大家论坛2011年职称英语理工类阅读理解新增文章篇目.doc

*第三十四篇 Batteries Built by Viruses What do chicken pox，the common coldthe flu，and AIDS have in common? They’re all disease caused by viruses，tiny microorganisms that can pass from person to person．Its no wonder1 that when most people think about viruses, finding ways t0 steer clear of2 viruses is whats on peoples minds． Not everyone runs from the tiny disease cardersthough3．In CambridgeMassachusetts4, scientists have discovered that some viruses can be helpful in an unusual way．They are putting viruses to workteaching them to build some of the worlds smallest rechargeable batteries． Viruses and batteries may seem like an unusual pair，but theyre not so strange for engineer Angela Belcher，who first came up with the idea．At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridgeshe and her collaborators bring together different areas of science in new ways．In the case of the virusbuilt batteries, the scientists combine what they know about biology, technology and production techniques． Belcher team includes Paula Hammond，who helps put together the tiny batteriesand Yet-Ming Chiang， an expert on how to store energy in the form of a battery．“We’re working on things we traditionally don’t associate with nature．” says Hammond． Many batteries are already pretty small．You can hold A．C and D batteries in your hand．The coin—like batteries that power watches are often smaller than a penny．However。every year，new electronic devices like personal music players or cell phones get smaller than the year before．As these devices shrinkordinary batteries wont be small enough to fit inside． The ideal battery will store a lot of energy in a small package．Right now，Belcher model battery，a metallic disk completely built by viruses，looks like a regular watch battery．But inside，its components are very small— tiny you can only see them with a powerful microscope． How small are these battery parts? To get some idea of the size，pluck one hair from your head．Place