万花筒 2012-02-26&02-29 伦敦街头的“防爆智能垃圾桶”

 A rubbish bin¹ that makes you look twice. As you throw away your old newspaper, you can read the new headlines. London based firm Renew has invented these unique recycling points. Its bomb-proof containers have LCD screens on each side which show breaking news and financial data. Kaveh Memari is Renew's CEO. 

 

--It's made out of fibre glass, which is the same thing that your surfboard is made from. But underneath² is very toughened material, so there is toughened glass that sits at either end of it. And there is a super strong structure in the center of it, which is four times stronger than steel and that's been designed to withstand extreme pressures.

 

Renew has a contract to put the pods in the UK capital's financial district, an area where traditional bins³ are sometimes considered bomb threats and where free newspapers are handed out, increasing the need for recycling. 

 

The Renew pods have started to appear on the streets of the city of London. And by the time the Olympic games begin in July, there will be a hundred of them in place, featuring a mix of content generated by the journalists in the newsroom and automatically generated content such as stock market prices. 

 

Renew's editorial team select stories from the day's top news. Around a minute after being published, the headline appears on the pod. 

 

In the mornings between six to seven, we get out our corporate⁴ news because we assume if you are on the streets between six to seven, chances are that might be something that's important for you. Then we get out the general news. By 8 o'clock, the market's open. So we start getting a flood of data coming in from the London stock exchange. By 8:39, it's more generic⁵, it's more sports news and general news. And by the evening, it's gonna be more art and lifestyle, because we assume you've seen enough of the markets by then. 

 

But so far, not all city workers have noticed the pods. 

 

--All I could see really was something to advertise, didn't appreciate it even it was recycling. 

 

--If people around here gonna use it, it's a great idea. I haven't stopped to look at this, but I've seen people standing⁶ in front of it, looking at it. 

 

The UK made bins cost 25,000 pounds each. And Renew has secured funding from a range of investors⁷, including the Qatari Islamic Bank. They are due to trial soon in the US with one bin outside the New York stock exchange and are in talks with authorities in Singapore and Japan. So soon, commuters around the world could be reading the news and recycling on the go. 

 

Joanna Patridge, Reuters.

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

3 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

4 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

5 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会