VOA慢速英語(yǔ):美國(guó)能源部發(fā)起能源獎(jiǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)

所屬教程:Technology Report

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2015年05月16日

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[00:00.08]Experts say that sun and wind are the richest sources of clean, renewable energy. [00:07.09]But ocean waves also create powerful, clean energy. [00:12.04]So, the U.S Department of Energy has announced a $1.5 million-dollar prize [00:19.16]for the winner of a competition on how to capture that energy. [00:23.21]The Department of Energy says that waves and tides along U.S. coasts [00:29.72]create about 1,420 terawatt-hours of energy a year. [00:36.28]That is equal to the amount of energy produced by more than 330 nuclear power factories. [00:44.02]But today's technologies can only capture about 20 percent of the energy from ocean waves. [00:52.06]Jose Zayas is the director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office at the Department of Energy. [00:58.83]He says 20 percent is too low for an investment in ocean wave energy to be economical. [01:06.79]He says it needs to be up in the high 30 percent to 40 percent. [01:12.44]"...we believe that once you achieve that then the economic competiveness of this industry really comes to life [01:18.60]and that's really the target that we are shooting for." [01:20.91]The Department of Energy has launched the Wave Energy Prize competition to encourage development of new technologies. [01:29.38]But developing new devices to capture wave energy can be difficult. [01:35.22]Wave capture machines must operate in oceans [01:39.89]Competition organizers expect most of the new ideas to come from established energy companies [01:46.58]as well as some universities and research centers. [01:50.36]Mr. Zayas says testing the new technologies will be done in several steps using scaled models. [01:58.40]A scaled model is a smaller form of a larger object or structure. [02:04.25]"We would have 1/50th scale testing where we would do the first fundamental evaluation of their performance, [02:10.86]as well as making sure that they are on a pathway that can assure them success towards a prize...and near the end, [02:16.75]we will have about 10 teams, it is our hope." [02:18.95]The scaled models will be tested at the United States Navy's large indoor testing pool near Washington. [02:26.90]Machines at the pool can create ocean-size waves. [02:31.84]Mr. Zayas says the models will be tested to show how much ocean wave energy they can capture. [02:39.15]The competition will not require the machines to produce electrical power. [02:44.35]He says changing the mechanical kinetic energy into electrical energy is easy. [02:51.53]Mr. Zayas says the main goal of the Wave Energy Prize [02:56.19]is to develop a new set of power producing technologies for the future. [03:01.54]Developers of the best performing devices will receive prizes from $250,000 to as much as $1.5 million. [03:13.19]I'm Jonathan Evans. [03:15.07]Words in This Story [03:18.04]assure – v. to make something certain [03:21.97]encourage – v. to make someone more determined, hopeful or confident [03:27.88]evaluation – n. a test [03:32.17]fundamental – adj. forming or relating to the most important part of something [03:38.80]kinetic – adj. of or relating to the movement of physical objects [03:45.18]terawatt - n. a unit of power equal to one trillion watts

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Experts say that sun and wind are the richest sources of clean, renewable energy. But ocean waves also create powerful, clean energy. So, the U.S Department of Energy has announced a $1.5 million-dollar prize for the winner of a competition on how to capture that energy.

有專家指出太陽(yáng)能和風(fēng)能是最富有的清潔和可再生能源。但是海浪也可以創(chuàng)造強(qiáng)大的清潔能源。所以美國(guó)能源部宣布將撥款150萬(wàn)美元獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)給能夠掌控這股能源力量的人。

The Department of Energy says that waves and tides along U.S. coasts create about 1,420 terawatt-hours of energy a year. That is equal to the amount of energy produced by more than 330 nuclear power factories.

能源部稱美國(guó)海岸的海浪和潮汐能夠創(chuàng)造每年大約1420萬(wàn)億瓦時(shí)的能量。這相當(dāng)于330多個(gè)核能源工廠產(chǎn)生的能量。

But today's technologies can only capture about 20 percent of the energy from ocean waves. Jose Zayas is the director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office at the Department of Energy. He says 20 percent is too low for an investment in ocean wave energy to be economical. He says it needs to be up in the high 30 percent to 40 percent.

