美国国家公共电台 NPR From Believeland To Blockland — Cleveland Aims To Be A Tech Hub

From Believeland To Blockland — Cleveland Aims To Be A Tech Hub

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Cleveland, Ohio, is moving to update its image and its economy. The city known for old-line industries, Lake Erie, LeBron James and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wants to make itself a center of blockchain technology, the software behind cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Here's Jeff St. Clair of member station WKSU.

JEFF ST CLAIR, BYLINE¹: Believeland was Cleveland's catchphrase when, in 2016, LeBron James and the Cavaliers delivered the city's first sports championship in half a century. Now LeBron is gone, and Clevelanders may be looking for something new to believe in. Bernie Moreno thinks that should be embracing Cleveland as a tech town. Moreno is a blockchain evangelist and luxury car dealer² who is quick to resist a sports comparison.

BERNIE MORENO: I know LeBron James, and I'm no LeBron James (laughter), OK? So let's get that out of the way.

ST CLAIR: Moreno is trying to marshal his salesmanship skills to promote Cleveland as a center for blockchain innovation.

MORENO: If you're going to have a blockchain startup, this is the place you'd do it. If you're going to invest in blockchain startups, this is the place I would invest in. And if you're a developer, you're a student who wants to do blockchain development, Cleveland's the place where you would do it.

ST CLAIR: Blockchain is basically a digital lockbox that stores any kind of transaction in a secure block that's shared across independent computers. It's the technology behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin but is quickly transitioning to other uses, like digital home deeds, municipal bonds...

MORENO: Digital car titles. There's digital driver's licenses³, birth certificates, college degrees, medical records.

ST CLAIR: One Cleveland startup is even testing a blockchain-based voting app. Hilary Carter is managing director of the Blockchain Research Institute in Toronto, a think tank laying out road maps for business uses of the technology.

HILARY CARTER: Cleveland stepped up to be the very first city outside of Canada to want access to the thought leadership that we're creating at the BRI.

ST CLAIR: Here's what Moreno says it would take to build Blockland. The city would need to attract around 1,000 software developers to the region who will help launch a couple dozen blockchain-based startups. He's planning to open a 100,000-square-foot downtown campus to incubate those companies, complete with a K-12 school.

MORENO: We call the school Genesis because in the blockchain world, genesis is the first block in the blockchain.

ST CLAIR: Moreno has also put together a dream team of Cleveland's civic⁴ leaders to help organize the Blockland Cleveland conference in December. Suzanne Rivera is vice⁵ president of research at Case Western Reserve University and likes the ambitious idea.

SUZANNE RIVERA: I really think of it as a movement. This is going to be the way of the future. We can either let it pass us by, or we can seize this opportunity.

ST CLAIR: But many here struggle with understanding blockchain itself and its potential benefits.

WAVERLY WILLIS: It's regular, blue-collar guys that's saying, why do I need to know about this stuff? And so you need a person like me to be able to explain it.

ST CLAIR: Waverly Willis is the first barber in Cleveland to accept bitcoin as payment and an early backer of the Blockland project. He says Cleveland needs a plan that goes beyond the city's CEOs and academic leaders to lift people in his neighborhood. Bernie Moreno agrees.

MORENO: This whole thing works when the average citizen of Cleveland is dramatically smarter than the average citizen anywhere else relative to blockchain technology.

ST CLAIR: From Believeland to Blockland, it's a technology Hail Mary of sorts from a city competing to stake its claim as a blockchain capital. For NPR News, I'm Jeff St. Clair.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

3 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

4 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。