Temporary tattoos have been around for a long time, but as any inking enthusiast would agree, they're nothing compared to the real deal. And yet, there are times when tattoos don't end up like you wanted them to, or you just get bored with them after a while. In such cases, getting a tattoo removed involves laser treatments that are both expensive and painful. But not anymore. It might soon be possible to temporarily get a permanent tattoo, thanks to this new type of tattoo ink developed by a group of engineering students.
很早以前就有臨時紋身這個東西了，但是正如墨水紋身愛好者所言，比起真正的紋身，臨時紋身根本不值一提。然而，有時候你的紋身不是你想要的樣子，或者過了一陣子你對它感到厭煩了。在這些情況下，用激光去除紋身既昂貴又痛苦。但這即將成為歷史。而且，可以像臨時紋身一樣迅速消除的永久可見紋身或許將很快成為現(xiàn)實，這都得益于幾個工程學(xué)專業(yè)學(xué)生所發(fā)明的新型紋身墨水。

The special ink has a huge advantage over regular tattoo ink – it can be removed from your skin through an extraordinarily simple and inexpensive process. You simply visit your tattoo artist and have them trace over the tattoo with a removal solution. Voila! It's all gone. Or, you can just erase the part of it that you don't like and turn it into a whole new artwork. The choice is yours.
這種特殊墨水相較普通紋身墨水有個很大的優(yōu)點：它可通過極其簡單且成本不高的方法消除你皮膚上的紋身。你只需去找紋身藝術(shù)家，讓他們在你的紋身上涂上紋身消除溶液。瞧！你的紋身就會消失得一干二凈。又或者，你可以選擇消除你不喜歡的紋身部分，然后把紋身改造成一個全新的藝術(shù)作品。隨你怎么選擇。

The product is named 'Ephemeral', after the team of Chemical and Biomolecular engineering students who took part in the recent $200,000 Entrepreneurs Challenge held by NYU Stern's Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The team comprised of five School of Engineering students and a sixth one from Stern won the grand prize of $75,000 for their unique invention.
這種產(chǎn)品名叫Ephemeral，是一組化學(xué)與生物分子工程學(xué)的學(xué)生參加一次創(chuàng)業(yè)挑戰(zhàn)賽的參賽作品，該挑戰(zhàn)賽由紐約大學(xué)商學(xué)院的伯克利創(chuàng)業(yè)與創(chuàng)新研究中心主辦，獎金20萬美元。該團隊是由五個工程學(xué)院的學(xué)生和一個來自商學(xué)院的學(xué)生組成，他們因為此項獨特的發(fā)明而獲得75000美元的大獎。

"Ephemeral was born through a personal experience of mine," said Seung Shin, one of the team members. "Ever since I was young, I was always interested in tattoos but my parents were extremely against it mostly because of its permanence." Shin later went on to get a tattoo anyway, but eventually had it removed as well. "It was the worst experience of my life," he said. "It was extremely painful, ineffective, and costly." The experience got him thinking about simpler methods of tattoo removal, and ultimately brought the idea to fruition during the competition. The trick was to reduce the size of the ink molecules, making it easier to simply wipe away.
團隊成員宋欣（音）表示：“Ephemeral來源于我的一段個人經(jīng)歷。我從小就一直很喜歡紋身，但我父母因為紋身的永久性而極力反對我紋身?！钡M管如此，宋欣之后還是繼續(xù)紋身，不過最終他把紋身消除了。他說：“這是我人生中最糟糕的經(jīng)歷，因為這種去除紋身的方法太痛苦了，而且不僅無效還很貴?！边@段經(jīng)歷讓他思考是否有更簡單的紋身去除法，最終在創(chuàng)業(yè)比賽中他把這個想法變成了現(xiàn)實。而其中的訣竅就是將墨水分子減小，使其變得容易擦除。

"Tattoo inks today are permanent because of the fact that the dye molecules are too big for your body's immune system to take away," explained Anthony Lam, another team member. "By using smaller molecules, we've encapsulated them inside this spherical structure that's big enough that your immune system doesn't take it away. But when you remove it, it essentially eats away one of the components and the dye molecules are flushed out."
另一團隊成員安東尼?拉姆解釋說：“如今的紋身墨水之所以是永久性的，就是因為其染料分子太大，導(dǎo)致人體免疫系統(tǒng)無法將其去除。通過使用更小分子的染料，我們將其封裝在一個足夠大的球狀結(jié)構(gòu)中，大到不會被免疫系統(tǒng)去除。當(dāng)去除紋身的時候，染料分子會破壞球狀結(jié)構(gòu)，從中流出，進而被洗除?！?/p>

The team spent eight months developing the product, competing against 249 other teams from seven other NYU schools. Starting with initial idea pitches, they worked their way through elimination rounds, coaching sessions, and a Q&A before a panel of judges on May 1. After presenting a three-minute pitch and video explaining their concept, Ephemeral was voted the winner in the 'Technology Venture Competition', securing the $75,000 grand prize.
該團隊花了八個月時間研制出這種產(chǎn)品，打敗了其他249組來自紐約大學(xué)七個學(xué)院的團隊。他們一開始先是展示了自己的初創(chuàng)想法，接著一路過關(guān)斬將，晉級淘汰賽、通過培訓(xùn)環(huán)節(jié)，并在5月1號的評委問答環(huán)節(jié)勝出。在三分鐘的初步展示和視頻講解理念后，Ephemeral被選為“技術(shù)創(chuàng)業(yè)大賽”的優(yōu)勝者，獲高額獎金75000美元。

Ephemeral is currently being tested – first on cells, then on pigs – and Shin says that they hope to release the product commercially by fall next year. They're also planning to start accepting seed funds on June 1. "We haven't really sealed down the pricing yet, but we're looking at anywhere from $50 to $100 for an average sized tattoo," he said. "Right now, we're planning for our financing round and we hope to have it up in the next 10 months or so."
Ephemeral現(xiàn)在正在進行產(chǎn)品檢測——首先是在細(xì)胞層面上，然后是豬的皮膚上，宋欣表示他們希望產(chǎn)品能在明年秋季上市。他們還計劃于6月1號開始接受種子基金的資助。他說：“我們還未給產(chǎn)品定價，但希望每瓶紋身墨水的價格能控制在50到100美元之間。現(xiàn)在，我們正在計劃資金鏈，也希望能在未來的十個月將其運行起來。”

Vocabulary

voila: 瞧；可不是
ephemeral: 短暫的，轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的

英文來源：odditycentral
譯者：謝海芳（中國日報網(wǎng)愛新聞iNews譯者）
審校&編輯：丹妮