本文節選自《經濟學人》的一篇文章，介紹了關於指紋技術在犯罪中的運用侷限性以及新研究的改進
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1
Since the first use of fingerprints to identify and convict a murderer, in 1892, detectives the world over have come to rely heavily on print evidence to build their cases against suspects. One limit on the value of fingerprints, though, is that it is hard to work out how old they are. This is a particular problem when a crime is committed somewhere that a suspect frequently and legitimately visits, such as a place of work. In this case exactly when a print was made might be crucial to establishing guilt or innocence. But it is information that science has, until now, been unable to provide with any accuracy.
Since the first use of：自第一次使用……以來【詞組積累】
identify and convict a murderer：確認並定罪，identify表示確認，找到罪犯，而convict則表示定罪，宣判……有罪【詞彙積累】
the world over：全世界（例如cultures
the world over feted the winter solstice as the moment of the sun's return世界各地的文化都廣泛慶祝冬至日，因為它是太陽迴歸的日子）。這個詞組經常緊接在主語之後。【詞組積累】have come to：漸漸……
rely heavily on：heavily是heavy的副詞形式，修飾rely，表示依賴程度重【搭配】
print evidence：指紋證據
One limit on：……的一個限制是【詞組積累】
legitimately：正當地，合理地【詞彙積累】
be crucial to establishing guilt or innocence：be crucial to doing表示某事至關重要，establish guilt or innocence確定有罪或無罪，establish有查實；確定；證實to discover or prove the facts of a situation。同義的詞可以用prove代替，如prove guilty or innocent【搭配】
provide with any accuracy.：provide with accuracy提供精確的證據【詞組積累】
自1892年指紋第一次被用來尋找並給病人定罪以來，全世界的偵探對利用指紋來解決案件的依賴越來越重。然而，指紋的一個限制是它無法告訴我們它存在了多久。這是一個特殊的問題，尤其是當一個嫌犯反覆、合法地進入犯罪場所時，例如工作場所。這種情況下，當一個指紋被確定時，或許對確認犯人有罪或無罪至關重要。
2
As they write in Analytical Chemistry, Paige Hinners and Young Jin Lee of Iowa State University believe they can remedy this state of affairs. They knew from work conducted by other laboratories that the triglyceride oils contained in fingerprints change by oxidation over the course of time. That provides an obvious way to date prints. The problem is that the techniques which have been applied to analyze these oils are able to distinguish age only crudely. In practice, they can determine whether or not a print is over a week old, but nothing else.
remedy this state of affairs：改進這個情況。remedy作名詞有改進措施的意思，作動詞表示補救、改進；state of affairs表示事態，狀況【搭配】
work conducted by other laboratories：conducted by表示經由……執行、實行，work在這裡表示研究工作【搭配】
triglyceride oils：甘油三酯
over the course of time：隨著時間……【詞組積累】
distinguish age only crudely：只能粗略地區分年齡，crudely表示粗糙地，模糊地，所以distinguish sth crudely表示粗略地分別【搭配】
determine whether or not a print is over a week old,：determine表示下定決心去做，這裡的意思是查明；測定；準確算出to discover the facts about sth; to calculate sth exactly，即測定指紋是否超過一週【熟詞僻義】
正如艾奧瓦州立大學的Paige Hinners和Young Jin Lee他們在分析化學中寫道，他們相信他們可以改進這個情況。他們從其他實驗室的工作中瞭解到，指紋中的甘油三酯會因為氧化作用隨著時間而改變。這提供了一個追溯指紋很顯然的方式。問題是，用來追蹤這些物質的技術只能很粗糙地分辨這些指紋的年齡。事實上，他們僅僅可以確定一個指紋是否超過一週，而不能做其他事情。
3
Dr Hinners and Dr Lee wondered if higher precision could be obtained by thinking a bit more about oxidation. Oxygen molecules in the air come in two varieties. Most have a pair of atoms but some, known as ozone, have three. Though far rarer than diatomic oxygen, ozone is more reactive and also reacts in ways different from those of its two-atomed cousin. The two researchers therefore decided to focus their attentions on ozonolysis.
