VOA常速英语2020--南非出租小巴成为新冠病毒温床（在线收听）

The humble minibus taxi is a lifeline for more than 70 percent of south Africa's workforce. But health experts worry this system is a breeding ground for coronavirus, because of riders' close quarters and the high volume of passengers. A new South African non-profit initiative led by a businessman, who was also the eldest son of president Cyril Ramaphosa, is trying to address this gap. When we insisted as business and as south Africans, let's open this economy by not dealing with the commute, we basically undid what was happening with lockdown. So if you deal with the transport sector, because covid is a virus that moves through the transport sector. If you deal with that effectively, you could actually put in an artificial lockdown. HIV researcher Dr. Jenny Pfeiffer Coetzee, founder and director of the African Potential Foundation, says her team has come up with several solutions, ranging from simple to complex.

对于南非超过70%的劳动力而言，这种不起眼的出租小巴是他们的生计来源。但卫生专家担心，由于乘客距离较近，乘客量大，出租小巴系统会成为冠状病毒的温床。一位南非商人新成立的非营利组织正试图解决这一问题，这位商人同时也是总统西里尔·拉马福萨的长子。当我们坚持作为商人和南非人，妄图开放经济，却不处理通勤问题的时候，我们进行封锁所做的一切努力就算是白费了。所以如果你着手处理运输部门，因为新冠病毒可以通过公共交通运输传播。如果你能有效地处理这个问题，实际上可以进行人为封锁。HIV研究者珍妮·菲弗·库切博士博士是非洲潜力基金会的创始人和负责人，她说她的团队已经提出了几种从简单到复杂的解决方案。

What we're looking at is a system very similar to what's being used in ambulances, and that is to adapt a UVC air filter that allows the airflow to be encouraged within the taxi, using various fans within the filter. And air passes through the filter, where it's then irradiated within a matter of seconds, and is then transferred back out into the taxi to be circulated out of the taxi. Her team is also considering an alarm system, that alerts passengers to open the windows to allow fresh air to circulate. At sanitizing stations that passengers can use to clean their hands before boarding, and at a divider between the driver and passenger. "That last intervention," says Ramaphosas business partner Brad Fisher,"is especially crucial." He says the government's efforts- sanitizing taxis- only work up to a point. But you can spray this rank to death once you get into the taxi, where there's a closed environment, it’s a capsule. With whatever it is, whether it's filled with ten people's epidemic, that driver gets sick statistically. The driver has seen two thousand people a month ago, he's gonna get sick. "These measures," say Ramaphosa's team,"could decrease the risk of infection by up to 80 percent." So far, SDI has fitted out 5,000 school transport taxis and 1,000 commuter taxis. At an estimated cost of about 340,000 dollars, which works out to about 60 dollars per vehicle, much of it provided by donors. It's been quite a journey of discovery for us non-scientists to bring all these people together, with one thing in mind, we need our people to get to work safely and we need to save lives. Pfeiffer Cutsia says the team is also looking at how to scale the model to fit other African countries, which use similar transport systems to move millions of people each day. 

我们现在研究的系统与救护车上使用的系统非常相似，这个系统是由UVC空气过滤器改造而成，通过在过滤器中使用各种风扇，允许气流在出租车内串通。空气通过过滤器后会在几秒内进行辐射杀菌处理，然后处理过的空气会被输送回出租车内部，再循环出出租车。她的团队也在考虑研发一个警报系统，提醒乘客打开窗户，让新鲜空气流通。在乘客上车前，可以在消毒站以及司机和乘客之间的隔板处清洁双手。拉马福萨的商业伙伴布拉德·费舍尔说，“最后一道关口的介入尤为关键。”他说，政府对出租车进行消毒的努力只起到了一定的作用。 一旦你上了出租车，被感染的风险就会急剧上升，因为那是个封闭的环境，是密封车厢。不管是什么，车厢内是否坐满十名乘客，且乘客中有感染病例，统计显示司机都会很容易被感染。如果那个司机一个月前见过两千个人，他就会感染新冠病毒。拉马福萨的团队表示，“这些措施可以将感染风险降低80%。”到目前为止，SDI已为五千辆学校交通的士和一千辆通勤的士安装了设备。估计费用约为34万美元，相当于每辆车约60美元，其中大部分由捐助者提供。对于我们这些非科学家来说，把所有这些人聚集在一起就像是一个相当漫长的发现之旅。我们要铭记在心，我们需要所有人安全地工作，我们需要拯救生命。菲弗·卡齐亚说，研究小组还正在研究如何将这种模式扩展到其他非洲国家，这些国家使用类似的交通系统每天运送数百万人。

Anita Powell voa news Johannesburg

美国之音，记者安妮塔·鲍威尔，约翰内斯堡报道。