样的商业顾客，不再完全听信律师事务所在某一案子上花费的时长：如果账单看上去有水分，他们将毫不犹豫寻求折扣。

DuPont, a chemicals giant, has found plenty of scope for curbing its legal bills by becoming a cannier client.化学巨头杜邦发现变身为一个精明的客户，能有许多减少法律账单的机会。

In the early 1990s it spread its legal work among 350 firms.在20世纪90年代，杜邦将法律事务分配给350个律师事务所，Now it uses only 38—including some smaller firms in smaller cities, which offer better value for money.现在，只委托38个—包括一些较小城市的小公司，这些公司把金钱的价值用到实处。

DuPont has persuaded its remaining law firms to work together more closely.杜邦劝导现有的律师事务所加强合作。

For routine work it insists on flat fees;for riskier cases it seeks no-win, no-fee agreements.对于常规事务，坚持统一收费，对于有风险的事务，寻求没有胜利就没有酬薪的宗旨。

Above all, says Thomas Sager, DuPont's general counsel, We had to communicate that this is a new day, and you need to be as committed to our financial succe as you are to yours.特别是，杜邦的总顾问Thomas Sager说：我们不得不相互传达‘今天是新的一天，你必须坚定的为我们的经济成功努力，就如同你对自己的那样'的信息。

Law firms' profits would evaporate if they offered smaller and le sophisticated clients such attractive deals.如果将很完美的方案提供给较小的，不那么精明的客户，律师事务所的利润可能会减少很多。

Fortunately for them, they have so far been able to get away with offering discreet, selective discounts.幸运的是，目前为止，他们能够避免供应谨慎，选择性折扣。

There are still a few big clients around who do not realise what they are miing: 仍有少数大顾客没有意识到错过了什么：

If you increase the rate every year, some clients will make you take it back, but others will let you keep it, says Tony Williams, a former managing partner of Clifford Chance, one of Britain's biggest law firms.如果每年都提高价格，一些顾客会让你收回该要求，但是另外一些会答应你的条件。高伟绅—英国最大律师事务所之一的总顾问Tony Williams如是说。

【经济学人】双语阅读：印尼矿业 熔炉决定生存

Busine 商业报道

Mining in Indonesia 印尼矿业

Smeltdown 熔炉决定生存

The government risks an export slump to boost the metals-proceing industry 政府为了刺激金属加工业发展不惜冒着削减出口量的危险

INDONESIA'S government concedes that it will cause short-term damage;but on January 12th it went ahead and banned exports of mineral ores, at last implementing a law paed in 2009.印尼政府承认了金属加工产业将蒙受短期亏损；但是在1月12号，印尼政府坚持09年的立法，继续禁止出口矿石。

Officials say that forcing mining firms to export only proceed minerals will attract investment in smelters and refineries.官方称，强令矿业公司只出口加工过的矿石将吸引投资，主要针对熔炼和精炼产业。

After a year or so this will start to add value to the country's exports, they say.在一年左右的时间后，这举措会增加印尼出口的价值。

But it is quite a gamble.但这是一个相当大的赌博。

Indonesiahas few smelters, and earns 5 billion a year by exporting unproceed minerals such as copper concentrate, nickel ores and bauxite.印尼有一些熔炉产业，而且每年可以从出口天然矿产里，例如铜精矿石、镍矿石、矾土，获利50亿美元。

The mining ministry had admitted that an outright ban on ore shipments would cut exports by 4 billion this year and 2.5 billion next.矿业部承认，今年完全禁止矿石海运出口会减少40亿的出口额，明年预计减少25亿。

With the country's current-account deficit last year hitting 3.5% of GDP, its worst since 1986, and its currency falling steeply, this is a bad time to be forgoing foreign earnings.在印尼往来账户赤字占有GDP总额3.5%的情况下，这不是一个放弃国外盈利好时期。这是自1986年来最坏的情形，并且它的货币贬值很厉害。

This may explain why the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, relaxed the moratorium at the last moment to let big copper producers keep exporting concentrate.这就解释了为什么苏西洛总统最后最后时刻放宽了出口政策转而让大型制铜商们继续出口精矿石。

FreeportIndonesia, an American-owned miner, had warned of a 60% cut in production at its Grasberg mine in Papua, the world's fifth-largest copper mine, if the ban had been imposed in its original form.如果禁令实施保持不变，美国控股的印尼自由港矿业公司警告它将减少了它在巴布亚岛Grasberg矿的60%产量。

Freeportsmelts about 40% of its output at Gresik in eastern Java, the country's sole copper smelter, but it exports the rest as concentrate.这座矿同时也是世界第五大铜矿。自由港冶炼了在Java东部Gresik大约40%的矿石产出，是这个国家唯一的铜矿冶炼公司，但是它出口剩下没炼的矿石，例如铜精矿。

Concentrating minds 以提炼矿石为中心

Another reason for waiving the restriction on copper is that, in contrast to some other metals, mining and concentrating it produces most of its final value: 放弃限制铜矿出口政策的另一个原因就是，与某些金属对比，采铜和精炼就可以占有最大一部分的最终价值：

Nathan Aociates, a consultancy in Washington, DC, says only 4-6% is added by smelting.南森联合公司是华盛顿的一家咨询公司，宣称只有4%-6%的价值是通过熔炼加上去的。

So the potential upside from insisting that only refined copper be exported is slight relative

to the downside of losing 2.5 billion a year of concentrate exports.因此，与丧失一年25亿美元铜精矿出口额相比，潜在的升值空间就来自于坚持出口精炼铜矿出口。

However, there are significant gains to be made by proceing other metal ores.然而，有一些可观的收入就可能来自于其他金属矿石加工。

About 94% of aluminium's final value comes from the refining and smelting stages, for example.大约94%的铝矿最终价值来自提炼和熔炼程序，例如，熔炼增加了镍矿石的价值。

Smelting adds a lot of value to nickel ore, too.但是，只要大量新的熔炉实际建成，印尼就会实现这些收入。

But Indonesia will achieve these gains only if plenty of new smelters are actually built.这些投入很昂贵，需要大量配套基础设施，Such plants are expensive, and require a lot of supporting infrastructure, such as power plants, ports and roads:Indonesiais terrible at building these.如电力，港口，道路：印尼很不擅长建造这些设施。

Moreover, world mineral prices are depreed and smelting margins are low.世界矿产价格持续低迷，熔炼利润持续走低。

Neverthele, the government says that many new smelters are in the works.不过，政府部门称，很多熔炉都已投入使用。

China Hongqiao, that country's biggest privately owned aluminium producer, is building a 1 billion smelter in Borneo.中国虹桥公司，作为印尼最大的私有铝矿生产者，正在Borneo建造一个价值十亿美元的熔炉。

The Indonesian government says another big Chinese firm, Shandong Nanshan Aluminium, is investing 5 billion in a smelter, power plant and port on Bintan island.印尼政府说另一个大型中国公司，山东南山铝业，正投资50亿美元在Bintan岛建造熔炉，电力系统，港口。

As for nickel, when President Xi Jinping visited Indonesia last October he witneed the signing of several agreements by Chinese firms to build smelters to produce the metal, used in making stainle steel.至于镍矿，去年十月份习近平主席拜访印尼时，见证了中国公司建熔炉生产金属制作不锈钢的协议签订。

This was a reminder of how dependentChinais on Indonesian nickel supplies, and a hint that it may be more interested in securing those supplies than in whether its companies make profits from the new smelting plants.这是一个对中国的提醒，对印尼镍矿提供有多么依赖，也是一个暗示，中国可能会对保护这些供给矿源产生更大的兴趣，而不是在乎是否这些公司真正从这些新熔炉制造中盈利。

So although export bans are generally not a good idea, and using protectionism to foster “infant industries” is a policy that has produced more failures than succees, it is not impoible thatIndonesiawill achieve its hopes of moving its natural-resources industries up the value chain.因此，尽管出口禁令总体上不算个好点子，而且使用贸易保护主义来培育“新生产业”的政策往往带来更多失败而不是成功，但印尼也有可能实现它的期望，那就是将依赖自然资源的工业绑上盈利产业链。

But at what cost in the meantime? 但是这样做的同时需要付出什么代价呢？

A little bit of resource nationalism may win Mr Yudhoyono's allies a few votes in the parliamentary elections scheduled for April and the presidential one in July.一年资源国家主义可能会为尤多约诺总统在四月份的议会选举和7月份的总统大选里赢得一些选票。

But it may lose a lot more if many smaller miners, who cannot afford to invest in smelters, close down and cut large numbers of jobs.但是也有可能失去更多的小型矿主，他们无力投资熔炉，导致倒闭和大量裁员。

If the short-term lo of export income exacerbates worries aboutIndonesia's current account, the consequences could be worse still.如果短期出口盈利损失使印尼货币贬值加剧，结局仍可能是更糟。

【经济学人】双语阅读：有线电视 耗资610亿的提案

Busine 商业报道

Cable television 有线电视

The 61 billion proposal 耗资610亿的提案

The latest plot twists in a continuing television drama 电视连续剧中最新的情节突转

SPURNED suitors usually nurse the wounds of rejection quietly.令人唾弃的起诉者通常悄然的治愈拒绝的伤口。

Not in the cable-television industry.Having unsuccefully approached Time Warner Cable twice last year, Charter Communications, a rival American cable operator, has gone public with a new proposal.这并不是在电缆电视行业。美国有线电视运营商的竞争对手Charter通讯，两次试图接近时代华纳有线公司都未能成功，现在又有一个新的提案已经上市。

On January 14th Charter announced a bid valuing TWC at 61 billion including debt, offering 132.50 ashare compared with the 95 or so they were fetching early last June, when rumours of its approach emerged.1月14日charter宣布为时代华纳有限公司估价610亿，提供一个份额132.50美元相比于原来的95美元高出许多。早在去年六月这些做法就流传出来了。

Charter's bo, Tom Rutledge, wrote a public letter to Robert Marcus, the bo of TWC, beseeching him to consider the offer, and held a conference call to seek shareholders' backing for the bid.Charter的老板汤姆?拉特里奇写了一封公开信给TWC的老板罗伯特马库斯，求他考虑该提案，并举行了电话会议，以寻求股东的支持。

TWC's executives are playing hard to get: they want a higher price, and vow not to let Charter steal the company.TWC的高管们欲擒故纵，他们希望得到更高的价格，并发誓决不让charter公司窃取。

For those who have been following this cable drama, it has been a question of when, not if, the industry would consolidate.对于那些一直在遵循这种电缆剧的人来说，一直有个有关行业巩固的时间问题，而不是是否的问题。

TWC isAmerica's second-largest cable operator by subscribers, after Comcast, and Charter is the fourth-largest.TWC是继康卡斯特后的美国第二大有线电视运营商，而charter排名第四位。

John Malone, one of the industry's pioneers, whose company, Liberty Media, is Charter's biggest shareholder, is among many in the busine calling for mergers.行业的先驱之一—约翰马龙，他的公司自有媒体是行业最大的股东，也是众多的业务中要求兼并的公司之一。

This would help cable firms fend off competition from satellite operators, phone companies and streaming services like Netflix, which are poaching their customers for internet service and for films and TV shows.这将帮助有线电视公司抵御来自卫星运营商，电话公司和如Netflix的流媒体服务等互联网服务对他们客户的偷猎和对电视电影节目的竞争。

Besides letting them cut costs—Charter reckons a merger with TWC could save at least 500ma year—scale would also give cable operators more clout when negotiating with content providers over the rates they have to pay to carry their channels.除了让他们削减成本，charter打算与TWC合并每年可以节省至少5亿，而且在于提供商洽谈必须支付的渠道费率时也使有线运营商更有底气。

