VOA慢速英语2009-Development Report - In India, a Cycle Rickshaw

This the VOA Special English Development Report.

Picture a bicycle with a two-wheeled carriage in place of a back tire. India has millions of these cycle rickshaws. The operators are called pullers. They ride through the streets pulling passengers and goods. Unlike auto¹ rickshaws, which burn fuel, cycle rickshaws produce no pollution. But the job of a rickshaw puller is not easy.
　
Soleckshaw

Now, to help ease their labor², there is the Solar-Electric Rickshaw, or Soleckshaw. This is the product of work of several scientific, industrial and environmental agencies.

An electric motor helps the operator pull a heavy load or go up a hill. A thirty-six volt³ battery can carry the rickshaw forty kilometers. Top speed is fifteen kilometers an hour, and the Soleckshaw does not pollute. The project includes a battery charging station at a Delhi Metro⁴ Rail Station.

Testing of the Soleckshaw was launched in Delhi in October. The nonprofit Center for Rural Development is supervising the project.

The goal with the new rickshaw is to increase the number of trips per day that the pullers can make. There is also space for advertising⁵, a way for them to earn additional money.

The designers suggest that rickshaw pullers could repay a loan to buy a Soleckshaw within about two or three years. They could borrow the money from the Rickshaw Bank.

India's seven to eight million pullers usually pay one-third of their earnings⁶ to the owner of a rickshaw to use it by the day. But in two thousand four the Center for Rural Development had the idea for a bank to help self-employed workers buy their own rickshaws.

There are plans for improved versions of the Soleckshaw, and to use them when New Delhi hosts the Commonwealth⁷ Games next year.

Vandana Prakash writes about environmental policy. She wrote at ecowordly.com that Soleckshaws are a great step forward. But she says several important issues and questions are getting lost in all the excitement.

She suggests that pullers might not be able to earn enough to pay back a loan for the current high cost of a Soleckshaw. The price is four hundred forty dollars compared to one hundred seventy, or less, for a traditional cycle rickshaw.

And how, she asks, will they handle additional costs such as electric charging, batteries and solar panels? Vandana Prakash says the dream of creating "proud owners" needs greater planning and market research.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report. It was written by Jerilyn Watson.

　

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 volt   

n.伏特，伏

参考例句：

• You may use 100 and 110 volt appliances in your room.您可以在房间使用100及110伏特的电器。
• The common service voltage of electric power in our country is 220/380 volt.我国普通供电电压为220/380伏。

4 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。