伦敦金斯顿大学学生发明新式洗衣机
The time-consuming and mundane chore of laundry could soon be banished to history, with an invention that harnesses the power of our own competitiveness.
Lee Wei Chen, a 27-year-old student at Kingston University, London, has invented a fiendishly clever combination of a video game and a washing machine.
Housed in the classic arcade-game cabinet, the top half is a challenging coin-operated driving game, while the bottom half is a front-loading washer.
Even if it was just a novel way to pass the time as the washing machine ran through it's yle, Mr Lee's idea would be a worthy one.
But wait, as advertisers say, there's more.
Mr Lee, originally from Taiwan, has linked the circuitry of the two machines, so the washing cycle is dependent on the proficiency of the gamer.
Nail the game's various levels, with a decent score and without losing precious lives, and the laundry will be done in no time at all.
But, if you stink at the game, your clothes will stink too.
The washing machine will stop wherever it is in it's cycle, and it will refuse to start up again until the gamer adds more money and continues to play.
The idea came to Mr Lee after he realised he had been wasting a good portion of his 27 years playing video games.
He said: "I realised that the skills I had developed in the virtual world were useless in the real world. I wanted to make them useful."
Parents may have difficulty getting their children out of the laundry - but at least their clothes will be very clean.
据英国《每日邮报》11月11日报道，随着一项利用我们自身竞争力创造的新发明问世，耗时且枯燥无聊的洗衣工作不久将成为历史。
来自伦敦金斯顿大学的27岁学生李威晨(音译)发明了一款新式的洗衣机，极其巧妙地将游戏机和洗衣机结合在了一起。
该机器的主体是一个经典街机游戏机的机身，上半部是一个投币游戏机，下半部是一个前置式洗衣机。
虽然这只是在洗衣机工作时用来打发时间的一种新颖的方式，李威晨的这一创意仍然是有价值的。
不过别急，正如广告上所说的，还不仅如此。
来自台湾的李威晨将两种机器的电路接在一起，如此一来，洗衣机的运转就取决于玩家对游戏的熟悉程度了。
通过不错的得分和不丢失宝贵生命来一一攻破游戏各个关卡，洗衣工作很快就会完成。
但是，如果你在游戏中表现糟糕，那你的衣服也就洗不干净了。
而且洗衣机也会因此停止运转，除非玩家再投钱继续游戏，否则洗衣机不会重新开始工作。
李威晨想出这一创意，是因为他意识到自己二十七年来在打游戏上已经浪费了太多时间。
他说：“我发觉自己在虚拟世界中练就的技能在真实世界里毫无用处。我希望让这些技能变得有用。”
家长们可能会很难把他们的孩子从洗衣机旁拉走了——但至少孩子们的衣服会洗得非常干净。