解救海豚：仿真机器海豚问世

陈永战

水族馆的海豚表演，经常让人们质疑海豚是否受到了虐待。一家科技公司为此打造出仿真度超高的“机器海豚”，希望借此取代水族馆里的海豚，让真正的海豚回归大海。

Could robotic dolphins help marine parks become more humane spaces where people can learn about and connect with nature？

Edge Innovations， a special effects company that has spent decades creating some of Hollywood's most memorable robotic animals， thinks so. The first step toward that future could be Delle， an 8.5?foot?long， 600?pound robotic dolphin that's able to swim semi?autonomously （半自动地） using simple AI， or remotely under control of a human operator.

Simulating （模拟） a dolphin's graceful movements with machinery and computers was not easy. To build a robotic dolphin， Conti and his colleagues in Edge Innovations studied hours of videos of dolphins， analyzing the function of different parts of the animal. The development process was both science and art. “Inside they're all machines. But what makes a dolphin distinctive （與众不同的） is actually the art and the knowledge that we bring to it，” Conti said.

From an industry perspective， what's probably most attractive about robotic dolphins isn't what they can do， but what they don't need： food， sleep， training， and veterinary （兽医的） care. That's not to say robotic dolphins are cheap： Delle costs between $3 to $5 million， while a live dolphin can cost marine parks about $100，000. The cost of using robotic animals is significantly more than buying their live counterparts. But over a 10?year life?span， it saves many， many tens of millions of dollars to only have to plug your animals in at night to recharge.

It's too early to determine exactly how much money marine parks could save with robotic dolphins， but making the switch would almost certainly save massive amo?unts of suffering among these smart and social sea creatures.

Delle， the robotic dolphin， is so convincing （令人信服的） that people， turtles， and fish often think it's a real animal. But real dolphins aren't fooled. After all， dolphins are among the smartest creatures on the planet.

Reading Check

1. Which word can describe the process of copying dolphins' movements？

A. Simple. B. Challenging.

C. Worthless. D. Boring.

2. What's an advantage of robotic dolphins from an industry perspective？

A. They're cheap.

B. They can be purchased easily.

C. They're made with advanced tech?nology.

D. They need no food， sleep， training or special care.

3. What's the author's attitude to adopting robotic dolphins？

A. Unclear. B. Worried. C. Approving. D. Careless.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

To build a robotic dolphin， Conti and his colleagues in Edge Innovations studied hours of videos of dolphins， analyzing the function of different parts of the animal. 为了建造一只机器海豚，在Edge Innovations工作的康迪和他的同事研究了数小时的海豚视频，分析了海豚不同部位的功能。

【点石成金】该句中的To build a robotic dolphin为动词不定式作目的状语;analyzing the function of different parts of the animal作伴随状语。