Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. 闪电来临之时，天气骤变。 Their electrical fury inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. 在美国，每年因闪电造成的人员死亡或重伤案例就达500 起。 As the clouds roll in, a leisurely round of golf can become a terrifying dice with death - out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt's most inviting target. 乌云密布时，即使是一局悠闲的户外高尔夫也能成为死神之骰投射的目标——空旷的球场上，孤身一人的高尔夫球员也许就成了闪电最垂涎的对象。 And there is damage to property too. 闪电对房产的破坏也不容忽视。 Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year. 每年美国的物业公司都要因为此类原因对客户进行赔偿，成本高达 1 亿美元以上。

But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit back. 但幸运的是，美国和日本的科研人员正想办法对闪电进行回击。 Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for neutralising the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike. 他们已经通过各类实验尝试了各种可以中和雷电电量的策略，今年冬天，他们将挑战真正的雷雨天气，用全套激光技术上阵，向天空中发射激光，试图在闪电到达地面前中和闪电的电量。

The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning on command is not new. 用人工强制的方式让雷电释放电子这一尝试并不新鲜。 In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets trailing wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. 早在 20 世纪 60 年代，科研人员曾尝试向乌云中发射带电线的火箭，以形成一条电路让闪电产生的巨大电荷顺利到达地面。 The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California. 今天，这项技术在佛罗里达州得到了延续。在佛罗里达州立大学的实验基地，科研人员得到了来自加州的美国电力研究所（EPRI）的支持。 EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States' power grid from lightning strikes. EPRI 的资金来源于各大电力公司。目前，该研究所正在探寻一些可以保护美国电力系统安全，使其免于电击威胁的技术。 'We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets, ' says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. “我们可以利用这种火箭技术使电击中的电流到达我们设定的地方。” EPRI“闪电计划”的负责人洛夫 • 伯恩斯坦说。 The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning voltages and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up. 火箭发射基地能提供准确的闪电电压测量数据，这样工程师就能检测出地面上的电力设备的实际抗击雷电能力。

Bad behaviour But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the protection from lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. 闪电的不良行为尽管研发中的火箭技术一直在进步，但它仍然不能满足人们想要免受闪电之害的迫切需求。 The rockets cost around $1, 200 each, can only be fired at a limited frequency and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. 每支火箭的造价约 1,200 美金，而且发射率极其有限，失误率甚至高达 40%。 And even when they do trigger lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. 即便科研人员能成功地将火箭发射至云层，之后的事情也未必是我们想象的那样。 'Lightning is not perfectly well behaved, ' says Bernstein. 伯恩斯坦说：“闪电行踪不定， 'Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn't supposed to go.' 有时它会沿着分叉的路径击落在预定范围之外的地点。”

And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? 还有一点，谁会愿意在人口密集区频繁地发射火箭呢？ 'What goes up must come down, ' points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. “向空中发射的物体势必都会坠落的啊。”新墨西哥大学的济恩 • 克劳德 • 迪尔斯如是说。 Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely - and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk. 迪尔斯正负责一个由美国电力研究所赞助的科研项目，尝试用激光安全地中和电流——安全是底线，因为没有人想要因此丧命，也没有人愿意看到昂贵的设备被摧毁。 With around $500, 000 invested so far, a promising system is just emerging from the laboratory. 到目前为止，在这个非常有前景的设备系统上已经倾注了近 50 万美金的投资，虽然只是实验阶段。

The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were revealing their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. 这个想法始于 20 年前。当时的技术已经能实现利用高功率激光将电子从原子中分离出来，成为离子。 If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to break down the air in an uncontrollable surge. 如果激光可以使位于地面和乌云之间的空气发生电离反应，就可以在强电场增长成为一股强大的电流冲破大气层之前，让这条人工电路将电流导向地面。 To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. 为了防止激光击中地面的装置，只要确保别把它直接指向乌云就可以了。 Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. 通常采用的方法是：激光射在镜面上，再从镜面反射回空中， The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductors close by. 镜面旁边安设避雷器保护。 Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun)would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to beam up at brewing storm clouds. 理想状态下，激光发射枪的价格不会很贵，可以安装在所有重要的电力设施附近，而且非常便携，可以应用在各大国际体育赛场上，驱散可能引发雷雨的乌云。

A stumbling block However, there is still a big stumbling block. 激光技术的研发障碍然而，激光技术仍有一个难以克服的研发障碍。 The laser is no nifty portable: it's a monster that takes up a whole room. 这套激光装置携带起来非常不便，它占地有一个房间那么大，犹如一个庞然大物。 Diels is trying to cut down the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. 迪尔斯正在试图给它减肥，并表示即将将它压缩到一张桌子的大小。 He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer. 他计划在明年夏天将这套简化便捷的装置应用在真实的雷雨环境中进行测试。

Bernstein says that Diels's system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. 伯恩斯坦说，迪尔斯的激光装置引起了各大电力公司的浓厚兴趣， But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. 但可惜的是他们还没能筹集到 500 万美金， 美国电力研究所称这是研发出一套商用装置所需的基本资金，这套商用装置的体积会更小，成本也更低。 'I cannot say I have money yet, but I'm working on it, ' says Bernstein. “虽然现在我还筹不到这笔钱，但我一直在努力。”伯恩斯坦说。 He reckons that the forthcoming field tests will be the turning point - and he's hoping for good news. 他预计，即将进行的实地测试将是这项技术的转折点——对此他充满了信心。 Bernstein predicts 'an avalanche of interest and support' if all goes well. 如果进展顺利，这项技术将收获巨大的成功和关注。 He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50, 000 to $100, 000 each. 他预计激光发射枪的最终定价在 5 万到 10 万美金之间。

Other scientists could also benefit. 其他领域的科学家也会得益于这一技术。 With a lightning 'switch' at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when mighty currents meet matter. 有了这套激光发射装置，材料学家就有可能了解当强电流碰上某种物质时可能会发生的反应。 Diels also hopes to see the birth of ' interactive meteorology' - not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. 迪尔斯也希望这项技术能催生“双向气象学”——不仅只是预报天气，还能对天气进行监控。 'If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather, ' he says. “如果我们能让云层放电，我们就可以控制天气了。

And perhaps, says Diels, we'll be able to confront some other meteorological menaces. 迪尔斯表示，未来我们可能拥有对抗恶劣天气的能力。 'We think we could prevent hail by inducing lightning, ' he says. 他说：“我们认为，通过人工对闪电的控制，人类可以防御像冰雹之类的自然灾害。 Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the torrential rain that is typical of storms. ”雷是闪电过后产生的震波，理论上闪电是暴雨的导火线。 A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. 一套雷电激光装置可以把云中的水分震到云层之外，也许就能阻止对农作物危害极大的巨型冰雹的形成。 With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike back. 今年冬天，如果幸运的话，当乌云聚拢而至之时，配备着强大激光武器的科学家们就可以对雷电进行回击了。