江苏 马秀艳

你有没有想过，如果有一天，你的皮肤受到伤害了，比如被刀划伤了，或者被烫伤了，它会自动修复？你肯定会觉得这不可思议。目前科学家已经研发出新型智能电子皮肤，这种皮肤可以在一秒钟内完成修复，就像《终结者》里的机器人一样。

题材科技体裁说明文文章词数 难度 建议用时314 ★★★ 6 分钟

A new smart manmade skin that can repair itself in less than a second like the cyborg （半人半机器的生物） in the film Terminator has been developed. The electronic skin, or e-skin, is just as strong and sensitive as human skin and could be used to monitor a person's health or the structural condition of an airplane, say scientists.

While it is not the first time scientists have tried to “electronically” copy human skin, previous attempts have fallen short. This e-skin prototype （原型） can sense objects from up to eight inches away, react to things in under one tenth of a second and repair itself more than 5,000 times, according to the researchers.

Study author Dr Yichen Cai, of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, said, “The ideal e-skin will imitate the many natural functions of human skin, such as sensing temperature and touch, accurately and in real time. However, making suitably flexible electronics that can perform such delicate tasks in everyday life is challenging, and each material involved must be carefully engineered.”

At the same time, it is highly sensitive, to the point where it can distinguish handwriting written on its surface and withstand 5,000 deformations（变形）, recovering in about a quarter of a second.

Their new invention could help make prosthetics （假体） which monitor a range of biological information, including changes in blood pressure. The information could then be shared and stored on the cloud via Wi-Fi.

Co-author Vincent Tung said, “One remaining obstacle to the widespread use of e-skin lies in scaling up of high-resolution sensors. However, laser-assisted additive manufacturing offers new promise.”

While the first port of call is medical, the e-skin could benefit a wide range of products.

Dr Cai added, “We will see a future for this technology beyond biology. Stretchable sensor tape could one day monitor the structural health of non-living objects, such as furniture and aircraft.”

Reading Check

1. What does the underlined phrase “fallen short” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A. Ignored the present achievements.

B. Failed to achieve the expected result.

C. Covered the existing mistakes.

D. Misunderstood structural conditions.

2. In Dr Yichen Cai's opinion, what can we infer about the ideal e-skin?

A. It can be as strong as the cyborg.

B. It can be stored on the cloud via Wi-Fi.

C. It contains much biological information.

D. It can copy natural functions of human skin.

3. How does Vincent Tung find the widespread use of e-skin?

A. Very promising. B. Full of difficulties.

C. Extremely hopeless. D. Time-consuming.

4. What field will the e-skin be used first?

A. AI. B. Film. C. Medicine. D. Education.

Language Study

Difficult sentence

However, making suitably flexible electronics that can perform such delicate tasks in everyday life is challenging, and each material involved must be carefully engineered. 然而，制造适当灵活的可以执行日常生活中如此精密任务的电子设备是具有挑战性的，而且每种材料都必须要进行精心设计才行。

【点石成金】本句为一个并列复合句，and连接两个并列句，在第一个分句中，making suitably flexible electronics是动名词短语作主语，that引导定语从句；在第二个分句中，involved是过去分词作后置定语，修饰前面的名词each material。