VOA常速英语2016--适合3D打印的环保塑料

适合3D打印的环保塑料

WASHINGTON— As if we didn’t have enough of it, the new must-have gadget¹ - the consumer-grade 3-D printer - works with plastic. Researchers in Belgium say they have developed a new environmentally-friendly plastic, suitable not only for 3-D printers, but also for medicinal use.

Since the early 1980s, 3-D printers have evolved from highly sophisticated lab instruments into affordable² consumer items, enabling their owners to create their own increasingly complex designs.

自20世纪80年代以来，3D打印机从高尖端的实验室仪器成为能负担得起的消费产品，让用户得以进行越来越复杂的设计。

Some futurologists see this as the beginning of the third industrial revolution, but environmentalists fear that the last thing the world needs is more nearly immortal³ plastic objects in landfills and oceans.

一些未来学家视之为第三次工业革命的开始，但环保人士担心这个世界最不需要的是垃圾堆和海洋中的几乎不会消失的塑料品。

The main culprit is non-biodegradable petroleum-based plastic. There are environmentally friendly alternatives like polylactic acid plastic, or PLA, based on sugar from maize⁴ and sugarcane -- but they are more expensive.

主要的罪魁祸首是不能生物降解的石油基塑料，目前有环境友好型的替代品，比如基于玉米和蔗糖中糖分制成的聚乳酸塑料(PLA)。

Michiel Dusselier, a researcher at the University of Leuven, said scientists have found a way to manufacture PLA faster and cheaper than before.

Michiel Dusselier是卢汶大学一名研究员，他说科学家发现能比以前更快速、廉价生产PLA的办法。

“Instead of a two-step process currently, it's a one-step process. Our process runs about 100 degrees centigrade lower in temperature and our productivities, which is kind of how much product can you make per volume of reactor⁵ per hour, are much higher and our product is also much cleaner, so we don't make side products,” said Dusselier.

“和目前的两步走生产程序不同的是，这个只需一步。我们的成产工艺所需温度要低100多摄氏度，而且每小时利用反应锅生产的产量要高很多，而且更廉价，所以我们没有副产品。”

PLA is one of the few types of plastic suitable not only for 3-D printers but for some biodegradable medical items such as suture threads.

PLA是少数不仅适合3D打印机，而且适合制造缝合线等可生物降解医疗用品的塑料材料之一。

“I think there will now be much more players in the market giving you the product at much lower prices and I think this will maybe really be the start of the PLA into the bio-plastic business,” said Bert Sels, a professor at the University of Leuven.

卢汶大学大学教授Bert Sels说，“我想未来市场上将有更多生产者，能提供更低的价格，我想这可能就是PLA进入生物塑料行业的开始。”

 

Although PLA is not suitable for all applications, a petrochemical company is already developing the new process for mass production, raising hopes that more plastic products will soon be made of biodegradable chemicals.

尽管PLA不适合所有用途，但已经有一家石化公司在研究批量生产的新工艺，这让人们希望不久将有更多塑料产品是生物降解化学品制成。

1 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

2 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

3 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

4 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

5 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。