Sb wonders if higher precision could be obtained by thinking a bit more about oxidation：某人想知道是否可以通過多思考氧化的問題使預測可以更精確，這裡的句式是sb wonders if …… could be obtained by doing sth。某人想知道是否可以通過做某事來達成某個目的【句式】
Sth comes in two varieties：某些事物有兩種【詞組積累】
diatomic oxygen：雙原子氧氣
兩位博士想知道是否可以通過多思考氧化的問題使預測可以更精確。空氣中的氧分子有兩種形式，大多數是兩個原子，而有一些，如臭氧有3個原子。儘管遠罕見於雙原子氧，臭氧反應更強，而且反應的方式與那些2原子表親不同。因此，兩個研究人員決定花更多的時間在臭氧分解上。
4
Triglycerides, as their name suggests, are three-tailed molecules. Each tail is a chain of carbon atoms, with hydrogen atoms bonded to the carbons. The chains are held together by bonds between the carbon atoms. These are of two varieties, known as single and double bonds. Single bonds are, in chemistry-speak, saturated, and double bonds unsaturated. By extension, molecules with one or more double bonds in them are also referred to asunsaturated, while those with only single bonds are called saturated.
bond to：bond中文釋義裡有化學鍵的意思，所以這裡bond to表示某原子與其他原子相連【熟詞僻義】
known as：known for表示以……聞名，known as更多的意思是被稱為，被認為是，known as single and double bonds，被稱為單鏈或雙鏈【詞組積累】
in chemistry-speak：用化學的話來說
by extension：擴展而言，由此可推論【詞組積累】
are referred to as unsaturated; are called saturated：兩個都可以翻譯為被稱作【同意替換】
正如其名字所寫，甘油三酯是三支鏈分子，每個支鏈都是碳原子鏈，每個碳原子是都有氫原子與其相連。碳鏈是由碳原子間的化學鍵連接在一起的。這種鏈包含兩種，被稱為單鏈或雙鏈，單鏈從化學術語來說，是飽和鏈，而雙鏈則是不飽和鏈。由此可推論，擁有一個或多個雙鏈的分子也被稱為不飽和的，而那些僅僅只有單鏈的則是飽和分子。
5
Unsaturated bonds are more reactive, and it is here that ozonolysis does its work. Ozone breaks up triglycerides at their double bonds, with one or more of the ozone’s oxygen atoms becoming attached to the carbon chain, to create new chemical species. In principle, this should result in a gradual loss of unsaturated triglycerides and aconcomitant rise in the reaction products of ozonolysis.
become attached to：依附在……上
In principle：原則上來說
result in：導致
a gradual loss of sth：某物的緩慢丟失；對應反義詞a concomitant rise in：伴隨著……的上升，concomitant表示同時發生的【詞彙積累】
不飽和鏈更容易反應，而這正是臭氧分解發揮作用的地方。臭氧破壞甘油三酯的雙鏈，並將自己的氧原子依附在碳鏈上，從而製造新的化學物質。原則上來說，這會導致不飽和甘油三酯的丟失，隨之而來的是臭氧分解帶來的產物的上升。
6
And that, in practice, is what Dr Hinners and Dr Lee found. They asked three volunteers to leave their prints ona number of glass slides. They then tested some of those slides immediately, using a sensitive analytical technique called matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (maldi) to produce a spectrum of the prints’ chemical contents. The other slides they left exposed to the air for between one and seven days, testing them at regular intervals
in practice：事實上
a number of glass slides：大量的，下文中的a spectrum of the prints’ chemical contents：a spectrum of 表示一系列的
glass slides：載玻片【詞彙積累】
at regular intervals：每隔一定的時間。【詞組積累】
事實上，這正是Hinners和Lee 所發現的。他們讓3位自願者在大量的載玻片上留下自己的指紋，隨後，他們立即使用一種靈敏的分析技術，稱作matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (maldi)，來檢測這些載玻片，併產生一系列指紋的化學物質。而其他載玻片，他們則暴露在空氣中1到7天，並每隔一定時間進行檢測。
7
As they suspected, as time progressed the ratio of saturated to unsaturated triglycerides in a sample rose, and so did the quantities of two characteristic products of ozonolysis. On the basis of what is, admittedly, a small sample, Dr Hinners and Dr Lee therefore think that maldi analysis of fingerprint residues should prove accurate enough to date to within 24 hours when a fingerprint under a week old was made.
