| Song | Solar-powered Cars |
| Artist | 英语听力 |
| Album | VOA慢速英语:科技报道 |
| Download | Image LRC TXT |
| [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. |
| [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. |
| [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. |