但是現(xiàn)在的技術(shù)只能從海洋能量中獲取20%的能量。Jose Zayas是能源部風(fēng)能和水能技術(shù)辦公室的主任。他說(shuō)20%的能源對(duì)于海洋能源投資的經(jīng)濟(jì)回報(bào)來(lái)講太少。他還說(shuō)，能源利用率要提高到30%到40%。

"...we believe that once you achieve that then the economic competiveness of this industry really comes to life and that's really the target that we are shooting for."

我們認(rèn)為一旦達(dá)到了要求該行業(yè)的經(jīng)濟(jì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)才能真正服務(wù)于生活，這才是我們真正的目的所在。

The Department of Energy has launched the Wave Energy Prize competition to encourage development of new technologies.

能源部已經(jīng)啟動(dòng)了海浪能源獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)來(lái)鼓勵(lì)人們發(fā)展新技術(shù)。

But developing new devices to capture wave energy can be difficult. Wave capture machines must operate in oceans

但是發(fā)展可以吸收海浪能源的設(shè)備是非常困難的。海浪能源設(shè)備必須安置在海洋里。

Competition organizers expect most of the new ideas to come from established energy companies as well as some universities and research centers. Mr. Zayas says testing the new technologies will be done in several steps using scaled models. A scaled model is a smaller form of a larger object or structure.

比賽組織者預(yù)計(jì)大部分新想法會(huì)來(lái)自于能源公司和一些學(xué)校和研究中心。Zayas說(shuō)新技術(shù)測(cè)試將會(huì)采用比例模型經(jīng)過(guò)幾個(gè)階段來(lái)進(jìn)行。比例模型是按照比例將較大物體或者結(jié)構(gòu)縮小之后的物體或結(jié)構(gòu)。

"We would have 1/50th scale testing where we would do the first fundamental evaluation of their performance, as well as making sure that they are on a pathway that can assure them success towards a prize...and near the end, we will have about 10 teams, it is our hope."

我們將采用五十分之一的比例模型來(lái)對(duì)其性能做出評(píng)估，同時(shí)確保能夠測(cè)試成功贏得獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)，在差不多最后階段，我們希望能有10個(gè)隊(duì)伍。

The scaled models will be tested at the United States Navy's large indoor testing pool near Washington. Machines at the pool can create ocean-size waves. Mr. Zayas says the models will be tested to show how much ocean wave energy they can capture.

這個(gè)比例模型將會(huì)在華盛頓附近美國(guó)海軍的大型室內(nèi)游泳池里進(jìn)行測(cè)試。泳池內(nèi)的機(jī)器將會(huì)創(chuàng)造出海浪大小的波動(dòng)。Zayas說(shuō)模型將會(huì)被測(cè)試看看到底能夠吸收多少海浪能源。

The competition will not require the machines to produce electrical power. He says changing the mechanical kinetic energy into electrical energy is easy.

比賽不需要機(jī)器產(chǎn)生電能。他說(shuō)機(jī)械動(dòng)能轉(zhuǎn)電能是非常容易的。

Mr. Zayas says the main goal of the Wave Energy Prize is to develop a new set of power producing technologies for the future. Developers of the best performing devices will receive prizes from $250,000 to as much as $1.5 million.

Zayas說(shuō)海浪能源獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)設(shè)立的主要目的是為未來(lái)開發(fā)一項(xiàng)新能源產(chǎn)生技術(shù)。能夠生產(chǎn)出最好設(shè)備的開發(fā)人員能夠獲得250000美元到150萬(wàn)美元的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)。

I'm Jonathan Evans.

George Putic reported this story from Washington. Jonathan Evans adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver edited it.

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Words in This Story

assure – v. to make something certain

encourage – v. to make someone more determined, hopeful or confident

evaluation – n. a test

fundamental – adj. forming or relating to the most important part of something

kinetic – adj. of or relating to the movement of physical objects

terawatt - n. a unit of power equal to one trillion watts