【视频讲解】

One of the most exquisite heat sensors in the world—it's not in some government lab. It's in the head of a snake. The pit viper, to be specific.
世界上最敏锐的热传感器之一不是在政府的实验室里，而是在蛇的头里。具体来讲是在响尾蛇的头里。
Exquisite
1. 精致的，精巧的：以复杂和漂亮的设计或执行为特征的：
an exquisite chalice.
精致的酒杯
2. 的，美妙的 = delicate
an exquisite sunset.
美妙的夕阳
pit viper 响尾蛇
Viper 蝰蛇 =》 邪恶的人！
to be specific 具体而言

"They're incredibly sensitive. They beat any of the synthetic counterparts, even the most expensive semiconducting systems used in infrared or thermal cameras today." Chiara Daraio, a materials scientist at Caltech. "They can effectively resolve a few milli-kelvin of temperature changes at a distance of up to a meter."
“蛇头里的热传感器非常灵敏。它们可以击败任何人造热传感器，甚至能与现在应用到红外摄像机或热感摄像机上的最昂贵半导体系统相媲美。”加州理工学院的材料科学家奇亚拉•达拉里奥说。“在最远一米的距离以内，它们可以有效识别几毫开尔文的温度变化”
beat off 击退，打退(进攻) ：
The soldiers beat off all the enemy attacks.
战士们打退了敌人的所有进攻。
beat about the bush
说话兜圈子不直截了== 拐弯抹角
He beat about the bush for a half hour without coming to the point.
他转弯抹角地说了半个小时也没有说到点上。
beat the bushes 到处寻觅
beat the drums 鼓吹：在公开场合极力支持或鼓动
a politician who beats the drum for liberalism.
一个竭力鼓吹自由主义的政治家

Now Daraio and her colleagues have designed a heat-sensing material that competes with the sensitivity of the snake. Using pectin. Same stuff you used to thicken jam. “Pectin, a double-stranded molecule ubiquitously present in the outer cell wall of plant cells, acts effectively as a tiny molecular temperature sensor."
达拉里奥和她的同事设计了一种热敏感材料，这种材料可以与蛇的敏感性相匹敌。该材料使用果胶制造而成，果胶就是用来增加果酱稠度的物质。“果胶是一种普遍存在于植物细胞壁外部的一种双链分子，实际上相当于微型分子温度传感器。”
Pectin 果胶
Strand
1. 缕
She tried to blow a grey strand of hair from her eyes.
她试图吹开眼前的一缕白发。
2. 使滞留
The climbers had been stranded by a storm.
这些登山者被暴风雨困住了。
Ubiquitous无处不在的：
“plodded through the shadows fruitlessly like an ubiquitous spook”(Joseph Heller)
“象无所不在的鬼一样，徒劳地在阴影中缓慢不停地走动”(约瑟夫•赫勒)

When temperatures go up, she says, the double-stranded molecule unzips, "like the zipper of a jacket."
她说，当温度上升时，双链分子就会像“夹克拉链一样”拉开。
Zip, zipper
1. 拉锁
He pulled the zip of his leather jacket down slightly.
他稍稍拉下了他皮夹克的拉锁。
2. 压缩 (电脑文件)
If you zipped the files first, they did not become read-only when written to the CD.
如果你先压缩了这些文件，写入光盘时它们就不变成只读文件。

So they did what you usually do with pectin—they made jelly, using pectin, water and calcium ions. They dried that out, and got a thin, transparent film.
他们用果胶、水和钙离子制作了果冻，就像你通常用果胶做的一样。他们把果冻风干后，得到一张透明薄膜。
Jelly 果冻, 果酱 => Jellyfish 水母
ion 离子
Film 薄层
The sea is coated with a film of raw sewage.

海上覆盖着薄薄一层未经处理的污水。

Then, they had to test it. Which they realized they could do using a microwave and her son's teddy bear. "Which can be heated up to a temperature of 37 degrees, roughly the temperature of a mouse or a running prey for a snake."
然后，他们对这层薄膜进行测试。他们意识到可以用微波炉和她儿子的泰迪熊进行测试。“可以把泰迪熊加热到37度，对蛇来说这一温度相当于一只老鼠或一个奔跑中的猎物的温度。”
Roughly 大约的意思
rough, jagged, rugged, scabrous, uneven这些形容词指不光滑、粗糙或不平整的表面。
Rough：描述看起来或摸起来不平坦或不整齐的东西，如凸起物或隆起部分等：
Jagged 指有不规则的凸起物或凹口的边缘或表面：
a jagged piece of glass.
一块锯齿状的玻璃。
Rugged 常指强健或耐力，尤指人能吃苦耐劳的，也用于指地表高低不平，有陡峭的高地和斜坡：
rugged countryside.
多丘陵的乡村。
Scabrous 指手感粗糙且多鳞的：
a granular, scabrous spot on his cheek.
他脸颊上粗糙的颗粒状斑点。
Uneven 指有些部分不在同一个平面上的线条或表层： = rude
uneven handwriting
不整齐的笔迹

And the pectin film was exquisitely sensitive to the warmed-up teddy bear—on par with the snake. The film could detect temperature changes as small as 10-thousandths of a degree celsius. The study is in the journal Science Robotics.
果胶薄膜对加热后的泰迪熊相当敏感——和蛇一样。这层薄膜可以检测到小至千分之十摄氏度的温度变化。这项研究结果发表在《科学•机器人学》期刊上。
on par with 与…平分秋色；与…势均力敌，不分上下；
A study showed the devices are on par with traditional mechanical treatment facilities for removing organic compounds and nitrogen .
研究显示，在消除有机化合物和氮含量方面，该设备与传统机械处理设施的处理能力相当

Daraio says the skin could give robots superior sensing abilities. "Allowing for example robots to determine whether they're moving around inanimate objects, other robots, or even humans or animals, which are evidently warmer bodies."
达拉里奥表示，这种薄膜能赋予机器人卓越的感知能力。“比如，这一薄膜能使机器人确定它们正在围绕什么物体运动，是无生命物体、其他机器人、还是人类或动物，因为人类和动物的体温明显更高。”
animate
1. 有生命的
Natural philosophy involved the study of all aspects of the material world, animate and inanimate.
自然哲学涉及到了对包括有生命体与无生命体的物质世界的全面研究。
2. 给予兴趣，给予热情；使有活力：
“The party was animated by all kinds of men and women”(René Dubos)
“各种各样的男男女女使这个晚会充满了活力”(赖恩•杜伯斯)

Or, she says, it could be used in sensitive skin on prosthetic limbs for humans. If we can figure out how to connect this artificial skin up to something far more complicated. The brain！
她说，这种薄膜还能应用于人类假肢的敏感皮肤上。如果我们能弄清如何将这种人造薄膜和更复杂的事物联系起来，那我们绝对是智慧者。
Prosthetic假体的; 义肢的
He has undergone 25 operations and wears a prosthetic leg.
他已经做过二十五次手术，现在装了一只假腿。
connect up 使连接，使接通；
There's an enormous need within an economy, within the marketplace, to help buyers connect up with sellers.
对于任何一个经济体而言，都有对于交易场所的需求，以帮助买家和卖家取得联系。