释放你内心的能量

By+Andrea+Gonzalez

As a young child， Ann Makosinski would spend hours tinkering2） and experimenting with her toys and other everyday objects around her to create her own inventions.

"As a kid， I would make my own 'inventions' with a glue gun3）. There are videos of me talking about my inventions， which were just these pieces of garbage glued together，" Makosinski recalled. "I was always creating things and I was also interested in electronics and cameras."

Now a first-year Arts student， Makosinski is a renowned inventor and entrepreneur. She won the 2015 Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award of Excellence， which recognizes innovative business solutions to social problems—the same recognition was given to Barack Obama in 20144）. Her two inventions—the Hollow Flashlight and the e-Drink—have been causing fervor5） internationally since their creation.

When Makosinski was 15 years old， she created a prototype6） for a flashlight powered by the heat of one's hand. This invention was the result of a ninth grade science project， but Makosinski's goal was to provide a practical solution to people with unlimited access to power and electricity.

"I'm half-Filipino and half-Polish， and one of my friends from the Philippines told me that she failed school because she couldn't afford electricity. She had no light to study with at night， so that was kind of the inspiration，" Makosinski explained. "I've always been interested in doing science projects， so I thought， 'Why don't I find a way to provide her and a lot of other people light？'"

The Hollow Flashlight is made from Peltier tiles7） that produce energy when one side is heated and the other side remains cool. Using only the warmth of the human hand， the flashlight can produce a steady beam of LED light for 20 minutes. It has since been recognized with multiple awards from the 2013 Canada-wide Science Fair， the 2013 Google Science Fair and the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

As part of a 12th grade project， Makosinski then went on to create the e-Drink. It is a coffee mug8） that harvests the excess heat of a hot drink while it cools， stores it as electricity in an internal battery and makes it available to charge an external device such as a phone. With the mug's current battery， an iPhone's life can be extended by approximately 10 to 30 minutes.

In addition to the average UBC9） student's concerns like finding housing for the summer and finishing her first-year courses， Makosinski is also hoping to build on10） her work by collaborating with manufacturers and engineers in China to improve her flashlight's brightness and maximize the circuit's efficiency. Not being an engineer herself， Makosinski concentrates on her inventions' design， but she's also aiming to learn from the Chinese engineers.endprint

"My favorite part of creating inventions would be when you sketch out the idea and you have to physically build it， and it doesn't work out，" Makosinski said. "So you have to figure out different ways to solve it. A lot of times， I'll give up and I'll come back after a couple of days and I'll take it up again."

Harnessing11） her creativity and passion for writing， Makosinski is also working on two books—a cartoon series and a memoir—which have already caught publishers' attention.

"The memoir is kind of making fun of the fact that I'm writing a memoir and I'm only 18，" said Makosinski. "It's supposed to be on the humorous side， but I know a lot of kids are interested in learning how I got here so I would like to show that I was completely ordinary， or just very weird， and tell stories and advice about my experience up to now."

Her advice to other student innovators？ "Start now. There's nothing holding you back."

"Some students at colleges12） or universities or even in high school [think]， 'Oh， I'm a student in college， so I don't need to do anything else. I just need to study and be social and that's it.' Truth is， you can do a lot of other things， you can do whatever you want，" Makosinski said. "If you want to make something， then go ahead. If there's something you really want to do， you will make time for it and you will find time in the day to do your schoolwork. And just don't be afraid to reach out to people13）."

在2017年《福布斯》杂志评选的“30位30岁以下的青年才俊榜（Forbes' 2017 30 Under 30 list， Youngest）”中，19岁的加拿大女孩安·马科辛斯基（Ann Makosinski）榜上有名。她为何小小年纪就能获此殊荣呢？让我们一起走近她的故事吧。

安·马科辛斯基还是个小孩的时候，就会花好几个小时摆弄自己身边的玩具和其他日常物品，并用它们做实验，想捣鼓出来些自己的发明。

“小时候，我总会用一把喷胶枪自己‘发明东西。我还有几个我介绍自己这些发明的视频，而那些发明不过是把一件件废品粘在一起而来的，”马科辛斯基回忆道，“我那时总在发明东西，而且我对电子设备和照相机也很感兴趣。”

马科辛斯基现在（编注：英文原文发表于2016年3月）上艺术专业大一，已经是一位颇有名气的发明家和创业者。她获得了2015年可持续创业杰出奖，该奖项旨在嘉奖解决社会问题的创新商业方案——2014年获得该奖项表彰的是巴拉克·奥巴马。马科辛斯基的两项发明——空心电筒和e-Drink——自诞生以来就持续引起了来自全球的热烈关注。

