6 Minute English / 3D printers

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Sam.

And I m Neil. In 1436 in Germany, Johannes Gutenberg, invented the printing press - a machine capable of making many copies of the same page of text. Ever since, printing has been used around the world to produce books, newspapers and magazines.

Printing technology has come a long way since Gutenberg s time, but even today s most advanced laser printers have only printed flat, two-dimensional objects until now.

In this programme, we re discussing 3D printers printers which can build solid, three-dimensional objects out of a variety of materials including plastic, concrete and metal.

Now, Neil, when you say a printer that can make solid objects, I guess you re not talking about a normal printer

That s right, Sam. These large and complex 3D printers work in a completely different way. Unlike a sculptor who chips away at a block of stone to reveal a shape underneath, 3D printers work in the opposite way, building up physical objects by adding material layer on layer. And the ability to print objects in this way is providing solutions to many problems, as we ll be finding out

But first I have a question for you, Neil. Before Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press, copies of texts were made by block printing, using hand-carved wooden blocks pressed into ink. So - what was the oldest known text to be printed this way? Was it:

a) a religious teaching?b) a cooking recipe? or,c) a love letter?

I think it might have been a recipe.