There’s a new frontier (新领域) in 3D printing that’s beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn’t stopping there.
Food production
With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated (复杂的) chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that—it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to “re-create forms and pieces” of food that are “exactly the same,” freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.
Nutrition
Future 3D food printers could make processed food healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, “Food printing could allow consumers to print food to meet their own nutritional needs, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday’s bread from the supermarket, you’d eat something baked just for you on demand.”
Challenges
Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing, the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste (糊状物) before a printer can use them, and the printing process is quite time-consuming, because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are skeptical about 3D food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.
1. What benefit does 3D printing bring to food production?| A．It helps cooks to create new dishes. |
| B．It makes the dishes more delicious. |
| C．It saves time and effort in cooking. |
| D．It contributes to restaurant decorations. |
| A．is more available to customers. |
| B．can keep all the nutrition in raw materials. |
| C．is more tasty than food in supermarkets. |
| D．can meet individual nutritional needs. |
| A．3D Food Printing: From Farm to Table |
| B．3D Food Printing: Delicious New Technology |
| C．The Challenges for 3D Food Production |
| D．A New Way to Improve 3D Food Printing |
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【推荐1】Is Society Too Dependent On Technology?
Just think, what would happen if your computer, iPad or laptop crashed today? What if someone took away your phone for some days or perhaps you lost it?
Most of us cannot go for a minute without looking at our phones and the fear of the battery dying is immense. If you happen to work in offices you may be familiar with this trend.
Kids used to spend a lot of time with each other or parents playing or just sharing stories. Those evening games after school are over; watching cartoons on a Sunday or playing with friends are no longer there.
Society may have gone too far in technology dependence. It has become so immense that doctors have recommended for “technology detox”.
Well, the choice remains in our hands. We must agree that society is being carried away by the increased inventions being introduced in our lives today.
| A．Perhaps you may have heard of it. |
| B．We appreciate technology since it has its benefits. |
| C．If the Internet is down, all the tasks are over for the day. |
| D．Technology addiction has become a major problem among teenagers. |
| E．If thinking about these incidences makes you stressed, you are not alone. |
| F．Here are some signs that our generation depends too much on technology. |
| G．Today, most kids remain indoors playing computer games or with a smart phone. |
【推荐2】The US space agency NASA has revealed an astonishing picture revealing new secrets of the Earth’s home galaxy (星系), the Milky Way. The sun is just one of hundreds of billions of stars that form the huge shape of our galaxy. Our solar system sits in an outlying region but the new image focuses on the centre of the Milky Way, a “noisy” area because of all the crowded stars. Light from this region takes about 26,000 years to reach Earth. For comparison, light takes just eight minutes to reach us from the sun.
The researchers use the data collected by two telescopes that see the sky in ways that are very different from the visible light our eyes can see to form the new image. Most of the data comes from 370 different pictures taken over the past 20 years by NASA’s Chandra X Observatory. This satellite telescope detects X-rays out in space. X-rays are a from of radiation that is sent out when violent events heat matter to temperatures of millions of degrees. Other data comes from the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, which can detect radio waves from space. These waves have much less energy than X-rays. They are usually produced by cooler material, such as huge clouds of gas between the stars.
The brightest sources include neutron stars which are the cores of huge stars that ran out of fuel and collapsed to city-sized balls of super hot matter. Many neutron stars and black holes jet out gases that appear in the picture as purple streaks (斑纹). Powerful magnetic fields in the area cause the jets to bend as they get further from their source. Astronomer Dr Daniel Wang, who has worked on the image over the past year, said the new picture described “a violent or energetic ecosystem”.
1. What can be learned about the Milky Way?| A．The center of it remains unknown. |
| B．The sun isn’t located in the center of it. |
| C．Its center is very peaceful. |
| D．Its center features fewer stars. |
| A．The collection of space data. |
| B．The function of the MeerKAT telescope. |
| C．The differences of space waves. |
| D．The formation of the new image. |
| A．They will absorb surrounding materials. |
| B．They will form super big matter. |
| C．They get bent if away from their source. |
| D．They are likely to explode when superheated. |
| A．Our galaxy’s violent heart | B．An attempt to travel in outer space |
| C．Radio waves from outer space | D．Stars’ purple streaks |
【推荐3】Until recently, scientists had mapped only about 20 percent of the sea floor. But our knowledge of the deep seas is changing because of information from satellites. Scientists have produced a new map that provides a detailed picture of the oceans. The map is expected to help oceanographers (海洋学家), industry and governments.
The new map is twice as detailed as the map made 20 years ago. David Sandwell is a geophysics professor at the University of California. He and other scientists worked on the mapping project. He says they turned to space to look deeper into the ocean.
The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency’s Cryo-2 satellite. It was placed in Earth's orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency's Jason-1. It is studying the surface of the oceans. Scientists combined the satellite data with images gathered by sonar (声波定位仪) equipment on ships. Sonar works by sending sound waves through the water. When the sound waves hit an object, its presence is confirmed.
The new map shows the sea floor as it has never been seen before. It shows thousands of underwater mountains and places where continents pulled apart. It shows where earthquakes were active many years ago. They all are buried deep underneath the ocean floor.
David Sandwell says the map is a powerful tool for fisheries, those interested in protecting the environment and for oil exploration.
“The petrol exploration industry is interested in how to reconnect the continents, bring them back together tectonically so you can map the basins on one continental edge—say, Africa—and use that to establish where the similar basin would be on the other continental edge in South America.”
If scientists know that information, they may be able to find oil fields. The new data also will help scientists improve their estimates of ocean depths. This information can help ships travel safely and improve military operations and scientific projects worldwide.
Mr. Sandwell thinks scientists will make many more discoveries as they examine the new map and the information it provides.
1. Which one is not mentioned about the benefits brought by the new map?| A．Fisheries. | B．Scientific projects. |
| C．Ship manufacture. | D．Oil exploration. |
| A．It shows where earthquakes will happen. |
| B．It will be helpful to industry and governments. |
| C．It is three times as detailed as the old one years ago. |
| D．It shows the sea floor as it has ever been seen before. |
| A．a newspaper | B．an advertisement |
| C．a science magazine | D．a finance report |
| A．The detailed picture of the oceans |
| B．Underwater mountains and places |
| C．More discoveries about the oceans |
| D．Scientists create new maps of ocean floor |
