人类用木头建房子已经有几千年了。现在科学家能让木头变透明，还能储存热量。如果这种木头能广泛应用，肯定会给建筑业带来深远影响。
Transparent wood that saves energy
by Emily Matchar
There's a reason humans have been building homes from wood for 10,000 years. It's an excellent building material – durable, renewable, good at insulating. But since it's opaque, we're still in the habit of cutting windows in our houses and installing panes of glass.
material /məˈtɪəriəl/ n. 材料、原材料
durable /ˈdʒʊərəb(ə)l/ adj. 持久的、耐用的
renewable /rɪˈnjuːəb(ə)l/ adj. 可再生的（由renew加后缀-able变成形容词）
insulate /ˈɪnsjuleɪt/ v. 隔热、隔音
opaque /əʊˈpeɪk/ adj. 不透明的
install /ɪnˈstɔːl/ v. 安装
pane /peɪn/ n. 一片窗玻璃
But what if wood could be made transparent? Researchers in Sweden have been trying to do just that. They've created a clear wood material they hope could one day be used for more energy-efficient building.
transparent /trænˈspær(ə)nt/ adj. 透明的
researcher /rɪˈsɜːtʃə(r)/ n. 研究者（由research加上表示人的后缀-er）
Sweden /ˈswiːd(ə)n/ n. 瑞典（北欧国家）
clear /klɪə(r)/ adj. 透明的、清澈的
efficient /ɪˈfɪʃ(ə)nt/ adj. 高效的、效果好的
"We chemically modified wood to make it transparent without losing the mechanical properties," says Céline Montanari, a researcher at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm who recently presented her work at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
chemically /ˈkemɪk(ə)li/ adv. 化学上（由chemical加后缀-ly变成副词）
modify /ˈmɒdɪfaɪ/ v. 修改、调整
mechanical /məˈkænɪk(ə)l/ adj. 机械的
property /ˈprɒpəti/ n. 属性
institute /ˈɪnstɪtjuːt/ n. 学院
Stockholm /ˈstɒkhəʊm/ n. 斯德哥尔摩（瑞典首都）
present /prɪˈzent/ v. 展示
chemical /ˈkemɪk(ə)l/ adj. 化学的
society /səˈsaɪəti/ n. 社团、协会
Montanari and her team took balsa wood and removed its lignin（木质素）, the polymer that helps make wood rigid, and filled the resulting microscopic holes with acrylic. The resulting wood looked rather like the frosted glass of a shower door.
balsa /ˈbɒlsə/ wood 轻木
remove /rɪˈmuːv/ v. 去掉、清除
polymer /ˈpɒlɪmə(r)/ n. 聚合物
rigid /ˈrɪdʒɪd/ adj. 坚硬的
microscopic /ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpɪk/ adj. 极小的、要用显微镜才能看到的
acrylic /əˈkrɪlɪk/ n. 丙烯酸树脂（这里指有机玻璃）
frost /frɒst/ v. 结霜（frosted glass就是毛玻璃）
Then they took the material one step further, mixing it with polyethylene glycol, a so-called "phase-change material" that melts at 27 degrees Celsius. When it melts, it absorbs energy and becomes transparent, then solidifies and releases energy when cooled.
polyethylene glycol 聚乙二醇
so-called 被叫做…的
phase-change material 相变材料
melt /melt/ v. 熔化
Celsius /ˈselsiəs/ n. 摄氏（度）
absorb /əbˈzɔːb/ v. 吸收
solidify /səˈlɪdɪfaɪ/ v. 固化、变成固体（由solid加后缀-ify变成动词）
release /rɪˈliːs/ v. 释放
cool /kuːl/ v. 冷却
In theory, this means the polyethylene glycol-infused wood material could be used to make windows that absorb energy during the hot part of the day and release it into the home when it got cold at night.
theory /ˈθɪəri/ n. 理论
infuse /ɪnˈfjuːz/ v. 充满（这里polyethylene glycol-infused是一个词，意思是充满了聚乙二醇的）
"Transparent wood is already a great insulating material when compared with glass," Montanari says. Adding the polyethylene glycol makes it an even more potentially eco-friendly material by turning it into a "thermal battery" to keep indoor temperatures constant.
potentially /pəˈtenʃ(ə)li/ adv. 有潜力地（由potential加后缀-ly变成副词）
eco- /ˈiːkəʊ/ 前缀，意思是环保
turn A into B 把A变成B
thermal /ˈθɜːm(ə)l/ adj. 热量的
constant /ˈkɒnst(ə)nt/ adj. 恒定的、不变的
The transparent wood is also strong and durable, and could potentially bear far more weight than glass. The team is also working on making it entirely biodegradable（可生物降解的）. This could make it an appealing material for things like skylights, with the potential to reduce energy costs in homes and other buildings.
bear /beə(r)/ v. 承受、承重
entirely /ɪnˈtaɪəli/ adv. 完全地（由entire加后缀-ly变成副词）
appealing /əˈpiːlɪŋ/ adj. 有吸引力的
skylight /ˈskaɪlaɪt/ n. 天窗（由sky和light组成）
potential /pəˈtenʃ(ə)l/ n. 潜力
Using wood as a base material is attractive because it has strength and mechanical resistance that's hard to reproduce in synthetic materials at the same cost, says Mark Swihart, a professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University at Buffalo. Whether or not the new transparent wood-polymer blend will be successful will depend in large part on how cheaply it can be made, he says.★
base /beɪs/ n. 基础
strength /streŋθ/ n. 强度
resistance /rɪˈzɪst(ə)ns/ n. 阻力（由resist加后缀-ance变成名词）
reproduce /ˌriːprəˈdjuːs/ v. 复制（由produce加上表示重复的前缀re-）
synthetic /sɪnˈθetɪk/ adj. 人工合成的
biological /ˌbaɪəˈlɒdʒɪk(ə)l/ adj. 生物的（由biology加后缀-ical变成形容词）
blend /blend/ n. 混合物
depend on 取决于
in large part 在很大程度上
cheaply /ˈtʃiːpli/ adv. 便宜地（由cheap加后缀-ly变成副词）
★ 这句话里的从句Whether or not the new transparent wood-polymer blend will be successful是整句话的主语
Montanari and her team are currently looking at increasing the heat storage capacity of the transparent wood, for greater energy savings. They're also investigating how to ramp up production to an industrial scale. They hope to have a product ready for market within five years.
currently /ˈkʌr(ə)ntli/ adv. 现在、目前（由current加后缀-ly变成副词）
storage /ˈstɔːrɪdʒ/ n. 存储、储存
capacity /kəˈpæsəti/ n. 容量
investigate /ɪnˈvestɪɡeɪt/ v. 调查研究
ramp /ræmp/ up 增加
production /prəˈdʌkʃ(ə)n/ n. 产量
industrial /ɪnˈdʌstriəl/ adj. 工业的（由industry加后缀-al变成形容词）
scale /skeɪl/ n. 规模
（如果您发现某些行的最后一个单词被分成两半了，请把您使用的浏览器升级到最新版本就能正常显示了。）
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