DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Canadian Professor Aims to 'Light Up th

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Canadian Professor Aims to 'Light Up the World'
By Gary Garriott

Broadcast: Monday, November 01, 2004

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

A light emitting diode, or L.E.D., is a device that shines when electricity passes through it. But it works differently than traditional kinds of light bulbs. Light emitting diodes use less energy and last much longer than bulbs with a filament¹ inside. L.E.D.'s are also cooler to the touch, and shine a lot brighter than they used to.

Red L.E.D.'s have long been used as signal lights on electronic equipment. But now light emitting diodes also come in blue and other colors. Colored L.E.D.'s are used to show images on everything from wireless² phones to huge video signs. And white L.E.D.'s are being used increasingly to replace traditional lighting³ systems.

But all these require electricity. In poor countries, people often burn fuel to produce light. But the smoke can make people sick. So an electrical engineering professor from Canada started a project to produce L.E.D. lighting systems for the developing world.

These lights are powered by batteries that can be recharged with energy from the sun. The batteries can also be charged through other ways, such as wind power, water power or pedal power. Someone sits and pedals a wheel connected to a generator⁴.

Professor David Irvine-Halliday tells the story of how he got the idea. In nineteen ninety-seven, while climbing in the Annapurna mountains in Nepal, he saw a small school. All the children were outside. He looked though a window and saw that inside the school was dark. The school had a sign that read: "We have no teachers. If you want to stay and teach for a few days, we would be very pleased."

Professor Irvine-Halliday says that experience had a big effect on him. Back at the University of Calgary, he was on the Internet one day. He saw a company in Japan selling bright white L.E.D.'s. So he built a light with some. This is how he began the Light Up the World Foundation.

This non-profit group has provided lights to several thousand homes in Asia and Latin America. Presently the foundation does not sell its products to individuals. But it does sell to non-governmental organizations and humanitarian⁵ groups.

Professor Irvine-Halliday says "we have a market that is very large." He notes that about two thousand million people around the world live without electricity.

The Web site for the foundation is lightuptheworld.org.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Gary Garriott. This is Gwen Outen.

1 filament   

n.细丝；长丝；灯丝

参考例句：

• The source of electrons in an electron microscope is a heated filament.电子显微镜中的电子源，是一加热的灯丝。
• The lack of air in the bulb prevents the filament from burning up.灯泡内缺乏空气就使灯丝不致烧掉。

2 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

3 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

4 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。