科技英语阅读特训《小体积有大声音》

相关推荐

科技英语阅读特训《小体积有大声音》

　　镶嵌的声音

科技英语阅读特训《小体积有大声音》

　　我们需要更强大的技术，同时我们也期望我们的装置能更小巧，更不引人注意。在这个超薄MP3播放器时代，超薄扬声器并不是什么新鲜的东西，但华威大学音频技术公司研发的扩音器的大小绝对令你大吃一惊。公司CEO史蒂夫?寇奇曼说：“我们所采用的网材料的厚度仅为25 毫米。”如此小的扬声器能够大大提高公共场所语音服务的效果。这些服务包括车站的公共信息和购物中心的导购信息。寇奇曼说：“要想更有效的使用这种扬声器，我们需要把它安装在一个框架里。例如，这个框架可以是悬挂在超市中的海报。当你走进这个海报时，扬声器就会发出这样的声音‘这些橙子是来自西班牙的最好的产品，你想尝一尝吗？’”

　　原型

　　这种新型扬声器的发明者是华威大学的邓肯?比尔森博士和哈钦斯教授。寇奇曼说：“这一概念来自华威大学的超声学研究所。2002年，他们研究出了这种扬声器的原型。”最初的时候，比尔森和哈钦斯尝试利用两层锡箔和一层绝缘的烘焙纸制造声音。现在的模型是由几层膜和一个金属化的背框组成的。寇奇曼说：“这金属化的背框可以是非常有弹性的材料。这意味着整个扬声器既可以非常有弹性也可以非常坚硬。”

　　环绕声

　　科学家们尝试将扬声器做成屋顶的磁瓦，甚至将它做成一个360度的灯罩。这能使扬声器发出的声音更清脆、更响亮。这种扬声器的用途将非常广泛。它可以被嵌入书写用的白板，也可以被安装在汽车里。让车内产生最理想音响效果的办法是将扬声器放置于车顶呢中。寇奇曼说：“目前，汽车制造商还没能做到这一点。其主要原因是传统的扬声器占用空较大，不适合放在车顶呢中。而且，这样做还会增加车身重量，改变车的重心。对于一辆设计好的汽车，它的重心是不可以轻易改变的。”新型的扬声器重量轻、体积小，可以很容易的克服这些困难，是一种真正的环绕声技术。

　　Embedded sound

　　We demand ever more powerful technologies, while expecting them to be smaller, more compact and discreet. So perhaps in an age of ultra-small MP3 music players it’s no surprise to hear of ultra-thin loudspeakers, yet the dimensions of the loudspeaker developed by Warwick Audio Technologies is remarkably small. ‘The mesh material we use is less than 0.25 millimetres thick’, explains the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Couchman. The size of the loudspeakers opens up new possibilities for better sound in public spaces, from travel information in train stations, to information about products in shopping centres. ‘To use the speaker effectively,’ says Couchman, ‘you need to put it into some sort of frame. So if we had some sort of back frame we could use that as a material on its own, for example it could be a hanging poster in a supermarket. As you approach it would then say something like “these oranges are the best from Spain, would you like to try them?” that sort of thing.’

　　Prototype

　　The inventors are Dr Duncan Billson and Professor Hutchins of the University of Warwick, says Couchman. “The concept came out of the University’s Ultrasonics Group. It dates back to 2002 when they made the discovery.” Originally Billson and Hutchins conducted trials creating sound with two sheets of tin-foil and an insulating layer of baking paper. The current prototype is constructed from a number of films and a metallised back-frame. ‘That metallised back-frame,’ says Couchman, ‘can be very flexible material which means the whole of the speaker can be flexible, or it can be a very stiff material.’

　　Surround-sound

　　They have experimented with the speaker as a ceiling tile, and have even incorporated it around a 360 degrees lampshade. The construction of the speaker gives crisper, sharper sound. There’s been lots of interest in its potential, from building it into whiteboard technology, to fitting it in cars. To get the best sound in cars says Couchman, ‘the ideal place for speakers is in the headlining. Manufacturers until now have not been able to do that because of space, and because it would increase the weight and change the car’s centre of gravity. One thing you don’t do is change the centre of gravity after it has been designed.’ It is a truly surround-sound technology.

【科技英语阅读特训《小体积有大声音》】相关文章：

英语阅读08-07

英语阅读体会06-22

英语文章阅读08-04