Fire Prevention Information

    The University of Adelaide employs a full﹣time staff of fire prevention professionals． They inspect all campus buildings and test and maintain all sprinkler（喷水灭火装置） systems，fire alarms，and fire extinguishers（灭火器）． They also provide educational programs on fire safety in the residence halls． Whenever you move to a new area， you should locate the fire alarm pull stations and the two exits nearest your room．

Fire Alarms

    The floors of all campus buildings are equipped with manual（手动的）fire alarm systems which include fire alarm pull stations and pipes． Most are also equipped with automatic fire alarm systems consisting of heat detectors， smoke detectors and sprinklers． For your safety，never tamper with（胡乱摆弄） these systems． False fire alarms are illegal and may lead to imprisonment．

Fire Drills

    A fire drill will be conducted in your residence hall every semester． During a fire drill，please do the following：

    •Take your room key and ID，close and lock the door to your room．

    •Exit immediately from the nearest emergency exit；do not use a lift．

    •Meet outside of your residence hall and wait for further instructions．

Fire Extinguishers

    Fire extinguishers are located on each floor and in each apartment． Use a fire extinguisher only if you have been trained to do so． Irresponsible use of a fire extinguisher can create a dangerous situation for other residents and could result in damage to personal property． Misuse of a fire extinguisher will result in fines．

Smoke Detectors

    A smoke detector is on the ceiling in your room． Some buildings also have heat detectors on the ceilings． Do the following to ensure the safe operation of your smoke detector：

    •If your smoke detector is working properly， the red light should be on． If the red light is not blinking（闪动）， contact residence hall staff immediately．

    •Do not cover or block your smoke detector in any way．

    •If a smoke detector sets off an alarm and there is no fire or smoke， inform your hall staff．

We may think we're a culture that gets rid of our worn technology at the first sight of something shiny and new, but a new study shows that we keep using our old devices(装置) well after they go out of style. That’s bad news for the environment — and our wallets — as these outdated devices consume much more energy than the newer ones that do the same things.

To figure out how much power these devices are using, Callie Babbitt and her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York tracked the environmental costs for each product throughout its life — from when its minerals are mined to when we stop using the device. This method provided a readout for how home energy use has evolved since the early 1990s. Devices were grouped by generation. Desktop computers, basic mobile phones, and box-set TVs defined 1992. Digital cameras arrived on the scene in 1997. And MP3 players, smart phones, and LCD TVs entered homes in 2002, before tablets and e-readers showed up in 2007.

As we accumulated more devices, however, we didn't throw out our old ones. "The living-room television is replaced and gets planted in the kids' room, and suddenly one day, you have a TV in every room of the house," said one researcher. The average number of electronic devices rose from four per household in 1992 to 13 in 2007. We're not just keeping these old devices — we continue to use them. According to the analysis of Babbitt's team, old desktop monitors and box TVs with cathode ray tubes are the worst devices with their energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions（排放）more than doubling during the 1992 to 2007 window.

So what's the solution（解决方案）? The team's data only went up to 2007, but the researchers also explored what would happen if consumers replaced old products with new electronics that serve more than one function, such as a tablet for word processing and TV viewing. They found that more on-demand entertainment viewing on tablets instead of TVs and desktop computers could cut energy consumption by 44%.

Plastic﹣Eating Worms

    Humans produce more than 300 million tons of plastic every year． Almost half of that winds up in landfills（垃圾填埋场）， and up to 12 million tons pollute the oceans． So far there is no effective way to get rid of it， but a new study suggests an answer may lie in the stomachs of some hungry worms．

    Researchers in Spain and England recently found that the worms of the greater wax moth can break down polyethylene， which accounts for 40% of plastics． The team left 100 wax worms on a commercial polyethylene shopping bag for 12 hours， and the worms consumed and broke down about 92 milligrams， or almost 3% of it． To confirm that the worms' chewing alone was not responsible for the polyethylene breakdown， the researchers made some worms into paste（糊状物） and applied it to plastic films． 14 hours later the films had lost 13% of their mass﹣﹣apparently broken down by enzymes（酶）from the worms' stomachs． Their findings were published in Current Biology in 2017．