15岁时，马科辛斯基制作了利用手心热量供电的一款手电筒的原型。这一发明是马科辛斯基上九年级时一次科学作业的作品，不过她的目标是提出一个切实可行的方案，让人们可以不受限制地获取电能。

“我有一半菲律宾血统和一半波兰血统，我的一位菲律宾朋友告诉我她学习成绩不好，因为她家用不起电，晚上没有照明，没法学习，所以我的灵感可能就是从这儿来的，”马科辛斯基解释说，“我一直都对做科学作业很感兴趣，所以我当时就想，‘我为什么不去找到一种办法来为她和其他许许多多的人提供照明呢？”

空心手电筒是用珀尔帖贴片做成的，这种贴片在一端受热、另一端处于冷却时可以产生能量。只靠手心的热量，这种手电筒就可以产生持续20分钟的LED光束，光照还很稳定。空心手电筒诞生以来已获得多个奖项的认可，包括由2013年加拿大科学挑战赛、2013年谷歌科学挑战赛和2014年英特尔国际科学与工程大奖赛颁发的奖项。

作为12年级科学作业的一部分，马科辛斯基后來又接着发明了e-Drink。它是一个咖啡马克杯，可以在热饮冷却的过程中收集多余的热量，将其转化为电能储存在杯子的一个内置电池里，然后就可以给一台外部设备（如手机）充电了。这个马克杯目前配备的电池大约够让一台苹果手机多用上10～30分钟。endprint

作为不列颠哥伦比亚大学的学生，除了一样要操心夏天找房子和完成第一年的课程之外，马科辛斯基还希望通过与中国的制造商和工程师合作来增强其手电筒的亮度并实现电路效能的最大化，从而使自己的发明更上一层楼。由于马科辛斯基本人并不是工程师，所以她把主要的精力放在设计自己的发明上，不过她也正打算向中国的工程师学习学习。

“對于发明创造，我最喜欢的一个部分大概就是把脑海里的想法画出来，然后你得实实在在地把它给做出来，而它却并不可行，”马科辛斯基说，“所以你必须想出不同的办法来解决问题。有很多次我都会先放弃，然后几天之后我会回来再接着想办法。”

凭借着自己的创造力和对写作的热情，马科辛斯基目前还在写两本书——一套漫画书和一本回忆录，并且它们已经引起了几家出版社的关注。

“回忆录有点是在拿我在写回忆录而我年仅18岁这个事实开玩笑，”马科辛斯基说，“这本书原本应该偏幽默一点的，不过我知道有许多孩子很想知道我是怎么成为今天的我的，所以我想要让他们看到我完完全全是一个普通人，也可能只是一个非常奇怪的人，同时也想根据我到目前为止的经历给他们讲讲故事，提供一些建议。”

她对其他的学生发明者有什么建议呢？ “现在就开始行动，没有什么东西可以阻挡你。”

“职业学院和大学甚至是高中的一些学生[会这么想]，‘哦，我是个大学生，所以不需要做其他任何事。我只需要好好学习、交交朋友就可以了。但事实是，你可以做很多其他的事，你可以做任何你想做的事，”马科辛斯基说，“如果你想做点什么东西出来，那就动手去做吧。如果有什么事是你真心想去做的，你会为这件事腾出时间来的，你也会找到时间来做你的作业。另外，不要害怕和别人沟通。”

1. unleash [?n?li??] vt. 突然释放；使爆发

2. tinker [?t??k?（r）] vi. 修补；修理；摆弄

3. glue gun： 喷胶枪

4. 2014年，时任美国总统的奥巴马因其对减少温室气体排放、应对全球气候变化所做的努力而荣获该奖。

5. fervor [?f??v?（r）] n. 热情，热诚

6. prototype [?pr??t?ta?p] n. 原型；样品

7. Peltier tiles： 珀耳帖贴片。简单来说，当贴片一端热、另一端冷的时候，它便能产生能量，从而发电。其工作原理涉及珀耳帖效应（Peltier Effect），即当电流通过相联接的两种导体时的吸热和放热现象。

8. mug [m?ɡ] n. （喝茶、咖啡等用的圆筒形有柄）大杯，马克杯

9. UBC： （= University of British Columbia）不列颠哥伦比亚大学，世界著名公立研究型大学，坐落于加拿大温哥华。

10. build on： 在……的基础上继续前进

11. harness [?hɑ?n?s] vt. 利用

12. college [?k?l?d?] n. （加拿大）高等专科学校；高等职业学院

13. reach out to sb.： （通常指为了帮助或加入其中而）与（某人）沟通，与（某人）打成一片endprint