Malaria killed 435,000 people last year, most of them in Africa.
去年435,000人死于疟疾，其中大部分在非洲。
The parasite that causes the illness is carried by females of some, but not all, species of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles.
一些，并非所有，按蚊属雌性疟蚊都携带致病的寄生虫。
An insect becomes infected by biting an infected human being. Over the course of ten to 12 days, the parasites then multiply inside her.
当一只昆虫叮咬了被感染人群后，这只昆虫会被感染。在10 到12天内，寄生虫迅速在她的体内繁殖。
Once this has happened she transmits them with her bite.
一旦繁殖，她就会通过叮咬传播这些寄生虫。
The threat posed by an individual mosquito thus depends on its species, sex and age.
一只蚊子所造成的威胁取决于它的种类、性别和年龄。
Knowing these for lots of local insects gives a better idea of where, when and how to intervene in a particular place.
知道本地昆虫的这些信息可以更好的了解在哪、何时以及如何对某个特定地点进行干预。
If the locals are, for example, of a species that prefers to bite people inside houses,
例如，如果本地的一种种类喜欢叮咬房子里的人，
or to rest indoors after feeding, fumigating household interiors is the best approach.
或是喜欢在吃饱后在室内休息，那么对房屋内部进行消毒是最好的方法。
If not, it may be better to locate and disrupt breeding sites, using aerial spraying.
如果不是，那么最好是利用飞机喷雾对它们的繁殖点进行定位和破坏。
Sex is easy to determine. Males have bushy mouths—in essence, beards. Females do not.
性别很容易进行确定。雄性嘴部（其实是胡须）浓密。雌性则不是。
Determining species and age, though, is slow and laborious. DNA must be sequenced. Bodies must be dissected under microscopes.
虽然确定种类、年龄慢且费劲。DNA必须要进行排序。必须在显微镜下对尸体进行解剖。
Chemical analyses must be performed. Laboratories in Britain and Tanzania are therefore testing an alternative—infrared spectroscopy.
必须由化学分析师执行。因此英国和坦桑尼亚的实验室对一种替换方法—红外光谱法，进行测验。
Mario González-Jiménez, a chemist at the University of Glasgow, uses a diamond and a piece of steel that act as a hammer and anvil,
格拉斯哥大学化学家Mario González-Jiménez使用一颗钻石和一块钢充当锤子和铁砧
crushing the mosquito to be analysed. The infrared light is then provided by a laser.
压碎需要被分析的蚊子。然后用激光提供红外光。
With the insect duly splattered across one facet of the diamond, this laser is shone through the crystal onto it.
随着钻石的一面砸过这只昆虫，这束激光射过这面晶体。
The light reflected back out of the crystal by the insect's remains is run through a spectroscope for analysis.
通过昆虫尸体反射出的钻石光线穿过分光镜。
Part of the incident light will have been absorbed by various chemicals in the mosquito—
部分入射光将被蚊子中的各种化学物质吸收—
particularly chitin (a structural carbohydrate), proteins and lipids in the animal's cuticle.
尤其是几丁质（一种结构性碳水化合物）、蛋白质以及动物外皮的脂肪。
This absorption shows up in the reflected light's spectrum as an absence of certain frequencies.
这种出现在反射光光谱中的吸收显现的是某种频率的缺失。
These absences are called Fraunhofer lines, after the German physicist who discovered them two centuries ago.
这些缺失的频率被称为夫琅和费谱线，200年前，德国物理学家发现了它们。
Particular molecules create particular patterns of Fraunhofer lines,
随着消失的光能被吸收，也驱动了特定分子中的原子键振动，
as the missing light energy has been absorbed to drive the vibrations of atomic bonds within those molecules.
那些分子就可以创造出某些模式的夫琅和费谱线。
Properly analysed, Fraunhofer lines provide information about the exact chemical make-up of whatever is reflecting the light.
经过恰当分析，夫琅和费谱线可以提供关于任何反光物体的化学组成的确切信息。
Their patterns in spectra therefore correspond to the different chemistries of species, sexes and ages.
因此光谱中它们的模式就相当于种类、性别和年龄的不同化学反应。
That permits the construction of a library, with which unknown insects can be compared.
因此，一座图书馆得以建立，未知昆虫得以进行对照。
That, at least, is the theory. Dr González-Jiménez is trying to put it into practice.
这至少是一个理论。González-Jiménez博士正试图将之运用于实践。
His methods are now 83% accurate at recognising species, and close to 100% accurate at recognising age.
现在他这些方法的种类识别正确率为83%，年龄鉴别正确率则接近100%。
He and his colleagues are also using the process to try to determine how resistant the now-dead insect being examined would have been to insecticides.
他和他的同事也试图用这种方法判断死昆虫对杀虫剂的耐药性有多强。
What works in a laboratory in a Scottish city might not, though, work in the African countryside.
虽然在苏格兰实验室中奏效的方法在非洲农村或许没用。
The person in charge of testing that out is Fredros Okumu, science director of the Ifakara Health Institute, a Tanzanian organisation.
负责彻底检验此方法的人是Fredros Okumu，他是坦桑尼亚组织—Ifakara健康研究所的科学主任。
Ifakara runs Mosquito City, a research facility in the Kilombero River valley.
Ifakara经营着一座蚊子城市，这是一个位于基隆贝罗河谷的研究设施。
Mosquito City's buzzing, whining "biospheres" mimic local field conditions, even down to banana plants and goats.
蚊子城市抱怨“生物圈”模仿当地野外条件的嗡嗡声甚至穿透至香蕉树和山羊群。
Besides testing the equipment, Dr Okumu and his team are also trying to extend the range of data that mosquito spectra can provide,
除了对设备进行测试外，Okumu博士和他的团队也尝试扩大蚊子光谱可提供的数据范围，
including into the way the insects behave. Some mosquitoes, for example, feed only on people. Others dine as well on chickens, cows and goats.
包括昆虫的行为方式。例如，一些蚊子只吸人血，其他蚊子也以鸡、乳牛和山羊血为食。
This is all valuable information. But it will be much more valuable if it can be gathered easily in the field.
这些都是重要情报。但是如果可以在实地轻松收集到这些情报，那么将更有价值。
Engineers at Glasgow are therefore working on a laser optimised to emit light at the frequencies best suited for analysing mosquitoes.
因此格拉斯哥大学的工程师正致力于一种优化激光，能在分析蚊子的最佳频率下发光。
Meanwhile, those at Ifakara are experimenting with shoebox-sized versions of the apparatus that can be taken into the countryside.
同时，Ifakara的研究人员正在用鞋盒大小的设备版本进行实验，这种大小的设备可以被带到乡下。
Their aim is eventually to shrink this to something the size of a mobile phone. That could shine a whole new light on the problem of malaria.
他们的最终目标是将这种设备缩至手机大小。这将在疟疾问题方面闪现全新的光芒。
来源：经济学人
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