Last year TWC got into a fight with CBS over its fees, which led to a blackout of CBS channels for a month until the two reached agreement.去年TWC与CBS战斗而花费了过多的费用，这导致CBS频道停摆了一个多月，直到两方协议达成。

TWC lost more than 300,000 customers during the third quarter, many of them as a result of this spat.TWC在第三季度失去了超过30万客户，其中不乏是因为这种争吵而出现的结果。

With its latest proposal judged still inadequate, Charter will have to decide whether to offer more.其最新的提案也有不足之处，charter将不得不决定是否要提供更多。

Other cable firms, such as Comcast, may enter the fray, offering to buy all or part of TWC.其他的有线电视公司，如comcast公司，可能会加入战斗，提供购买TWC所需的全部或部分资金。

Pay-television is not a growth busine for cable operators, so they must become more creative to increase sales.付费电视并不是有线电视运营商增长业务的方式，所以他们想要增加销售必须变得更有创意。

One area of experimentation is to offer broadband along with a light television package, as several cable providers are doing in certain markets, to appeal to wallet-wise youngsters.实验的一个方面是提供宽带伴随着光的电视包装，几个有线运营商正在做某些市场，以吸引钱包鼓鼓的青少年。

Others are selling metered broadband, with the cost tied to usage.其他正在销售的计量宽带，花费和使用成本紧紧相连。

Cable firms and other internet providers may soon be free to try even more radical experiments with pricing.有线电视公司和其他互联网服务供应商们可能很快可以尝试更为激进的实验与定价。

On January 14th an appeals court struck down federal rules that required them to treat all internet traffic equally—a policy called net neutrality.1月14日上诉法院推翻了一个名为网络中立的联邦规则，这个政策要求他们对待所有互联网流量相等。

If the court's ruling prevails, this would let cable firms and other internet providers start demanding payment from bandwidth-hungry suppliers of video, such as Netflix, for speedy delivery to viewers.如果以法院的判决为准，这将让有线电视公司和其他互联网服务供应商开始要求高宽带视频用户，如Netflix快速传达给观众。

Besides giving cable firms a juicy new source of income, this could curb the expansion of an increasingly powerful group of competitors for providing packages of video content.除了给电缆公司提供收入的新来源，这可能遏制日益强大的集团竞争对手扩张提供视频内容。

The cable firms could also favour video sites in which they had an interest: for example, Comcast part-owns Hulu, a rival to Netflix.电缆公司也可能对视频网站感兴趣，例如，Netflix的竞争对手hulu—他们有用comcast的部分股权。

As any fan knows, cable-TV dramas tend to be long-running and full of plot twists.由于任何人都知道，电缆电视剧往往是长时间运行而又情节曲折，This one will probably be no different.Stay tuned.这其中可能会没什么不同。敬请关注。

【经济学人】无人驾驶飞机 呼叫这里是你的地面飞行员

Science and technology 科学技术

Pilotle aircraft 无人驾驶飞机

This is your ground pilot speaking 呼叫，这里是你的地面飞行员

Autonomous civil aircraft could be flying before cars go driverle 民用飞机会先于汽车实现无人驾驶

WITHIN the next few weeks a twin-engined Jetstream will take off from Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire, England, and head north towards Scotland.在接下来的几周里，一架双引擎飞机喷流将会从英格兰兰开夏郡的沃顿机场起飞，向北飞往苏格兰。

Like any other flight, the small commuter airliner will respond to instructions from air-traffic controllers, navigate a path and take care to avoid other aircraft.与其他班机一样，这架小型通勤客机将会根据空中交通管制员的指示，沿着一条航路飞行，注意避开其他飞机。

But the pilot flying the aircraft will not be in the cockpit: he will have his feet firmly on the ground in a control room back at Warton.但是驾驶这架飞机的飞行员却没在驾驶舱里：他在沃顿机场的一个控制室里驾驶着飞机，双脚仍然稳稳地踩在地面上。

Pilotle aircraft are now widely used by the armed forces, but those drones fly only in restricted airspace and conflict zones.无人机现在已广泛应用于军队之中，但这些无人机仅用于在禁飞区及冲突地区。

The Jetstream miion is part of a project to develop the technologies and procedures that will allow large commercial aircraft to operate routinely and safely without pilots in the same skies as manned civilian flights.而喷流的任务是某个技术及程序开发项目的一部分，该项目的目的在于能让大型商用飞机在没有飞行员的情况下安全的进行常规飞行，与有人驾驶的民航班机在同一片天空中飞行。

Fasten your seat belts 系紧您的安全带

To reaure those of a nervous disposition, the test flights do not carry paengers and pilots remain in the cockpit just in case things go wrong.为了让那些神经质的人安心，测试的飞机不会有乘客，驾驶舱中仍然有驾驶员以防万一，In that way they are similar to Google’s trials of driverle cars, which have drivers inside them to take over if neceary while on public roads.这有点类似于谷歌无人驾驶汽车的实验，在公路上行驶时，如有必要，车中的驾驶员可以控制汽车。

Yet unmanned commercial aircraft are likely to enter service before people can buy autonomous cars.但是无人驾驶的商用飞机很可能在人们可以买到无人驾驶汽车前便能投入使用。

Modern aircraft are already perfectly capable of automatically taking off, flying to a destination and landing.现代的飞机已经完全有能力进行自动起飞，自动飞往目的地，自动着陆。

These tests are trying to establish whether they can do those things safely without a pilot in the cockpit and at the same time comply with the rules of the air.而要进行的测试是想确认在驾驶舱没有飞行员的情况下，飞机能否在遵守飞行规则的同时，还能安全的完成以上三件事情。

Progre is being made, a conference in London heard this week.笔者本周从在伦敦召开的一次会议上获悉，事情正在取得进展。

It was organised by the Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Aement, the group staging the British test flights.本次会议是由机载无人系统技术评审组织举办的，就是该组织在英国进行了无人机测试。

This 62m programme, backed by the British government, involves seven European aerospace companies: 该项目获得了英国政府的支持，投资达六千两百万英镑，共有七家欧洲的航空工业公司参与其中：

AOS, BAE Systems, Caidian, Cobham, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and Thales.机载观测系统公司，英国宇航系统公司，凯西典公司，科巴姆公司，奎奈蒂克公司，劳特莱斯公司及泰雷兹公司。

It is potentially a huge new market.这是一个潜在的巨大新兴市场。

America’s aviation regulators have been asked by Congre to integrate unmanned aircraft into the air-traffic control system as early as 2015.美国国会已要求该国的航空协调员要在2015年将无人驾驶飞机加入空中交通管制系统。

Some small drones are already used in commercial applications, such as aerial photography, but in most countries they are confined to flying within sight of their ground pilot, much like radio-controlled model aircraft.有些小型无人机已经应用于航拍等商业用途，但在大多数国家，小型无人机的飞行范围被限制在其地面飞行员的视野以内，很像无线电遥控的模型飞机。

Bigger aircraft would be capable of flying farther and doing a lot more things.再大一点的无人机能够飞的更远一些，可以做更多的事情。

Pilotle aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters—tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines.无人驾驶飞机可以完成很多工作，并且比有人驾驶的飞机和直升机成本更低，比如说交通监测，边境巡逻，警务监视及电缆检查等任务。

They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents.无人机还可以在对飞行员有危险的环境下工作，包括监视森林火灾或核电事故。

And they could fly extended miions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services.而且无人机还可以执行更多的任务，如搜索救援，环境监测，甚至提供临时的机载无线网络和移动电话服务。

Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.有分析师认为，到2020年，无人驾驶飞机及其服务的全球民用市场的价值可超过500亿美元。

Whatever happens, pilots will still have a role in aviation, although not necearily in the cockpit.无论发生什么，飞行员仍会在航空业占有一席之地，虽然不一定是在驾驶舱里。

As far as the eye can see there will always be a pilot in command of an aircraft, says Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, the director of ASTRAEA.在可以预见的未来，飞机一直都会由飞行员掌控，ASTRAEA的主任Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal说，But that pilot may be on the ground and he may be looking after more than one unmanned aircraft at the same time.但飞行员或许会留在地面上，有可能同时照看好几架无人机。

Commercial flights carrying freight and expre parcels might one day also lose their on-board pilots.运送货物和快递包裹的商用飞机某天也可能会失去其随机的飞行员。

But would even the most penny-pinching cut-price airline be able to sell tickets to paengers on flights that have an empty cockpit? 但就算廉价航空公司再怎么精打细算，它能把没有飞行员的飞机的机票卖出去吗？

More realistically, those flights might have just one pilot in the future.更现实点说，未来的商用飞机可能只有一名飞行员。

Technology has already relieved the flight deck of a number of jobs.飞行班组的许多职位已经被技术取代了。

Many early large aircraft had a crew of five: two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a radio operator.许多早期的大型飞机上有五名机组成员：两名飞行员，一名飞行机师，一名领航员及一名无线电话务员。

First the radio operator went, then the navigator, and by the time the jet era was well under way in the 1970s flight engineers began to disappear too.最先是无线电话务员消失了，然后是领航员，等到了20世纪70年代，进入喷气机时代后，飞行机师也消失了。

Next it could be the co-pilot, replaced by the autonomous flight systems now being developed.下一个消失的会是副驾驶，被现在正在开发中的自主飞行系统取代。

The flight over Scotland will test how well air-traffic controllers can communicate with the ground pilot through the aircraft.在那架飞往苏格兰的飞机上将会测试空中交通管制员通过飞机与其地面飞行员通话的质量。

The project is also exploring ways to make the radio and satellite links secure and reliable.该项目还在探寻使无线电及卫星连接安全可靠的方法。

But engineers still have to prepare for the eventuality that the link breaks;the aircraft then has to have enough autonomy to operate safely until communications are restored or it can land using its own guidance systems.但是工程师仍必须为连接中断的可能性做好准备；然后飞机必须要有足够的自主权来保证飞行安全，直至通讯恢复正常，或者能够使用自己的导航系统着陆。

Unmanned aircraft will, therefore, need a sense and avoid capability.因此无人驾驶飞机需要感应并规避的能力。

This can be provided by transponders that bleep the aircraft’s presence to other aeroplanes and air-traffic controllers.异频雷达收发机便具备这一功能，它会发出哔哔声来提示其它飞机及空中交通管制员本飞机的存在。

But not all manned aircraft have such kit.但并非所有的有人驾驶飞机都有该功能。

Some light aircraft and gliders operating at low altitudes in clear weather are not required to have even radios, let alone transponders or radar.一些在晴朗天气下进行低空飞行的轻型飞机和滑翔机甚至不需要无线电，更别提异频雷达收发机或雷达了。

Which is why pilots keep their eyes peeled when such traffic might be about.这也是为什么在可能发生这种情况时，飞行员要时刻保持警惕。

ASTRAEA’s Jetstream, therefore, also uses video cameras to allow the ground pilot to look around outside the cockpit.因此ASTRAEA的捷流号还使用了摄像头以便使地面飞行员可以查看驾驶舱外的情况。

Image-recognition software can warn of other aircraft.影像识别软件可以在出现其它飞机时发出警告，This is being tested against different backgrounds, such as a cluttered landscape or a hazy sky.目前正在不同的环境下对该功能进行测试，如地形复杂或天空雾蒙蒙的环境。

In other trials, different aircraft are being flown in the vicinity of the Jetstream, and some of them will be flown deliberately towards it on a potential collision course, to see if these intruding aircraft can be recognised by the automated systems and the appropriate avoiding action taken.在其它的试验中，不同的飞机飞至捷流附近，其中几架故意以可能与之相撞的航线飞向捷流，以测试自动系统能否识别这些入侵的飞机并采取适当的规避措施。

