VOA常速英语2014--Schoolchildren Design Cities of the Future 学生设计未来的城市（在线收听）

Schoolchildren Design Cities of the Future 学生设计未来的城市

WASHINGTON — What will the cities of the future look like?

华盛顿-将来的城市看起来像什么？

That was the challenge addressed by 40,000 middle school students from 1,350 schools across the U.S. in an annual competition to design the urban landscape of tomorrow. Thirty-seven teams made the finals and traveled to Washington, D.C., to defend their ideas before the judges at the Future City competition.

来自全美1350学校的40000名中学生参与“明天城市风景年度竞赛”，37组进入最后的决赛，他们齐聚华盛顿特区参与未来城市竞赛，在裁判面前表达自己对未来城市的想法。

The annual contest aims to direct young people toward careers in science and technology. It is sponsored by a consortium of professional and technical societies and some major U.S. corporations.

这项年度竞赛目标是引导学生职业规划向科学和科技方便发展，由职业和技术学会，一些美国的大公司联合举办。

The students built tabletop scale models of their designs using recycled materials, costing no more than $100. The teams also had to write essays about their solutions, explain their ideas to the crowd and answer the questions asked by a six-member expert panel.

学生们使用回收材料建造桌面大小的设计模型，成本不超过100美元，每组必须写篇论文讲述他们的解决方案，解释对人群居住的想法，回答由6人专家委员会提出的问题。

Uraban transportation

城市交通

Gregory Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems Incorporated, one of the competition's major sponsors, said this year’s theme was ‘urban transportation’ -- an increasingly important issue for the world's cities.

Gregory Bentley是奔特力工程软件有限公司的首席执行官，也是此次竞赛的一个主要赞助者，他说今年的主题是城市交通问题-对世界城市来说，它的重要性正在不断受到重视。

“We sort of have the first generation, I think now, in the United States, who are not committed to having a car to be a part of their life,” said Bentley.

可以说，现在我认为，我们美国人不会把拥有一辆车作为生活的一部分。

Eighth-graders from the southern state of Georgia -- David Straub, Katherine Barri and Rebecca North -- envisioned their city far into the future.

8年级学生来自美国南部佐治亚州的David Straub,Katherine Barri and Rebecca North 展示他们对未来城市的想法，

Straub said they predicted that public transport would be effortless and eco-friendly. “It’s a new system that focuses, has a focus on magnetic frequency, which will allow people to levitate and float along the magnetic fields,” he said.

认为公共交通是环保型，而且不费力的，新的交通系统主要聚焦在磁场频率方面，他允许人们在磁场区域内浮空或沿着磁场方向移动。

Young teens compete

年轻人之间的竞争

Leila Mezza, Oha Hassan and Mousa Seid from Houston, Texas, imagined a city in Brazil in 2084, with transport relying on electric cars. “These garages have photovoltaic cells and whenever our cars are parked over here, they get their energy to drive later on," said Mezza.

来自休斯顿，德克萨斯州eila Mezza, Oha Hassan andMousa Seid想象巴西在2084年的交通主要靠电车，到处的汽车修理厂有光电池，不管车停在哪里，不久，车就能够获得能量继续行驶，

Bentley said the Future City competition, now in its 22nd year, is deliberately focused on young teens. “Because at that age in the United States, they have to elect the math courses, the advanced math courses. If they don’t at that age, they will never be an engineer,” he said.

Bentley说，”将来城市竞赛”第22期有意聚焦在年轻人身上是因为在美国，年轻人必须选择数学或更高级的数学，如果不，将来不会成为工程师。

The grand prize of $7,500 went to St. John Lutheran School in Michigan. The team members won a trip to U.S. Space Camp.

大奖7500美元被密歇根St.John Lutheran学校的小组获得，每个小组成员赢得参加美国太空营。

Even if they didn't win, the experience of working on an engineering project has encouraged many of the kids to think about a career in science and technology. One of them is Eric Swyler from New Mexico, who said, “I plan to become a scientist of some kind, but I’m not sure exactly what kind.”

虽然许多孩子没有获奖，但此次关于工程项目的经历鼓励他们考虑关于科学和科技方面的职业规划。来自新墨西哥的EricSwyler就是其中的一员，他说，他计划成为一名科学家，具体哪类科学家还没有确定，

Swyler does not have to worry. He has plenty of time to decide.

他还有足够的时间去决定，不着急。