The next time you fly, your drink cup might just look and taste a little bit different.
As we all know, air travel is not eco-friendly. In fact, each flight leaves a pretty big carbon footprint. According to the United Nations, emissions of carbon dioxide from airplanes is expected to have tripled by the year 2050. This is a big problem. In 2018 alone, over 900 million metric tons of emissions were created from air travel. While that issue is going to require a lot of attention, one airline is trying to find more immediate ways to reduce its own footprint, at least within the interior of its airplanes.
Air New Zealand is testing out an edible coffee cup aboard its flights. The cups are vanilla-flavored and leak-proof.
The cups are being produced by the New Zealand company Twiice. Currently, they are Twiice's only edible products, but the company says it expects to launch other edible items soon. According to its website, the coffee cups are made from wheat flour, sugar, egg and vanilla essence.
Air New Zealand currently uses eco-friendly cups on all of its flights. The edible cups may push its efforts to go green even further.
What are the passengers who've received their drinks in edible cups saying about them?
“The cups have been welcomed by our customers. We’ve also been using the cups as dessert bowls,” says Niki Chave, Air New Zealand's manager of customer experience.
The airline is also encouraging its customers to bring their own reusable bottles on flights. "It's great to see that more and more customers are bringing their own reusable drink bottles and are keeping cups on board,”says Air New Zealand. “Our cabin crew team is happy to fill these.”
【小题1】What does the underlined word “edible” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?A.Eatable. | B.Beautiful. | C.Unbreakable. | D.Green. |
A.A new way to use cups on flights. |
B.A new way to make air travel eco-friendly. |
C.Air New Zealand’s good service. |
D.Air New Zealand’s popularity among travelers. |
A.Food waste is the main reason of pollution from air travel. |
B.Twiice will lose more money due to its environmental efforts. |
C.More and more air travelers are willing to protect environment. |
D.Twiice will ask its customers to bring their own drinks in the future. |
A.Tourism Economy. | B.Food Industry. |
C.Environmental Protection. | D.Exclusive Interview. |
To advance wind turbine (汽轮机,涡轮机)technology to meet the requirements of extremely rough environments like that on Mars, Ames partnered with NSF (the National Science Foundation) and the Department of Energy. " It was clear that a lot of the same features were also found in the cold regions of the Earth,“ says Bubenheim. "NASA took the leadership on the team because we had the longest-term technology—a Mars turbine.”
Years before, NSF had worked with a company called Northern Power Systems ( NPS) , based in Barre, Vermont, to build a 3-kilowatt wind turbine on Black Island off the coast of Antarctica. The main purpose of this turbine was to power communications to the NSF's South Pole station. In 1993 , Ames awarded the same company a Small Business Innovation Research ( SBIR) contract (合 同)to construct a similar wind turbine at the South Pole.
Jonathan Lynch, the chief technology officer at NPS, says the South Pole has less wind than Black Island but is even colder. " It's hard to have steels that work in those temperatures,“ he says. " The cold affects the parts and everything gets extremely fragile. We looked at which materials were appropriate for flexible wires, irons, and steels, and what lubrication (润 滑) systems were going to work and for what temperatures over a long period of time.”
In 1997, NPS made a 3-kilowatt turbine at the South Pole, and then began developing a 100-kilowatt turbine that could function in the same extreme conditions. The first types of the larger turbine were successfully deployed in Kotzebue, Alaska and Golden, Colorado. " They were fully tested in loads to make sure they worked, and we then built a lot of them, " says Lynch.
By 2000, the wind turbine technology had won an R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine , and since then, says Bubenheim, "It's been copied and put in a lot of places around the globe. "
【小题1】From the first paragraph, we can infer that_____.A.the team wanted to build a wind turbine used on Mars |
B.Mars and the Earth have the same features |
C.NASA played the most important part in the team |
D.the team was made up of Ames, NSF, the Department of Energy and NASA |
A.The wind turbine technology was invented by Ames. |
B.NPS made wind turbines for NSF and Ames. |
C.NSF and Ames both used the wind turbines at the same place. |
D.The wind turbine technology was only used in America. |
A.The South Pole has worse condition than the Black Island. |
B.NPS had confidence to build a wind turbine for the South Pole. |
C.The materials for the turbines have to stand the extreme cold. |
D.NPS had more challenges in building a wind turbine for the South Pole. |
A.made | B.invented | C.used | D.advanced |
You can't always predict a heavy rain or remember your umbrella. But designer Mikhail Belvacv doesn't think that forgetting to check the weather forecast before heading out should result in you getting wet.
