Solar-powered Cars

歌曲 Solar-powered Cars
歌手 英语听力
专辑 VOA慢速英语：科技报道

歌词

[00:00.100] From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.180] this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.050] Students at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa
[00:09.850] are building solar-powered cars and racing them in competitions.
[00:15.450] The University is training the students
[00:18.520] to become experts in different types of energy.
[00:22.170] Their 300-kilogram solar-powered car
[00:26.330] is traveling at more than 100 kilometers per hour
[00:30.340] through the South African countryside,
[00:33.160] and it is using less electric power
[00:36.410] than a small kitchen appliance.
[00:38.820] The young engineers who built the car
[00:41.750] drove it in the Solar Challenge,
[00:44.180] a national racing competition for cars
[00:47.590] that use alternative energy.
[00:49.770] Kegan Smith is the former manager of the project
[00:53.830] and a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg.
[00:57.550] He says the university wants the students
[01:00.720] to learn about green energies using realistic examples.
[01:06.060] "With what we do at the moment in fossil fuels,
[01:09.020] if we continue like this,
[01:10.790] there is not going to be a future.
[01:11.510] And if we do this kind of alternative energy,
[01:14.680] the cars are one application.
[01:16.040] But the nice thing with the cars
[01:17.600] it that it's a mindset change.
[01:18.600] If you can start shaping students' mind now,
[01:20.690] it's going to change the mindset of people in general.
[01:23.030] How do you use your lights?
[01:24.580] How do you use your electricity?" explained Smith.
[01:25.480] When he was a student in 2010,
[01:28.460] Mr Smith was part of a group
[01:30.970] that built a hybrid alternative-energy powered car.
[01:34.890] Since then, students have built more cars
[01:38.470] using both hydrogen and solar power.
[01:42.000] Warren Larter is also a former student,
[01:46.150] he is the university's solar car project manager.
[01:50.410] He says he does not expect solar-powered cars
[01:54.810] to be more popular than gasoline-powered cars,
[01:58.860] but Mr Larter says,
[02:00.800] they do offer an important learning tool
[02:04.160] to help students develop new technologies.
[02:07.370] "For us, it's a research thing.
[02:09.280] Our exact example is Formula One.
[02:11.420] You'll never see those cars on the road,
[02:13.280] but the technologies that go into them,
[02:15.170] you see it in every single car
[02:16.530] in every single household across the world.
[02:17.790] So that's where we are pushing it.
[02:19.430] This is our Formula One of alternative energy," said Larter.
[02:21.850] Warren Larter started a company
[02:24.440] that lets students to work on projects
[02:27.490] that private companies have expressed an interest in supporting.
[02:31.710] He says the energy market is changing,
[02:34.620] and there is a great need for engineers
[02:37.400] with more modern experience.
[02:39.910] "Locally, there is a lack of experts
[02:42.200] in alternative energy and in particular in solar technology.
[02:45.290] We seem to be importing a lot at this stage,
[02:47.530] which is not ideal… We should have the experts locally,
[02:50.780]so [a] project like this really pushes that.
[02:53.250] We have guys working with the solar panels,
[02:55.560] working on different aspect of the project.
[02:57.860] So instead of importing the guys and flying them
[03:00.730] in to work on this, we use the local guys,
[03:02.390] so they know just as much and can even do better
[03:05.230] than the international guys," said Larter.
[03:06.460] Kegan Smith agrees.
[03:08.830] "I got guys working on huge systems on the telecom sites,
[03:12.970] because that's what they did in the cars.
[03:14.140] So the experience they gain from the cars
[03:15.800] are now working towards it in the industry," said Smith.
[03:18.730] Warren Larter and his team of students
[03:22.210] are now working on a third car
[03:24.430] to enter into the next Solar Challenge in August 2014.
[03:29.580] They want to win the national competition
[03:32.600] and then compete internationally.
[03:35.930] And that is the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.

拼音

[00:00.100] From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.180] this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.050] Students at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa
[00:09.850] are building solarpowered cars and racing them in competitions.
[00:15.450] The University is training the students
[00:18.520] to become experts in different types of energy.
[00:22.170] Their 300kilogram solarpowered car
[00:26.330] is traveling at more than 100 kilometers per hour
[00:30.340] through the South African countryside,
[00:33.160] and it is using less electric power
[00:36.410] than a small kitchen appliance.
[00:38.820] The young engineers who built the car
[00:41.750] drove it in the Solar Challenge,
[00:44.180] a national racing competition for cars
[00:47.590] that use alternative energy.
[00:49.770] Kegan Smith is the former manager of the project
[00:53.830] and a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg.
[00:57.550] He says the university wants the students
[01:00.720] to learn about green energies using realistic examples.
[01:06.060] " With what we do at the moment in fossil fuels,
[01:09.020] if we continue like this,
[01:10.790] there is not going to be a future.
[01:11.510] And if we do this kind of alternative energy,
[01:14.680] the cars are one application.
[01:16.040] But the nice thing with the cars
[01:17.600] it that it' s a mindset change.
[01:18.600] If you can start shaping students' mind now,
[01:20.690] it' s going to change the mindset of people in general.
[01:23.030] How do you use your lights?
[01:24.580] How do you use your electricity?" explained Smith.
[01:25.480] When he was a student in 2010,
[01:28.460] Mr Smith was part of a group
[01:30.970] that built a hybrid alternativeenergy powered car.
[01:34.890] Since then, students have built more cars
[01:38.470] using both hydrogen and solar power.
[01:42.000] Warren Larter is also a former student,
[01:46.150] he is the university' s solar car project manager.
[01:50.410] He says he does not expect solarpowered cars
[01:54.810] to be more popular than gasolinepowered cars,
[01:58.860] but Mr Larter says,
[02:00.800] they do offer an important learning tool
[02:04.160] to help students develop new technologies.
[02:07.370] " For us, it' s a research thing.
[02:09.280] Our exact example is Formula One.
[02:11.420] You' ll never see those cars on the road,
[02:13.280] but the technologies that go into them,
[02:15.170] you see it in every single car
[02:16.530] in every single household across the world.
[02:17.790] So that' s where we are pushing it.
[02:19.430] This is our Formula One of alternative energy," said Larter.
[02:21.850] Warren Larter started a company
[02:24.440] that lets students to work on projects
[02:27.490] that private companies have expressed an interest in supporting.
[02:31.710] He says the energy market is changing,
[02:34.620] and there is a great need for engineers
[02:37.400] with more modern experience.
[02:39.910] " Locally, there is a lack of experts
[02:42.200] in alternative energy and in particular in solar technology.
[02:45.290] We seem to be importing a lot at this stage,
[02:47.530] which is not ideal We should have the experts locally,
[02:50.780]so [a] project like this really pushes that.
[02:53.250] We have guys working with the solar panels,
[02:55.560] working on different aspect of the project.
[02:57.860] So instead of importing the guys and flying them
[03:00.730] in to work on this, we use the local guys,
[03:02.390] so they know just as much and can even do better
[03:05.230] than the international guys," said Larter.
[03:06.460] Kegan Smith agrees.
[03:08.830] " I got guys working on huge systems on the telecom sites,
[03:12.970] because that' s what they did in the cars.
[03:14.140] So the experience they gain from the cars
[03:15.800] are now working towards it in the industry," said Smith.
[03:18.730] Warren Larter and his team of students
[03:22.210] are now working on a third car
[03:24.430] to enter into the next Solar Challenge in August 2014.
[03:29.580] They want to win the national competition
[03:32.600] and then compete internationally.
[03:35.930] And that is the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.