VOA慢速英语2016 智利学生研发植物充电设备--花草也可做电源

Plant Your Mobile Charger in the Dirt 智利学生研发植物充电设备--花草也可做电源

Three university students in Santiago, Chile have developed a plant-powered device to charge their mobile phones.

在智利首都圣地亚哥, 3名智利大学生已经研发一种植物充电设备来为他们的手机充电。

As free as they make us, mobile phones still need to stay close to a power source. Soon that may change with “green” power. VOA’s Jessica Berman reports.

这三名工程专业的学生在间歇坐在学校的户外庭院休息时萌发出用植物为手机充电的创意。这3位在校学生的发明是一种名为E-Kaia的生物充电器，原理是利用植物在光合作用中产生的能量。

A plant uses only a small part of the energy produced by that process. The rest goes into the soil. E-Kaia collects that energy. The device plugs into the ground and then into a mobile phone.

植物只会用掉一小部分—而E-Kaia则会收集其余进入土壤的能量。将这种设备埋入土壤之中,然后与你的手机相连接。

The E-Kaia solved two problems for the engineering students. They needed an idea for a class project. They also needed an outlet¹ to plug in their phones. visit the website www.chinavoa.com to get more information!

E-Kaia为工程系的学生们解决了两个难题,首先完成了他们的课程项目,其次是手机也有了充电设备。

One of the student inventors, Camila Rupcich, says the device changes the energy released from the plant into low-level power to charge phones.

其中一个学生发明者，卡米拉声称该设备将植物释放的能量转化为低功耗电力以供手机充电。

The E-Kaia is able to fully² recharge a mobile phone in less than two hours.

E-Kaia足以在不到2个小时内为手机充满电力。

Words in This Story

courtyard – n. an open space that is surrounded completely or partly by a building or group of buildings

circuit – n. the complete path that an electric current travels along

photosynthesis³ – n. the process by which a green plant turns water and carbon dioxide into food when the plant is exposed to light

1 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 photosynthesis   

n.光合作用

参考例句：

• In apple trees photosynthesis occurs almost exclusively in the leaves.苹果树的光合作用几乎只发生在叶内。
• Chloroplasts are the structures in which photosynthesis happens.叶绿体就是光合作用发生的地方。