The future of 3D-printed houses 未來的3D打印房屋

李彤

1 A US company， Mighty Buildings， can 3D - print a house and stick it in your back- yard for just￡ 75， 000. Mighty Buildings uses a 20ft - high printer stored in a California warehouse to make you a small cottage （小屋） and ships it to your property on a truck.

2“All you need to do is sit back and relax as we deliver and install your unit for you ， ” Mighty Buildings says on its website.

3Compared to new houses of a similar size in California， Mighty Buildings says its 3D- printed sheds cost 45 per cent less to build. The firm apparently takes just 24 hours to con- struct a 350-square-foot house， using 95 per cent less labour than traditional methods. The technique is also said to be more eco-friendly， producing 90 per cent less waste than a typi- cal build.

4It，s not the first company to offer 3D-printed buildings： An entire street of the high - tech houses is being built in Mexico. However， Mighty Buildings， technology is different as it prints more elements of the house—the dwellings in Mexico， for instance， only feature 3D-printed walls and floors.

5As much as 80 per cent of Mighty Buildings， construction process is now automated （自動化的） ， according to the company. The rest， including the windows， plumbing and electrics， is done separately on site.

6 According to the firm ，s website， prices start around $100， 000 （￡ 75， 000） for an environmentally friendly， studio - sized apartment. Mighty Buildings has already delivered two fully-functioning units in San Ramon and San Diego and is currently fulfilling multiple （多個的） other orders.

7 3D printing is a process of layering up a material to build complicated structures. It works just like regular house printers—but instead of ink， a 3D printer will use materials like plastic or metal. Using giant 3D printers， it ， s been proven possible to quickly and cheaplybuildhouses.Sadlythetechis far frommainstream fornow. Arecentreport suggested 3D-printed houses built in less than 24 hours will form a key part of the UK ，s housing market by 2025.

1. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about？

A. The construction process.B. The cost， labour and waste.

C. The house elements.D. The high-tech knowledge.

2. What advantage do 3D printers have according to the text？

A. They might produce less waste.

B. They must be more eco-friendly.

C. They may transmit a Mighty Unit to a warehouse.

D. They can take the place of traditional methods now.

3. What does the underlined word“dwellings”in paragraph 4 probably mean？

A. Structures.B. Methods.C. Elements. D. Houses.

4. What，s the purpose of the text？

A. To introduce 3D-printed houses.

B. To show us Mighty Buildings.

C. To present a US company.

D. To suggest the Mexico high-tech houses.

語篇研讀

本文是一篇科技成果介紹類說明文，其主題語境為“人與社會”范疇中的“技術創(chuàng) 新”。文章介紹了一家美國公司 Mighty Buildings 以 3D 打印技術建造房屋的情況。文 章特別指出：盡管使用巨型 3D 打印機可以快速、廉價地建造房屋，但目前該技術還遠 未成為主流。不過，到 2025 年，在 24 小時內建造的 3D 打印房屋將成為英國住房市場 的重要組成部分。全文結構如下：

語言學習

Ⅰ. 語料薈萃

Ⅱ. 語句分析

All you need to do is sit back and relax as we deliver and install your unit for you. 您 需要做的就是在我們?yōu)槟桓逗桶惭b您的房屋時，坐下來休息。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句。All is sit back and relax 是主句，其中 and 連接的 sit back 和 relax 是兩個并列的省略了to 的不定式（短語），在句中作表語;you need to do 是省略了關系代詞 that 的限制性定語從句，修飾先行詞 all;as we deliver and install your unit for you 是 as引導的時間狀語從句。

語言運用

Ⅰ. 例句仿寫

根據(jù)上面短文中出現(xiàn)過的短語和表達方式，完成下面的句子。

1. 與 40年前相比，現(xiàn)在的衛(wèi)生保健水平得到了極大提升。

_______________________________________ ， the level of health care has improved enormously nowadays.

2. 據(jù)說已經有人把這個消息告訴了史密斯先生。

_______________________________________ have been told the news.

3. 我想盡可能多了解這個行業(yè)，讓自己有備無患。

_______________________________________about the industry so that I，m better prepared. Ⅱ. 寫作實踐

你校英語俱樂部將舉辦以“科技創(chuàng)造美好未來”為主題的征文比賽，請你用英語 寫一篇短文參賽。

注意：

1. 詞數(shù) 80左右;

2. 可以適當增加細節(jié)，以使行文連貫。