节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-03-21
难易度:High
关键字:convert, bulky, option, installation, stylish
Welcome back.
Today we are learning about solar panels.
People are always looking for ways to improve our lives on Earth.
As we see an increase in the amount of electronics used in daily life and
electricity used to power those devices, there is an increasing need to find
other power supplies.
Now solar panels are becoming a more affordable option for the average
homeowner.
Let's continue with the next part of our lesson: Solar panels hit store shelves.
(Music).
Solar-powered Buildings of the Future.
Solar panels hit store shelves.
Last fall furniture retailer IKEA began selling solar panels in its U.K. stores.
Of course, home improvement stores such as Home Depot have been selling panels
for a while.
But the move by IKEA is seen as a way to bring the DIY solar option to the
masses.
While shopping for inexpensive furniture, shoppers could add a box or two of
solar panels to their carts.
IKEA is partnering with a company that handles installation and servicing of the
panels, making the switch to solar easy for customers.
If all goes well, IKEA plans to begin selling the panels in other countries
soon.
(Chinese).
And now let's go to our teachers.
Thank you, Michelle.
It's great to see that solar panels are hitting store shelves.
But what does that mean if something hits the shelf?
Well, that means that something is available for sale.
We see this phrase a lot in advertising.
Maybe you see an ad for a new CD that is coming out; the ad might say: Hitting
store shelves March 31.
That means that you can buy it at the store on March 31.
So if solar panels are hitting store shelves, that means you don't have to order
them from a special solar panel company.
You can just go to the store and buy them.
Well, that is certainly more convenient than needing to order them from a
company.
And we learn in this section that you can buy them at IKEA, at least if you live
in the U.K., you can.
And there are other stores that sell them as well, but IKEA, sometimes
pronounced IKEA, is viewed differently.
There's a really great sentence here, and we have a lot to talk about.
First we see: the move by IKEA.
Here "move" is being used as a noun, not a verb.
That's right.
And here it means something you do in order to achieve a goal, and it is usually
part of a series of things.
So there will be more than one move that needs to be made in order to succeed.
Well, what does this move by IKEA hope to accomplish?
It is being seen as a way to bring the DIY option to the masses.
We've talked about DIY before - do it yourself.
But Carolyn, who are the masses?
Ah, good question.
This is another way to talk about the public or ordinary people.
So if you bring something to the masses, that means that you make it available
to the majority of the people, not just a small number of them.
So you could say the technology company is trying to appeal to the masses by
making its new smartphone more available.
They want to allow a larger number of people to buy it by making its price
lower.
Great. And now solar panels are being brought to the masses.
The article very casually states that you add a box or two of solar panels to
your shopping cart while you are looking at inexpensive furniture at IKEA.
Wow. It's hard to believe that shopping for solar panels could be that easy.
But that's the way technology works.
As time goes on, things that were once only used by a small number of people or
businesses are now available to everyone.
Now while solar panels have become more affordable, that doesn't mean they're
cheap.
Yeah.
These solar panels still cost almost US$10,000.
But if you think about how much money you spend on electricity each year and the
potential of selling back additional electricity to power companies, it can be
worth it in the long run.
It sure can.
And IKEA is not only selling solar panels, they are installing them on their own
stores.
They have already installed over 500,000 solar panels on some of their stores
around the world.
IKEA hopes to have its stores operate on renewable energy by the year 2020.
And this is a great step in that direction.
Now back to the article, we read that to help customers with installation and
servicing of the panels, IKEA is partnering with another company.
We've talked about having business partners or companies partnering before.
But we see another word here: servicing.
Usually we think of service as a noun or adjective.
But that's not what it means here.
Here "service" is a verb.
If you serve something, that means that you maintain it or repair it to make
sure it continues to work properly.
One example would be to have your car serviced.
You want to make sure that your car work smoothly, that the breaks are good,
that you have enough oil and so on.
So you can take your car to the mechanic to have it serviced.
The mechanic will make sure that everything is working the way it should.
And if you buy expensive solar panels, you want to make sure that you have a
professional who knows how to service them.
If would be great if IKEA sold solar panels in other countries.
You're right, Carolyn.
Well, if all goes well with their stores in the U.K., that's exactly what could
happen.
For now, though, it's time to learn more about solar power with Steve and Ken in
the Information Cloud.
I wonder if they use solar power in there... Hmm.
Friends, have you ever used a magnifying glass to make something melt or burn?
If so, you were using solar power.
It was back in the 1950s that the first practical solar panel was developed and
used.
Years later came those nifty solar-powered calculators and watches.
Today, solar power has become a legitimate alternative to fossil fuels because
it's clean, limitless and free.
So just how powerful is our sun's light?
Powerful enough that if we could capture and store all the sunlight that shines
on our Earth for just one hour, we could power the world for a year.
That's hard to believe, isn't it?
Here's another statistic.
If you added up all the energy we humans have used since civilization began,
from coal, gas and oil,
it would be less than the energy contained in 30 days worth of sunshine on our
Earth.
So how do we capture sunlight?
One plant in California's Mojave Desert uses hundreds of mirrors, which all
reflect their sunlight back to one spot on a water tower.
The light's energy turns the water into steam, which turns turbines, which
produces electricity, enough to power over 200,000 homes.
(Chinese).
For many years, some homeowners have been buying solar panels to put on their
rooftops to collect and convert the sun's energy into some form of power for
their houses.
But the average person hasn't been able to afford to do this until now.
While some companies like Home Depot have been marketing solar panels for years,
IKEA began selling them in their U.K. store this past fall.
And they also offer installation service to help their customers.
IKEA is thinking of expanding to other countries if it turns out to be popular.
Thank you, Linda.
We've learned a lot about solar power and how it is becoming more affordable for
the masses.
Now was there anything that surprised you in this lesson?
Carolyn, did anything surprise you?
Well, I was actually surprised to find out that you could buy solar panels so
easily.
I know that many governments offer discounts to people who buy solar panels,
but I had no idea that you could just go to the Home Depot in the U.S. or IKEA
in the U.K. and buy them.
That is pretty surprising, and it's great.
I was also surprised by the fact that you can install solar panels at your house
and maybe make enough energy there,
and maybe even sell some of that energy to power suppliers and make more money.
Well, things continue to change in society, and we have more to learn about
Solar-powered Buildings of the Future tomorrow.
So we'll see you then.
See you.