VOA慢速英語：智利學生研發(fā)植物充電設備——花草也可做電源

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

在智利首都圣地亞哥, 3名智利大學生已經研發(fā)一種植物充電設備來為他們的手機充電。

The three engineering students got the idea for the device while sitting in their school's courtyard. Their invention is a small biological circuit they call E-Kaia. It captures the energy plants produce during photosynthesis.

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.

這三名工程專業(yè)的學生在間歇坐在學校的戶外庭院休息時萌發(fā)出用植物為手機充電的創(chuàng)意。這3位在校學生的發(fā)明是一種名為E-Kaia的生物充電器，原理是利用植物在光合作用中產生的能量。

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.

植物只會用掉一小部分—而E-Kaia則會收集其余進入土壤的能量。將這種設備埋入土壤之中,然后與你的手機相連接。

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

E-Kaia為工程系的學生們解決了兩個難題,首先完成了他們的課程項目,其次是手機也有了充電設備。

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

其中一個學生發(fā)明者，卡米拉聲稱該設備將植物釋放的能量轉化為低功耗電力以供手機充電。

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

E-Kaia足以在不到2個小時內為手機充滿電力。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

我是喬納森·埃文斯。

VOA's Jessica Berman reported this story from Washington. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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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

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