VOA常速英语2007-Washington DC Becomes Solar Village

By Paul Sisco
Washington
22 October 2007
 

Twenty college and university teams from around the world competed in the recent Solar Decathlon that is held every two years in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Energy Department sponsors the event, and this year's winner was Technische Universität Darmstadt. VOA'S Paul Sisco has more.

The mall in Washington, D.C. looked something like a solar village. Students from across the United States, Canada, Spain, Puerto Rico and elsewhere are here showing off their solar homes.

"You're supposed to show the house is livable. So that's one of the things we focused on, is that people feel they can live there, so we get points for that," explains Jacob Cigna, from the University of Maryland, which placed second. "There are 10 contests. That's why they call it a decathlon. One of them is architecture. One of them is engineering. Is it market viability¹, communications, energy balance - a lot of different categories."

The Maryland team calls its entry "the LEAF House." 

"LEAF House stands for Leading Everyone to an Abundant Future," explains Nirmal Mehta, "and we believe that the leaf is nature's best solar collector, and we try to emulate² that not only in our engineering but in our architectural design.

"We've got this ridge³ with knife blade system that kind of looks like the stem and veins⁴ of a leaf, plus this super skylight lets light through just like a leaf with our solar panels on top," adds Mehta.

Each of the 20 entries is unique. Some are more elaborate than others. Many incorporate extensive landscaping into the design. All are powered solely⁵ by the sun.

Thousands of Washington visitors attend the event. The homes are on display for nine days. Then as quickly as they went up, they are taken down. They are returned to their respective schools, some for student housing, some as research laboratories, others as exhibits highlighting the creative excellence⁶ of their student builders.

The ultimate goal of the Solar Decathlon is to build enthusiasm for environmentally friendly home construction, and to spark ideas and innovations in the next generation of architects and engineers.

1 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

2 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

3 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

4 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

6 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。