VOA慢速英语2019 青少年在谷歌科学挑战赛上解决世界难题（在线收听）

Young People Solve the World’s Problems at Google Science Fair

When 16-year-old Celestine Wenardy learned that diabetes was a "silent killer" in her home country of Indonesia, she wanted to find an easy way for people to test their blood sugar levels.

当16岁的塞莱斯廷·维纳尔迪得知糖尿病在她的祖国印尼是一个“沉默的杀手”时，她想要找到一种方便人们测试血糖水平的方法。

People with diabetes usually take a few drops of their own blood to measure the sugar levels. The Indonesian teenager came up with an idea of using heat on a person's skin for the test.

糖尿病患者通常会抽几滴血测量血糖水平。这位印尼少年想出了一个主意，利用人体皮肤上的热量来测量血糖。

She explains how the test works.

她解释了这种测试的原理。

"So this looks like there is no light passing through, but actually if you covered it up, there is light that passes through your skin."

她说：“这看起来没有光线通过，但实际上如果你把它遮住，就会有光线穿过你的皮肤。”

Discussing her work, she told VOA: "I need to make sure it's absolutely accurate, because people's health is in your hands."

在谈到她的作品时，她对美国之音表示：“我需要确保检测结果的绝对正确，因为人们的健康握在你的手里。”

After one failure, the 16-year-old then entered her project in the Google Science Fair. She ended up winning the Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award.

在失败一次之后，这位16岁的少年携她的项目进入了谷歌科学挑战赛。她最终赢得了维珍银河先锋奖。

Celestine Wenardy is part of 20 teams of students competing this week. The teenagers are from 14 countries. They brought with them new ideas for solving problems in health, the environment and sustainability.

维纳尔迪是本周参赛的20支学生队伍之一。这些少年来自14个国家。他们带来了解决健康、环境和可持续问题的新思路。

Turning sign language into speech

将手语转换成语音

Daniel Kazantsev from Russia is another student at the science fair. He wanted to help people with a physical disability or those recovering from an injury.

来自俄罗斯的丹尼尔·卡赞采夫是另一名参赛学生。他希望帮助那些身体残疾人士或是从伤病中恢复的人士。

His project uses sensors to measure arm and hand movements, such as sign language. The sensors turn the measurements into actual speech. His project won the LEGO Education Award.

他的项目使用传感器来检测上肢和手部的动作，例如手语。这些传感器将这些检测结果转换为实际语音。他的项目获得了乐高教育奖。

Students from Saudi Arabia developed an exoskeleton glove for an injured hand. The device helps teach the hand how to move.

来自沙特的学生们为受伤的手开发了一个外骨骼手套。该设备有助于训练手如何运动。

Harvesting the energy from tree movements

从树木摆动中收获能量

Tuan Dolmen from Turkey wanted to harvest energy produced from the movement of tree branches. He said that energy can then be used by farmers to power devices in the field to measure air quality. The project was awarded the Scientific American Innovator Award.

土耳其的图安·杜尔门试图收集树枝摆动产生的能量。他说，然后这些能量能让农民用于驱动田间测量空气质量的设备。该项目获得了科学美国创新奖。

"I'm a bit shocked, actually," he said about the award. "I feel really proud that someone has appreciated my work. It has been a pleasure, and it has been an honor."

他谈到这个奖项时表示：“实际上我有点震惊。有人欣赏我的作品，这让我感到非常自豪。这是一种幸福，也是一种荣耀。”

The winner of the Google Grand Prize, which comes with $50,000, was Fionn Ferreira from Ireland. He created a new method to remove microplastics from the water using magnets.

来自爱尔兰的费昂·费雷拉获得了有5万美元奖金的谷歌大奖。他创造了一种利用磁铁从水中去除塑料微粒的新方法。

"I live in the middle of nowhere, so I had to build everything myself. If I wanted to test my things, I'd have to build a spectrometer or I'd have to build a microscope... It was enjoyable to do everything from my very limited resources from where I live."

他说：“我住在一个偏僻的地方，所以我不得不自己建造一切。如果我想要测试我的东西，我就必须造一个光谱仪或显微镜。在我住的地方，在我有限的资源范围里，做任何事情都是令人愉快的。”

The judges commented that Ferreira's project represented the spirit of exploration.

评委们评论称，费雷拉的项目代表了探索精神。

Words in This Story

sustainability – n. the ability to be kept or continue at a set rate or level

branch – n. a part of a tree

proud – adj. feeling deep satisfaction

appreciate – v. to recognize the worth of someone or something