VOA常速英语2017--学生们聚集在美国、国外学习“通用语言”：编码（在线收听）

NEW YORK — 

As a handful of students gathered to learn a new language at the Microsoft store in New York City, a different set of students gathered a world away in Nigeria to embark on a similar journey.

在纽约城的微软商店里，几名学生聚在一起学习一种新的语言。在世界的另一端，尼日利亚的拉各斯，一组不同的学生们也正在开启相同的旅程。

“Coding is a universal language.Coding is the language of solving problems.”

“编码是一种通用语言，是一种解决问题的语言。”

Every website and mobile application we interact with is coded using various programming languages,the fundamentals of which can be taught to someone as young as 4.

我们与之互动的每一个网站和移动应用程序都是使用不同的编程语言进行编码的，其基本原理甚至可以教给仅有4岁的孩子。

“It’s very rare that a new literacy comes along in our lifetime.And it absolutely can be democratized.”

“在我们这一生，出现一种新的学问是极其罕见的。并且毫无疑问，它可以被大众化。”

To that end, Microsoft has partnered with nonprofit Code.org to offer free workshops and online tutorials.

为了这个目的，微软与非赢利组织Code.org合作，提供免费的讲习班和在线教学。

The company is also building on efforts abroad, partnering with 25 aspiring entrepreneurs in Lagos, Nigeria.

公司也在国外不断努力，与尼日利亚拉各斯的25位富有上进心的企业家进行合作。

“Many of our entrepreneurs aren’t technical.But that doesn’t mean they don’t know what problems exist in Nigeria and they don’t have a solution to fix it.”

“与我们合作的企业家，有很多都不是专业的。但这并不意味着他们不知道尼日利亚存在什么问题，也并不意味着他们不知道如何解决这些问题。”

Among those solutions are startups like OneTrack, which aims to deter child- kidnapping to a mobile tracking.

在这些解决措施中，有OneTrack这种新创办的小公司，旨在使用移动跟踪技术来阻止儿童绑架案的发生。

The cultural exchange was illuminating, even when it wasn’t.

这种文化交流是有启发性的，即使没有启发也是好的。

“We were coding one night ... we’re working on prototypes, the lights go out, no one notices. They just keep typing, to them, it’s a way of life.”

“有一天晚上我们正在编码，我们正在进行原型方面的工作，灯突然灭了，但竟然没有人注意到。他们还在继续打字。对他们来说，这就是一种生活方式。”

A way of life that provided invaluable feedback.

一种能提供无价成果的生活方式。

“One of the things that we are actively focusing on now is, how can we have a better off-line experience for our products.For us, it’s about learning.”

“我们现在正积极关注的事情之一就是，怎样才能使我们的产品有一个更好的脱机体验。对于我们来说，这就是在学习。”

These lessons will ultimately guide the next generation of digital pioneers,whether they originate in New York or Nigeria.

这些经验教训最终将会引导下一代数字先锋们，不管他们来自纽约还是尼日利亚。