VOA标准英语2008年-Cell Phones Allow Countries to 'Leapfrog' Techn

By Bill Rodgers
Washington
19 May 2008
 

Cell phones are an example of what is sometimes now called leapfrog technology, a product that allows developing nations the benefits of a reliable and extensive communications network without the heavy investment in fixed¹-line phone infrastructure². Mobile phones, along with Internet access, are part of a communications revolution that is helping³ boost income and stop the spread of disease in emerging economies. VOA's Bill Rodgers has more in this second of a series on technology in the developing world, with additional reporting by Cathy Majtenyi in Rwanda, Wakil Ehsass in Afghanistan, Nico Colombant in Liberia, and Ahadian Utama in Indonesia.

Abdul Wakil owns a dry goods store in the Afghan village of Daw Koo, about 40 kilometers north of Kabul. He says his cell phone has made all the difference.

"We used to go all the way to the city to order products, now it's only a phone call away and the costs are much less," he says.

The International Telecommunication⁴ Union says 72 percent of Afghanistan's population is now covered by a cell phone signal. By contrast, fewer than one person in a hundred has a fixed telephone line.

The rapid spread of cell phones in developing nations like Afghanistan is the result of several factors.

"There is a combination of being exposed to the technology, allowing it to get into the country, and then ... having an environment in which it can flourish. And that means having the regulatory environment, it means having a population that is able to take advantage of it," explains Andrew Burns, a lead economist⁵ at the World Bank who is the main author of a study on the spread of technology in the developing world.

Cell phone use worldwide has increased as more countries have opened up their state-owned telephone systems to allow private companies to build cellular⁶ networks. By the end of 2006, 68 percent of the world's cell phone subscriptions⁷ were in developing countries.

Burns says ease of use has been key to the cell phone's rapid spread.

"You don't have to be literate⁸, you don't have to be numerate⁹, you don't have to be able to do mathematics or anything particularly complex," he says. "You have to be able to type in the numbers, and it is extremely empowering."

And financially empowering as well. Mobile phone banking¹⁰ is rapidly becoming popular in developing countries, where many people do not have bank accounts.

In Kenya, a low cost cell phone service called M-Pesa allows people to send and receive money via text messages. The service is popular because it eliminates the need for people like Daniel Rohio to travel long distances to deliver or receive cash.

"If I wanted to send money to my mum at a particular time or my grandmother, she cannot receive that money and would have to wait for maybe at least one day or two days. So I have found M-Pesa a little bit easier to send money to them right now," says Rohio.

Cell phones also are proving to be a medical tool, helping to halt the spread of diseases such as AIDS. In Rwanda, health care workers in rural clinics use cell phones equipped with a special software developed by the U.S. company Voxiva. The software allows healthcare workers to enter data into cell phones about drug stocks and AIDS patients, and then transmit this information via text messages to health officials in Rwanda's capital, Kigali.

With this information, officials can better monitor the spread of AIDS and deploy¹¹ medical resources to clinics to treat the disease. Jean Luc Hassan Kavumu, a nurse at a rural Rwandan clinic, says the system has helped patients.

"I used to travel to Kigali to take information and while I was gone, there was no one to attend to the patients," says Kavumu. With this system, he says, he is now at the clinic all the time.

Yet in some nations, poverty is so great that cell phones have yet to make much of a difference.

So while cell phones have allowed developing nations to skip fixed-line technology, experts say they cannot, by themselves, bring about economic development. Reliable sources of electricity, advanced road networks and other infrastructure must be in place, they say, for developing countries to experience sustained economic growth.

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 telecommunication   

n.电信，远距离通信

参考例句：

• Telecommunication is an industry of service.电信业是一个服务型的行业。
• I only care about the telecommunication quality and the charge.我只关心通信质量和资费两个方面。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

7 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

9 numerate   

adj. 数学基础好的；v.数，列举

参考例句：

• Your children should be literate and numerate.你的孩子应该会识字算数。
• Business graduates must also be numerate,because most degrees will have courses in quantitative methods and statistics.商科专业大学毕业生也必须具备良好的数学能力，因为大部分学位涉及定量研究法和统计学领域课程。

10 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

11 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。