A new technology offers solutions for water shortages
空氣水？！ 全新應用科技為水資源短缺找到解方
Israeli company Watergen has produced an appliance that generates clean, potable water out of air. The device, called GENNY, is small enough to be used in a home or office but can generate up to 30 liters of water a day. The water that GENNY produces is not only clean enough to drink, it’s also often cleaner than tap water.
GENNY takes air in and passes it through a filter to remove dust and dirt. The filter is powerful enough to work even in areas with high air pollution. The air then passes through a chamber where heating and cooling cause water vapor in the air to condense. This water is then passed through several more filters, and minerals are added to make it healthier and better-tasting. Finally, the water is stored in a tank where it is continually circulated to keep it fresh.
The heating and cooling process, dubbed GENius, is far more energy-efficient than other technologies that generate water from air. It produces four to five times more water per kilowatt-hour. Watergen has other products that use this same technology on a larger scale, the largest of which can produce up to 5000 liters of water per day.
Info Cloud
puzzle
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Info Cloud. Rex, what are you working on?
Oh. I'm trying to figure out this puzzle. It's kind of confusing.
It sounds like that number puzzle is pretty puzzling, huh?
Oh, yeah. I forgot puzzle, the noun, can become an adjective, puzzling. I usually think of a puzzle as a game like with numbers or a picture cut up into pieces.
Well, that is one kind of puzzle. But a puzzle can also be a problem or question that is hard to figure out. We often use the word puzzle with a preposition at the end.
Oh, like to puzzle over something. That means to think long and hard to try to figure out the answer.
Right. Or to puzzle something out. When you puzzle something out, you think about it until you find the answer. It took me a while to puzzle out what Jack meant by what he said to me.
For now, I'm just trying to puzzle out how to solve this puzzling number puzzle.
Don't puzzle over it too long, Rex. We have to finish our lesson.
很多人都知道 puzzle 是拼圖，但其實這個字當作動詞使用，有苦思或是傷腦筋的涵義，有點像拼拼圖的感覺。如果你形容一件事情是 puzzling，那就代表它很令你困惑或傷腦筋，如果是 puzzle over，那就是你正在用力思考怎麼解決一個問題，I’m puzzling over this math problem. 我正在想怎麼解這個數學的考題。另外一個類似的說法是 puzzle something out，這也是想辦法找出問題的答案，I’m trying to puzzle out what he meant. 我在想他到底是什麼意思。
Language Lab
generate v. 產生某種資源或能源
to produce (something) or cause (something) to be produced
- Using solar panels in the desert is a great way to generate energy.
在沙漠裡用太陽能板是一個生產能源的好方法。
- Scientists continued to help farmers find new ways to generate more food.
科學家繼續幫助農民找出新的方法來生產更多食物。
generate v. 引發、造成
to be the cause of or reason for (something, such as interest or excitement)
- The movie was very interesting, and it generated a lot of discussion among my friends.
那部電影非常有意思，引發我朋友當中的很多討論。
- Both Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are working, and now their two oldest kids are also getting part-time jobs to help generate more income for the family.
Wilson 先生及太太都在工作，而現在他們兩個年紀最大的孩子，也要半工半讀，好增加他們家的收入。
filter n. 過濾器、會有過濾效果的東西 慢慢地滲透
a device that is used to remove something unwanted from a liquid or gas that passes through it
- We changed the filter in the drinking fountain every month.
我們每一個月會把飲水機裡的過濾器換新的。
- There is nothing wrong with the vacuum cleaner. You just need to clean out its filter.
吸塵器沒有任何問題，你只要把它裡面的濾塵器清乾淨就好。
filter v. 過濾
to pass (something, such as a gas or liquid) through a filter to remove something unwanted
- Some of the impurities in the water are difficult to filter out.
水裡有一些雜質很難過濾。
filter v. 慢慢地滲透
to move through or into something in small amounts or in a gradual way
As the morning light filter through the curtains and into the room, Julia slowly crawled out of bed.
隨著晨光緩緩地透過窗簾照進房間，Julia 也慢慢地從被窩裡爬出來。
water vapor n. 水氣、水蒸氣
vapor n. 蒸氣
a substance that is in the form of a gas or that consists of very small drops or particles mixed with the air
- The towels don’t dry in the bathroom because there is too much water vapor in there.
毛巾掉在浴室裡都不會乾，因為水氣太多。
- The plants grow really well in the greenhouse because there is water vapor in the air.
溫室裡的植物都長得很好，因為空氣中有水氣。
vaporize v. 蒸發
to change into a vapor or to cause (something) to change into a vapor
- If you don’t cap the bottle tightly, the chemical inside will vaporize.
如果你不把瓶子的瓶口蓋好，裡面的化學品會蒸發掉。
condense v. 讓氣體變成液體或固體、凝結
to change from a gas into a liquid
- When steam comes into contact with cooler air, it will condense and that’s how we get fog.
當水氣碰到較冷的空氣就會凝結，產生了霧。
condense v. 濃縮
to remove water from (something) to make it thicker
- If you keep cooking the milk, it will slowly begin to condense.
如果你一直煮牛奶，它會慢地開始濃縮。
condense v. 縮短
to make (something) shorter or smaller by removing parts that are less important
- I know you have a lot to say in your report, but you need to condense it because no one has time to read the whole thing.
我知道你有很多東西想放在報告裡，但是你一定要把它縮短，因為沒有人有時間把它讀完。
- In order to squeeze a semester’s worth of lessons into a one-month training, the professor had to condense all his material.
為了把一學期的課程壓縮成一個月的培訓，教授不得不縮短他的教材。
