201804：
Incoming M.I.T. Freshman Creates New Vehicle
It’s not often that an incoming college freshman is already starting his own multimillion dollar business. But that’s what’s happening to Ben Gulak. He’s a 19-year-old Canadian who’s just starting at M.I.T. Gulak’s was inspired by the overwhelming smog he saw on a trip to China two years ago. He thought there should be something better than all the polluting scooters. He spent two years tinkering and came up with a contraption he calls the Uno. It’s an electric vehicle that looks like a cross between a motorcycle and a unicycle.
There are actually two wheels, but they’re side by side, not front and back. And the controls consist of a single on-off switch. You balance by simply sitting upright. You accelerate by leaning forward. Leaning backward activates the brakes. And you turn by simply leaning to the left or right. The computer control system is similar to that of the sidewalk Segway, but this device is designed like a scooter to be ridden on the street. Gulak has already won a number of prizes and gotten funding for his new Cambridge-based business. And he’s planning to balance a double-major in mechanical engineering and business at M.I.T. Which should help him get people to balance on Unos someday soon.
M.I.T新生创造环保型交通工具
即将上大学的新生拥有几百万美元的公司，这样的事情并不多见，但是Ben Gulak就是这样的。Ben Gulak今年19岁，来自加拿大，他很快就要开始他在麻省理工(M.I.T.)的大学学习生涯。
Ben Gulak两年前去中国旅游，看到了四处弥漫的烟雾，他的创意来源于想改变这些糟糕情况。他想应该有比这些污染环境的摩托车更好的交通工具。他花了两年的时间尝试革新，从而设计出一种新的交通工具，他称之为“Uno”。这是一种电动交通工具，看起来像是摩托车和独轮车的结合品。
“Uno”实际上有两个轮子，但是这两个轮子在同一边，而不是一前一后。它的控制系统仅由一个“开关”组成。当你坐直的时候，你就处于平衡;你向前倾就可以加速;向后倾就相当于制动。想要转弯只需向左或者向右倾斜。“Uno”的计算机控制系统类似于在人行道上使用的思维车(Segway)的控制系统(思维车是一种电力驱动、具有自我平衡能力的个人用运输载具，是都市用交通工具的一种)，但是“Uno”的设计是为了供人们在大街上骑行。Gulak已经获得了很多奖项，而且他的这个位于剑桥的新公司还获得了基金的资助(译者注：这里的.剑桥不是英国的剑桥大学所在地，而是马萨诸塞州的剑桥市)。Gulak计划在麻省理工(M.I.T.)修机械工程和商学的双学位。这样的学习规划应该能帮助他将来很快实现他的梦想——人们用上他的“Uno”。
Vocabulary:
Inspire: 激发(灵感)
Overwhelming: 压倒性的;
Smog: 烟雾
Scooter: 小型摩托车
Tinker: 修补
Contraption: 其妙的装置
Unicycle: 独轮车
Accelerate: 加速
Lean: 倾斜
书香门第
