馬航客機失聯一個月，搜救工作仍在繼續。目前的最新進展是，澳大利亞搜索船“海洋之盾”號在MH370疑似失事海域連續兩次發現了符合黑匣子頻率的脈沖信號，分別持續了140分鐘和13分鐘。聯合協調中心總協調人安格斯?休斯頓認為，這是到目前為止搜索行動取得的最大進展，但確認信號與MH 370的關聯性仍需時間。

飛機上的黑匣子到底是什么樣的儀器，它都有哪些功能，我們一起來了解一下。

Black boxes - which are actually orange - are a group of data collection devices mounted in the tail of an aircraft.

黑匣子其實是橙色的，它是安裝在飛機尾部的一組數據收集設備。

Under internationally agreed regulations, commercial aircraft must carry the equipment to record the performance and the condition of the aircraft in flight.

根據國際通行規定，商用飛機必須攜帶黑匣子來記錄飛機在飛行過程中的性能和狀況。

The recorders are housed in immensely strong materials, such as titanium, and insulated to withstand a crash impact many times the force of gravity, temperatures of more than 1,000 deg C for up to 30 minutes and the immense pressure of lying on the seabed.

這些記錄儀都被裝在鈦等高強度的材料內，可以承受多倍重力強度的撞擊，能在1000攝氏度以上的高溫中耐受30分鐘，還能承受沉入海底時的水下壓力。

One manufacturing test for data recorders involves firing them from a cannon into a wall to simulate an aircraft suffering a catastrophic crash landing while traveling at hundreds of miles an hour.

生產這些數據記錄儀時的測試之一就是用大炮將它們射向一面墻，來模擬飛機在以數百英里的時速飛行的情況下遭遇毀滅性墜毀著陸時的情景。

The recording material is itself insulated against accidental deletion and the corrosive effects of sea water.

記錄儀本身的材料可以防止任何意外刪除及海水腐蝕。

Modern black boxes record up to 300 factors of flight including:

現代黑匣子可以記錄多達300中飛行數據，包括：

Airspeed and altitude

飛行速度和高度

Heading and vertical acceleration

航向及垂直加速度

Aircraft pitch

飛機俯仰

Cockpit conversations

駕駛艙對話

Radio communications

無線電通話

The safety precautions are designed to ensure, theoretically, that accident investigators will be able to recover the recorders, compile a full picture of an aircraft's last moments from the recordings and then accurately explain what went wrong.

理論上來說，這些安全防范措施是為了確保事故調查人員能找到這些記錄儀，通過所有記錄的內容了解到飛機在出事前最后時刻的整體狀況，以便準確解釋事故原因。

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）