Even plants can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike humans, plants can have their temperature taken from 3,000 feet away- straight up. A decade ago, adapting the infrared scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don’t have pest problems.
Even better, Paley’s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3,000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded may showing where plants were running “fevers”. Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.
The bad news is that Paley’s company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long-term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. “This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States,” says George Oerther of Texas A&M. Ray Jackson, who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only if Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
譯文
植物也會(huì)發(fā)燒，特別是當(dāng)它們受到害蟲攻擊或生病的時(shí)候。但是，與人類不同的是植物的體溫在3000英尺以外就可以被直接測(cè)量出來。十年前，物理學(xué)家斯蒂芬帕雷通過采用原用于軍事和衛(wèi)星的紅外線掃描技術(shù)，提出了一種快速測(cè)量農(nóng)作物體溫以確定哪些作物正遭受病蟲害的方法。目的是為了讓農(nóng)民精確地確定噴灑殺蟲劑的地方而無需把整塊地都撒上藥，因?yàn)槟菢幼龊翢o疑問要殃及沒染上害蟲的植物。
更妙的是，帕雷的遠(yuǎn)程掃描服務(wù)公司可以在肉眼還沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)農(nóng)作物出現(xiàn)問題時(shí)就探測(cè)出這些問題。夜間，在飛行高度為3000英尺的飛機(jī)上，遠(yuǎn)紅外線掃描儀可以測(cè)量植物散發(fā)出來的熱量。這些數(shù)據(jù)被轉(zhuǎn)換到一張彩色編碼的地圖上，顯示植物的哪些部位在“發(fā)燒”。農(nóng)民們就可以用比原來少50%到70%的殺蟲劑定點(diǎn)噴藥。
壞消息是帕雷的公司在僅僅3年后，即1984年就倒閉了。農(nóng)民們抵制這項(xiàng)新技術(shù)，帕雷也很難找到長(zhǎng)期的合作者。但隨著人們對(duì)農(nóng)用殺蟲劑的重新關(guān)注及遠(yuǎn)紅外線掃描技術(shù)的提高，帕雷希望重操舊業(yè)。農(nóng)業(yè)專家們毫不懷疑這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的功效。“這項(xiàng)技術(shù)可以被應(yīng)用到美國(guó)75%的耕地上”，德克薩斯州A&M 的喬治奧瑟說。剛從美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部退休的雷杰克遜認(rèn)為，遠(yuǎn)紅外線農(nóng)作物掃描技術(shù)在本年代末有望得到應(yīng)用。但條件是帕雷能找到10年前他沒能得到的經(jīng)濟(jì)支持。
詞匯
Adopt  v. 收養(yǎng)；采納，采取
派生：adoption n. 收養(yǎng)，采用
例句：The old couple decided to adopt a boy and a girl though they had already two children. 雖然這對(duì)老夫婦已經(jīng)有兩個(gè)孩子，但是他們決定再收養(yǎng)一個(gè)男孩和一個(gè)女孩。
come up with 想出，提出
例句：She came up with a soloution to the problem of pollution. 她提出了一個(gè)辦法來解決污染問題。
Determine   v. 決定；決心；限定，確定
派生：determination n. 決心
例句：They cannot determine their optimum price and output with neat exactitude. 他們不   能精確無誤地知道最優(yōu)價(jià)格和產(chǎn)量。
詞組：determine to do sth. 決心做某事；determine on sth. 決定某事
Emit   v. 發(fā)出，散發(fā)（光，熱，電，聲音，液體等），發(fā)射（電子）
派生：emission n. 發(fā)出，發(fā)射
例句：A volcano emits smoke, lava and ashes. 火山噴射出煙，巖漿和灰燼。
infrared a. 紅外線的 n. 紅外線
例句：The plastic blocks infrared rays from sunlight. 這種塑料可以阻擋陽(yáng)光中的紅外線。
詞組：infrard lamp 紅外線燈具；infrared radiation 紅外線輻射
Obtain   v. 獲得，得到
派生：obtainable a. 可獲得的，能取到的
例句：If you do not pass College English Test Band 4, you can not obtain the bachelor’s degree. 如果你不通過大學(xué)英語(yǔ)四級(jí)考試，就不能獲得學(xué)士學(xué)位。
辨析：get, obtain, gain, acquire
      get 概括性最強(qiáng)，包括了以下討論的每一種情況；obtain 用于正式文體，強(qiáng)調(diào)挑選某物，通過艱苦努力得到，意思是獲得；gain 指在尋求過程中付出了代價(jià)，也可指武力奪��；acquire 是一種逐漸習(xí)得的過程，這種過程持續(xù)而緩慢。
Pesticide  n. 殺蟲劑
例句：They sprinkled pesticide to bug the potatoes. 他們噴撒殺蟲劑給馬鈴薯除蟲。
Precisely  ad. 精確地，準(zhǔn)確地，正好
派生：precise a. 精確的，準(zhǔn)確的；恰好的；周密的 precision n. 周密，準(zhǔn)確
例句：Planes fly daily over regular routes with timetable precisely. 飛機(jī)每天精確地按時(shí)刻表飛行在各條航線上。
Remote  a. 遙遠(yuǎn)的，偏僻的
例句：Much new knowledge is remote from the immediate interest of the ordinary person. 許多新知識(shí)與普通人目前的利益關(guān)系甚遠(yuǎn)。
詞組：remote stars 遙遠(yuǎn)的星群；the remote future 遙遠(yuǎn)的未來
辨析：remote, distant, far
      remote 不僅表示孤獨(dú)，還表示時(shí)空上的遙遠(yuǎn)；distant 可以表示特定的分離或確定的距離；far 表示遙遠(yuǎn)的距離。
Resist   v. 抵制，反抗
派生：resistance n. 抵制，反抗；阻力 resistant a. 有抵抗力的
例句：The city resisted the enemies’ onslaught for a month. 一個(gè)月來這座城市抵抗了敵人的猛攻。
Scan   v. 細(xì)查，審視；觀測(cè)；瀏覽
例句：I scanned the newspaper when I waite for the subway. 在我等地鐵時(shí)我匆匆把報(bào)紙翻閱了一下。
Target   n. 目標(biāo)，靶子 v. 對(duì)……瞄準(zhǔn)，指向
例句：She missed the target. 她沒有擊中目標(biāo)。
      Our missiles are targeted on/at the enemy’s cities. 我們的導(dǎo)彈對(duì)準(zhǔn)了敵人的城市。
Transform   v. 改變，使轉(zhuǎn)化，使改觀
派生：transformer n. 改革者；變壓器
例句：A steam engine transforms heat into power. 蒸汽機(jī)把熱轉(zhuǎn)化成動(dòng)力。
詞組：transform… into… 由……轉(zhuǎn)化……
辨析：change, alter, convert, modify, transform
      chang 是最通俗的詞，可以指各方面的改變；alter和modify, convert 都指在外觀或用途上作輕微改變；alter 最不正式，convert 次之，modify 最正式，改變程度也以此排列，alter 常用于修改服裝；transform 注意它的詞根是form 既從形態(tài)上進(jìn)行改變，也從根本上改變。