    Federica Bertocchini， co﹣author of the study， says the worms' ability to break down their everyday food﹣beeswax﹣also allows them to break down plastic． "Wax is a complex mixture， but the basic bond in polyethylene， the carbon﹣carbon bond， is there as well， "she explains． "The wax worm evolved a method or system to break this bond． "

    Jennifer DeBruyn， a microbiologist at the University of Tennessee， who was not involved in the study， says it is not surprising that such worms can break down polyethylene． But compared with previous studies， she finds the speed of breaking down in this one exciting． The next step， DeBruyn says， will be to identify the cause of the breakdown． Is it an enzyme produced by the worm itself or by its gut microbes（肠道微生物）？

    Bertocchini agrees and hopes her team's findings might one day help employ the enzyme to break down plastics in landfills． But she expects using the chemical in some kind of industrial process﹣not simply "millions of worms thrown on top of the plastic．"

Preparing Cities for Robot Cars

    The possibility of self﹣driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist's dream， years away from materializing in the real world． Well， the future is apparently now． The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self﹣driving cars on public roads． The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self﹣driving cars， and for companies to operate driverless taxi services． California， it should be noted， isn't leading the way here． Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country． It's hard to predict when  driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads． But however long it takes， the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities， for better or for worse， depending on how the transformation is regulated．

    While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars（and rightfully so），policymakers also should be talking about how self﹣driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams， cut emissions（排放） and offer more convenient， affordable  mobility options． The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared．

    Do we want to copy﹣ or even worsen﹣ the traffic of today with driverless cars？ Imagine a future where most adults own individual self﹣driving vehicles． They tolerate long， slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work， entertain themselves or sleep on the ride， which encourages urban spread． They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking． Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning， they send the self﹣driving minibus． The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport﹣﹣an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride﹣ hailing（叫车） services．

    A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol﹣powered private cars worldwide with electric， self﹣driving and shared systems could reduce carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure  （基础设施） and operations 40% by 2050． Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing． The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride﹣hailing services， considering the cost of self﹣driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues（责任与维护问题）．But driverless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology．

    Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn't extend the worst aspects of the car﹣controlled transportation system we have today． The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people，and more affordably． The car of the future is coming． We just have to plan for it．

There’s a new frontier 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 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.

Sustainability(可持续性）

The global population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some analysts estimate that food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels. Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contribute to the solution. Some experts believe printers could use hydrocolloids(水解胶体) from plentiful renewables like algae(藻类) and grass to replace the familiar ingredients(烹饪原料). 3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions. Grocery stores of the future might stock "food" that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

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 with customized nutritional content, 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.

California Condor’s Shocking Recovery

California condors are North America’s largest birds，with wind﹣length of up to 3 meters．In the 1980s，electrical lines and lead poisoning（铅中毒） nearly drove them to dying out．Now，electric shock training and medical treatment are helping to rescue these big birds．

In the late 1980s，the last few condors were taken from the wild，and there are now more than 150flying over California and nearby Arizona，Utah and Baja in Mexico．

Electrical lines have been killing them off．“As they go in to rest for the night，they just don’t see the power lines，”says Bruce Ride out of San Diego Zoo．Their wings can bridge the gap between lines，resulting in electrocution（电死） if they touch two lines at once．

So scientists have come up with a shocking idea．Tall poles，placed in large training areas，teach the birds to stay clear of electrical lines by giving them a painful but undeadly electric shock．Before the training was introduced，66% of set﹣freed condors died of electrocution．This has now dropped to 18%．

Lead poisonous has proved more difficult to deal with．When condors eat dead bodies of other animals containing lead，they absorb large quantities of lead．This affects their nervous systems and ability to produce baby birds，and can lead to kidney（肾） failures and death．So condors with high levels of lead are sent to Los Angeles Zoo，where they are treated with calcium EDTA，a chemical that removes lead from the blood over several days．This work is starting to pay off．The annual death rate for adult condors has dropped from 38% in 2000 to 5.4% in 2011．

Ride out’s team thinks that the California condors’ average survival time in the wild is now just under eight years．“Although these measures are not effective forever，they are vital for now，”he says．“They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them．”

California condors attract researchers’ interest because they 　　．

Researchers have found electrical lines are 　　．

According to Paragraph 5，lead poisoning 　　．

The passage shows that 　　．