不想錯過精彩的推送？
戳左上角藍字「朱偉老師」關注我們
並點擊右上角●●●菜單欄，選擇「設置星標」
每晚6:30，偉哥陪你考研
For years, plastic has been electronics' next big thing. Is it finally here?
For Simon Jones, vice president of product development at Plastic Logic, his company's mission comes down to this simple but startling question: "What if you could print electronics on just about anything at very low cost?" A corner office at the Cambridge, U. K. , is filled with models of products that could be built: hospital bracelets synched to update when info is added to a medical file, musical scores that refresh so you'd never need to turn a page and a series of portable text displays. That, says Jones, is what happens when you can make circuits not from silicon but from plastic.
Ever since conductive polymers were developed in the 1970s, researchers and entrepreneurs have wondered whether they could make commercially viable plastic electronics. Unlike microchips made of amorphous silicon and glass, polymer chips are light, hard to break and—perhaps best of all—as cheap as plastic. Although plastic transistors don't perform well enough to make the polymer PC a realistic goal for many years, they are quickly becoming suitable for applications where fragile silicon chips are impractical. Imagine electronics so cheap you could put them in disposable packaging, for example, or so light and flexible you could put them in your clothes. Processes similar to ink-jet printing can literally print circuitry onto materials. Because Plastic Logic can do this at room temperature, and because plastic is cheaper to begin with, some estimate its plastic chips might cost as little as one-tenth of conventional silicon chips, once volume picks up in coming years.
In the race to market, Plastic Logic took an early and significant lead. On Jan. 3, the company announced it would build a factory in Dresden, Germany, to create its flexible, portable text display—a device that would let you carry your whole library on a sheet of plastic. That makes it the first plant proposed anywhere that would produce plastic transistors on a commercial scale. Plastic Logic's plant attracted $100 million from such backers as Oak Investment Partners, Intel, Bank of America and BASF. "We believe there is nothing silicon transistors can do that polymer transistors won't be able to do eventually," says Hermann Hauser, a former Physicist and now a partner at Plastic Logic financier Amadeus Capital Partners Ltd.
Others agree. On Jan. 24, an Eindhoven, Netherlands, spin-off from Philips unveiled plans for its own mass-production facility in Southampton, U. K. The firm, Polymer Vision, will make a 5-in. screen that can be rolled up to the thickness of a cell phone. But even though it announced its factory site after Plastic Logic's, the Dutch company plans to produce at commercial volumes sooner: as early as this year.
Has a new era of consumer electronics begun? Market researchers at Virginia-based NanoMarkets, which reports on micro-and nanotechnology, predict plastic electronics will be worth nearly $35 billion by 2014. That's about the same value as today's global recorded-music industry.
1. What isn't the advantage of the polymer chips?
A. Flexible.
B. Durable.
C. Cheap.
D. Hard to break.
2. What's the main idea of paragraph 3?
A. The researchers can make commercially viable plastic electronics in the 1970s.
B. The plastic transistors can make the polymer PC become a truth.
C. Features of polymer chips.
D. The polymer chips will be used frequently in the few years.
3. What does the phrase "in the race to the market"mean in paragraph 4?
A. In the fixed special kind of market.
B. In order to succeed in the market.
C. In the competition of the market.
D. The trace of entering the market.
4. What can you infer from the text?
A. Hospital bracelets can synch to update when info is added to a medical file with the silicon chips.
B. Like the microchips made of amorphous silicon and glass, polymer chips are light.
C. Plastic Logic company has created the flexible, portable text display.
D. Polymer Vision plans to produce at commercial volumes 5-in. plastic screens as early as this year.
5. What's the writer's attitude towards the plastic chips?
A. Positive.
B. Negative.
C. Critical.
D. Impassive.
後臺回復「題源報刊合集」
可以查看往期所有題源報刊的答案和解析了！
（上下滑動查看單詞）
electronics [ɪˌlekˈtrɒnɪks]
n. 電子學
disposable [dɪˈspəʊzəbl]
adj. 可任意使用的
mission [ˈmɪʃn]
n. 使命，任務；使團，代表團
volume [ˈvɒlju:m]
n. 卷，冊；體積，量，大量；音量
refresh [rɪˈfreʃ]
v. （使）精神振作，（使）精力恢復；更新
propose [prəˈpəʊz]
vt. 計劃，建議，向……提議；求（婚）
vi. 打算；求婚
portable [ˈpɔ:təbl]
adj. 輕便的，手提（式）的，可攜式的
unveil [ˌʌnˈveɪl]
vt. 使公諸於眾；揭開，揭幕
vi. 顯露，除去面紗
entrepreneur [ˌɒntrəprəˈnɜ:(r)]
n. 企業家，主辦人
bracelet [ˈbreɪslət]
n. 手鐲
realistic [ˌri:əˈlɪstɪk]
adj. 現實（主義）的
synch [sɪŋk]
n. 同時，同步
fragile [ˈfrædʒaɪl]
adj. 易碎的，脆的
viable [ˈvaɪəbl]
adj. 能養活的，能生育的，可行的
impractical [ɪmˈpræktɪkl]
adj. 不切實際的
amorphous [əˈmɔ:fəs]
adj. 無定形的，無組織的
nanotechnology [ˌnænəʊtekˈnɒlədʒi]
n. 納米技術
transistor [trænˈzɪstə(r)]
n. ［電子］電晶體
polymer [ˈpɒlɪmə(r)]
n. 聚合體
1. A corner office at the Cambridge, U. K. , is filled with models of products that could be built: hospital bracelets synched to update when info is added to a medical file, musical scores that refresh so you'd never need to turn a page and a series of portable text displays.
結構分析：本句是一個複合句。主句是 A corner office... is filled with models of products，同時也是一個被動句；that引導一個定語從句，來修飾 models of products；when引導的是一個時間狀語句；最後又出現了一個that引導的定語從句，來修飾 musical scores。
參考譯文：該公司在英國劍橋市有一個辦公室，裡面堆滿了能夠被投入生產的各類產品模型：當醫學檔案有信息添加時能夠同步更新的醫用識別手鐲，無需手動翻頁以及一系列可攜式的文本顯示器就能自我刷新頁面的樂譜。
2. Although plastic transistors don't perform well enough to make the polymer PC a realistic goal for many years, they are quickly becoming suitable for applications where fragile silicon chips are impractical.
結構分析：本句是一個複合句。主句是 they are quickly... applications；Although引導的是一個讓步狀語從句；where引導的是一個地點狀語從句。
參考譯文：雖然這些年來，塑料電晶體的性能還不足以使聚合物型個人電腦成為可能，但它們能很快適用到易碎的矽片不能發揮作用的領域。
堅持 源於毫不懷疑自己的價值
同時相信結果源於每次努力的積累
閱讀全文 購買2019最新題源報刊課程