令人脑洞大开的空气净化妙招

2016-04-08 21:42
新东方英语·中学版 2016年4期
关键词:霍普加德吸尘器

当雾霾久久挥散不去,当呼吸新鲜的空气、享受湛蓝的天空成为一种奢侈,穹顶之下的我们应该如何应对呢?为了对抗雾霾,世界各地的创新达人设计出了各种创意十足的空气净化妙招。快随本文一起来开开眼吧,说不定你会为之心动哦!

Beijing is hardly alone in its air pollution woes1). The World Health Organization has said that roughly half of the world's urban population is exposed to pollution at least 2.5 times higher than it recommends.

While it may take years to fix this global problem, innovative minds in the Asia region have come up with creative solutions for living with air pollution.

在空气污染问题上,北京一点都不孤单。世界卫生组织表示,全球约有半数的城市人口生活在污染程度至少2.5倍于其推荐标准的环境之中(编注:英文原文发表于2014年7月)。

虽然解决这个全球性的问题或许还需要许多年的时间,但在亚洲地区,一些创新达人已经为在有空气污染的环境中生活提出了各具创意的解决方案。

DIY Purifier

Thomas Talhelm started worrying about the air inside his Beijing home during "airpocalypse2)" in 2013 when Beijing's air quality index skyrocketed to a terrifying 755—a 500 reading is considered hazardous3) for health, meaning people should avoid outdoor activity.

The Fulbright4) scholar couldn't afford the luxury of5) an expensive air purifier. "Filters are actually very simple—an HEPA6) filter is all you need to get over 96% of the PM2.5," he said, referring to particulate7) matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers that can penetrate deep into lungs, leading to fatal diseases.

With three of his friends, Talhelm created Smart Air8), an air purifier consisting of a basic household fan with an HEPA filter attached to it.

It works as efficiently as the big brands selling for thousands of dollars, removing more than 90 percent of PM2.5 in your room, according to Talhelm's research.

Clean Air Forecasts

A blue sky may be rare in Beijing, but when it appears, the city becomes a beautiful place to live.

Dustin Grzesik, the former Beijing resident created a free website and a free Android app—they share the same content and both forecast the next clean air day based on weather patterns.

Grzesik, who is now based in San Francisco, created the website (Banshirne!9)) and the app (Beijing Smogcast) by observing Beijing's weather reports, air quality reports and the US embassy's Air Quality Index Twitter feed.

Invisible Mask

Infipure's10) "nose mask" claims to cut 99% of PM2.5 without the bulkiness of a surgical face mask.

The disposable11) filters, made from non-toxic, latex12)-free materials, are inserted into your nostrils and aim to be undetectable.

"People care about their health, but don't want all the downsides that come with a traditional face mask," Infipure co-founder Francis Law explained.

Master Battery

Stanford professor Cui Yi and his team have developed a high-energy battery that could potentially increase an electric car's mileage by three times without being recharged.

The nanotube13) lithium14)-ion15) battery is said to outlast current conventional batteries. After 1,000 charging cycles, the battery still retains over half its energy capacity.

Yi's invention can help bolster16) the appeal of electric cars since cheaper, high-energy batteries are needed to compete against traditional vehicles.

Plant Backpack

Taiwanese artist Chiu Chih has designed a survival kit for an apocalyptic world.

Dubbed17) "Voyage on the Planet", a potted plant is housed inside a clear backpack hooked up to two tubes to funnel18) fresh air into a face mask. It's a bold, abstract take19) on an oxygen tank.

自制净化器

空气质量指数达到500即被认为有害健康,意味着人们应该避免户外活动。所以在2013年,当“空气末日”来临时(当时北京的空气质量指数飙升到了骇人的755),托马斯·塔尔赫尔姆开始为北京家中的空气质量感到担忧了。

这位富布莱特学者享受不起昂贵的空气净化器。“过滤器其实非常简单——你只需一个高效空气过滤器就可过滤掉96%的PM2.5。”他所说的PM2.5是指直径小于2.5微米、能够深入肺部引起致命疾病的颗粒物质。

塔尔赫尔姆和三个朋友一起用一台简单的家用风扇外加一个高效空气过滤器制作出了“聪明空气”空气净化器。

根据塔尔赫尔姆的研究,这台净化器和售价数千美金的各大名牌产品同样有效,能够去除房间中90%以上的PM2.5。

洁净空气预报

在北京,蓝天也许难得一见,但在有蓝天的日子里,这座城市就会变成一个宜居的美丽地方。

曾经在北京居住过的达斯廷·格热西克创建了一个免费网站,并推出了一款免费的安卓手机软件,两者内容相同,都依据天气模式预测下一个空气清新日。

现居住于旧金山的格热西克通过观测北京天气预报、北京空气质量预报以及美国大使馆在推特上推送的空气质量指数信息创建了“办事儿呢!”网站,并开发了“Beijing Smogcast”手机软件。

隐形口罩

尽飞保“鼻塞式口罩”声称,无需佩戴笨重的医用外科口罩,即可将PM2.5吸入量减少99%。

这种一次性过滤器由无毒且不含胶乳的材料制作而成,可塞入鼻孔使用,旨在起到隐形的效果。

“人们关心自己的健康,但又不愿忍受佩戴传统口罩带来的种种不便。”尽飞保公司的联合创始人弗兰西斯·劳解释说。

高能电池

斯坦福大学教授崔屹及其团队已研发出一种高能电池,该电池有望将电动汽车一次充电的续航里程提升三倍。

据称,这种纳米管锂离子电池要比现有的传统电池更为耐用。在经过1000次循环充放电后,这种电池的剩余电量依然过半。

崔屹的这项发明有助于提升电动汽车的市场吸引力,因为在与传统燃料汽车的竞争中,价格更加低廉的高能电池是非常必要的。

植物背包

台湾艺术家邱志(音)为处于末日阴影下的世界设计了一套求生装备。

这套名为“地球旅行”的呼吸装备是在一个透明的背包中放入一株盆栽植物,通过连接背包的两根管子将背包内的新鲜空气输送到面罩里。这是模拟氧气罐的一个大胆而又抽象的设计。

Breathing Bike

British artist Matt Hope admits his breathing bike looks "ridiculous".

