中英双语新闻——148 Spectacular invention

 　　In ancient Greek mythology 1, Medusa’s gaze turns onlookers 2 to stone. Yang Shuo, a junior software major at Wuhan University, can crush fruit in the Fruit Ninja game simply by moving his eyes. The 21-year-old and his teammates recently developed a mask which operates a computer by eye movement.

 
　　在古希腊神话中，美杜莎可以用目光将看到她的人变成石头。而来自武汉大学软件专业的大三学生杨硕在玩水果忍者游戏时，却可以通过移动视线来切水果。最近这位21岁的大学生和队友们共同研发出了一个通过眼球运动来操控电脑的面具。
 
　　The aim is to help physically 3 challenged people and possibly to pioneer a new area in computer control technology. Their product enables users, who have weak muscles or are disabled, to operate a computer.
 
　　这项发明旨在帮助残障人士，并极有可能开创计算机操控技术的新纪元。他们的产品可以帮助那些肌无力或身患残疾的使用者来操作电脑。
 
　　Their eye movement is captured by digital cameras fixed 4 to the glasses, enabling the eyes to act like a computer mouse.
 
　　固定在眼镜上的数码像机能够捕捉用户的眼球运动，这样一来双眼就可以代替电脑鼠标的功能。
 
　　“We wanted to develop a technology that helps others and solves the toughest problems,” said Yang, leader of the team named “Xight”.
 
　　“我们希望开发一种技术，可以帮助他人解决最棘手的难题。”“Xight”团队队长杨硕称。
 
　　Li Jin, 21, a junior software major at the university, found a challenging problem during his visit to Chongqing Disabled Person’s Federation 5 in an off-campus activity last year. Li noticed that disabled people wanted to communicate via the Internet, but many were unable to because of their physical condition.
 
　　21岁的李今同样是武大软件专业的大三学生。他在去年参加参加重庆残联的校外活动期间发现了一个极具挑战性的难题。李今注意到，尽管残疾人士希望通过网络与外界沟通，但很多人因为身体状况而无法实现这一想法。
 
　　“Let’s see what we can do,” said Yang.
 
　　“让我们来看看自己能做些什么。”杨硕说。
 
　　The idea of using the eyes to control a computer came up. “Because the eye is one of the most agile 6 parts of the human body,” said Li.
 
　　于是，他们想到了用眼睛来控制电脑。“因为眼睛是人类身体上最灵活的部分之一。”李今说。
 
　　However the team discovered that eyes can be too quick to be captured by camera for an accurate positioning function.
 
　　但该团队发现眼球运动过快，相机难以捕捉其运动状况，无法实现精确定位功能。
 
　　As a result, their prototype glasses could only function in four corners of a computer screen with the head held still, which wasn’t practical.
 
　　因此，他们原先制作的眼镜原型只有在保持头部不动的情况下，控制电脑的四个角，缺乏实用性。
 
　　The team reckoned that with lots of experiments and calculations, a pattern of eye movement could be traced and programmed.
 
　　他们思考后认为，通过大量的试验和计算，可以追踪眼球运动的方式，并编写相关程序。
 
　　For 20 days they worked wearing a neck brace 7 before they finally made a breakthrough with a head localization algorithm, which can accurately 8 locate the target and execute commands.
 
　　他们头戴颈托工作了20天，终于取得了突破，研究出一个可以准确定位目标、执行命令的头部定位公式。
 
　　“Many times when I took off the neck brace, I felt that it was hard to move my eyes and my neck was killing 9 me,” said Yang. “But it was worth the pain.”
 
　　“有好多次我摘下颈托，发现眼睛都动不了了，脖子也疼得要命。”杨硕说，“但是这些痛苦都值得。”
 
　　Xbox experts were excited to learn that Xight was even quicker than hand-waving karate 10 moves when playing Fruit Ninja at a national competition sponsored by Microsoft. Mark Taylor, director of Development and Platform Evangelism Group, is amazed by the potential of Xight’s work.
 
　　在微软赞助的一项全国性竞赛中，Xight视线追踪系统在水果忍者游戏中的动作甚至比空手道中的挥拳动作还要迅速，Xbox专家们在得知该消息后兴奋不已。微软大中华区开发工具及平台事业部主管马克?泰勒对Xight的潜力感到十分震惊。
 
　　“This product not only showcased technical brainpower but also a promising 11 market perspective,” said Taylor.
 
　　“该产品不仅展现出技术智能，更展示出了很好的市场前景。”泰勒说。
 
　　Taylor is right.
 
　　泰勒说的没错。
 
　　In the US, software and digital glasses with a similar function cost $8,000. But Xight’s can be much more competitive.
 
　　在美国，拥有类似功能的软件和数码眼镜售价高达8000美元。而Xight的价格更具竞争力。
 
　　“Even if we refine the appearance of the glasses and the function in a more user-friendly way, it won’t cost more than 500 yuan,” said Yang.
 
　　“即使我们为了提高用户体验度，而改善眼镜外观及其功能，它的成本也不会超过500元。”杨硕说。
 
　　Many investors 12 have already contacted the team trying to put the invention into commercial production. But the team refused.
 
　　许多投资商纷纷找到Xight团队，试图将该发明投入商业生产，但都被婉拒了。
 
　　“At present, our focus is to improve Xight and make it an ideal application for disabled people. When we achieve this we’ll consider commercializing our innovation,” said Yang, who has been busy preparing a thesis and materials for Xight’s patent application.
 
　　“目前，我们的重点是改进Xight，使它成为残疾人士的理想应用。当我们成功之后才会考虑将发明成果商业化。”杨硕说。他正在为Xight申请专利准备论文及相关材料。
 
　　Not surprisingly, the team won the top prize in the innovation competition and will represent China at the worldwide innovation challenge to be held in Sydney, Australia, next month.
 
　　不出所料，Xight团队最终赢得了该创新竞赛的特等奖，并将于下个月代表中国参加在澳大利亚悉尼举办的全球创新挑战赛。
 
　　The four are racking their brains to incorporate new elements like gesture control and voice control in Xight to spice up the human-machine interface 13 concept.
 
　　目前，四位成员正在绞尽脑汁为Xight配备手势控制和声音控制等新元素，为人机互动理念加些新料。
 
　　“One day, when you return home, you will tell the computer to dim the light, use a hand gesture to turn on the TV and glance at the air conditioner to lower the temperature,” said Yang.
 
　　“未来有一天，回家后你可以用语音指令指挥电脑调暗灯光，用手势打开电视，看一眼空调就能调低温度。”杨硕说。