What Are Those Red and Green Lights on Curling Stones? 冰壺上的紅燈和綠燈是什么？

If the ball goes out of bounds in， a soccer game， its up to the referees to call the violation. But in a high-level curling match， the stones are somewhat self-policing—thanks to the red and green lights atop each one.

足球比賽中，如果球出界了，應(yīng)該由裁判來(lái)判定球權(quán)。但是在一場(chǎng)高水平冰壺比賽中，冰壺可以自己擔(dān)任監(jiān)督之責(zé)，這要感謝冰壺頂上的紅燈和綠燈。

As long as the curler releases the stone before the front of it crosses the first red line （the “hog line”）， the lights will stay green， and play will continue. If you see the red lights come on， that means the curler kept their hand on the handle too long， committing a hog line violation. The shot is disqualified， and the stone is quickly removed so it doesnt interfere with other stones on the curling sheet.

只要冰壺運(yùn)動(dòng)員在冰壺過第一條紅線（前擲線）前松開手，冰壺上的綠燈就會(huì)一直亮著，比賽將會(huì)繼續(xù)進(jìn)行。如果你看見冰壺亮起了紅燈，這意味著冰壺運(yùn)動(dòng)員的手放在手柄上的時(shí)間過長(zhǎng)，將被視為犯規(guī)。這次投擲被判為無(wú)效，冰壺將被迅速拿離冰面，才不會(huì)干擾冰壺賽場(chǎng)上的其他冰壺。

The detection system， called “Eye on the Hog”， dates back to the late 1990s， when University of Saskatchewan engineering professor Eric Salt suggested that some of his advanced electrical engineering students invent one for a class project. With his help， they did， and Canadian engineering company Startco modified their design and brought it to market. The Canadian Curling Association soon adopted it for official use， and its popularity grew from there.

這套名為“前擲線上的眼睛”的檢測(cè)系統(tǒng)要追溯到20世紀(jì)90年代末。當(dāng)時(shí)加拿大薩斯喀徹溫大學(xué)的工程學(xué)教授埃里克·索爾特建議他的一些高級(jí)電子電氣工程系的學(xué)生把研發(fā)這套系統(tǒng)作為課題項(xiàng)目。學(xué)生們?cè)谒鳡柼氐膸椭鲁晒Φ匮邪l(fā)出了這套檢測(cè)系統(tǒng)，加拿大工程公司Startco將他們的設(shè)計(jì)修改之后推向了市場(chǎng)。加拿大冰壺協(xié)會(huì)很快就正式采用了這一技術(shù)，從此“冰壺之眼”就越來(lái)越受歡迎。

Basically， theres a magnetic strip installed beneath the ice slightly behind the hog line. Inside the stone is an electrical circuit whose current is affected when youre touching the handle. If youre still touching the handle when the stone crosses the in-ice magnet， itll set off the battery-operated red LEDs. Release the handle before the stone reaches the magnet and the green lights will flash until the stone gets there. At that moment， the flashing will switch to a steady green to indicate that the release was valid.

從基本原理來(lái)說(shuō)，前擲線后方的冰面下方嵌有一塊磁條，冰壺內(nèi)部有一個(gè)電路，當(dāng)人觸碰手柄時(shí)，電流會(huì)受影響。如果在冰壺過了磁條位置后運(yùn)動(dòng)員還觸碰手柄，就會(huì)啟動(dòng)電池供電的紅燈。在冰壺到達(dá)磁條位置之前松開手柄，綠燈就會(huì)一直閃爍，直到冰壺到達(dá)磁條位置。這時(shí)綠燈會(huì)停止閃爍并一直亮著，表明這次投擲是有效的。

This system also explains why the player releasing （“delivering”） the stone doesnt wear a glove on their delivery hand： Theyre not allowed to， since gloves inhibit the touch sensor. Due to the high caliber of Olympic curlers， hog line violations arent common in Olympic curling matches—so you dont often get to see the red lights in action.

這套系統(tǒng)的原理也解釋了為什么冰壺運(yùn)動(dòng)員投擲冰壺的那只手不能戴手套。這是不被允許的，因?yàn)槭痔子|碰冰壺?zé)o法被感應(yīng)到。由于參加奧運(yùn)會(huì)的都是高水平的冰壺運(yùn)動(dòng)員，所以前擲線犯規(guī)在奧運(yùn)會(huì)冰壺比賽中并不常見，因此你很少看見紅燈亮起來(lái)。

Word Bank

violation /'va??'le?tf（?）n/ n. 違反

He roared that was a violation of the rules.

interfere /'?nt?'f??（r）/ v. 干涉，妨礙

It will seriously interfere with the progress of the work.

circuit /'s??k?t/ n. 電路

Where does this line tie in with the main circuit？