These flights are taking place in an area cleared of other aircraft over the Irish Sea.以上飞行测试是在爱尔兰海上空一片没有其它飞机经过的空域进行的。

The results to date suggest you can do sense-and-avoid as well as a human, says Mr Dopping-Hepenstal.迄今为止的测试结果表明系统的感应并规避的能力能做到和人一样，Dopping-Hepensta说。

A pilotle plane must also be able to act autonomously in an emergency.在发生紧急状况时，无人机必须能够自行采取行动。

In the event of an engine failure, for instance, it could use its navigational map to locate a suitable area to put down.比如，如果一台引擎发生故障，无人机需要使用其航行图来找到合适地点降落。

But what if this was an open field that happened to be in use for, say, a fair? 但如果其选择的空地恰好被占用了，比如说成了集市，怎么办？

A forward-looking video camera might show a ground pilot that.此时前视摄像头会将此影像传给地面飞行员。

But if communications were lost the aircraft would rely on image-recognition software and an infra-red camera to detect the heat given off by people and machines and so decide to try to land elsewhere.但如果通讯中断，飞机将依靠影像识别软件及红外摄像头来感知人或机器发出的热量，以此来决定去其它地点降落。

The ASTRAEA researchers are carrying out a lot of their work using flight simulators and air-traffic-control data.ASTRAEA的研究人员的许多工作都是通过飞行模拟装置及空中交通管制数据来完成的。

But eventually they will still have to prove that their systems can work in the real world—even during emergency landings.但最终他们还是要证明他们的系统要能应用在现实的世界里，甚至在紧急迫降时也能使用。

In order to satisfy risk-averse aviation regulators, the researchers are working with Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority to certify a virtual pilotle aircraft for use in civil airspace.为了让民航协调员在规避风险方面满意，研究人员与英国民航局一起验证了虚拟的无人机用于民用空域的可行性，The intention is not to certify an actual aircraft, but for both sides to learn what will be required to do so.其目的并非是要对真正的无人机进行验证，而是为了让双方了解需要为此做些什么。

Some of the technologies being developed are also likely to find their way into manned aircraft as a backup for pilots, and poibly for cars too.开发出来技术中有一些可能作为飞行员的后备而应用到有人驾驶飞机，还有可能应用到汽车上。

Systems that provide automatic braking and motorway-lane control, for instance, already feature in many types of car.例如，许多种的汽车都已经配备了自动刹车及公路车道控制系统。

These features take cars some of the way towards autonomy.这些功能让汽车走上了无人驾驶之路。

But driverle cars, like pilotle planes, will have to fit in with existing infrastructure and regulations, not least insurance liability, before they can take off.但是无人驾驶汽车与无人驾驶飞机一样，在出发前，需要先符合现有的基础设施及规章，尤其是明确保险责任。

【经济学人】双语阅读：巴基斯坦的军事力量，失去驾驶权的司机

Asia

亚洲中国

Pakistan's armed forces 巴基斯坦的军事力量

Out of the driving seat 失去驾驶权的司机

The prime minister wants to put the army in its place 巴基斯坦的总统想要把军队置于此地。

IT IS said that the army chief is the most powerful man in Pakistan.据称军队总司令是巴基斯坦权利最大的人。

Even so, the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, made a point of keeping the new head waiting for as long as poible.至于说，侯赛因总统提出想见这位总司令都要加入其等待长队的行列。

Breaking with the convention that gives the new chief a month or two to prepare, Mr Sharif named a succeor just two days before the outgoing chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a former spymaster turned double-term army chief, was due to retire.被中断的大会告诉新总统，给他两个月去准备，在前任军方总司令离职后，侯赛因总统任命了继承人。前总司令卡亚尼曾任一位担任两个军队的司令，前任间谍领头。他面临退休而不得不离开岗位。

Lieutenant General Raheel Sharif will now control not only a vast army and the world's fastest-growing nuclear arsenal, but a busine empire ranging from cornflakes to luxury housing.拉赫利·谢里夫不将会主宰多方位的军队，还会掌权逐渐扩张的核能军火库。

So why the delay?

为什么推迟了如此久才定音?

The prime minister is not always decisive, and bear in mind that the last time he picked an army chief, Pervez Musharraf in 1998, his appointee ousted him in a coup a year later.总统也不是神，永远能够很快地做出有效的决定。在1988年，在经过慎重考虑之后，侯赛因总统任命佩尔韦兹·穆沙拉夫作为军方总司令，而他的上司，那个指定他的人，在过后的几年将他罢职。

Others, however, suspect an attempt by Mr Sharif to aert civilian authority over an army that needs to be put in its place.有些人怀疑谢里夫想要维持文官权利高于军队，所以不得不做到这步。

The army sees itself as both embodiment and guarantor of the nation.军队认为他们是既国家的捍卫者又是国家的化身。

Yet it has long been at the root of Pakistan's deepest problems.尽管这长时间以来一直是巴基斯坦最根本的问题。

By meddling in elections and mounting coups, it has weakened the political claes, whose consequent ineptitude and corruption gives it cause to meddle again.通过一系列的干预竞选和愈加剧烈的政变，政治阶级已经被削弱。而紧接着的便是无能和不称职公仆和不断的贿赂，这又导致了再一次政治干预。

It has a history of disastrous military adventures.在历史上记载着一次军队灾难性的经历。

And it has made common cause with militant Islamists who it hoped would further its interests abroad—keeping India on edge to the south and sowing confusion in Afghanistan to the north in hopes of preventing anti-Pakistan forces growing there.而原因是同样的—穆斯林军人想要对外扩张，取得更多利益—把印度置于南方的边际，在阿富汗的北面散布迷惑信息，以防止反巴基斯坦势力上涨。

The country is now paying a terrible price for its sponsorship of foreign terror.目前，巴基斯坦在国际反恐活动中提供了高得离谱的资助，It has spawned dozens of local extremist groups attacking Pakistan itself.这却导致多数的巴基斯坦本地极端分子集团攻击本国人。

Since 2001 nearly 50,000 Pakistanis have died in terror-related violence.自2001年起，已经有五十万巴基斯坦人民由于恐怖分子引发的相关犯罪事件而死亡。

For a long time the generals refused to see the Islamists for the threat they are.很长一段时间来，高层们一直不承认穆斯林分子对他们来说是一个威胁的存在。

Officers from the army's spy wing, Inter-Services Intelligence, were probably involved in funding and planning deadly attacks in Mumbai in 2008 carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.2008年，一群出自情报局的军方间谍在孟买被虔诚军袭击致死。

General Kayani may have been as bad as the rest.当时的总司令卡亚尼可能已经看出其他穆斯林分子也将跟虔诚军一样顽劣。

While he was rising to the top, the Afghan Taliban regrouped, the Mumbai attacks were planned, and Osama bin Laden settled in a garrison town.于是当他的权利处于上位时，阿富汗塔利班的军队被重新部署，孟买袭击在当时也开始进行策划。当时本拉登被安置在驻防区的小镇里。

Yet along the way the soldier-spy grew into the pragmatist committed to getting the army out of the driving seat and nurturing Pakistan's return to democracy.然而，伪装成士兵的间谍务实地保证，要将军队撵出独裁，主导之位，要使巴基斯坦重回民主之路。

He and Mr Sharif seem to have got on, while the Americans respected him.此人和总司令已有交手，而美国人表现出更尊重他。

Crucially, says Asad Munir, a retired ISI brigadier, he began to understand the nature of the existential threat posed by militant Islam.重要的是，前情报局参谋长穆尼尔说，他已经明白，目前存在的威胁本质就是穆斯林军人。

Military force is required to take it on, particularly in North Waziristan, a tribal area which an alphabet soup of al-Qaeda affiliates have made their base.军方势力要求要掌握在手，特别是部落地区北瓦齐里斯坦，是一碗基于附属基地组织的字母汤

General Sharif's appointment was a surprise.总司令谢里夫的任命是很令人惊讶的。

But the good news is that he shares General Kayani's thinking on domestic militancy.但是值得一喜的是，他前前总司令卡亚尼交流了关于国内军事力量的想法。

In charge of army training, he was closely involved in efforts to retool an army trained for set-piece battles with India for counter-insurgency in the country's wild tribal west.他想要接近于重组一支训练有素的军队，为巴基斯坦西面广阔的部落地带与印度的反动起义战争定下筹码。

Like General Kayani, he knows first-hand the futility of peace accords that militant groups soon renege on.前总司令卡亚尼知道，无战争代价的和平定将带来无效的回应——对方军队一定很快就会食言。

The problem is that the prime minister has yet to produce a national counter-terrorism strategy and says

peace talks must be tried first.而问题就是，侯赛因总统已经将国内反恐怖主义战略定案，同时宣称，必须先保证和平。

It is a cause with minimal chance of succe, but one hotly promoted by much of the political establishment.尽管这只是一个非常难以成功的方案，但是政治大量完善与建成被激烈地推崇。

Many more innocent lives may have to be lost before the politicians find the nerve for a military solution.在政治家发想要运用军事能够解决问题之前，可能很多无辜的生命都将面临着牺牲。

Elsewhere irritation with civilian government is already flowering among junior officers.But there is no mood to take over.公民政府的无理取闹已经在老一辈的官员里传开，可是没有人有此闲情雅致去掌权。

Mr Musharraf's eight years in power were a disaster.穆沙拉夫八年执政便是场灾难军方不可挑战的高高权威已经引起了广播的大肆宣传。

The army's once-unchallenged authority has leeched away to a set of rambunctiousbroadcast media, an activist supreme court and civilian politicians who this year succefully transferred power from one elected government to another—a first for Pakistan.Good governance is the best way for civilian rulers to keep the army off their backs.一位最高法院激进的官员第在巴基斯坦在一个政府的倒戈，另一个政权的崛起之下，成功转移了自己的实力。对于秩序制定者来说，一个好的政府应该把军队控制之下而非之上。

Still, the army can always play a spoiling game, especially when it comes to relations with India.依然地，军队一直在玩扫兴的游戏，特别是在与印度的关系上。

It makes no secret of despising Mr Sharif's enthusiasm for a rapid normalisation of relations, and opposes a crucial free-trade deal.这是正大光明地鄙视谢里夫热忱于对社会秩序的塑造，反对自由贸易的重要则曾。

And even as Mr Sharif dreams of visa-le travel acro the Indo-Pakistani border, after years of relative calm the ceasefire line in contested Kashmir has become hot again.就当谢里夫梦想穿越巴基斯坦-印度边际不需要签证时，缓和多年熄战线现在又热了起来。

The officers probably deserve some of the blame for that.以这方面而言，责备，是政府应得的。

【经济学人】双语阅读：表观遗传学与健康，祖母的诅咒

Science and technology 科学技术

Epigenetics and health 表观遗传学与健康

Grandma's curse 祖母的诅咒

Some of the effects of smoking may be paed from grandmother to grandchild 祖母吸烟产生的影响可以会遗传至孙子或孙女

Think of your grandchildren!想想你的孙辈吧!

