BBC 6分钟英语学习 3D打印机

From the BBC. Hello. This is 6 min English from BBC learning English.

I'm Sam, and I'm Neil. In 1436 in Germany, johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, a machine capable of making many copies of the same

page of text. Ever since, printing has been used around the world to produce books, newspapers and magazines.

Printing technology has come a long way since grushenberg's time, but even todays, most advanced laser printers have only printed flat, two dimensional objects.

Until now. In this program, we're discussing three D printers, printers which can build solid, three dimensional objects out of a variety of materials, including plastic, concrete and metal.

Now, neil, when you say a printer that can make solid objects, I guess you're not talking about a normal printer.

That's right, sir. These large and complex D printers work in a completely different way, Unlike a sculptor who chips away at a block of stone to reveal a shape underneath.

Three D printers work in the opposite way, building up physical objects by adding material layer on layer.

And the ability to print objects in this way is providing solutions to many problems, as we'll be finding out.

But 1st, I have a question for you, neil.

Before Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press, copies of texts were made by block printing, using handcarved wooden blocks pressed into ink.

So what was the oldest known text to be printed this way?

Was it A-A religious teaching, the a cooking recipe, or C-A love letter?

I think it might have been a recipe.

OK, neil, I'll reveal the ant for later in the program.

The idea of printing solid objects is not new, but it was only after the millennium that tech companies began to realize how it could be done.

Here's Professor Mark Miodovnik, a material scientist at University College London, explaining more to BBC World Service program People fixing the world.

As the millennium turned, patents expired, and that meant people started to make really cheap 3D printers.

And people start mucking about with them and going, hold on a minute, it's not just an industrial tool.

You can put them in schools.

You can put them in universities.

Oh, it's actually really great for prototyping.

And then people got excited about it, and it became the answer to everything.

Everything was going to be D printed.

After the year 2003, D printers suddenly got much cheaper, and tech companies started mucking about with them, spending time playing with them in a fun way.

They realized that D printers had many uses.

E.g. they discovered that three D printers were great at making prototypes, models of a product that can be tested, improved and used to develop better products.

Professor Miodovnick thinks these tech companies were surprised at how useful 3D printing was.

He uses the phrase, hold on a minute to express this surprise or disbelief.

In fact, it turned out that three D printers were excellent, and making bespoke things, objects which are made especially for a particular person.

One area which three D printing dramatically improved was medical prosthetics, artificial body parts made especially for someone who has lost an arm, a leg or a foot.

E.G., in 2021, stephen Verz, who lost an eye in a childhood accident, became the 1st person to be fitted with a three D printed prosthetic eye.

It's prosthetic, so the new eye doesn't restore stephen's sight, but it has boosted his confidence.

Surgeon Mandip Saga led the team at Morsfield Hospital that operated on stephen's eye.

Here he is explaining more to BBC World Services people fixing the world.

In many countries, particular developed world.

Their are facilities for custom making a prosthetic eye to match the the other eye.

And that's an artisan process, which is very time consuming and requires real artistry on the part of the ocularist.

The ocularris is a person who fits there the prosthetic eye.

And so what we have been developing is a technique to automate the whole process.

Even before d printers, prosthetic eyes were custom made, a word similar to bespoke, which means specially made according to a particular person's requirements.

But the traditional way of making artificial eyes by hand is very time consuming.

It takes a lot of time to do.

Nowadays, D printing can complete the whole process in just 30 min it's great to see technology helping people.

An amazing how far new inventions like D printers have come since the days of Johannes Gutenberg.

Speaking of Witchneal, it's time to reveal the answer to my question.

Right? You ask me about the earliest known text to have been printed using wooden p blocks, and I guessed it was a cooking recipe.

So was I right? You were wrong, I'm afraid.

Now, the oldest known wooden

block print was actually a religious text, The Buddhas Diamond Sutra.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary from this program, starting with mucking about an informal way to say, playing with something carelessly,

not for a serious reason. A prototype is a model of a product that can be tested, improved and used to develop a better product.

The phrase Hold on a minute can be used to express surprise or disbelief.

Prosthetics refer to artificial body parts, such as arms, legs, feet or eyes, which are used to replace a missing natural part.

The words bespoke and custom made describe something specially made for a particular person.

And finally, if something is time consuming, it takes a lot of time to do.

Goodbye for now. Goodbye. 6 min English from the BBC.

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