智利学生研发另类充电设备 小小植物也能轻松为手机充电

智利学生研发另类充电设备 小小植物也能轻松为手机充电

Three Chilean students got the idea for a plant-powered device to charge their cellphones, while sitting in their school's outdoor courtyard during a break from exams, with dead mobile phones.

在考试间歇坐在学校的户外庭院休息时面对电量耗光的手机3名智利学生萌发出用植物为手机充电的创意。

"It occurred to Camila to say about plants.Why don't you have a socket¹, if there are so many plants? After that, we thought, why don't they have a charging outlet²? Because there are so many plants and living things that have the potential to produce energy, why not?”

“卡米拉突然想到了植物。如果有很多植物的话，为什么不能有一种与之相关的充电插座呢?在那之后,我们就想到,为什么不能有一款植物的充电插座呢?有这样太多能够产生能量的植物和生物,为什么不大胆去干呢?"

Their invention-a small biological circuit they call E-Kaia-harnesses the energy plants produce during photosynthesis³. A plant uses only a fraction of that energy-the rest goes into the soil, and that's where the E-Kaia collects it. The device literally⁴ plugs into the ground and then into your phone.

这3位在校学生的发明是一种名为E-Kaia的生物充电器，原理是利用植物在光合作用中产生的能量。植物只会用掉一小部分—而E-Kaia则会收集其余进入土壤的能量。将这种设备埋入土壤之中,然后与你的手机相连接。

“It's the most amazing project I've ever seen in my life, plain and simple. They brought the prototype, the prototype worked-and that's when it all changed, at least from my personal point of view and I began to support them.It was transformational.”

“这是我见过的最为神奇的项目,简单明了。他们的这种设备原型取得了效果—而那时起一切都发生了改变,至少从我个人的角度,我开始支持他们。这是转型。”

The device solved two problems for the engineering students-they needed an idea for a class project, and an outlet to plug in their phones.

E-Kaia为工程系的学生们解决了两个难题,首先完成了他们的课程项目,其次是手机也有了充电设备。

“So,we are looking for a place to charge the notebook, which had no energy, and the mobile phones, we weren't able to find anything because all the other students were in the same state of madness trying to find a place to charge their devices."

“所以,我们正在寻找一个为笔记本电脑充电的地方,那里没有电源，移动电话也是。我们找不到任何东西,因为同一个地方的所有其他学生都正疯狂的想要找个地方为他们的设备充电。”

But plants are everywhere, and the biocircuit taps into their excess power.

但到处都是植物,而这套生物电路正是利用植物多余的能量。

“There is a complete energy cycle of the plant. We decided⁵ to incorporate into the cycle, then we would not affect the plant's growth. The biocircuit makes an acquisition and that is transformed into energy to later make charges for low consumption."

“植物有一套完整的的能量循环。我们决定并入其中,这样就不会影响到植物的生长。这套生物电路获取能量，转化后进行充电。”

 

The E-Kaia doesnt' carry much charge but it's powerful enough to completely recharge a mobile phone in less than two hours.

E-Kaia不需要携带电荷，但却足以在不到2个小时内为手机充满电力。

1 socket   

n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口

参考例句：

• He put the electric plug into the socket.他把电插头插入插座。
• The battery charger plugs into any mains socket.这个电池充电器可以插入任何类型的电源插座。

2 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

3 photosynthesis   

n.光合作用

参考例句：

• In apple trees photosynthesis occurs almost exclusively in the leaves.苹果树的光合作用几乎只发生在叶内。
• Chloroplasts are the structures in which photosynthesis happens.叶绿体就是光合作用发生的地方。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。