ONE of biology's hottest topics is epigenetics.当今生物学最热的话题之一是表观遗传学，The term itself covers a multitude of sins.这个术语本身就涵盖了许多宗罪。

Strictly speaking, it refers to the regulation of gene expreion by the chemical modification of DNA, or of the histone proteins in which DNA is usually wrapped.严格来说，表观遗传学研究的是DNA或含有DNA的组蛋白化学改性中的基因表达调控现象。

This modification is either the addition of methyl groups to the DNA or of acetyl groups to the histones.这种改性或者是甲基增至DNA中，或者是乙酰基增加到组蛋白中。

Methylation switches genes off.甲基化作用关闭基因，Acetylation switches them on.乙酰化作用启动基因。

Since, in a multicellular organism, different cells need different genes to be active, such regulation is vital.由于在多细胞有机体中，不同的细胞需要借助不同的基因以激活自身，所以这种调控至关重要。

What has got a lot of people excited, though, is the idea that epigenetic switches might be transmitted down the generations.但令人兴奋的是，有观点认为，表观遗传现象中的基因表达调控功能有可能世代相传。

Some see this as contrary to Darwinism, since it would permit characteristics acquired during an organism's lifetime to be paed on to its offspring, as suggested by a rival theory of evolution put forward by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.有些人将之视为对达尔文学说的反证，因为这将允许有机体存活期间所获得的特征遗传给后代，正如法国著名生物学家让巴蒂斯特拉马克所提出的与进化论相对的学说。

This is an exaggeration.这种想法有些夸张了。

The DNA sequence itself is not being permanently altered.基因序列不会一直变化，Even those epigenetic changes that are inherited seem to be subsequently reversible.甚至那些表观遗传学意义上的变化遗传给下一代后，似乎仍然存在可逆性。

But the idea that acquired characteristics can be inherited at all is still an important and novel one, and a worrying example of the phenomenon has been published this week in BioMed Central Medicine.但是，因表观遗传现象所获得的特征完全可以遗传的观点仍然新颖且重要。本周，BioMed Central Medicine刊出了一项研究，可例证这一现象，其结果令人担忧。

The study in question, by Virender Rehan of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and his colleagues, was of the intergenerational effects of nicotine.该项研究是由洛杉矶生物医学研究所的Virender Rehan和他的同事们开展的，研究的是尼古丁的代际影响。

It was done in rats, but a rat's physiology is sufficiently similar to a human's to suspect the same thing may be true in Homo sapiens.研究人员虽然在大鼠身上进行实验，但因为大鼠的生理机能与人类十分相像，所以研究人员怀疑对于大鼠的研究结果可能同样适用于智人。

In a nutshell, Dr Rehan showed that if pregnant rats are exposed to nicotine, not only will their offspring develop the asthma induced by this drug, so will the offspring of those offspring.简而言之，Rehan博士想说明的是，如果大鼠怀孕时接触尼古丁，不仅下一代会因此患上哮喘，第三代也会深受其害。

Dr Rehan and his team injected their rats with nicotine when they were six days pregnant.Rehan博士和他的团队在大鼠怀孕的第六天为其注射尼古丁。

They then allowed them to give birth and raised the pups to the age of three weeks, before some were examined.大鼠的后代出生后，由母鼠养育三周。

The rest were allowed to mature and breed, and their own offspring were similarly examined.然后研究人员选取一部分后代进行检查，其余的第二代大鼠继续生长繁殖，最后研究人员对第三代大鼠进行类似的检验。

There was, however, no further administration of nicotine.但是，第二代大鼠在妊娠期间，不再被注射尼古丁。

The pups of the treated mothers had asthmatic lungs.检测发现，被注射尼古丁的母鼠所繁殖的第二代大鼠肺部有哮喘病变。

The organs' airways were constricted, 大鼠肺部的气道处于收缩状态。

and molecular analysis showed abnormally high levels of fibronectin and collagen—which would stiffen the lung tiue—and also high levels of receptor molecules for nicotine.经过分子分析发现，大鼠肺部的纤维连接蛋白和胶原蛋白含量异常升高，这将导致肺组织硬化;同时尼古丁受体分子增加。

That was expected, since the developing embryos were exposed to the nicotine when their mothers were treated.结果表明，母鼠被注射尼古丁后，其后代在胚胎发育时期就会受尼古丁的影响，这一结果正如预期。

However, when the team did similar tests on the grand-offspring of the treated mothers, they got similar results.但是，当研究团队对第三代大鼠进行类似检查时，发现了同样的情况，Those grand-offspring had not been exposed to nicotine.即使这些第三代大鼠并没有接触尼古丁。

The cause of the grand-offsprings' asthma, Dr Rehan believes, is epigenetic modification.Rehan博士认为，第三代大鼠的哮喘是表观遗传中的改性现象。

Nicotine is not only affecting lung cells, but also affecting sex cells in ways that cause the lungs which ultimately develop from those cells to expre their genes in the same abnormal ways.尼古丁不仅侵袭肺部细胞，还会影响生殖细胞，使得生殖细胞在发育器官时，在肺部异常表达基因，导致新发育的肺部同样受到尼古丁的不良影响。

Exactly what those epigenetic changes are is hard to track down.表观遗传现象具体引起了哪种变化，目前难以获知。

The team have started looking, but could find no clear pattern except that one form of nicotine-induced acetylation, that of H3 histones, could be blocked by a molecule called RGZ.研究团队已经开始研究这一问题，但目前只研究出一种明确的模式：尼古丁会引起H3组蛋白的乙酰化，This molecule is also known to protect lungs against the asthma-causing effects of nicotine.进而导致一种叫做RGZ的分子受到抑制，而目前已知RGZ分子可以保护肺脏，使其免受由尼古丁引起的哮喘。

That suggests it is the acetylation of H3 histones rather than the methylation of DNA itself that is creating the effect.这表明由尼古丁引起的哮喘是源于H3组蛋白的乙酰化，而非DNA自身的甲基化作用。

Which crucial genes these histones surround remains obscure.研究团队目前没有研究出这些受影响的组蛋白包含着哪些关键基因，Nor have the team yet found out whether the epigenetic effect they have discovered reaches further than grand-offspring.也没有发现表观遗传的影响是否会延续至第三代以下的后代。

If it does, though, it suggests that epigenetics really might act like the biblical curse:

然而，如果有研究表明后生效应会世代相传的话，这就表明表观遗传现象真真是有如圣经上的诅咒：

that the sins of the fathers will be visited on the sons, even unto the third and fourth generations.父辈的罪孽，会降罪至他们的下一代身上，甚至会延续至第三代或者第四代。

【经济学人】双语阅读：超级计算 更深奥的思维

Science and technology 科学技术

Supercomputing 超级计算

Deeper thought 更深奥的思维

The world has a new fastest computer, thanks to video games 多亏电子游戏，让世界拥有了一台新的最快的计算机

The ultimate games machine 终极游戏机

SPEED fanatics that they are, computer nerds like to check the website of Top500, a collaboration between German and American computer scientists that keeps tabs on which of the world's supercomputers is the fastest.作为速度控，电脑迷们喜欢查看Top500的网站，该网站是由德国和美国的计算机科学家合办，记录世界上最快的超级计算机。

On November 12th the website released its latest list, and unveiled a new champion.11月12日，该网站发布了最新榜单，揭开了新一任冠军的面纱。

The computer in question is called Titan, and it lives at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tenneee.获得冠军的计算机名为泰坦，居于田纳西州的橡树岭国家实验室，It took first place from another American machine, IBM's Sequoia, which is housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California.它是击败了另一台美国的计算机-IBM的红杉而取得冠军的，红杉位于加利福尼亚州的劳伦斯利物莫国家实验室。

These two machines have helped reaert America's dominance of a list that had, in the past few years, been headed by computers from China and Japan.这两台计算机使美国重新在Top500榜单上获得优势地位，而在过去数年，中国和日本的计算机一直雄踞榜首。

Titan is different from the previous champion in several ways.泰坦与之前的冠军在多个方面均有所不同。

For one thing, it is an open system, meaning that scientific researchers with sufficiently thorny problems will be able to bid for time on it, in much the same way that astronomers can bid for time on telescopes.其一，它是一个开放的系统，意味着科研人员可以争取泰坦的使用时间来解决非常棘手的问题，与天文学家争取天文望远镜使用时间的方式差不多。

Sequoia, by contrast, spends most of its time running hush-hush simulations of exploding nuclear weapons, and is therefore rarely available for public use.相比之下，红杉将其大多数时间用在绝密的核武器爆炸模拟上，因此很少用于公共用途。

Titan has an unusual design, too.泰坦的设计也与众不同。

All supercomputers are composed of thousands of proceor chips harneed together.所有的超级计算机是由成千上万个处理芯片连在一起组成的。

Often, these are derivatives of the central proceing units, or CPUs, that sit at the heart of modern, desktop machines.这些芯片通常都是由现代台式电脑的心脏-中央处理器，即CPU，衍生出来的。

But Titan derives the majority of its oomph—more than 90%—from technology originally developed for the video-game industry.但是泰坦的大部分性能源于最初由电子游戏行业开发出来的技术。

Half of its 37,376 proceors are ordinary CPUs.泰坦有37376个处理器，其中一半是普通CPU，But the other half are graphics proceing units, or GPUs.但另外一半是图形处理器，即GPU。

These are specialised devices designed to cope with modern video games, which are some of the most demanding applications any home machine is ever likely to run.GPU是用于处理现代电子游戏的专业设备，其中一些要求最苛刻的游戏甚至都没有家用机能运行起来。

China's TianHe-1 machine, a previous Top500 champion, was built in the same way, as are 60 other machines in the Top500 list.前Top500冠军，中国的天河1号也是采用同样的方式搭建的，Top500榜单中还有60台计算机也是用此方式搭建的。

Parallel worlds 并行的世界

Broadly speaking, a CPU—which will be expected to run everything from spreadsheets to voice-recognition software to encoded video—has to be a generalist, competent at every sort of mathematical task but excelling at nothing.从广义上说，一个CPU—被寄予运行一切事物的厚望，从电子表格到语音视频软件，再到解码视频—必须成为一个全能选手，要胜任所有类型的数学计算任务，但却无一精通。

A GPU, by contrast, is designed to excel at one thing only: manipulating huge numbers of the

triangles out of which all modern computer graphics are made.相比之下，GPU就是为专精一件事而特别设计的：操控大量的三角形，所有现代计算机的图形都是由这些三角形构成的。

Several years ago researchers at Nvidia and AMD realised that many scientific problems which demand huge amounts of computing power—everything from climate simulations and modelling combustion in an engine to seismic analysis for the oil-and-gas industry—could be translated into a form that was digestible by their GPUs.几年前，英伟达及超微半导体的研究人员意识到许多需要大量运算能力的科学问题—从气候模拟及发动机燃烧方式建模到油气行业的抗震分析—都可以转译成GPU可以理解的形式。

Soon after, supercomputer builders such as Cray began to take notice.此后不久，这开始引起了超级计算机制造商的注意，如克雷。

Borrowing from the games industry in this way brings several benefits.One big one is efficiency.以这种方式借鉴游戏行业的技术带来诸多好处。最大的一个好处是效能。

Titan is an upgrade of Oak Ridge's existing Jaguar machine.泰坦是橡树岭现有的美洲虎超级计算机的升级版。

Upgrading Jaguar with ordinary CPUs would have meant building a computer that sucked around 30MW of electricity when running flat out—enough juice to power a small town.如使用普通的CPU对美洲虎进行升级，则意味着升级后的计算机在全速运行时将会狂饮大约30MW的电力，这么多电力供给一个小镇都绰绰有余。

Because GPUs are so good at their specialised tasks, Titan can achieve its blistering performance while sipping a modest 8.2MW.由于GPU非常擅长处理专门性务，泰坦在达到最高性能时只是抿掉8.2MW的电力，不算太多。

It makes sense financially, too, says Sumit Gupta, head of supercomputing at Nvidia.使用GPU从经济上说也颇有意义，英伟达超级计算业务的负责人苏米特古普塔称。

The chips that the firm sells to supercomputer-makers are almost identical to those it sells to gamers.英伟达销售给超级计算机制造商的GPU几乎与销售给游戏玩家的GPU完全相同。

