美国国家公共电台 NPR WATCH: What Makes Japan No. 1 In Toilet Technology

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

To truly see Japanese innovation, look no further than the bathroom. Japan's high-tech¹, toilet-bidet combos have these menu panels that are full of rinsing² and drying features, and NPR's Elise Hu is going to explain one noisy innovation that the Japanese have come to expect.

ELISE HU, BYLINE³: We're at Toto because Toto is the largest manufacturer of toilets in the world, and one of the awesomest (ph) things about Japan are the toilets here.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSHING WATER)

HU: There it is.

What you're hearing there isn't actual rushing water but the manufactured sound of rushing water which comes standard with almost every Japanese toilet.

Can you hear that?

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSHING WATER)

HU: The noise-making feature is called Otohime or the Sound Princess. The Japanese are community-minded, so it used to be that Japanese women would flush the toilet several times before they used it to muffle⁴ any personal noises. But Toto spokeswoman Nariko Tamashita says a drought in the 1970s inspired an invention.

NARIKO TAMASHITA: (Through interpreter) Everyone realized that it was a waste of water to - just to cover up the sound. And that's how Toto came up with the idea of selling the Sound Princess.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSHING WATER)

HU: I can turn the volume down.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSHING WATER)

HU: Ah, so if you don't need it to be so loud - there you go.

It's just one feature of the endlessly innovative⁵ Japanese toilets. But this one solved both a societal problem, shame of potty noises, and an environmental problem, water waste, in one invention. Sounds good, right? Elise Hu, NPR News, Tokyo.

(SOUNDBITE OF TERUYUKI NOBOUCHIKA'S "CAFE DU PARC")

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 rinsing   

n.清水，残渣v.漂洗( rinse的现在分词 )；冲洗；用清水漂洗掉（肥皂泡等）；（用清水）冲掉

参考例句：

• Pablo made a swishing noise rinsing wine in his mouth. 巴勃罗用酒漱着口，发出咕噜噜噜的声音。 来自辞典例句
• The absorption of many molecular layers could be reestablished by rinsing the foils with tap water. 多分子层的吸附作用可用自来水淋洗金属箔而重新实现。 来自辞典例句

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 muffle   

v.围裹；抑制；发低沉的声音

参考例句：

• Mother made an effort to muffle her emotions.母亲努力控制自己的感情。
• I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my words,so only my friend could hear. 我把手挡在嘴上，遮住声音，仅让我的朋友听到。

5 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。