新高级阅读前（双语）13（876）

PASSAGE THIRTEEN

Plant capacity

1.The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research.

2.Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime.

3.In another，employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.

4.The engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)have taken it a step further changing the actual composition of plants in order to get them to perform diverse，even unusual functions.

5.These include plants that have sensors printed onto their leaves to show when they’re short of water and a plant that can detect harmful chemicals in groundwater.

6.“We’re thinking about how we can engineer plants to replace functions of the things that we use every day,”explained Michael Strano, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT.

7.One of his latest projects has been to make plants glow in experiments using some common vegetables.

8.Strano’s team found that they could create a faint light for three-and-a-half hours.

9.The light，about one-thousandth of the amount needed to read by，is just a start.

10.The technology, Strano said, could one day be used to light the rooms or even to turn trees into self-powered street lamps.

11.In the future，the team hopes to develop a version of the technology that can be sprayed onto plant leaves in a one-off treatment that would last the plant’s lifetime.

12.The engineers are also trying to develop an on and off＂switch＂where the glow would fade when exposed to daylight.

13.Lighting accounts for about 7% of the total electricity consumed in the US.

14.Since lighting is often far removed from the power source-such as the distance from a power plant to street lamps on a remote highway-a lot of energy is lost during transmission.

15.Glowing plants could reduce this distance and therefore help save energy.

第十三篇

植物的能力

1.人与植物之间的关系一直是科学研究的主题。

2.最近的研究发现了积极的影响。例如，在俄亥俄州扬斯敦进行的一项研究发现，城市绿化区域的犯罪率较低。

3.在另一项研究中，当员工的工作场所装饰有室内植物时，他们的工作效率会提高15%。

4.麻省理工学院(MIT)的工程师们进一步改变了植物的实际组成，以使它们具有多样化，甚至是不寻常的功能。

5.其中包括在叶子上印上传感器的植物，当它们缺水时可以显示，还有一种植物可以检测地下水中的有害化学物质。

6.麻省理工学院化学工程教授迈克尔·斯特拉诺解释说:“我们正在考虑如何设计植物来取代我们每天使用的一些东西的功能。”

7.他最近的一个项目是用一些常见的蔬菜做实验，让植物发光。

8.斯特拉诺的团队发现，他们可以制造出持续三个半小时的微弱光线。

9.发出的光量，大约是阅读所需量的千分之一，这只是一个开始。

10.斯特拉诺说，这项技术有一天可以用来照亮房间，甚至可以把树木变成自供电的路灯。

11.未来，该团队希望开发出一种技术，可以一次性喷洒在植物叶片上，使植物终生受益。

12.工程师们还在尝试开发一种开关，使光能在日光下消失。

13.照明约占美国总用电量的7%。

14.由于照明通常离电源很远，例如从发电厂到偏远公路上的路灯的距离，因此在传输过程中会损失大量能量。

15.发光植物可以缩短这一距离，从而有助于节约能源。