As Dr Gupta observes, The history of high-performance computing is littered with the bodies of firms that tried to build products just for the supercomputing market.据古普塔博士观察，在高性能运算的历史上，遍布着那些只想为超级计算机市场提供产品的公司的尸体，By itself, it's just too small a niche.就其自身而言，这个利基市场太过狭小了。

It is not all upsides, though.然而使用GPU也有不利的一面。

Machines like Titan achieve their speed by breaking a problem into thousands of tiny pieces and farming each out to a single proceor.泰坦这类计算机是将一个问题打散为成千上万个小碎片，然后将每个小碎片分发给单独的处理器运算，从而达到其很高的运算速度。

A helpful analogy, perhaps, is painting a house: one strategy might be to hire a single painter, but it is probably quicker to employ several people and give each a room to do.或许将其比喻为粉刷房子有助于理解：一种策略是只雇用一名粉刷工，但是多雇几个粉刷工，然后每人刷一个房间很可能会更快一点。

Not all problems are susceptible to being chopped up in such a way, though.然而不是所有的问题都能以这种方式切分。

The requirement to translate a problem into the sort of mathematics that a GPU can digest adds another barrier.而将一个问题转译为GPU可以理解的那中数学运算问题也是一个障碍。

Dr Gupta gives the example of the models used to simulate how a car will react in a crash as one problem that has so far resisted what the industry calls the maively parallel approach.古普塔博士举了模拟汽车碰撞的模型的例子，解决该问题目前仍需采用被行业称为大规模并行的方法。

Clever programmers can sometimes find a way around such iues: ray-tracing, a high-quality, mathematically intense approach to computer graphics that aims to simulate individual light rays, was, ironically, long thought to be the kind of problem that a modern GPU would struggle with.聪明的程序员有时能够找到绕过这种问题的方法：射线追踪，是一种针对电脑图形的高质量，数学运算频繁的方法，目的是模拟单独的光线。但讽刺的是，射线追踪一直被认为是现代GPU难以处理的一类问题，Yet at a graphics conference in 2008, a group of researchers from Nvidia announced that they had, neverthele, found a way to do it.但在2008年的一次图形大会上，一个来自英伟达的研究团队宣布，尽管这类问题很难，但他们还是找到了处理的方法。

Oak Ridge and Nvidia plan to work with scientists wanting time on Titan to see if their algorithms can be tweaked in similar ways, to make them digestible by the new machine.橡树岭和英伟达计划和想要使用泰坦的科学家合作，来检查这些科学家的算法是否能够以类似的方式进行微调，使新计算机能够理解这些算法。

Dr Gupta is bullish.古普塔博士对其表示乐观。

Even the recalcitrant car-crash simulations, he thinks, will yield to the new approach soon.他认为，即便是顽固的汽车碰撞模拟问题不久也会出现新的解决方法。

But that is not to say that every problem can be made to work.但这并不是说所有的问题都能解决。

And those scientists who find that they cannot tweak their code may find themselves struggling to take advantage of the ever-rising performance of the world's fastest computers.对于无法对其编码进行微调的科学家来说，会发现他们很难去利用世界上最快的计算机们不断提升的性能。

【经济学人】双语阅读：德国公司 不幸的商业

Busine 商业报道

German companies 德国公司

An unhappy busine 不幸的商业

The new government's reforms worry German boes 新政府改革使德国企业的老板们担心不已

FOR German businees, the elections were bad enough.对于德国的商业来说，这次的选举真的糟糕透了。

In September voters denied the busine-friendly, small-government Free Democrats the 5% of the vote required to stay both in parliament and in the centre-right coalition government.九月份投票者拒绝了对商业友好、小政府型的需要5%投票继续在过会和右翼联盟中待下去的自由民主党员们。

The election result has led to a grand coalition between Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, its Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union, and the leftish Social Democrats.这个选举结果引发了默克尔的基督民主联盟及它的巴伐利亚姐妹党，基督社会联盟和左倾的社会民主党的大联盟。

Though the SPD finished well behind the CDU-CSU, their coalition agreement, signed at the end of November, looks to many like a wishlist for the left.尽管跟社会民主党的联合结束远远在CDU-CSU后面，他们的联合协议，11月末尾签字，看上去更像一个左派的愿望单。

Busine and financial leaders are barely bothering to conceal their disappointment at a new national minimum wage, increased pension payments, lower retirement ages for some workers and new pension entitlements for some stay-at-home mothers.商业和金融领导者们几乎不费劲去隐藏他们对新的全国最低工资、增加了的退休金、对某些工人更低的退休年龄和对一些在家母亲生活津贴权益的失望之情。

The head of the Federation of German Industry, Ulrich Grillo, called it a wasted chance that would submit the German economy to new stre tests.德国工业联合会首领，Ulrich Grillo，称之为可能会导致德国经济面临一个新的严峻考验的机会浪费。

The Cologne Institute for Economic Research has compared the agreement to a cheque without the funds to cover it.科隆经济研究所将这个协议比作为一个没有资金担保的支票。

Company boes are more circumspect than leaders of industry bodies about criticising Mrs Merkel publicly.But they too are wary.公司老板们比工业团体领导人们在公开批评默克尔女士上更加的谨慎。但是他们太小心翼翼了。

One German chief executive complains that the chancellor ignored structural reform when she had a busine-friendly partner in the Free Democrats, and frets that she can hardly be expected to find new courage with the SPD.一个德国首席执行官抱怨道当她在自由民主党人中有一个对商业友好的伙伴，总理可能会忽略结构性改革，并且他担心道可能很难期待她在SPD的伴随下找到新的勇气。

A lobbyist for another big company says that with the Free Democrats you didn't need an interpreter to explain industry's concerns to the government, but now he fears he will.另一家大公司的一个游说者说道有德国自由民主党人的话你不需要一个翻译者去解释政府的工业关注点，但是现在他担心他需要了。

He grumbles that Mrs Merkel understands the importance of a free economy but does not actually understand what it means.他抱怨道默克尔女士明白一个自由经济的重要性但是她可能并未真正懂它的含义。

He even praises Gerhard Schr?der, Mrs Merkel's predeceor and a Social Democrat.他甚至赞赏格哈德施罗德，默克尔女士的前任和一个社会民主党人。

Mr Schrder would listen, ask questions, and then say I can do this;I can't do that.施罗德会听、问问题然后接着说我可以做这个；我不能做那个。

Mrs Merkel does listen carefully—but then keeps her own counsel.默克尔女士确实听得很认真——但是接着保持她自己的想法。

The CDU-CSU has kept one promise: the coalition treaty pledges not to raise taxes, which the parties of the left all favour.CDU-CSU联盟保证一个承诺：联盟条约保证税收不增加，这也是左派全都支持的。

Growth-friendly spending, such as on infrastructure and research, will increase.对增长有利的政府花销，如基础设施建设和研究，会增长。

But Deutsche Bank estimates that social spending will rise by three times as much.但是荷兰银行估计社会花费会增长三倍之多。

Businees are far le happy about changes that will affect the labour market.商业会更不乐于见到会影响劳动力市场的变化。

Germany's best-performing, export-oriented companies will be little affected by the minimum wage, as they employ few low-skilled workers.德国业绩做的最好的，出口导向的公司几乎不会被最低工资影响，由于他们雇佣很少的技术不高的工人。

But the ability to employ workers on short-term contracts will be curtailed.但是他们用短期合同雇佣工人的能力被剥夺了。

Some firms have been criticised for abusing such methods as a way of keeping workers from benefits that full-time employees would receive.一些公司曾经批评滥用这些方法作为一种剥夺工人们享有全职雇员能够享受到利益的方式。

But now a tool that has made the labour market more flexible, and helped to bring unemployment down, will be made harder to use.但是现在一个工具，可以使劳动力市场更加的灵活并且帮助降低失业率，会更难使用。

Energy policy is a particularly sore point.能源政策更是一个痛处。

Germany's renewable-energy law has boosted green sources through guaranteed high prices for renewable power, preferred acce for renewables to the grid and easier financing, from a tax on electricity bills.德国的可再生能源法通过保证可再生能源的高价、对可再生能源管道网络更优先的许可和更容易的来自电力税的融资来促进绿色来源。

German industrial electricity prices are among the highest in Europe.德国工业用电价格属于欧洲最高行列。

Power-hungry industries get partial relief from the tax that finances renewable subsidies;but they complain nonethele, of a lack of long-term clarity in energy policy.能源密集型工业通过提供可再生能源补贴税减轻部分负担；虽然如此但是他们仍然抱怨能源政策缺乏长期确定性。

Firms are voting with their euros.公司们用他们的欧元投票。

The value of fixed capital in energy-intensive industries has declined over the past decade.在能源密集产业的固定资本价值在过去十年下降了。

As companies' kit is wearing out, they are simply not replacing it, or investing abroad.由于公司的设备磨损了，他们仅仅是不更换它，或者投资国外。

The coalition treaty speaks of an energy policy triangle of sustainability, supply security and affordability, but fills in little detail about how the government can achieve all three competing goals.这个联盟条约提起一个集持续性、安全保证和可支付的能源政策三角，但是没有透露任何关于政府如何实现所有三个具有竞争力目标的细节。

The government has set a deadline of April 2014 to publish a fundamental reform of the renewable-energy law, which it hopes to pa by summer.政府设定了2014年4月一个最后期限去公布可再生能源法基础性改革，Udo Niehage, the head of government relations at Siemens, a big engineering firm, is not panicking yet.大型工程公司西门子政府关系部门领导Udo Niehage一点都不惊慌失措。

He is certain that the coalition understands the worries of German businees, and praises Ms Merkel's toughne and cleverne.他很肯定联盟很明白德国商业的担忧，并且赞赏默克尔的坚韧和聪明。

She is certainly good at wrong-footing political opponents, and so it is poible that the coalition deal is an unreliable guide to what the new government will actually do.她肯定很擅长使政治对手手忙脚乱，所以可能联盟处理方式是一个对新政府实际上会做什么不可靠的指引。

But the lack of certainty about future plans is the loudest complaint about the chancellor coming from businees.但是未来计划缺乏确定性是来自商业关于总理最大的抱怨。

Trusting in her cleverne is not enough.相信她的聪明是不够的。

【经济学人】双语阅读：德国武器公司 不和武器说再见

Busine 商业报道

German weapons firms 德国武器公司

No farewell to arms 不和武器说再见

Political preure and bribery allegations are unlikely to hurt Germany's exporters of military equipment.看起来政治压力和受贿指控都不会影响德国的军事装备出口公司。

SINCE the second world war, Germany has rarely sent soldiers to combat zones.自二战以来，德国几乎不曾向战争地区派兵。

But it exports a lot of weapons: more than Britain, France or any other country besides America and Ruia.然而它却出口了大量武器：超过英国、法国以及除美国、俄罗斯之外的所有其他国家。

Some German makers of military gear are part of civilian industrial giants, such as Airbus Group, and ThyenKrupp, a steelmaker.德国的武器制造商中有些隶属于私有的工业巨头，比如空客集团，还有钢铁制造商蒂森克虏伯集团。

But the biggest German company known mainly for weapons, Rheinmetall, is just 26th in the world league of arms-exporting firms.然而，即使是德国著名的以武器业务为主的公司中最大的莱茵金属公司，在世界武器出口公司中也仅仅排在26位。

And Krau Maffei Wegmann, which makes the Leopard 2 tank, is 54th.而制造出豹2坦克的Krau Maffei Wegmann则位居54位。

Germans are, in general, proud of their export prowe.总的来说，德国对自己的出口实力感到骄傲。

But although foreign sales of weaponry bring in almost 1 billion a year, they are a delicate subject, and lately beset by bad pre.但是尽管武器外贸带来了将近10亿欧元一年的利润，这是一项非常微妙的行业，并且近日承受的巨大压力。

