快遞專用的“包裹機”

如果有一天，你看到一架無人飛機掛著一個包裹出現在你家門口，不要驚訝——因為它可能是快遞專用的“包裹機”。

Parcelcopter is an unmanned aircraft used to deliver goods.

“包裹機”指專門用來投遞物品的無人機。

For the first decade of this century, drones were associated primarily with military activity, but there has recently been an explosion of consumer applications. In addition to a surge of dronies (selfies taken by means of a drone-mounted camera), 2014 has seen several attempts to utilize drones as a means of delivering packages, with Amazon and Google each announcing experimental programmes, and DHL launching a delivery service utilizing a quadcopter drone it calls the “parcelcopter”.

本世紀的最初十年，無人機主要都是用作軍事活動的，但近年來，它在消費方面的應用呈爆炸式增長。除了無人機自拍（用安裝在無人機上的攝像頭拍下的自拍照）大增，2014年也有公司嘗試利用無人機送快遞包裹，亞馬遜和谷歌都宣布了試驗項目，DHL也推出了利用四旋翼無人機送快遞的服務，該公司將這種無人機稱為“包裹機”。

（中國日報英語點津 祝興媛）