That's why he created Lampbrella, a lamp post with its own rain sensing umbrella.
The designer says he came up with the idea after watching people get wet on streets in Russia. "Once, I was driving on a central Saint Petersburg street and saw the street lamps lighting up people trying to hide from the rain. I thought it would be appropriate to have a canopy(伞蓬) built into a street lamp,"he said.
The Lampbrella is a standard-looking street lamp fitted with an umbrella canopy. It has a built-in electric motor which can open or close the umbrella on demand. Sensors (传感器)then ensure that the umbrella offers pedestrians shelter whenever it starts raining.
In addition to the rain sensor, there's also a 360 motion sensor on the fiberglass street lamp which detects whether anyone's using the Lampbrella. After three minutes of not being used the canopy is closed.
According to the designer, the Lampbrella would move at a relatively low speed, so as not to cause harm to the pedestrians. Besides, it would be grounded to protect from possible lighting strike. Each Lampbrella would offer enough shelter for several people. Being installed at 2 meters off the ground it would only be a danger for the tallest of pedestrians.
While there are no plans to take Lampbrella into production, Belyaev says he recently introduced his creation to one Moscow Department and insists this creation should be installed on the street where a lot of people walk but there are no canopies to provide shelter.
【小题1】For what purpose did Belyaev create the Lampbrella?A.To predict a heavy rain. |
B.To check the weather forecast. |
C.To protect people from the rain. |
D.To remind people to take an umbrella. |
A.His creation was inspired by an experience. |
B.It rains a lot in the city of Saint Petersburg. |
C.Street lamps are protected by canopies. |
D.He enjoyed taking walks in the rain. |
A.Motor→canopy→sensors. |
B.Sensors→motor→canopy. |
C.Motor→sensors→canopy. |
D.Canopy→motor→sensors. |
A.Its moving speed. |
B.Its appearance. |
C.Its installation. |
D.Its safety. |
Houses have been getting progressively "smarter" for decades, but the next generation of smart homes may offer what two Case Western Reserve University scientists are calling an "Internet of Ears. "
Today's smart home features appliances, entertainment systems, security cameras and lighting, heating and cooling systems that are connected to each other and the Internet. They can be accessed and controlled remotely by computer or smartphone apps.
But a group of electrical engineering and computer science professors in the Case School of Engineering have been experimenting with a new suite of sensors (传感器). This system would read not only the vibrations (震动), sounds and even other movements associated with people and animals in a building, but also any slight changes in the existing electrical field.
While there still maybe a decade or so away, the home of the future could be a building that adjusts to your activity with only a few small, hidden sensors in the walls and floor without the need for monitoring cameras.
"We are trying to make a building that is able to 'listen' to the humans inside," said Ming Chun Huang, an assistant professor in electrical engineering and computer science. "We are using principles similar to those of the human ear, where vibrations are picked up and our algorithms (计算程序) recognize them to determine your specific movements. That's why we call it the 'Internet of Ears'. "
“There is actually a constant 60 Hz electrical field all around us, and because people are somewhat conductive, they short out the field just a little," Huang said. "So, by measuring the disturbance in that field, we are able to determine their presence, or even their breathing, even when there are no vibrations associated with sound.”
Huang said they have used as few as four small sensors in the walls and floor of a room.
As for privacy concerns, the system would not be able to identify individuals, although it could recognize people's different ways of walking.
【小题1】What uniqueness does the smart home of the next generation have?A.It uses the advanced Internet technology. |
B.It is controlled remotely by a computer. |
C.It features appliances and entertainment systems. |
D.It can read vibrations, sounds and movements. |
A.The sensors. | B.The vibrations. |
C.The electrical field. | D.The monitoring cameras. |
A.Determining people's presence. | B.Recognizing different people. |
C.Protecting individuals' privacy. | D.Measuring the electrical field. |
A.Various Smart Houses | B.Benefits of Smart Houses |
C.How do Smart Houses Work? | D.What Are Next Smart Homes Like? |
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