Several German firms are accused of bribery in Greece.数家德国公司被指控在希腊行贿。

A former defence official there has said that of 8m in bribes he took, 3.2m came from German firms, including Wegmann and Rheinmetall.希腊一位前国防部官员曾说，在他被行贿的800万欧元中有320万来自于德国公司，其中包括Wegman和莱茵金属公司。

On January 3rd KMW's alleged middleman was detained after a court hearing.在1月3日，一位宣称的KMW中间人在庭审后被拘留。

The firm itself denies any bribery.该公司自己否认有行贿行为。

Atlas, a maker of naval weapons owned jointly by Airbus and ThyenKrupp, is under fire too.空客集团和蒂森克虏伯共有的海军武器制造商Atlas也正受到打击。

A former representative in Athens has reportedly admitted to bribery;the company says it is investigating the matter.一位前雅典代表在报道中承认行贿；该公司则表示其正在进行调查。

On another front, the industry faces criticism over the countries it sells to—most recently over a deal to sell Leopard 2s to Saudi Arabia.另一方面，该产业因其售卖武器的对象而受到批评—最近是因为向沙特阿拉伯卖出豹2。

Arms sales to anywhere other than NATO and NATO-equivalent countries are in principle forbidden.向北约以及北约等同国家以外的国家和地区销售武器从原则上说是禁止的。

But the Federal Security Council, headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, can approve exceptions when foreign policy dictates, as long as they do not harm human rights.但是由总理安吉拉默克尔领导的联邦安全局可以在外交政策需要时批准一些特殊情况，只要他们对于人权没有损害。

Peace campaigners fear that the exceptions are becoming le exceptional.和平活动者们担心这些些特殊情况正变得越来越不特殊。

NATO countries' budgets are being squeezed, so Germany's armsmakers are looking farther abroad.北约国家正紧缩财政，因而德国武器制造商们只能将目光转向了远方的国家。

Rheinmetall, for example, has a target of 50% of exports outside Europe by 2015.比如，莱茵金属基团计划在2015年前将欧洲以外地区的出口比重提高到50%。

Asia is a growing target: Singapore recently signed a 1.6 billion deal for ThyenKrupp submarines.亚洲是一个快速成长的目标：新加坡最近签署了一份价值16亿欧元的合同用于购买蒂森克虏伯潜艇。

German small arms are also popular.Heckler & Koch's G3 rifle is the world's most popular after the Ruian AK-47.德国的小型武器同样很受欢迎。赫克勒-科赫G3步枪的受欢迎程度仅次于俄国的AK47。

Germany was a leader in pushing the UN to restrict the flow of small arms to war-torn countries.德国是推动联合国限制对战争频繁地区的小型武器出售的领导者之一。

But such weapons leak acro borders nonethele.尽管如此，此类武器依然会进入这些地区。

This is why Helmut Schmidt, a former chancellor, in December urged Germany to restrict arms exports, calling gun deaths a slow-motion Hiroshima and Nagasaki.这也是为何前总理赫尔穆特施密特在12月督促德国限制武器出口，他称枪支引发死亡如同慢性的广岛和长

崎原子弹爆炸。

His fellow Social Democrat, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, promised to restrict sales if his party made it into government after last September's elections.他的社会民主党同僚，弗兰克沃尔特施泰因迈尔曾承诺如果去年9月选举后其党派成功执政，就会限制武器出口。

It did: Mr Steinmeier is now foreign minister, and sits on the Federal Security Council.这一条件已经实现：施泰因迈尔现在是外交部长，并任职于联邦安全委员会。

But Germany's arms exports are probably in little danger, since they have the same reputation for reliability as its cars and other industrial goods.但是德国的武器出口看似并无危险，因为它的武器产品在可靠性方面有着和汽车及其他工业产品一样的好名声。

Even Pieter Wezeman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a critic of weapons sales, compares a Heckler & Koch gun to a high-quality Leica camera.甚至斯特哥尔摩和平研究所的Pieter Wezeman，一位武器销售的批评者，也将赫克勒-科赫枪支比作质量优异的徕卡相机。

Though German soldiers mostly stay clear of combat zones, German weapons are battle-tested;Leopard tanks in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, for example.虽然德国士兵不曾踏足战争区域，德国的武器可是经过实战检验的；豹型坦克就曾现身前南斯拉夫和阿富汗。

Moreover, there are ways to leen the controversy of selling things used to wage war.此外，还有许多方法来减少战争武器销售的争议性。

For example, making guns for a fighter jet aembled elsewhere is le visible than selling a German-made tank.比如，为在其他地区组装的战斗机制造枪支同直接卖出德国制造的坦克相比要不显眼许多。

Military transport, logistics, surveillance and protective equipment together account for five times as much of German defence firms' output as weapons and ammunition—and are le likely to be blamed for civilian casualties.军事运输设备、后勤物资、监视和防护设备总计是德国国防公司武器和军火出口额的5倍，而且这些生意不会受到引发平民死亡的谴责。

Stephan Boehm, an analyst at Commerzbank, sees such non-lethal materiel as a bright spot for German exporters.德国商业银行的分析师Stephan Boehm将这些非致密材料看做是德国出口的闪光点。

The flagging fortunes of Rheinmetall, in particular, should be restored by strong sales of the armoured transporters it produces in a joint venture with MAN, a lorry-maker.需要指出的是，莱茵金属公司的巨大财富中不少就源自于它和货车制造商MAN联合制造的装甲运输车辆的良好销量业绩。

Critics say the government is too willing to let arms firms export to dodgy regimes.不少批评认为政府太想要将武器公司出口到过于冒险的区域。

The Federation of German Security & Defence Industries argues that strong exports are crucial to spread the development costs of the equipment Germany needs to defend itself.德国安全和国防工业联合会争辩说繁荣的武器出口对于分担德国发展国防设备的花费至关重要。

This would be le of a problem, the lobby group admits, if Europe's fragmented defence industry were consolidated;it says the government should not have vetoed a proposal last year to merge EADS with BAE Systems of Britain.游说者们也承认，如果欧洲散乱的国防工业能得到统一的话，这个问题就会小很多；他们还提到，政府不应在去年否决EADS和英国的BAE System合并的提议。

Weapons account for le than 1% of Germany's exports.武器出口在德国总出口中所占比重不足1%。

But it is a 1% that it, like other countries, is loth to give up.但是如同其他国家一样，德国无法割舍这1%。

【经济学人】双语阅读：电动汽车 充电进入美国

Busine 商业报道

Electric cars 电动汽车

Charging into America 充电进入美国

Chinese firms are keen on America's battery-vehicle market 中国公司致力于美国电动车公司市场

TESLA, an American electric-car manufacturer, is the darling of investors and the most visible succe in a busine more notable for its failures.美国电动车制造商TESLA是投资者们的宠儿，相比较该行业的失败之处，它也是最显著的成功。

The praise it has attracted is encouraging Chinese firms to try to enter the American market.它所赢得的赞赏激励中国公司试图进入美国市场。

A Hong Kong company and a mainland firm are battling for control of Fisker, a failed maker of

hybrid-electric cars based in California;a court hearing due on January 10th will consider creditors' calls for an open auction.一家香港公司和大陆公司正在为Fisker的管理控制权而争夺不休。Fisker是加利福尼亚一家倒闭的混合动力汽车制造商。1月10日的庭审将考虑债权人所要求的公开拍卖。

And BYD, another Chinese mainland firm, said this week it would start selling its own electric cars in America next year.另一家中国公司BYD本周表示明年起将在美国出售自己的电动车。

In 2009, when America's Department of Energy agreed to give Fisker a big green energy loan to start production of its sleek Karma sports car, it looked like posing a serious threat to Tesla.2009年，美国能源部门同意给予Fisker一笔巨大的绿色能源贷款生产其Karma跑车，这对于Tesla似乎是一种严重的威胁。

But Fisker was brought down by quality problems, poor management and the financial difficulties of A123, its battery supplier.但是Fisker却因为质量问题、糟糕的管理、A123的财政问题及其电池供应商的问题倒闭了。

Production of the Karma ceased in late 2012 and, last November, Fisker followed A123 into bankruptcy.Karma跑车在2012年底停产了，去年11月，Fisker继A123之后破产。

Hybrid Tech Holdings, controlled by Richard Li—a son of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest tycoon—bought the DOE's loan to Fisker at a big discount and is now seeking to use its influence as a creditor to win control of the collapsed firm.香港首富李嘉诚的儿子李泽恺的混合动力科技股份有限公司以极其优惠的价格支付了美国能源部门给Fisker的贷款，现在他正利用自己债权人的身份影响寻觅机会赢得该倒闭公司的控制权。

Fisker's managers support Mr Li's bid.Fisker的经理支持李泽恺的投标。

But many of the company's unsecured creditors prefer the rival takeover proposal, from Wanxiang, a giant Chinese maker of car parts which aspires to go big into electric cars.但是许多该公司的无担保债权人更偏向于其竞争对手，另一家打算强势打入电动车市场的汽车部件制造大亨万向集团来接管。

It has already bought A123 and plans to revive production of the Karma, aembling it in America rather than, as before, in Finland.该公司已经收购了A123并打算重新生产Karma跑车，这次打算在美国装配，而不是之前的芬兰。

For all the excitement about Tesla, battery cars have in general been selling like pork pies at a vegetarians' convention.所有关于Tesla的兴奋，电动车普遍被看作素食者公约买卖的猪肉派。

Yet this is deterring neither Fisker's rival bidders nor BYD, which has Warren Buffett as a shareholder.然而这既没有阻断Fisker的竞争投标人也没有让Warren Buffett的股东BYD止步。

BYD has already persuaded Los Angeles to accept a handful of its expensive electric buses, but getting motorists to buy pricey battery cars from a firm they have not heard of will be quite a challenge.BYD已经说服洛杉矶购买其少量的昂贵电动公交车。但是要让司机们购买他们从未耳闻的昂贵的电动车似乎很困难。

Neither BYD nor any other Chinese firm has yet produced an electric car of anything like the quality of Tesla's Model S, which motoring pundits have showered with plaudits.无论是BYD还是中国任何一家其他公司能制造出与Tesla S 型电动车质量相仿的电动车，该电动车赢得许多汽车专家的喝彩。

Even in China, where big subsidies and other inducements are on offer, buyers have spurned their clunkers.即使在中国这样有着大型津贴和其他诱因供应的地方，买家也会摒弃其废旧的汽车。

【经济学人】双语阅读：发射飞机，让电磁感应来验证

Science and technology 科学技术

Launching aircraft 发射飞机

Proof by induction 让电磁感应来验证

In the future, airliners could be catapulted into the sky by electric motors 将来，会用电动机将客机弹射到天空中

READERS of a certain age may remember Fireball XL5, a children's television programme devised by Gerry Anderson about a spacecraft of that name.某个年龄段的读者可能还记得《雷霆机》这个儿童电视节目，这个节目是由格里安德森制作的，讲的是一艘叫做雷霆机的宇宙飞船的故事。

Instead of taking off vertically, as real spacecraft do, Fireball XL5 sat on a rocket-propelled trolley that accelerated it horizontally to launch speed.与现实中的宇宙飞船垂直起飞不同，雷霆机是架在一个由火箭推动的滑车上，水平加速到发射速度。

And that, in effect, is what engineers at Airbus, Europe's largest civil-aviation company, are

proposing in their latest bout of blue-sky thinking.实际上，这是空中客车公司的工程师们在其最近一次天马行空的想法中提出的建议。

