【一起闲话英语】新的发明—New inventions

Transcript: 

Presenter¹: Welcome to ‘Tech-Today!’ This week it’s National Science & Engineering Week, so to celebrate we asked Jed our science correspondent to give us a round-up of new inventions.

Jed: Hi, yes, I’ve got some very interesting things to tell you about today, starting with a fun one. Wing-suits, those suits that look like bats and allow people to fly, or glide², at least. They’re the ultimate in cool.

Presenter: But, they’re not very new, are they?

Jed: Well, no, but the modern ones are better than ever and last October was the first ever world championship in China. The price is coming down, too. Now you can buy one for 600 to 2,000 dollars. It’s still too expensive for me, but I suppose it’ll keep coming down.

Presenter: OK, what about useful new inventions?

Jed: There are lots of those. There’s a new solar water distiller created by Gabriele Diamanti aimed at parts of the world where it’s hard to get clean drinking water. You pour in salty water and let the sun do the work for a few hours. Then, hey presto³! You have clean water! It’s a very simple device and fairly cheap to produce.

Presenter: Can I hear some doubt in your voice?

Jed: Well, they still need help with investment to start producing the distiller properly. So if anyone out there has money to invest in a great product …?

Presenter: Absolutely. Get in touch with the designers.

Jed: Another useful invention which it would be good to see in production are “enable talk gloves”. These were invented by some Ukrainian students to allow people with speech and hearing impairments to communicate with people who don’t understand sign language. The gloves use sensors⁴ to translate sign language into text, then into spoken language using a smartphone. A brilliant invention!

Presenter: Yes, that could benefit thousands of people.

Jed: Another useful invention comes from a surprising source, James Cameron, the film director.

Presenter: The 'Titanic⁵' director?

Jed: The very same. Cameron was part of a team, headed by engineer Ron Allum, which designed the Deepsea Challenger Submarine, capable of descending⁶ to the lowest parts of the sea, 10 km down. Last year Cameron went down to the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the sea in the world. He was the first person to do a solo dive there, and he stayed for three hours, the longest time so far.

Presenter: That sounds impressive!

Jed: Yes. We know so little about what’s at the bottom of the ocean, and it’s important to find out more. OK, so now for something useful in a different way. You know that feeling when you’re trying to get tomato ketchup⁷ out of a bottle and it won’t come out, but you’re sure there’s lots more in there?

Presenter: Yeah, of course. It’s really annoying.

Jed: Well, a team of students at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have come up with a new product that you use to coat a glass or plastic bottle, and then what’s inside, hair gel or mustard, or whatever, comes out really easily.

Presenter: So, it saves hours of frustration⁸ trying to get stuff out of bottles?

Jed: Exactly. Right, now for my favourite invention. This is really silly, but I love it. It’s a way of producing clouds indoors.

Presenter: Clouds?

Jed: Yes. A Dutch artist has come up with a way of forming perfect, small, white clouds inside. They’re just beautiful. I don’t think you can do it yourself at home yet, though.

Presenter: I don’t think I’d want to.

Jed: Oh, you would if you’d seen the photos. They’re amazing.

Presenter: OK, Jed, thanks for that. We’ll leave you with your head in the clouds and see you again next week!

1 presenter   

n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者

参考例句：

• Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
• The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。

2 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

3 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。

4 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

5 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

6 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

7 ketchup   

n.蕃茄酱，蕃茄沙司

参考例句：

• There's a spot of ketchup on the tablecloth.桌布上有一点番茄酱的渍斑。
• Could I have some ketchup and napkins,please?请给我一些番茄酱和纸手巾？

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。