From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
Five years ago, the Mars Rover Spirit got stuck in sand on the red planet. Spirit is one of the American space agency's two motorized vehicles on Mars.
5年前，勇气号火星车陷入了火星的沙子中，它是美国航天局在火星上的两台机动车辆之一。
Recently, the other vehicle – Curiosity -- had to go a long way to avoid another sandy area. These incidents led some scientists to develop ways to keep the costly robots from being trapped in the sand. These scientists looked to nature for their ideas.
最近，另一台火星车 -- 好奇号 -- 不得不长途跋涉以躲开另一片沙地。这些事件促使了一些科学家去研发避免这些昂贵的机器人陷入沙子中的办法。这些科学家把目光投向了自然界寻找灵感。
The researchers flew deadly snakes to Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia. The snakes, called sidewinder rattlers, are native to the southwestern United States.
研究人员把致命毒蛇空运到了佐治亚州亚特兰大市的亚特兰大动物园。这些蛇被称之为角响尾蛇（又译作侧进蛇），原产于美国西南部。
The creatures were put in a specially designed sandbox with inclines that could be raised up or lowered. The scientists used high-speed video cameras to record the position of the snakes as they moved sideways up different inclines. Their movement is called sidewinding.
这些生物被放入一个坡度可以升降的特制沙箱中。科学家们用高速摄像机记录了这些蛇在不同的斜面上蜿蜒前进时的具体位置，蛇的这种动作被称之为蛇行。
Daniel Goldman teaches physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He says the snakes moved easily in the sand -- even when the sand began moving.
丹尼尔·戈德曼（Daniel Goldman）在亚特兰大市的佐治亚理工学院教授物理学。他说这些蛇在沙子里行动自如，即使沙子也开始动时也一样。
Mr. Goldman and other researchers wrote about their findings in the journal Science. They are said to be the first to explain this kind of snake movement.
戈德曼和其他研究人员在《科学》杂志上发表了他们的研究成果，据说他们是解释这种蛇行运动的第一人。
"We noticed that the animals were in fact sidewinding, using the same kind of pattern of sidewinding they use on hard ground, but laying instead of only a few points of contact on the body contacting the ground, they were essentially laying more and more snake body down on the hill as the incline angle increased."
“我们注意到这种动物实际上是在蛇行，跟他们在硬地上蛇行的方式一样，但不再是身体极少数点接触地面，而是随着倾斜角度增大，越来越多的身体接触斜坡。”
Researchers then performed experiments with a robot developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. The robot is called MOD-Snake. It is one meter long, and has 16 parts or modules. Each module is 6 centimeters wide.
研究人员随后使用在宾夕法尼亚州卡内基·梅隆大学研制成功的机器人进行了试验。该机器人被称之为MOD-Snake。它长达1米，拥有16个宽6厘米的组件。
Daniel Goldman says the robot has a long history of getting in and out of tight places. Researchers wanted to get the MOD-Snake to climb in the same way as the sidewinder rattlers.
葛德曼表示，该机器人经常在狭窄空间里进出。研究人员希望它能够像角响尾蛇一样攀爬。
"And those same waves existed in the robot and allowed it to make its maneuvers and allowed us to modify those waves to make the kind of maneuvers that the snake did on sand dunes of different inclines -- that is, laying down more robot as the hill angle increased."
“这种机器人也能做相同的波浪运动，使得它可以灵活移动。我们还能把它的波浪运动修改成蛇在不同坡度沙丘上所做的那类动作，也就是说，随着斜坡坡度上升，让机器人更多接触地面。”
The researchers performed the same experiment with other snakes closely related to the rattlers. But all of those creatures failed to slide up the inclines.
研究人员使用和角响尾蛇密切相关的其它蛇进行了相同试验，但所有这些蛇类都未能爬上斜坡。
Joe Mendelson is research director at Zoo Atlanta. He says the robot model helped explain why those snakes have trouble climbing.
乔·门德尔松（Joe Mendelson）是亚特兰大动物园的研究总监。他说，这种机器人模型有助于解释为何这些蛇类无法攀爬。
Mr. Mendelson adds that the next generation of Mod-Snake may be used to save lives or explore unexplored areas on Earth or even in space.
门德尔松补充说，下一代Mod-Snake可能会用于救援或探索地球甚至太空中的未开发地区。
"Robots are expensive. And a robot gets stuck in the sand, that's a problem. And you realize, part of going into this, we realize that sidewinders never ever, ever get stuck on sand!"
“机器人价格昂贵。但机器人会陷入沙中，这是个问题。而我们都认识到角响尾蛇永远都不会陷在沙子中。”
The researchers hope the new sidewinder robot will travel up and down sand dunes just as well.
研究人员希望这种新的角响尾蛇机器人也能在沙丘行动自如。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·埃文斯。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)