第1段

Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death – out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt’s most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.

第1段

很少有什么天气比雷暴更加戏剧化。仅在美国每年，雷暴所造成的电击致死或重伤的人数就达到约500人。当云层滚滚而来时，一个悠闲的高尔夫球场可能会变成与死神赌命的可怕场景——独自一人在露天环境中，高尔夫球手可能成为闪电打击的最佳目标。此外，还会造成财产损失。雷击损害使美国电力公司每年损失超过1亿美元。

第2段

But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.

第2段

然而，美国和日本的研究人员计划反击。他们已经在实验室试验中测试了一些消弱雷暴能量的策略，今年冬天他们将勇敢地面对真正的雷暴，装备了一系列激光器，将其指向天空，以在闪电袭击前解除雷云电荷。

第3段

The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California. EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States’ power grid from lightning strikes. ‘We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets, ‘ says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.

第3段

迫使雷暴按指令释放闪电的想法并不新鲜。早在20世纪60年代初，研究人员试图向雷云发射带线火箭，为这些云产生的巨大电荷设置一条容易释放的路径。这项技术至今在佛罗里达的一个由佛罗里达大学负责运营、得到加利福尼亚州电力研究所（EPRI）支持的试验场上依然存在。EPRI是由电力公司资助的，正在研究如何保护美国的电网免受雷击。EPRI的闪电项目经理拉尔夫·伯恩斯坦（Ralph Bernstein）表示：“我们可以使用火箭引导闪电击中我们希望的地方。”该火箭试验场提供了精确的闪电电压测量，并允许工程师检查电气设备的耐久性。

Bad Behaviour 不良行为

第4段

But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1, 200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. ‘Lightning is not perfectly well behaved, ‘ says Bernstein. ‘Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn’t supposed to go. ‘

第4段

然而，尽管火箭对于研究来说不错，但它们无法提供人们期望的对抗雷击的保护措施。火箭的成本约为每枚1,200美元，只能以有限的频率发射，其故障率约为40%。即使它们成功触发了闪电，事情也不总是按计划进行。“闪电并不完全听话，”伯恩斯坦说道。“偶尔，它会选择其他路径。”

第5段

And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? ‘What goes up must come down, ‘ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely – and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. With around $500, 000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory.

第5段

此外，谁会愿意在人口稠密的地区发射一系列火箭呢？“物体上升必然会下降，”新墨西哥大学的让-克洛德·迪尔斯（Jean-Claude Diels）指出。迪尔斯正在领导一个由EPRI支持的项目，试图使用激光安全地解除雷击——而安全性是一项基本要求，因为没有人愿意将他们自己或昂贵的设备置于风险之中。到目前为止已经投资约50万美元的一个有希望的系统刚刚从实验室中出现。

第6段

The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductors close by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun)would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds.

第6段

这个想法诞生于大约20年前，当时高功率激光器展示了它们从原子中提取电子并产生离子的能力。如果激光器能够在空气中产生一条离子化线路一直延伸至雷暴云，那么这个导电通路可以用来引导闪电打到地球上，以防止电场强度足以使空气失控形成涌流。为了防止激光器被雷击，它不会直接对准云朵，而是通过一个镜子来指向天空。这个镜子将由附近放置的避雷针来保护。理想情况下，这种类似云击枪的装置应该便宜到可以安装在所有关键的电力设施周围，并且便携到足够小可以携带到国际体育赛事，对准正在酝酿的雷暴云。

A stumbling block 绊脚石

第7段

However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no nifty portable: it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.

第7段

然而，还存在一个巨大的难题。这种激光器并不是精巧便携的：它是一个占据整个房间的庞然大物。迪尔斯正试图缩小尺寸，并表示很快将有一个与小桌子大小相当的激光器问世。他计划在明年夏天对这个更易管理的系统进行实际雷暴测试。

第8段

Bernstein says that Diels’s system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. ‘I cannot say I have money yet, but I’m working on it, ‘ says Bernstein. He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point – and he’s hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts ‘an avalanche of interest and support’ if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50, 000 to $100, 000 each.

第8段

伯恩斯坦表示，迪尔斯的系统引起了电力公司的浓厚兴趣。但他们还没有筹集到EPRI称将需要500万美元来开发商业系统所需的资金，以进一步缩小并降低激光器成本。“我不能说已经有资金，但我正在努力，”伯恩斯坦表示。他预计即将进行的实地测试将是一个转折点，他希望能获得好消息。伯恩斯坦预测，如果一切顺利，将会产生“巨大的兴趣和支持”。他预计，云击枪最终的成本将降至每台5,000至10,000美元。

第9段

Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning ‘switch’ at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of ‘interactive meteorology’ – not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. ‘If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather, ‘ he says.

第9段

其他科学家也能从中受益。拥有一种对抗闪电的“开关”，材料科学家可以了解当强电流与物质相遇时会发生什么。迪尔斯还希望看到“互动性气象学”诞生——不仅预测天气，而且控制天气。“如果我们能够消除云层，我们可能会影响天气，”他说。

第10段

And perhaps, says Diels, we’ll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. ‘We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning, ‘ he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back.

第10段

迪尔斯表示，也许我们将能够应对其他气象威胁。“我们认为我们可以通过引发闪电来防止冰雹。”他说。雷暴闪电产生的冲击波被认为是典型风暴中豪雨的触发因素。一个激光雷暴工厂可以震动云中的水分，可能阻止巨大的冰雹形成，从而威胁到庄稼。带着幸运，在这个冬天聚集的暴风云中，身上带着激光器的研究人员将首次反击。