普通T恤衫或化身"防弹衣"

　　A simple cotton T-shirt may one day be converted into tougher, more comfortable bodyarmor for soldiers or police officers.

　　一件普通的棉布T恤衫有朝一日可能会被改制成士兵或警察的防弹衣，比现在的防弹衣更为坚实、舒服。

　　Researchers at the University of South Carolina, collaborating with others from China and Switzerland, drastically increased the toughness of a T-shirt by combining the carbon in the shirt’s cotton with boron — the 3rd hardest material on earth.

　　美国南卡罗来纳大学的研究人员与来自中国和瑞士的研究人员合作，将T恤衫棉材料中的碳与地球上第三硬元素——硼结合，极大地提高了衣料的硬度，制造出一种重量轻、硬度更高、更坚实的衣料，同时还具有足够的柔软度使之可弯折。

　　 The result is a fabric that’s lightweight but tougher and stiffer, yet flexible enough that it can be bent. The scientists started with plain, white T-shirts that were cut into thin strips and dipped into a boron solution. The strips were later removed from the solution and heated in an oven. The heat changes the cotton fibers into carbon fibers, which react with the boron solution and produce boron carbide. “The resulting boron-carbide fabric can also block almost all ultraviolet rays,” said Dr. Li, who led the group from USC.

　　科学家先把普通的白T恤衫剪成细条浸泡在硼溶液里，然后将其取出放入烤箱内加热。在高温烘烤过程中，棉纤维变成了碳纤维，后者再与硼溶液发生反应生成碳化硼。“这种碳化硼布料也可以阻挡几乎所有的紫外线，”南卡大学研究小组的领衔人李博士如是说。