Apart from the fact that the trolley would be powered by linear-induction motors rather than rockets, they are suggesting that the fantasy of 1962 might become the reality of 2050.滑车由线性感应电动机提供动力，而非火箭，除此之外，他们认为1962年的幻想会在2050年成为现实。

Mindful that many paengers are already nervous about the whole proce of getting a plane airborne, the engineers prefer to call their proposal Eco-climb.考虑到飞机离开地面的整个过程中已经够让许多乘客紧张了，工程师更喜欢将他们的提议称为环保型起飞。

But the idea is straight out of Fireball.但这一想法是直接来自于雷霆机的。

The aircraft to be launched would sit on a platform that ran along a track where the runway would otherwise be.待发射的飞机会架在一个沿轨道滑行的平台上，而这轨道可说是跑道的另一种形式。

The platform would accelerate to take-off speed, at which point the plane would lift into the air powered by its own engines.平台会加速到起飞速度，到达这一速度点后，飞机便可以通过自己的引擎升上天空。

Taking off in this way would both save fuel and make life more pleasant for those who live near airports.以这种方式起飞既可以节约燃料，又能够让住在机场附近的人过的更舒心些。

Aircraft engines are optimised for level flight at cruising speed in the stratosphere.飞机引擎最适合在平流层以巡航速度水平飞行。

Using them to accelerate a plane on the ground wastes a lot of fuel.在地面上用它们为飞机加速会浪费很多燃料。

An induction-motor-powered platform, by contrast, would be optimised for the job at hand.相比之下，由感应电动机提供动力的平台最适合手头的这个工作，It could launch the plane at higher speed, letting it climb faster.它能以更快的速度发射飞机，让飞机爬升更快，That would save fuel, too.还能节约燃料，It would also mean fewer people on the ground suffered aircraft noise.还意味着地面上要经受飞机噪音的人更少了。

And it could do all this from a track that was a third shorter than a conventional runway.所有这些在一条比传统跑道短三分之一的轨道上即可完成。

Altogether, according to Airbus's back-of-the-envelope calculations, Eco-climb would reduce fuel consumption by 3% on a typical 900km flight, even with existing aircraft designs.总而言之，很据空中客车的粗略计算，按一次典型的900公里的飞行算，即使按照现在的飞机设计，环保型起飞也能将其油耗减少3%。

But it would also allow for the design of lighter aircraft, with smaller engines, which would cut fuel consumption, noise and emiions further.而且它还为设计引擎更小，重量更轻的飞机留下了空间，可以进一步降低油耗，噪声及排放。

Nor is the idea complete fantasy.General Atomics, an American military contractor, has already built and tested a linear-induction-motor-based system of this sort at an airbase at Lakehurst, New Jersey.这个想法并不完全是幻想。通用原子公司是一家美军的承包商，其已经在一座位于新泽西州莱克赫斯特的空军基地建造了一个这类基于线性感应电动机的系统，并进行了测试。

The General Atomics system is now being scaled up to be fitted on a new generation of aircraft carriers for the American navy.目前通用原子正在对该系统进行放大，以便能装备到美国海军的新一代航空母舰上。

A launcher powered by a linear-induction motor has several advantages over the steam-driven catapults used on existing aircraft carriers, according to General Atomics.据通用原子公司称，与现在航空母舰上使用的蒸汽动力弹射器相比，由线性感应电动机提供动力的发射台有多个优点。

Whereas a steam catapult lets rip with a constant force, the speed and power of a linear motor can be controlled to provide smooth acceleration.恒定的力使蒸汽弹射器难以控制;而线性电动机的速度和力量都可以控制，可带来平缓的加速，That extends the life of an aircraft by subjecting it to le stre.因为承受的压力更小，所以能够延长飞机的寿命，It also makes for a more comfortable take off.并且能让起飞时更舒服一些。

And the launch shuttle can brake quickly once the plane has lifted off by reversing the current running through the motor.飞机一旦起飞，通过反转电动机中的电流，发射装置能够快速制动，然后返回原位准备下一次发射。

What works in a military context might not, of course, be appropriate for civil aviation—one reason why nobody has considered equipping airports with steam catapults.当然，在军事中使用的技术不一定适合民用航空，这也是为什么没人会考虑在机场配备蒸汽弹射器的一个原因。

But the smooth operation of a linear motor means the take-off force could be kept within the 2.5g typically felt in a modern airliner dashing along a runway.但是线性电动机的平缓运行意味着起飞的力会在2.5倍重力加速度之内，与一架现代的客机沿着跑道加速时的感觉一样。

Paengers need not be subjected to Top Gun levels of acceleration.乘客们不需要去承受《壮志凌云》那种级别的加速度。

It might be poible to use linear motors for landings, too.将线性电动机用于着陆也是有可能的。

Carrier-style arrester wires would cause too much damage and would hardly be comfortable for paengers.航母式的拦截索会是飞机产生很多损伤，而且乘客也不会舒服。

But if an incoming aircraft landed on a moving platform equipped with a linear motor, the current in the motor could then be reversed to slow it down.但如果一架准备降落的飞机在一个装有线性电动机的移动平台上着陆，电动机中的电流会反转，使飞机减速。

That might mean planes could do without landing gear, saving still more weight.Even Mr Anderson didn't think of that one.这或许意味着飞机没有起落架也行，能让飞机再轻一些。

Fireball XL5 landed vertically, on retro-rockets.安德森先生都没有想到这种方法，雷霆机是靠制动火箭垂直着陆的。

【经济学人】双语阅读：海豹如何享用它的午餐

Science and technology 科学技术

How leopard seals lunch 海豹如何享用它的午餐

Suck, swish, gulp 吸，吮，咽

Eating big and little 大小通吃

JUST about every place on the planet has a predator at the top of the food web.地球上每个地方都有一个处于食物网顶端的捕食者。

The African savannahs have the lion, the jungles of Asia the tiger and the arctic tundra the polar bear.比如非洲大草原上的狮子，亚洲丛林里的老虎以及北极冻原上的北极熊。

In the Antarctic it is the leopard seals who dominate as voracious hunters of penguins and other seal species.而南极的霸主则是那些贪婪地捕食着企鹅和其他海豹种群的豹海豹。

But a new study examining their feeding habits led by David Hocking of Monash University in Australia, has revealed something unusual:

但是一个验证豹海豹进食习惯的新研究显示了一些不寻常的东西：

how leopard seals use an efficient filter-feeding system to eat near the bottom of the food chain too.那就是豹海豹如何利用一个高效的食物过滤系统同时享用靠近食物链底端的生物。来自澳大利亚蒙纳什大学的大卫霍金是此项研究的负责人。

Researchers have long known that a sizeable portion of the seals’ diet is made up of krill.研究者们很早就知道在豹海豹的食谱中一大部分是由磷虾组成。

But exactly how they consume these tiny crustaceans has been a mystery as the seals’ mouths have large sharp teeth that seemed utterly inappropriate for capturing them.但是由于豹海豹嘴里的尖牙似乎完全不适合捕捉这些磷虾，从而它们是如何享用这些微小的甲壳类生物便成了一个迷。

Some researchers have theorised that the seals might suck water into their mouths and swish it past their closed teeth to capture krill.一些研究者们从理论角度分析豹海豹也许可以通过先入吸海水再闭紧牙齿将海水吐出的筛选法捕捉磷虾。

But such behaviour depends upon leopard seals being able to suck up food from water, a specialised feeding behaviour that is rarely seen in top predators.但是完成这些动作需要豹海豹具备从海水中吸吮食物的能力，而这种特定的进食行为在位于食物链顶端的捕食者身上并不常见。

Keen to explore this, Mr Hocking turned his attention towards Casey and Sabine, two leopard seals at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney.热衷于探索这一问题的霍金先生将注意力转向了凯西和萨宾这两只悉尼塔龙加动物园的豹海豹身上。

He and his colleagues designed a clear plastic box with thin tubes in which fish could be placed.他和同事们设计了一种透明的塑料盒子，里面安装了可以盛放鱼的浅的管道。

The seals could not get at them with their teeth, and instead sucked the fish right out of the tubes.豹海豹无法用它的牙齿来取食这些鱼，而是从管道中把它们吸出来。

Moments later, the team saw clouds of murky water and bubbles being expelled from the sides of the seals’ mouths.过了一会，研究小组发现一团一团的浑浊的水体和泡沫从豹海豹的嘴里喷出。

This, they realised, was a filter-feeding system in action.研究者们意识到，这表示一套进食过滤系统正在工作。

In examining the wear on the teeth of skulls from wild leopard seals, Mr Hocking was able to work out which teeth the seals were using to filter out tiny prey.在检查野生豹海豹颅骨上牙齿的磨损度时，霍金先生弄明白了豹海豹是用哪些牙齿来过滤出微小猎物的。

He found extensive abrasions on canines and incisors, the sharp teeth at the front of their mouths.他发现位于口腔前端的那些锋利的犬齿和门齿上存在大面积磨损的情况。

This, Mr Hocking points out in Polar Biology, indicates that these teeth are used to chomp penguins and other seals.霍金先生在《极地生物》杂志上指出，这表明豹海豹利用这些牙齿来撕咬企鹅和其他海豹。

But since there is no such wear on the sharp and delicate postcanines, he believes that although these triangular rear teeth look fierce, when closed they form a sieve that is the perfect size for filtering.但是，由于在锋利而精致的犬齿后齿上并没有发现磨损的情况，他认为尽管这些三角形的后槽牙看上去非常凶狠，但是当咬合时，它们可以充当一个对于过滤事物来说其尺寸可谓完美的筛子。

Ideal dentistry, if you like, for a mixed diet.如果你乐意，这是一套进行混合膳食的理想的牙科学。

【经济学人】双语阅读：集资科技 积跬步致千里

Science and technology 科学技术

Crowdfunding science 集资科技

Many a mickle makes a muckle 积跬步致千里

These days, anyone can be a scientific philanthropist 眼下人人都是科技慈善家

NECESSITY, so the proverb has it, is the mother of invention.有句谚语说得好：没有需求，就没有发明。And science is nothing if not inventive.科技失去了创新，就变得一文不值了。

So, as conventional sources of money get harder to tap, some of science's more creative minds are turning elsewhere.所以，当无法轻易获得传统的经济支持时，一些有创造力的科研人员便开始寻求新的资金来源。

Philanthropic sponsorship of science, particularly in the form of expensive pieces of kit such as large telescopes, or sponsorship for expeditions to far-off places, has been around for centuries.科技慈善资助已有几个世纪的历史，资助形式多为捐赠大型光学望远镜之类的昂贵仪器，或者是为偏远地区的探险提供赞助。

But the internet now permits what might be thought of as microphilanthropy.不过在网络的帮助下，如今微慈善也成为可能。

Through a technique called crowdfunding, in which members of the public donate small sums to projects they like the look of, the poibility of scientific philanthropy has been extended to those of more slender means.基于一种名为众基金的技术，公众可以给他们看重的项目捐赠小额资金，科技慈善事业已扩大到微薄资金来源。

On October 4th, for example, Ethan Perlstein, a pharmacologist at Princeton University, launched a bid on a site called RocketHub to collect 25,000 to study the effect of drugs such as methamphetamine on the brain.例如，普林斯顿大学的药理学家伊桑?浦斯汀，10月4日就在一家名为火箭中心的网站公开招标，募集25000美元的资金用于研究甲基苯丙胺等药物对大脑疾病的疗效，He has until November 18th to raise the money.招标将截止于11月8日。

Kristina Killgrove, an anthropologist at the University of West Florida, has already raised over 12,000 on RocketHub to examine the DNA of Roman skeletons.克里斯蒂娜科尔戈薇是西佛罗里达大学的一名人类学家，她就通过火箭中心网站募集了12000美元用于自己对罗马骸骨的DNA检验。

