科技动态:新式无水小便便池

Taking a leak may soon involve far less trickle¹ of precious water, that is. A California-based company has developed the waterless urinal, saving facilities thousands of gallons of water per year. James Krug of Falcon² water-free technologies, says that Californians have plenty of experience of water shortage.

不久的未来，小便将不再会浪费大量水资源。一家位于加利福尼亚的公司发明了一种无水便池，这种便池每年都能节约成千上万加仑水资源。James Krug，无水设备研究者表示加利福尼亚州经常要面对水资源短缺的情况。

"There are 55 million urinals approximately around the world. And if you multiple that by the 40,000 gallons, also that they are using for water, there is an opportunity to save billions and billions of gallons of water. And the idea of just flushing fresh water down a urinal is seemed to make no sense to me."

“全世界大概有5千5百万小便池。如果你再乘以每个小便池浪费的4万加仑水资源，将会是多少？如果把这些有水都换成无水小便池的话，则会节约十亿百亿加仑的水。在我看来用水冲刷小便池可不是个好主意。”

A traditional urinal uses water to flush urine. But the folks at Falcon believed that because urine is already liquid, gravity, not water is needed for flushing. They developed a plastic cartridge³ filled with biodegradable liquid sealant that traps gases and odors as urine flows through it. One $40 cartridge lasts about 7,000 uses, and an average facility only needs 2 to 3 replacement⁴ cartridges⁵ a year. But surely no water means more bad smells and germs.

传统的小便池用水冲走附着的池壁的尿液。但Falcon公司的人认为，既然尿液已经是液体了，加上地心引力，那就无需其他的水来冲刷了。他们发明了一个塑料筒，内置密封的生物降解剂，只有当尿液流经的时候吸收异味。40美元一筒，可用7千次。一般的公共卫生间一年只需要更换2到3次即可。而且，无水也意味着无气味和无菌。

"The answer is actually much more hygienic. We know that we need water for life. So when you have a dryer⁶ system, when you have less water moisture in the urinal, you do not have the growth of bacteria."

“原因显而易见。我们知道，正常生活都需要水，而用了这套无水系统，小便器中的湿度会相应降低，也就不容易滋生细菌了。”

The famous Hollywood Bowl Concert Venue⁷ has installed waterless urinals, saving them about 3 million gallons of water a year, according to COO, Avon Manoucher.

雅芳首席运营官Manoucher透露，好莱坞的名人Bowl Concert Venue已经安装了这套无水系统，这套系统为他们每年节约了3百万加仑的水，

"I think it's important as a major venue and an icon⁸ in the city that we helped take the lead, and are trying to do things that are good for the environment and forward-looking, and for water-free technology it's just one aspect of our program."

“我认为我们应该在城市的主干道和繁华地段应用这种新技术，因为这对于环境有益，具有前瞻性，而这只是我们要做的一部分工作。”

Krug's company has installed 200,000 urinals worldwide, 100,000 in the US alone, insuring that this is one idea that won't be flushed down the toilet.

Krug的公司在全世界已经安装了20万无水便池，仅美国就达到了10万部。看来无水便池的想法不会很快过时。

Tara Cleary, Reuters.

Tara Cleary，路透社报道。

biodegradable adj. 生物所能分解的，能进行生物降解的

sealant n. 【医学】密封剂

1 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

2 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

3 cartridge   

n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子

参考例句：

• Unfortunately the 2G cartridge design is very difficult to set accurately.不幸地2G弹药筒设计非常难正确地设定。
• This rifle only holds one cartridge.这支来复枪只能装一发子弹。

4 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

5 cartridges   

子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头

参考例句：

• computer consumables such as disks and printer cartridges 如磁盘、打印机墨盒之类的电脑耗材
• My new video game player came with three game cartridges included. 我的新电子游戏机附有三盘游戏带。

6 dryer   

n.干衣机，干燥剂

参考例句：

• He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
• There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。

7 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

8 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。