Scientists in South Korea have proven that a new technology will cut the time it takes to charge electric cars to just nine seconds. And even those plugging-in at home will have the time reduced from 10 hours to 3 minutes.

The new device uses the laws of quantum (量子) physics to power all of a battery’s cells at once-instead of one at a time-so recharging takes no longer than filling up at the pump. Electric cars were rarely seen on the roads 10 years ago, but millions are now being sold every year and it has become one of the fastest growing industries, but even the fastest superchargers need around 20 to 40 minutes to power their car.

Scientists at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have come up with a solution. Co-author Dr Dario Rosa said the consequences could be far-reaching.

The concept of a “quantum battery” was first proposed in a paper published by Alicki and Fannes in 2012. It was theorized that quantum resources can be used to vastly speed up battery charging. The researchers used quantum mechanics to model their super fast charging station with calculations of the charging speed showing that a typical electric vehicle with a battery containing around 200 cells would recharge 200 times faster. The group went further to provide a specific way of designing such batteries. This means charging times could be cut from l0 hours to 3 minutes at home and from around 30 minutes to just a few seconds at stations.

Co-author Dr Dominik said,“Of course, quantum technologies are still in their initial stage and there is a long way to go before these methods can be used in practice. Research findings such as these, however, create a promising direction and can incentivize the funding agencies and businesses to put more money in these technologies. If employed, it is believed that quantum batteries would completely revolutionize the way we use energy and take us a step closer to our sustainable future.”

【小题1】What’s the disadvantage of the present superchargers?

A．They charge slowly.	B．They are costly to maintain.
C．They are not universal.	D．They are too complex to use.

【小题2】How does the author illustrate the advantage of the quantum charger in paragraph 4?

A．By listing reasons.	B．By analyzing cause and effect.
C．By making comparisons.	D．By explaining the concept.

【小题3】What does the underlined word “incentivize” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Restore.

B．Reform.

C．Weaken.

D．Inspire.

【小题4】In which section of the newspaper is the text likely to appear?

A．Science.

B．Travel.

C．Lifestyle.

D．Finance.