南非世界杯官方比賽用球“普天同慶”雖然被國際足聯稱為最精準的足球，但是球員和球迷們卻對這個科技含量不高的足球頗有微詞。為此，墨西哥的幾位設計師打算自主研發一款高科技足球，將攝像頭、燈泡和GPS芯片等設備融入球體內，在比賽過程中可以隨時通過球體看到比賽回放，球在越過球門線的時候會發出顏色鮮明的燈光，這樣就可以杜絕英德大戰中英國進球被誤判那樣的情況出現。該設計團隊的負責人表示，近幾年足球設計改革都是在做表面文章，沒有實質性的改變，沒有人考慮過足球會對比賽產生怎樣的影響。目前，這個設計團隊正在研究如何才能將攝像頭、電源、芯片以及感應器這些設備放入重450克的足球里，同時還要研發出能夠從飛速運行的球體攝像頭拍攝中獲取穩定視頻畫面的軟件。他們面臨的另一個挑戰是，要選擇怎樣的合成材料制作足球才能夠在妥善保護球體內高科技設備的同時，還經得起賽場上激烈的踢踏和碰撞。

This year's World Cup ball, the Jabulani, has been criticized for seemingly weightless shots sailing over crossbars, wobbly trajectory and goalkeeper blunders.

If a grooved World Cup ball can upset some of the game's best players, how would they react to a ball packed with cameras, lights and a GPS chip?

A team of Mexico City-based designers are trying to revolutionize soccer with a ball that could beam out TV replays and light up in bright colors when it crosses the goal line to clear up any refereeing gaffes, like the one that cost England a goal on Sunday in its 4-1 World Cup loss to Germany.

"What we wanted to do with this ball is to demonstrate how a product that historically has not changed can be innovated and taken in a completely new, completely different direction," said Alberto Villarreal, a industrial designer who is leading the project in a country where soccer is a national obsession.

This year's World Cup ball, the Jabulani, has been criticized for seemingly weightless shots sailing over crossbars, wobbly trajectory and goalkeeper blunders.

Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar has likened the Jabulani to a cheap supermarket ball and Argentina star Lionel Messi has said playing with the ball was "very complicated."

The seamless, groove-covered Jabulani, whose name means "to celebrate" in Zulu, was billed as the most accurate ball yet when it was unveiled by the game's governing body FIFA.

"Innovations in balls in recent years have been superficial, nothing more," said Villarreal, 33, from the project's studio office in Mexico City. "But how a ball can influence different game conditions hasn't been considered."

At their office, a team of five young designers pore over screens working out the hitches of jamming cameras, a power source, chips and sensors into a 450-gram (1-pound) ball.

Challenges facing the project include creating software to stabilize images captured from multiple cameras in a rapidly spinning ball.

Designers have yet to decide on a synthetic outer material that will behave like a traditional ball but protect its delicate interior from heavy kicks and impacts from posts and crossbars. The ball will not be inflated.

Villarreal has kept the research and development costs under wraps and plans to be able to sell the design to a major ball maker in two years.

But getting a blessing from FIFA will be difficult even if the ball eventually behaves like a traditional ball.

"FIFA has always been a bit opposed to the entrance of technology in football while it's happening in other sports," said Villarreal.

Mexico City-based ball maker Voit, whose balls are used in professional Mexican soccer, is optimistic it will become a viable product and could be interested in manufacturing it.

"For this ball to be approved by FIFA it must meet certain characteristics," said Carla Colombo, Voit's marketing director.

"Maybe it won't pass the tests but it could perfectly be part of a national or international line of balls."

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(Agencies)

Vocabulary:

refereeing gaffes: 裁判失誤

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）