DEVELOPMENT REPORT - FutureShack' for Refugees

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - FutureShack' for Refugees¹
By Jill Moss²

Broadcast: Monday, July 05, 2004

This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Sean Godsell designs buildings. He is an award-winning architect in Australia. He is also active in social issues. Mister³ Godsell has designed an emergency shelter for refugees and homeless people. He calls the structure a FutureShack. But it is not really a building. Mister Godsell made it from an old shipping⁴ container used to transport goods.

The steel box is about six-and-a-half meters long and two-and-a-half meters wide. It is also two-and-a-half meters high.

 
FutureShack
Mister Godsell covered the inside with wood. Parts of the walls fold down to make beds and a table. The structure also has areas for cooking and bathing. There are two doors for airflow. And there is glass on part of the back wall. The top also has windows for light. Balanced above the top of the structure is an angled⁵ roof.

Mister Godsell says FutureShacks could be sent around the world in times of crisis⁶. He estimates⁷ that each structure would cost about fifteen-thousand dollars if produced in large numbers.

But some critics have questioned how useful this temporary shelter would be in hot weather. Mister Godsell says air conditioners could be placed in the windows to cool the containers. These machines could even be powered with energy from the sun.

Yet there are also questions about the effect that FutureShacks might have on the future of refugees who have lost their homes. Norman Day is a professor of architecture in Australia. He has written that FutureShacks could rob refugees of the desire they need to rebuild their lives.

Mister Godsell says he got the idea when he was a student fourteen years ago. But he did not develop the structure until nineteen-ninety-nine. He entered the design into a competition organized by the group Architecture for Humanity⁸. The competition was to design housing⁹ for returning refugees in Kosovo, the Serbian province now administrated by the United Nations. The FutureShack design was praised for its usefulness, but was not put into use.

A model built by Mister Godsell can be seen through October in New York City. It is at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Internet users¹⁰ can find out more about the FutureShack at www.seangodsell.com. That's www.seangodsell.com.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Robert Cohen.

1 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

2 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。

3 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 angled   

adj.成一定角度放置的；以迎合某种观点而提出的；有角度的

参考例句：

• She angled the mirror so as to reflect light from a window. 她为了反射窗外的光线而把镜子摆成某一角度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She angled for a good name. 她沽名钓誉。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

7 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 humanity   

n.人类，[总称]人(性)，人道[pl.]人文学科

参考例句：

• Such an act is a disgrace to humanity.这种行为是人类的耻辱。
• We should treat animals with humanity.我们应该以仁慈之心对待动物。

9 housing   

n.房屋，住宅；住房建筑；外壳，外罩

参考例句：

• Do you think our housing sales will turn around during this year?你认为今年我们的住宅销路会好转吗？
• The housing sales have been turning down since the summer.入夏以来，房屋的销售量日趋减少。

10 users   

用户，使用者( user的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The new software will prove a boon to Internet users. 这种新软件将会对互联网用户大有益处。
• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。