3D打印校舍首亮相

山東 龍 菲

一名22歲的女孩利用3D打印技術建設校舍，以幫助更多馬達加斯加的孩子接受教育。

文章詞數319難度 建議用時★★ 5分鐘

A 22-year-old Chinese immigrant, adopted as a baby by the founder of MapQuest, is using her adultsized ambition to use 3D-printing to help more kids get an education in Madagascar.

Maggie Grout's non-profit organization is called“Thinking Huts” and she is fundraising to break ground on a series of modular (模塊化的), honeycomb-shaped(蜂窩狀的)schools,powered by solar panels,which would be the world's first 3D-printed schoolhouses.

Hundreds of millions of children don't have schools to attend around the world, and Grout feels one of the best ways to solve the problem is by bringing down the construction costs of schoolhouses.The initial pilot Thinking Hut in Madagascar is expected to cost $20,000 and as well as being half the cost of traditional construction methods, 3D-printed buildings become cheaper when the project gets larger. In other words, the first house may cost $20,000, but the more houses that are built, the cheaper they become. The first hut is expected to begin in the summer on a university campus in the city of Fianarantsoa, home to about 200,000 people on the south end of the island.

The 3D-printer itself, at 6.5 feet, is being provided by Thinking Huts' partner Hyperion Robotics,a Finnish 3D-printing company. Locally-sourced materials will be used, adapting to each community's environment. Initial plans of the company call for solar power, Internet access, desks, chairs, and tables. The hut will have a secure door and operating windows. Other features include pockets of space on the outside of the walls, which can either be used for vertical （垂直的） farming or artificial rock climbing walls for the kids. The outside surface will be decorated with traditional Malagasy textile patterns, and local materials or wood carved by artisans.

Their honeycomb shape allows new huts to be added onto existing ones if the need for expansion arises. So far, Grout's charity has already raised $125,000. Not bad for a 22-year-old.

Reading Check

1. What can we know about Thinking Huts?

A. It's a profitable organization bringing down the construction costs.

B. It's an organization helping more kids get an education in Madagascar.

C. It's an institute for designing schools in different shapes.

D. It's a lab studying solar technology.

2. How much will a 3D-printed building cost on average after the project gets larger?

A. $200,000. B. $20,000.

C. Over $200,000. D. Less than $20,000.

3. Which of the following may best describe Maggie Grout?

A. Creative and responsible.

B. Sensitive and quiet.

C. Humorous and kind.

D. Modest and friendly.

4. In which column is the text probably taken from a newspaper?

A. Sports. B. Advertisement.

C. Entertainment. D. Education.

Language Study

Useful expressions

break ground 破土；動工

bring down 降低(成本)

be home to 是……的家園

in other words 換句話說

adapt to 適應

call for 需要

be decorated with 用……裝飾