Hope attached a small generator to the bike's back wheel and as he pedals, electricity is produced to power his homemade filtration system. The air is pulled through a perforated20) trash bin where dust particles get positively charged and stick to a metal trumpet21) within the bin. Clean air is then sent through a tube and received in Hope's fighter-pilot mask.

"Earth has a breathable atmosphere; that's why we're here. Being attached to air filtering devices, it defies the point of being alive," Hope said.

Smog Vacuum

Daan Roosegaarde has been working on a smog vacuum—an electromagnetic field generated by copper coils that will suck pollutants from the sky to the ground like a vacuum, making way for clean air. He hopes to test out his design in a park environment.

A byproduct of this smog vacuum, namely The Smog Free Tower, is the "smog ring"—a piece of jewelry made from smog particulates.

"The pollution we suck up, the small particles, we don't throw them away. We put them under pressure for a couple of weeks and they crystallize, creating the notion22) of a diamond," Roosegaarde explains.

"By creating a place where you can feel the difference, where you can see the difference, people get an incentive to work together to say, hey, what should we do to make a whole city clean like this?" Roosegaarde says.

会呼吸的自行车

英国艺术家马特·霍普承认,他的会呼吸的自行车看起来有些“滑稽可笑”。

霍普在这辆自行车的后轮上安装了一台小型发电机,当他踩动脚蹬时,发电机就会发电,为他自制的过滤系统供电。空气先是被吸入一个带孔的垃圾桶中,尘埃颗粒在此带上正电荷并被吸附在桶内的一个喇叭形金属组件上。随后,清洁的空气便会通过一根输气管被送到霍普的战斗机飞行员面罩里,供其呼吸之用。

“地球上有可供呼吸的大气,因而我们人类才能在地球上安家。当我们把自己和空气过滤装置连在一起时,那就违反了生存的要义。”霍普说。

烟雾真空吸尘器

丹·罗斯加德一直在建造一台烟雾真空吸尘器——由铜线圈产生的电磁场可以像真空吸尘器一样将污染物从天空吸到地面,只留下干净的空气。他希望能在公园的环境中检验自己的这一设计。

这台烟雾真空吸尘器名为“雾霾净化塔”,其副产品为“雾霾戒指”,即用雾霾颗粒制作而成的首饰。

“我们不会把吸出来的那些污染物微粒扔掉。这些微粒在经过几周的加压处理后会结晶,形成类似钻石的小饰品。”罗斯加德介绍说。

“通过创建这样一个场所,可以让人们亲眼看到、亲身感受到其中的区别所在,可以促使人们共同思考这样一个问题——嘿,我们应该怎样做才能让整座城市都变得这么洁净呢?”罗斯加德说。

丹·罗斯加德(Daan Roosegaarde),荷兰新锐建筑师、艺术家,致力于使建筑与公共空间更具开放性并与人产生更多的互动,其代表作品有“智能高速公路(Smart Highway)”、薄如蝉翼的智能服装“亲密(Intimacy)”等。此外,他还计划在北京建造第一个空气净化公园。

1. woe [w??] n. (常作复数)麻烦;问题;困难

2. airpocalypse: 空气末日。该词由air和apocalypse (世界末日;大灾难)两个单词合成。

3. hazardous [?h?z?d?s] adj. 有危险的;有危害的

4. Fulbright: 富布莱特奖学金获得者(1946年,美国国会通过参议员James William Fulbright的提案,决定设立富布莱特奖学金,派遣美国学生及学者到海外进修或接受外国学生及学者到美国进修)

5. afford the luxury of: 难得能享受……

6. HEPA: (high-efficiency particulate arresting的缩写)高效空气过滤器

7. particulate [pɑ??t?kj?l?t] adj. 微粒的,颗粒的

8. 其网址为www.smartairfilters.com/zh。

9. 其网址为banshirne.com。

10. Infipure: 尽飞保,是一家生产“鼻塞式口罩”的公司。

11. disposable [d??sp??z?bl] adj. 用后即丢弃的;一次性的

12. latex [?le?teks] n. (天然)胶乳;(尤指橡胶树的)橡浆

13. nanotube [?n?n??tju?b] n. 【化】纳米管

14. lithium [?l?θi?m] n. 【化】锂

15. ion [?a??n] n.【化】离子

16. bolster [?b??lst?(r)] vt. 支持;提高

17. dub [d?b] vt. 把……称为;给……起绰号

18. funnel [?f?nl] vt. 使通过小口子;使流经漏斗形空间

19. take [te?k] n. 看法;意见(多与on连用)

20. perforated [?p??f?re?t?d] adj. 穿孔的;有孔的

21. trumpet [?tr?mp?t] n. 喇叭形物

22. notion [?n???n] n. 别致的小东西,精巧的玩意儿

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