And on another crowdfunding site, Petridish, the California Academy of Sciences offered to name any new species of ant discovered during a conservation project in Madagascar after those who donate more than 5,000 to the enterprise.培养皿网是另一个融资网站，加州科学院就因为通过该网站获得了5000多美元的项目基金，他们完成了为马达加斯加保护项目中发现的蚂蚁新物种命名的工作。

Although the crowdfunding of science is not raising the sorts of sums sometimes attracted by those with ideas for things like video games, it has already spawned a couple of specialised platforms of its own.尽管科技融资不再是只有类似电子游戏的项目才能拿得到资金，但融资过程还是形成了自己的专业平台。Petridish is one.培养皿网就是一例。

Another is called Microryza.Microyza也是一个代表网站。

And academic institutions are starting to follow the lead taken by the CAS.学术机构都开始模仿加州科学院，募集资金。

The University of California, San Francisco, has made a deal with a site called Indiegogo that will allow the university's charitable status to make money donated via Indiegogo tax deductible.加利福尼亚大学旧金山分校与Indiegogo网站达成协议，提高了他们的会员慈善等级，可以使经网站募集的资金免税。

It will launch the first such project later this month.这个月晚些时候将启动他们的第一个项目。

Donors can expect no revenue if a crowdfunded science project is succeful, of course.捐赠人肯定没想着融资的科学项目成功后他们会获得任何收入。But they can expect to be kept up to date with progre.但他们可以获悉实验的进度。

Dr Perlstein has promised to upload all data from his experiments onto a website, for his sponsors to look at.浦斯汀博士就承诺会把实验中的所有数据上传到网站，供捐赠人查阅。

And even those who are not immortalised in the myrmicine literature, as the CAS proposed, may still get a warm glow from the feeling that they are making a contribution to the advancement of knowledge in a way which was previously open only to philanthropists with rather fatter wallets.在加州科学院的项目里，即使这些捐赠人不会因切叶蚁属文献而流芳千古，但能让他们看到自己为知识进步做出了贡献感到欣慰，因为之前，这种方式只属于那些钱包更鼓的捐赠人。

【经济学人】双语阅读：节肢动物学，情人为食

Science and technology 科学技术 Arachnology 节肢动物学

Having a mate for dinner 情人为食

Male spiders make the supreme sacrifice for their children 雄蛛对后代的无私奉献

AMONG spiders, the female of the species really is more deadly than the male.蜘蛛家族中,雌蛛致命性比雄蛛高得多。交配后将配偶狼吞虎咽地吃掉，雌蛛因此声名在外。Lady arachnids have a well-deserved reputation for polishing off their suitors, post copula, in a manner that Hannibal Lecter might have admired.它们的这一行为或许在一定程度上赢得了汉尼拔莱克特的敬仰，But it has never been clear why this happens.然而其原因一直不为人所知。

Some biologists believe it is simply a mixture of female hunger and the availability of a meal that is in no position to run away.一些生物学家认为这仅仅是因为雌蛛饿了，而盘中餐又无力逃脱。

Others suspect that the male is actually sacrificing his life for the good of his genes.一些生物学家认为雄蛛是为他的基因而牺牲的。

In other words, his becoming a meal for his paramour somehow helps the offspring of their union.换句话说，他成为情人的腹中食某种程度上有助于他们共同的后代。

Peng Yu, of Hubei University in China, and his colleagues, decided to try to settle the question.中国湖北大学的彭宇及其同事决定尝试解开这一谜题。

The results of their investigation are published this week in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.他们的条查结果刊登在《行为生态学与社会生物学》。

Dr Peng and his team collected almost 400 young wolf spiders, of both sexes, from local fields.彭博士和他的小组在当地收集了几乎400只狼蛛，They then raised the animals separately until they were sexually mature.再雌雄分开饲养，直到它们性成熟。

Then, one at a time, they introduced the females to a male and watched until one of three things happened:

然后他们每次一只，将雌蛛与雄蛛配对，直到出现以下三者之一的情况发生：

the male got eaten;the male mated with the female and succefully avoided being eaten;or the male survived for half an hour, but did not mate with the female within that time.雄蛛被吃；雄蛛与雌蛛交配后幸免于难；或者雄蛛存活了半小时，而期间未与雌蛛交配。有时，他们将未交配的雌雄蛛配对；

Sometimes the researchers paired virgin males with virgin females;sometimes they paired virgin males with females that had recently bred.有时他们将未交配的雄蛛与刚繁殖过的雌蛛配对。

And in one crucial set of tests they paired virgin males with virgin females that had been taken off their regular diet of fruit flies a fortnight beforehand, and were thus presumed to be feeling more than a little peckish.在一项关键性实验中，他们将未交配的雄蛛与停饲果蝇两周的雌蛛配对—此时假设雌蛛处于极度饥饿状态。

After doing all this, the team chose 16 females that had mated and then eaten their partners, and ten that had mated but not done so, and followed their reproductive succe.配对后，实验小组挑选了16只交配后吃掉配偶的雌蛛，10只交配后未吃掉配偶的雌蛛，观察其繁殖成功的过程。

When these females laid their egg sacs, the researchers picked ten sacs at random from each group and monitored those until the eggs hatched.当这些雌蛛产下卵袋时，研究者从每组随机挑选了10个卵袋观察，直到卵孵化。At that point they selected 20 spiderlings from each group for further study.这时，他们从每组挑选10只幼蛛用于后续研究。

Their first pertinent observation was that, while female wolf spiders did indeed sometimes eat males before breeding with them, that happened only 10% of the time, and did not seem to be more frequent if the female had been starved.他们第一个客观观察结果是，雌狼蛛有时确实会在交配前吃掉雄狼蛛，这种概率是10%，并且似乎不比雌蛛挨饿后比率高。

Their second observation was that if a male was deemed suitable to mate with, he was never eaten in copula—even though copulation could last as long as an hour and a half.第二个观察结果是，如果雄蛛被认为适合交配，它们绝不会在交配中被吃—即使交配过程可能长达一个半小时。

Their third was that, 28% of the time, a male that had mated was indeed eaten afterwards.他们第三个观察结果是，有28%的几率雄蛛会在交配后被吃。

Succeful suitors, then, succumbed more often than unsucceful ones.如此可得出，交配成功的雄蛛被吃的比未成功的多。

The crucial finding, however—which makes sense of all the others—was the succe of the spiderlings.然而，幼蛛成活率是关键的发现—这使得其他发现都有了意义。

Young born of females that had eaten their partners had a 48% chance of making it through their first month of life.吃掉配偶的雌蛛其后代48%可以活过一个月，Those born of females who had let their partners live, had only a 12% chance of surviving that long.而放生配偶的雌蛛的后代存活相同时间的只有12%。

That is a staggering difference—and certainly, in evolutionary terms, enough to drive self-sacrificial behaviour by males，这个差距是巨大的—当然，按照进化论原则，足以使雄蛛采取自我牺牲行为。

since a male would have to mate succefully another three times to match the benefit he gains by this one suicidal act.因此，为获得这一次自杀行为带来的好处，它之前必须成功交配三次。

The reason a male is almost three times as likely to be eaten if he has mated with the female in question than if he has not is thus probably that he wants to be eaten, for the good of his posterity.讨论中，如果与雌蛛交配成功，雄蛛被吃的概率几乎是未交配成功的雄蛛的三倍，其原因可能是为后代着想，它希望被吃。

Just what it is that a male meal gives, via the female's digestive system, to the hatchling spiders, remains to be determined.通过雌蛛的消化系统，雄蛛给予孵化蜘蛛的是什么？这还有待探索。

Perhaps spider bodies contain some crucial nutrients which are scarcer in other forms of prey.也许蜘蛛体内含有其他猎物所缺乏的重要的营养成分。

Whatever the details, though, the general answer to the biologists' question is now clear.不管具体如何，生物学家们的问题有了大致的答案。

In the case of spiders, fathers really do lay down their lives for their children.对蜘蛛来说，父亲们真真是为孩子放弃了他们的生命。

【经济学人】双语阅读：精神身体医学，好好反省一下吧

Science and technology 科学技术

Psychosomatic medicine 精神身体医学

Think yourself well 好好反省一下吧

You can.But it helps to think well of yourself in the first place 你可以的。只是它会首先帮你好好反省一下自己。

THE link between mind and body is terrain into which many medical researchers, fearing ridicule, dare not tread.大脑与身体之间存在着千丝万缕的联系，但是，因为怕被嘲笑，很多医学研究人员不敢涉足这块领域。

But perhaps more should do so.但是，可能应该有更多人来研究它。

For centuries, doctors have recognised the placebo effect, in which the illusion of treatment, such as pills without an active ingredient, produces real medical benefits.数个世纪以来，医生们已经认识到了安慰剂的效力，其实是一种错觉治疗达到了真正的药物效应，比如没有实际疗效的药丸等。

More recently, respectable research has demonstrated that those who frequently experience positive emotions live longer and healthier lives.最近以来，相当受重视的研究表明，那些经常以积极的态度生活的人活得更长久，而且更健康。

They have fewer heart attacks, for example, and fewer colds too.比如，他们几乎不会有心脏病，而且也很少感冒。

Why this happens, though, is only slowly becoming understood.只是这种现象现在还无法解释。

What is needed is an experiment that points out specific and measurable ways in which such emotions alter an individual's biology.我们需要的是做一个试验，指明具体的，可衡量以情绪改变人体生物机理的方式。

And a study published in Psychological Science, by Barbara Fredrickson and Bethany Kok at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, does precisely that.位于查珀尔希尔的北卡罗莱纳州大学的巴巴拉弗雷德里克松和伯斯尼考克最近进行了一项研究，发表在心理科学杂志，他们的研究正体现了这点。

Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok concentrated their attentions on the vagus nerve.弗雷德里克松教授和考克教授集中于研究迷走神经。

This nerve starts in the brain and runs, via numerous branches, to several thoracic and abdominal organs including the heart.这种神经起始端在大脑，通过众多的分支与几大胸部和腹部器官，包括心脏相连。

Among its jobs is to send signals telling that organ to slow down during moments of calm and safety.它的一项职能就是，发出信号告诉这些器官，在人体处于平静和安全的时候减缓工作步伐。

How effectively the vagus nerve is working can be tracked by monitoring someone's heart rate as he breathes in and out.你可以通过监测一个人呼吸时的心率来有效地追踪迷走神经的工作过程。

Healthy vagal function is reflected in a subtle increase in heart rate while breathing in and a subtle decrease while breathing out.如果迷走神经工作正常的话，你可以从人体吸进空气时心率的不明显增加上看出来，同样，当人体呼出空气时心率也会有微弱的减少。

The difference yields an index of vagal tone, and the value of this index is known to be connected with health.如果迷走神经处于不健康状态时，会产生不同的迷走张力指数。

Low values are, for example, linked to inflammation and heart attacks.众所周知，这个指数值与健康密切相关。比如，指数值低的话，就可能说明有炎症，及心脏病了。

What particularly interested Dr Fredrickson and Dr Kok was recent work that showed something else about the vagal-tone index:

特别有趣的是，弗雷德里克松教授和考克教授最近研究也显示了与迷走神经张力指数有关的其它东西。

people with high tone are better than those with low at stopping bad feelings getting overblown.在避免让不良情绪扩大方面，指数高的人这方面的能力明显优于指数低的人。

They also show more positive emotions in general.这些人平时也会表现出更乐观积极的情绪。

This may provide the miing link between emotional well-being and physical health.这可能也弥补了在情感福祉与身体健康之间缺失的一环。