VOA常速英语2015--解决非洲水和燃料的办法（在线收听）

解决非洲水和燃料的办法

Governments of developing countries in Africa often lack the resources and infrastructure to solve the everyday problems of their inhabitants. But every so often, authorities and local entrepreneurs find low-tech solutions with the potential for being adopted across the continent.

Access to clean drinking water is still a challenge for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, especially for people living in large city slums, such as Mathare, in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

对于撒哈拉南部非洲的很多国家来说，获得清洁饮用水仍是个问题，尤其对于生活在大城市贫民窟的人来说，比如肯尼亚首都内罗毕的玛萨瑞贫民窟。

Many slum residents, mostly women, had to walk several kilometers to the nearest source of water, which often was contaminated.

贫民窟的很多居民，主要是妇女们，只能步行几公里到最近的水源处，而那里的水通常都已被污染。

“Then we did not trust the water, it was dirty, so we had to boil it before drinking,” said Mathare, Kenya, resident Pauline Wanza.

“我们不相信这里的水，太脏了，所以只能煮沸再饮用。”

Instead of building a costly pipe network, the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, in partnership with the Danish company Grundfos, installed four machines that dispense clean water.

内罗毕给水公司没有建造昂贵的管道网络，而是与丹麦格兰富水泵公司合作安装了出售清洁水的机器。

Customers pay with a smart card - about half a U.S. cent for 20 liters of water. They can add money to the card through smartphones or at kiosks.

消费者用一种智能卡来支付，大约半美分可以买20升水，可以通过智能手机或报摊给卡充值。

Officials say paying with smart cards ensures the water is dispensed in an orderly manner.

官方称用智能卡支付可以确保有序售水。

“The water being dispensed by the machine here, we are sure of its quality, we are assuring them they will be getting quality water from the machine,” said Philip Gichuki, of Nairobi City Water and Sewage Company.

“通过这样的机器来售水，我们能确保水的质量，能确保人们从机器里获得高质量的饮用水。”

The water company says it plans to install more water-dispensing machines.

这家水公司称计划安装更多售水机。

Clean air is another challenge for African households - as many still use open fires for cooking and heating. Breathing air saturated with toxic smoke creates lasting respiratory problems, especially for children.

对于非洲居民来说，清洁空气是另一个问题，因为很多人家仍使用明火来烹饪和加热，呼吸带有毒烟的空气会导致持久的呼吸问题，尤其是对儿童来说。

“In the world today, globally, 4 million people die out of cooking with biomass energy, and the deaths are caused by respiratory related health problems associated with smoke in the kitchen,” said Mary Njenga, a post-doctoral researcher.

“如今全世界有400万人因使用生物能源烹饪而死亡，死亡原因是与厨房烟雾有关的呼吸相关疾病。”

That could change, thanks to Kenya’s annual production of 600,000 tons of sugar, which leaves huge mounds of a byproduct called bagasse.

这一情况可以得到改变，这是因为肯尼亚每年出产食糖60万吨，这样就留下大量的副产品——甘蔗渣。

Kenyan entrepreneur Tom Osborn realized the bagasse could be turned into a fuel that, when burned, does not emit hazardous fumes.

肯尼亚企业家汤姆·奥斯本意识到可以将甘蔗渣转化为一种燃料，这种燃料燃烧后不会释放有毒烟雾。

“We take sugarcane waste and then we recycle this into eco-friendly, smokeless and high energy charcoal briquettes which can be used just as conventional charcoal is used in normal stoves and in boilers,” said Osborn.

“我们将甘蔗渣回收，转化为有益环境的、无烟、高能量煤球，可以像常规煤球那样用在炉子和锅炉里。”

Bagasse is burned in a special kiln with a reduced supply of oxygen. The resulting product is mixed with a binding agent, pressed into briquettes and packed into sacks.

甘蔗渣在氧气较少的条件下在炉窑里燃烧，其产品与一种粘合剂相混合，然后被挤压成煤球并装入袋子里。

Consumers say it is a huge improvement over regular firewood.

消费者称这是对常规柴火的一大改进。

“When I started using this one, the children do not get sick and the house does not get too hot. Also the food does not have a smoky taste. It is nice,” said Linet Nyadya, who is a grandmother.

“当我使用这种煤球后，孩子们就不再生病，房子也不会变得太热，食物上也没有一股烟味，这很好。”

Osborn's company, GreenChar, hopes to eventually reach more than 6 million customers.

奥斯本的公司GreenChar希望能将这种产品推广给600多万消费者。