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2016考研英语阅读每日精选：用热量延长电池寿命

Don't go sticking your electronic devices in a toaster oven just yet, but for a longer-lasting battery, you might someday heat them up when not in use. Over time, the electrodes inside a rechargeable battery cell can grow tiny, branch-like filaments1 called dendrites, causing short circuits that kill the battery or even ignite it in flames. But thanks to new experiments and computer simulations, researchers from the California Institute of Technology have explored in detail how higher temperatures can break down these dendrites -- and possibly extend battery lifetimes. A battery cell consists of a positive and negative electrode, called the cathode and anode. As the battery produces electrical current, electrons flow from the anode through a circuit outside the battery and back into the cathode. Having lost the electrons that are generating the current, some of the atoms in the anode -- an electrically conductive metal like lithium -- become ions that then travel to the cathode, moving through a conductive liquid medium called an electrolyte.

Recharging the battery reverses the process, and the ions travel back and stick onto the anode. But when they do, the ions don't attach evenly. Instead, they form microscopic2 bumps that eventually grow into long branches after multiple recharging cycles. When these dendrites reach and contact the cathode, they form a short circuit. Electrical current now flows across the dendrites instead of the external circuit, rendering3 the battery useless and dead.

The current also heats up the dendrites, and because the electrolyte tends to be flammable, the dendrites can ignite. Even if the dendrites don't short circuit the battery, they can break off from the anode entirely4 and float around in the electrolyte. In this way, the anode loses material, and the battery can't store as much energy.

【词汇解析】

1. filaments

n.(电灯泡的)灯丝( filament的名词复数 );丝极;细丝;丝状物

参考例句：

Instead, sarcomere shortening occurs when the thin filaments'slide\" by the thick filaments. 此外，肌节的缩短发生于细肌丝沿粗肌丝“滑行”之际。 来自辞典例句

Wetting-force data on filaments of any diameter and shape can easilyobtained. 各种直径和形状的长丝的润湿力数据是易于测量的。 来自辞典例句

2. microscopic

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。

A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in itsleaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

3. rendering

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's pianosonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。

His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech andidiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

4. entirely

ad.全部地，完整地;完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty.那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。

His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。