VOA慢速英语-Development Report - Getting Weather Reports to Rura

The RANET project helps national weather services improve their reach. Transcript¹ of radio broadcast:
16 June 2008

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

In many developing countries, weather reports remain trapped in the capital. National weather services have the information, but no way to get it to farmers and other people in rural communities.
　

A flooded neighborhood last December in East Java, Indonesia, one of the countries involved in RANET

This is the job of an international project called RANET -- Rural Communications using Radio and the Internet. RANET works with national weather services to improve their reach.

Kelly Sponberg at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric² Administration in the United States is the program coordinator³. He says that although there is a lot of work at the national level, RANET really happens at the community level.

The project develops networks of satellite receiver systems, community radio stations and other technologies. Communities often are provided with some equipment, but the systems are locally owned and supported.

RANET uses the WorldSpace satellite system and will soon be on GEONETCast. This is a network of satellite-based systems that provide environmental information.

RANET also works with nongovernmental groups and others to make sure information meets local needs. In addition to weather, broadcast time can be filled with advertisements, local music and reports on farming and market conditions.

RANET began in the year two thousand. Kelly Sponberg says the project has set up several hundred local stations in Asia, Africa and the Pacific. RANET is also moving into Latin America.

And the project does not just involve community radio stations. For example, RANET helped the Indonesian government develop ways to broadcast warnings of tsunamis⁴ and severe weather.

RANET has a yearly budget of about seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. Money comes from donors⁵ including the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance in the United States Agency for International Development. And technical support comes from groups including the First Voice International, Wantok Enterprises and the Freeplay Foundation.

RANET is working to improve communications in countries with limited power supplies. And, in the next month or two, it hopes to launch a community reporter program. Local citizens will provide weather reports and other information through text messaging.

The RANET Web site is ranetproject.net.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss⁶.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

3 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

4 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

5 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。