Electronic Devices【电子设备】

Electronic Devices

We may think we're a culture that gets rid of our worn technology at the first sight of something shiny and new,

我们可能会认为我们的文化是这样的：初识光鲜的玩意儿就会摈弃过气的技术。

but a new study shows that we keep using our old devices well after they go out of style.

然而，一项新研究发现，我们一直还在使用着早已过时的陈旧设备。

That's bad news for the environment-and our wallets-as these outdated devices consume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.

对于环境还有我们的钱包而言都不是什么好事儿--因为与那些能起到同样效能的新设备相比，

这些过时的设备能耗更高。

To figure out how much power these devices are using,

为了弄清楚这些陈旧设备的能耗，

Callie Babbitt and her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York

tracked the environment costs for each product throughout its life-

来自纽约罗切斯特理工学院的考利·巴比特和她的同事们一起追踪了每一批产品寿命期的环境损耗--

from when its minerals are mined to when we stop using the device.

从矿物开采到这一设备的停止使用。

This method provided a readout for how home energy use has evolved since the early 1990s.

这一研究方法提供了自20世纪90年代初期以来家庭能耗演变的示值读数。

Devices were grouped by generation.

各种设备是按年代分组的。

Desktop computers, basic mobile phones, and box-set TVs defined 1992. Digital cameras

arrived on the scene in 1997.

台式电脑、基础型移动电话和箱式电视机标志着1992年。数码相机与1997年问世。

And MP3 players, smart phones, and LCD TVs entered homes in 2002, before tablets and

e-readers showed up in 2007.

2002年，先是MP3播放器、智能手机和LCD电视机进入家庭，继而2007年，平板电脑和电子阅读器出现。

As we accumulated more devices, however, we didn't throw out our old ones.

我们的设备越积越多，然而，我们并没有掉旧的。

"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.

“客厅的电视机更换之后，原来的电视机装到孩子的房间。然后突然有一天，你发现家里的每一个

房间都有台电视机，”一位研究人员说道。

The average number of electronic devices rose from four per household in 1992 to 13 in 2007.

1992年至2007年，每个家庭的电子设备的平均持有量从4台增加到了13台。

We're not just keeping these old devices; we continue to use them.

我们不仅仅是保存这些老设备；我们还在使用它们。

According to the analysis of Babbitt's team, old desktop monitors and box TVs with

cathode ray tubes are the worst devices

据巴比特研究团队的分析，内置有阴极射线管的旧式台式显示器和箱式电视机是最劣质的设备，

with their energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions more than

doubing during the 1992 to 2007 window.

它们的能耗和所产生的温室气体的排放在1992至2007年间不止翻了一番。

So what's the solution?

那么该如何解决呢？

The ream's data only went up to 2007, but the researchers also explored what happen

这个团队的数据只跟踪至2007年。但研究人员已经探知，究竟会发生什么

if consumers replaced old products with new electronics that serve more than one function,

such as a tablet for word processing and TV viewing.

如果消费者使用像平板电脑这样既能进行文字处理又能观看视频的多功能电子产品来代替陈旧的产品。

They found that more on-demand entertainment viewing on tablets instead of TVs and

desktop computers could cut energy consumption by 44%.

他们发现，在平板电脑上点播娱乐节目，比通过电视机或台式电脑观看，能够降低44%能耗。

2018年全国I卷D

文中单词

单词	释义	单词	释义
get rid of	摆脱	worn	adj.疲倦的；用旧的
go out of style	过时	consume	v.消耗；耗尽
figure out	弄明白，解决	generation	n.一代
digital camera	数码相机	accumulated	adj.累积的
television	n.电视机	monitors	n.显示屏
cathode ray tube	阴极射线管	contribution	n.贡献，捐献物
greenhouse gas emission	温室气体排放	word processing	文字处理
on-demand	n.请求式	entertainment	n.娱乐，招待