中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
世界上首款用殘余巧克力做燃料，用胡蘿卜、土豆淀粉和亞麻布等材料制成的F3賽車于近日問世。這款賽車最高時速可達135英里，能在2.5秒內起步加速至60英里，并且絕對環保。據介紹，這款賽車名為羅拉，是由英國華威大學的研究人員耗時9個多月，投入20萬美元研制出來的。這款賽車的大部分材料都可以在集貿市場或垃圾堆里找到，報廢后可以被埋入任何一個垃圾填埋點，不會對環境造成任何污染。另外，它的散熱器還能在運行過程中把臭氧轉換為氧氣，因此，可以說是一款“自己污染、自行清理”的賽車。
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A formula 3 race car that researchers from the University of Warwick in Britain have retrofitted is seen at the MIT Energy Conference 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts March 5, 2010. |
Fueled by leftover chocolate and with components made from carrots, potato starch and flax, the world's first sustainable Formula 3 racing car has a top speed of 135 miles per hour and can go from zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds.
Sound nuts? Not yet -- brake pads made from cashews are still under development.
Meet Lola, the England's University of Warwick's blend of muscle and eco-friendliness and the world's first racing car retrofitted with renewable and sustainable materials.
Researchers from the British university showed off their prize possession at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) energy conference in Boston.
"She's incredibly green, taking materials that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill. It lets people engage with recycling without the finger-wagging," said Kerry Kirwan, one of the car's designers at the university.
"The public has really taken the car to its heart, because she's fun," he said.
Many of the car's components would more usually be found at a farmer's market -- or in a trash bin, since most of the materials are actually industrial waste.
The 2.0-liter BMW engine has been converted to diesel from gasoline and configured to run on fuel derived from waste from chocolate factories or other plant-based oils.
Among Lola's other unique features is a radiator that converts ozone back to oxygen.
"It's a racing car that cleans up as it goes along," said Steve Maggs, another member of the design team.
The World First Formula 3 racing car took the university more than nine months to develop and cost around $200,000.
Kirwan said that the thinking behind the project was to find a way to really put recycled materials to the test.
"A lot of these technologies were a huge leap of application, something that shows the material under a really demanding application."
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(Agencies)
Vocabulary:
finger-wagging：搖手指（以表示不屑）
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