as time progressed：隨著時間的推進【詞組積累】
fingerprint residues：指紋殘留物，residue表示殘渣，殘餘物
正如他們所懷疑的，樣本中的飽和甘油三酯與不飽和的比值隨著時間流逝而提升，而臭氧分解的兩種典型產物也是如此。在這個小樣本的基礎上，Hinners和Lee認為指紋殘留物的maldi分析可以把1周內留下的指紋時間足夠精確到24h內。
總結
identify and convict a murderer：確認並定罪，identify表示確認，找到罪犯，而convict則表示定罪，宣判……有罪【詞彙積累】
legitimately：正當地，合理地【詞彙積累】
a gradual loss of sth：某物的緩慢丟失；對應反義詞a concomitant rise in：伴隨著……的上升，concomitant表示同時發生的【詞彙積累】
glass slides：載玻片【詞彙積累】
Since the first use of：自第一次使用……以來【詞組積累】
the world over：全世界（例如cultures the world over feted the winter solstice as the moment of the sun's return世界各地的文化都廣泛慶祝冬至日，因為它是太陽迴歸的日子）。這個詞組經常緊接在主語之後。【詞組積累】
One limit on：……的一個限制是【詞組積累】
provide with any accuracy.：provide with accuracy提供精確的證據【詞組積累】
over the course of time：隨著時間……【詞組積累】
Sth comes in two varieties：某些事物有兩種【詞組積累】
known as：known for表示以……聞名，known as更多的意思是被稱為，被認為是，known as single and double bonds，被稱為單鏈或雙鏈【詞組積累】
by extension：擴展而言，由此可推論【詞組積累】
at regular intervals：每隔一定的時間。【詞組積累】
as time progressed：隨著時間的推進【詞組積累】
rely heavily on：heavily是heavy的副詞形式，修飾rely，表示依賴程度重【搭配】
be crucial to establishing guilt or innocence：be crucial to doing表示某事至關重要，establish guilt or innocence確定有罪或無罪，establish有查實；確定；證實to discover or prove the facts of a situation。同義的詞可以用prove代替，如prove guilty or innocent
【搭配】remedy this state of affairs：改進這個情況。remedy作名詞有改進措施的意思，作動詞表示補救、改進；state of affairs表示事態，狀況【搭配】
work conducted by other laboratories：conducted by表示經由……執行、實行，work在這裡表示研究工作【搭配】
distinguish age only crudely：只能粗略地區分年齡，crudely表示粗糙地，模糊地，所以distinguish sth crudely表示粗略地分別【搭配】
determine whether or not a print is over a week old,：determine表示下定決心去做，這裡的意思是查明；測定；準確算出to discover the facts about sth; to calculate sth exactly，即測定指紋是否超過一週【熟詞僻義】
bond to：bond中文釋義裡有化學鍵的意思，所以這裡bond to表示某原子與其他原子相連【熟詞僻義】
are referred to as unsaturated; are called saturated：兩個都可以翻譯為被稱作【同意替換】
Sb wonders if higher precision could be obtained by thinking a bit more about oxidation：某人想知道是否可以通過多思考氧化的問題使預測可以更精確，這裡的句式是sb wonders if …… could be obtained by doing sth。某人想知道是否可以通過做某事來達成某個目的【句式】
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