职称英语理工A类阅读理解题精讲7
发布时间：2013/8/22 14:43:07 来源：城市网学院 编辑：admin
A hyperlens，however，would be made of metamaterials.And since metamaterials can do things with light that ordinary materials can”t，the hyperlens would be a powerful tool.A hyperlens would allow researchers to see things at the smallest scale imaginable-as small as the wavelength of visible light.
Genov points out that the science of metamaterials is driven by the imagination：If someone can mink of an idea for a new behavior for light，then the engineers can find a way to design a device using metamaterials.“We need people who can imagine，”he says.
Since 2006，many laboratories have been exploring other kinds of metamaterials that don”t involve just visible light.In fact，scientists are finding that almost any kind of wave may respond to metamaterials.
At the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain5，Jose Sanchez-Dehesa is working with acoustics, or the science of sound.Just as an invisibility cloak shuffles waves of light，an“acoustic”cloak would shuffle waves of sound in a way that’s not found in nature.In an orchestra hall，for example.an acoustic cloak could redirect the sound waves-so someone sitting behind a column would hear the same concert as the rest of the audience，without distortion.
Sanchez-Dehesa，an engineer，recently showed that it’s possible to build such an acoustic cloak, though he doubts we’ll see one any time soon.“In principle，it is possible，”he says，but it might be impossible to make one，he adds.
Other scientists are looking into ways to use larger metamaterials as shields around islands or oil rigs6 as protection from tsunamis.A tsunami is a giant, destructive wave.The metamaterial would redirect the tsunami around the rig or island，and the wave would resume its journey on the other side without causing any harm.
