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》雜志評選的“30位30歲以下的青年才俊榜（Forbes' 2017 30 Under 30 list， Youngest）”中，19歲的加拿大女孩安·馬科辛斯基（Ann Makosinski）榜上有名。她為何小小年紀就能獲此殊榮呢？讓我們一起走近她的故事吧。

安·馬科辛斯基還是個小孩的時候，就會花好幾個小時擺弄自己身邊的玩具和其他日常物品，并用它們做實驗，想搗鼓出來些自己的發(fā)明。

“小時候，我總會用一把噴膠槍自己‘發(fā)明東西。我還有幾個我介紹自己這些發(fā)明的視頻，而那些發(fā)明不過是把一件件廢品粘在一起而來的，”馬科辛斯基回憶道，“我那時總在發(fā)明東西，而且我對電子設(shè)備和照相機也很感興趣?！?/p>

馬科辛斯基現(xiàn)在（編注：英文原文發(fā)表于2016年3月）上藝術(shù)專業(yè)大一，已經(jīng)是一位頗有名氣的發(fā)明家和創(chuàng)業(yè)者。她獲得了2015年可持續(xù)創(chuàng)業(yè)杰出獎，該獎項旨在嘉獎解決社會問題的創(chuàng)新商業(yè)方案——2014年獲得該獎項表彰的是巴拉克·奧巴馬。馬科辛斯基的兩項發(fā)明——空心電筒和e-Drink——自誕生以來就持續(xù)引起了來自全球的熱烈關(guān)注。

15歲時，馬科辛斯基制作了利用手心熱量供電的一款手電筒的原型。這一發(fā)明是馬科辛斯基上九年級時一次科學作業(yè)的作品，不過她的目標是提出一個切實可行的方案，讓人們可以不受限制地獲取電能。

“我有一半菲律賓血統(tǒng)和一半波蘭血統(tǒng)，我的一位菲律賓朋友告訴我她學習成績不好，因為她家用不起電，晚上沒有照明，沒法學習，所以我的靈感可能就是從這兒來的，”馬科辛斯基解釋說，“我一直都對做科學作業(yè)很感興趣，所以我當時就想，‘我為什么不去找到一種辦法來為她和其他許許多多的人提供照明呢？”

空心手電筒是用珀爾帖貼片做成的，這種貼片在一端受熱、另一端處于冷卻時可以產(chǎn)生能量。只靠手心的熱量，這種手電筒就可以產(chǎn)生持續(xù)20分鐘的LED光束，光照還很穩(wěn)定?？招氖蛛娡舱Q生以來已獲得多個獎項的認可，包括由2013年加拿大科學挑戰(zhàn)賽、2013年谷歌科學挑戰(zhàn)賽和2014年英特爾國際科學與工程大獎賽頒發(fā)的獎項。

作為12年級科學作業(yè)的一部分，馬科辛斯基后來又接著發(fā)明了e-Drink。它是一個咖啡馬克杯，可以在熱飲冷卻的過程中收集多余的熱量，將其轉(zhuǎn)化為電能儲存在杯子的一個內(nèi)置電池里，然后就可以給一臺外部設(shè)備（如手機）充電了。這個馬克杯目前配備的電池大約夠讓一臺蘋果手機多用上10～30分鐘。endprint

作為不列顛哥倫比亞大學的學生，除了一樣要操心夏天找房子和完成第一年的課程之外，馬科辛斯基還希望通過與中國的制造商和工程師合作來增強其手電筒的亮度并實現(xiàn)電路效能的最大化，從而使自己的發(fā)明更上一層樓。由于馬科辛斯基本人并不是工程師，所以她把主要的精力放在設(shè)計自己的發(fā)明上，不過她也正打算向中國的工程師學習學習。

“對于發(fā)明創(chuàng)造，我最喜歡的一個部分大概就是把腦海里的想法畫出來，然后你得實實在在地把它給做出來，而它卻并不可行，”馬科辛斯基說，“所以你必須想出不同的辦法來解決問題。有很多次我都會先放棄，然后幾天之后我會回來再接著想辦法。”

憑借著自己的創(chuàng)造力和對寫作的熱情，馬科辛斯基目前還在寫兩本書——一套漫畫書和一本回憶錄，并且它們已經(jīng)引起了幾家出版社的關(guān)注。

“回憶錄有點是在拿我在寫回憶錄而我年僅18歲這個事實開玩笑，”馬科辛斯基說，“這本書原本應該偏幽默一點的，不過我知道有許多孩子很想知道我是怎么成為今天的我的，所以我想要讓他們看到我完完全全是一個普通人，也可能只是一個非常奇怪的人，同時也想根據(jù)我到目前為止的經(jīng)歷給他們講講故事，提供一些建議?！?/p>

她對其他的學生發(fā)明者有什么建議呢？ “現(xiàn)在就開始行動，沒有什么東西可以阻擋你。”

“職業(yè)學院和大學甚至是高中的一些學生[會這么想]，‘哦，我是個大學生，所以不需要做其他任何事。我只需要好好學習、交交朋友就可以了。但事實是，你可以做很多其他的事，你可以做任何你想做的事，”馬科辛斯基說，“如果你想做點什么東西出來，那就動手去做吧。如果有什么事是你真心想去做的，你會為這件事騰出時間來的，你也會找到時間來做你的作業(yè)。另外，不要害怕和別人溝通。”

1. unleash [?n?li??] vt. 突然釋放；使爆發(fā)

2. tinker [?t??k?（r）] vi. 修補；修理；擺弄

3. glue gun： 噴膠槍

4. 2014年，時任美國總統(tǒng)的奧巴馬因其對減少溫室氣體排放、應對全球氣候變化所做的努力而榮獲該獎。

5. fervor [?f??v?（r）] n. 熱情，熱誠

6. prototype [?pr??t?ta?p] n. 原型；樣品

7. Peltier tiles： 珀耳帖貼片。簡單來說，當貼片一端熱、另一端冷的時候，它便能產(chǎn)生能量，從而發(fā)電。其工作原理涉及珀耳帖效應（Peltier Effect），即當電流通過相聯(lián)接的兩種導體時的吸熱和放熱現(xiàn)象。

8. mug [m?ɡ] n. （喝茶、咖啡等用的圓筒形有柄）大杯，馬克杯

9. UBC： （= University of British Columbia）不列顛哥倫比亞大學，世界著名公立研究型大學，坐落于加拿大溫哥華。

10. build on： 在……的基礎(chǔ)上繼續(xù)前進

11. harness [?hɑ?n?s] vt. 利用

12. college [?k?l?d?] n. （加拿大）高等專科學校；高等職業(yè)學院

13. reach out to sb.： （通常指為了幫助或加入其中而）與（某人）溝通，與（某人）打成一片endprint