美文欣赏：2013年度一些令人惊艳的最佳发明

　　The year 2013 has seen a wide array of inventions, some of them solving problems that we never thought could be solved and others simply making life more fun. Which of these inventions stand out? Check out some of the things that made it into Time magazine’s list of the 25 best inventions of 2013.

　　The Driverless (Toy) Car

　　无人驾驶（玩具）汽车

　　San Francisco-based Anki wants to bring robotics to the people. The company’s first offering is Anki Drive, a $200 racing¹ game in which toy cars can drive themselves. The cars carry sensors³ that feed data to an iPhone or iPad, which players can use to control speed and position for their cars. Meanwhile, the Anki app computes⁴ actions of the enemy cars so they can compete as craftily⁵ as the humans.

　　Gravity’s Lightbox

　　太空灯箱

　　For his film Gravity, set entirely⁶ in space, director Alfonso Cuarón had to throw out the normal sci-fi playbook. Working with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, he created a “lightbox”: a 20-by-10-ft. (6 by 3 m) structure covered with 196 panels of 4,096 LED bulbs each to simulate the extreme light in outer space. The box had the added bonus of being able to project images that would be added later in CGI, so that the actors had a visual reference.

　　Alcoholic⁷ Coffee

　　咖啡酒

　　Portuguese⁸ and Spanish researchers writing in the journal LWT—Food Science and Technology announced the birth of a new coffee-based beverage⁹. They dried used grounds, heated the powder in scalding water for 45 minutes, removed the liquid and added sugar and yeast¹⁰. Then they let the mixture ferment¹¹ and concentrated it to boost the alcohol content. The result? A booze that’s about 80 proof, like tequila and vodka. It’s good enough to consume , they found, and its taste might improve with age. But beware: this coffee won’t keep you awake, since most of the caffeine disappears as it brews¹².

　　Sony’s Smart Lens

　　索尼智能镜头

　　With its large sensor², high-quality glass and 3.6x optical zoom¹³, the Sony DSC-QX100 has all the fixings of a high-quality digital camera—but it clips to your iPhone or Android phone. With Sony’s “PlayMemories Mobile” app, your phone acts as the viewfinder. Unattached, it’s the remote control. The DSC-QX100 is a bit too big to fit in a jeans pocket but plenty small enough for a bag. It retails¹⁴ for $499.

　　The Cronut

　　羊角甜甜圈面包

　　In 2013 a new fusion¹⁵ food joined the ranks of the ice cream cake and the turducken. The cronut—made of croissant-style pastry¹⁶ that’s fried like a doughnut, filled with cream and topped with glaze—transfixed foodies when New York City chef Dominique Ansel started selling it in May. His recipe inspired imitations around the world, and customers proved willing to wait hours for a taste; scalpers were even hawking¹⁷ the $5 treats for up to $40.

　　The 3Doodler

　　3D打印笔

　　Enjoy doodling? The 3Doodler promises to make it more fun. The pen doodles in three dimensions instead of two. Essentially¹⁸ it works like a 3-D printer, melting and cooling colored plastic to create freestanding structures in any shape imaginable. Invented by Maxwell Bogue, Peter Dilworth and Daniel Cowen at the Boston-based toy company WobbleWorks, the 3Doodler raised over $2 million on Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects.

 

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