【经济学人】盲杖2.0丨2017.07.16丨第937期

• presence n.出席，到场，存在

Dr Rus’s device, of which she demonstrated a prototype on June 1st at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Singapore, consists of a camera worn on a lanyard around the neck, and a belt. A computer inside the camera creates a three-dimensional image of the area ahead of the wearer, processes it to extract relevant information, and uses the results to pass on appropriate signals via the belt.

6月1日在新加坡举行的机器人与自动化国际会议上，鲁斯博士展示了一个原型机，由一个可戴在脖子上的摄像头，以及一条腰带组成。摄像头内的一台计算机可以在佩戴者前面创建一个三维图像，计算机处理这些图像以提取相关信息，并根据处理结果，通过腰带传输相应的信号。

• prototype  n. (新型汽车、机器等的)原型，雏形

• lanyard n. 挂带，绳索

Dr Rus knew from previous attempts to build devices of this sort that what might seem the obvious way of manifesting those signals, namely as sounds with specific meanings, was not, in fact, a good approach. （读者试译） Blind people depend a lot on their hearing and do not like it when newfangled devices hamper this sense with beeps and clicks. Hence the belt, which has five vibrating motors installed in it. One sits over the centre of the wearer’s abdomen . The others flank this central motor, with two spaced out on either side of it.

（期待您的翻译，明天会有针对这句话的长难句解析哟~） 盲人非常依赖于他们的听力，新奇的设备的哔哔声和滴答声会影响他们听力的感觉，他们并不喜欢这种设备。因此，鲁斯博士皮带上安装了5个振动电机。其中一个位于穿戴者腹部的正前方。其他位于中央电机的两侧，两边也有两个。

• manifest v. 显示；证明

• newfangled adj. 新奇的(一般含贬义或表示不信任)

• hamper vt. 妨碍；束缚 n. 阻碍物

• vibrating adj. 振动的n. 振动；摇摆v. 使震动(vibrate的ing形式)

• install v.安装，设置(设备)

• abdomen n. 腹(部)

That configuration permits the computer to warn a wearer when he is on a collision course with an obstacle. It does so by telling the motor pointing most closely in the direction of the obstacle to vibrate. If the wearer is walking towards a wall, for example, the central motor vibrates softly when he comes within a couple of metres of it. If he ignores this, perhaps because he actually wants to reach the wall, the computer increases the amplitude as he closes in, giving him a good idea of exactly how far away he is. Similarly, if he is in danger of bumping, say, his right shoulder on a door frame while walking from one room to another, the right-most motor on the belt will warn him of the impending