A few degrees can make a big difference when it comes to food storage. Foods can go bad if they get too warm. But for many of the world’s poor, finding a good way to keep food cool is difficult. Refrigerators are costly and they need electricity.
Yet spoiled food not only creates health risks but also economic losses. Farmers lose money when they have to throw away products that they cannot sell quickly.
But in nineteen ninety-five a teacher in northern Nigeria named Mohammed Bah Abba found a solution. He developed the “Pot-in-Pot Preservation/Cooling System.” It uses two round containers made of clay. A smaller pot is placed inside a larger one. The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand. The inner pot can be filled with fruit, vegetables or drinks. A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system.
Food stored in the smaller pot is kept from spoiling through a simple evaporation(蒸發) process. Water in the sand between the two pots evaporates through the surface of the larger pot, where drier outside air is moving.
The evaporation process creates a drop in temperature of several degrees. This cools the inner pot and helps keep food safe from harmful bacteria. Some foods can be kept fresh this way for several weeks.
People throughout Nigeria began using the invention. And it became popular with farmers in other African countries. Mohammed Bah Abba personally financed the first five thousand pot-in-pot systems for his own community and five villages nearby.
In two thousand, the Rolex Watch Company of Switzerland honored him with the Rolex Award for Enterprise. This award recognizes people trying to develop projects aimed at improving human knowledge and well-being. A committee considers projects in science and medicine, technology, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural history. Winners receive financial assistance to help develop and extend their projects.
【小題1】Which is the best title of the passage?
A．A Few Degrees can Make a Big Difference for Storage
B． A Cool Way to Keep Food from Spoiling
C． Spoiled Food Creates Health Risks and Economic Losses
D． The Evaporation Process Creates a Drop in Temperature
【小題2】What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?
A．the structure of the invention
B．the usage of the invention
C．the cost of the invention
D．the inspiration of the invention
【小題3】What is it that essentially keeps the food in the container from spoiling?
A．the wet cloth covering the cooling system.
B．the moving drier air outside the container
C．the wet sand between the containers
D．a drop in temperature by evaporation
【小題4】According to the passage, where can we possibly see the invention?
A．rich and advanced families
B．scientific experiment laboratory
C．poor and underdeveloped area
D．supermarket needing to store goods
【小題5】We can know from the passage that Mohammed Bah Abba ____________.
A．invented the controversial cooling system
B．financed the systems in all communities
C．received financial assistance for his invention
D．invented more complicated cooling system later
