Meet Some Top Students in the Intel Science Talent Search

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
The Intel Science Talent Search is the top science competition for high school students in the United States. The forty finalists were honored in Washington last week. They met with scientists and politicians. President Obama welcomed them to the White House.
英特尔科学奖（Intel Science Talent Search）是美国最顶级的高中生科学竞赛。上周，40名入围决赛者在华盛顿获得表彰。他们见到了一些科学家和政治家，还得到了美国总统奥巴马的接见。
These forty students were selected from almost two thousand contestants¹ nationwide. They had to present original research to be judged by professional scientists. The students showed their research projects on large posters. The winners were announced March fifteenth.
这40名入围学生是从全美国近2000名选手中选拨出来的。他们必须提交自己的原创研究作品，交由专业的科学家做出评判。这些学生在大型海报上展示了他们的研究项目，获奖名单已于3月15日公布。
Wendy Hawkins is executive director of the Intel Foundation. She says the forty finalists represented excellence² across many areas of science.
温迪·霍金斯（Wendy Hawkins）是英特尔基金会执行董事。她说，这40名入围者代表着众多科学领域的优胜者。
WENDY HAWKINS: "These students bring work that is ready for publication and in many cases has already been published in pretty much any branch of science that you can think of: physics, electrical engineering. And the projects are deep and rich and insightful."
霍金斯：“这些学生带来了待发表或已经发表的研究成果，涵盖你能想到的任何科学分支。包括物理学电气工程等。这些研究项目内容丰富，极富见地。”
Selena Li is from Fair Oaks, California. She wanted to find a more effective treatment for liver cancer. She began her research four years ago. A scientist at the University of California, Davis, taught her how to design and do experimental work in the laboratory.
李诗瑶（Selena Li）来自加州费尔奥克斯。她试图找出一种更有效的肝癌疗法。她于四年前开始这项研究，加州大学戴维斯分校的一名科学家担任她的实验室导师。”
SELINA LI: "I researched a new approach to targeting liver cancer by basically starving the liver cancer cells to death, while leaving the normal cells unaffected. And, to go one step further, I blocked a survival pathway to make the treatment more effective."
李诗瑶：“我研究出一种在不影响正常细胞的情况下消灭肝癌细胞的新疗法。这种疗法还进一步阻止了肝癌细胞的生存途径，使治疗更加有效。”
Ms. Li placed fifth in the Intel Science Talent Search and was awarded thirty thousand dollars.
李诗瑶在英特尔科学奖中名列第五，并获得三万美元奖金。
Scott Boisvert lives near Phoenix³, Arizona. He began using a laboratory at the University of Arizona at the age of fourteen. Over four years, he completed a project studying a fungus⁴ linked to the decrease in amphibians⁵ around the world.
斯科特·博伊西弗特居住在亚利桑那州凤凰城附近。他十四岁就开始使用亚利桑那大学的实验室。经过4年，他完成了一项和全球两栖类动物锐减有关的真菌的研究。
He was trying to find out if different chemicals and substances in the water could kill the fungus. He collected and tested water samples across Arizona.
他试图找出水中各类不同的化学品和其他物质是否会杀死这种真菌。他在亚利桑那州各地采集并检测了水样。
SCOTT BOISVERT: "My results were able to identify a list of chemicals that were significant in the growth and in the movement of the fungus."
博伊西弗特：“我的研究结果能够确定出一个在真菌的生长和移动过程中非常显著的化学品名单。”
He placed tenth in the Intel competition and was awarded twenty thousand dollars.
他名列英特尔科学奖竞赛第10名，并获得两万美元奖金。
Evan O'Dorney of Danville, California, won the top award of one hundred thousand dollars in this year's Intel Science Talent Search. For his mathematical project, he compared two ways to estimate the square root of an integer, a number with no fractional parts.
加州丹维尔市的埃文·奥多尼（Evan O'Dorney）获得今年英特尔科学奖10万美元头奖。在他的数学研究项目中，他比较了两种估算整数的平方根的方法。
Wendy Hawkins at the Intel Foundation says these young people represent the next generation of scientists who will help shape America's future.
英特尔基金会的霍金斯表示，这些年轻人代表了塑造美国未来的下一代科学家。

1 contestants   

n.竞争者，参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

3 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

4 fungus   

n.真菌，真菌类植物

参考例句：

• Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
• This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。

5 amphibians   

两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器

参考例句：

• The skin of amphibians is permeable to water. 两栖动物的皮肤是透水的。
• Two amphibians ferry them out over the sands. 两辆水陆两用车把他们渡过沙滩。