VOA标准英语2010年-Saving the World, One Laptop at a Time

One Laptop Per Child's office feels more like a playroom for geeky adults than a non-profit with a mission to save the world.

Plastic green laptops are strewn about in various stages of disassembly and upgrade, and the office is decorated with multicolor engineering and distribution charts, all organized by a young enthusiastic staff.

Dreaming big

Founder¹ Nicholas Negroponte dreams big. His goal is to provide laptops to all the world's children, especially the half-billion or more who live in extreme poverty. "We invented a technology that was low cost enough that these laptops could be owned by the children, brought home and used for music, games, movies, books and learning 24/7," he says.  

A Rwandan girl uses her new OLPC laptop while an onsite specialist looks on.

Almost a decade ago, when OLPC began, the idea of designing and manufacturing a rugged², laptop computer for anything close to $100 seemed laughable to some. Today, the device is already in the hands of 1.2 million children in 31 countries who speak 19 languages. One nation, Uruguay, has just completed delivery of laptops to every single child in the country. 

Few doubt that giving children access to computers is a good thing. But buying the tens of millions of laptops many countries need can be expensive, even at the current price of $160 each. Critics of Negroponte's approach say there are cheaper and more efficient ways to deliver computing³ power to the world's children than to put a laptop literally⁴ into each child's hands.

A better way?

Steven Dukker, a pioneer in low-cost computing technology, is one of those critics. He founded nComputing, a company that makes software and hardware that allow a single, $300 desktop⁵ computer to run programs and applications for dozens of students at the same time.

NComputing networks are now in use at 40 thousand sites in 100 countries, including the United States. "You think you've got your own computer all to yourself," explains Dukker, "and you can't tell … that you're working on something other than a computer … and doing it at a much lower cost than having your own PC."

But Negroponte believes that when a child has his own laptop, it provides a personal connection to the technology, and to the use of that technology, that a terminal in a computer lab cannot.

Nicholas Negroponte hopes to place a laptop in the hands of every child on the planet.

A computer of their own

"Our kids take the laptops home at night and sleep with them. It's their most cherished possession. It's a very different phenomenon," he says. 

Matt Keller, OLPC's global advocacy director, says the real reason kids love their laptops so much is because they quickly learn to start customizing them to suit their own purposes.

"Up until the age of five, children learn in a very dynamic, engaging way," says Keller. "They learn how to walk and talk and they build things and they make mistakes and they knock them down, they lose their tempers, and they build them back up again. But they are learning through that dynamic interaction with things around them."  Keller contrasts this with the rote⁶ memorization many children must do in their traditional schools.

Making a difference

Keller recalls a class of 12 year-old girls in Rwanda, where the president ordered the purchase of 120,000 laptops for the country's children. Within days of receiving their machines, these rural girls had become experts at a programming game where they could design characters, dress them, make them do things, and tell stories together.

Gilrs in Najmi, Muthanna province, Iraq with OLPC computers.

"I thought to myself 'If you have a generation that's capable of designing software, of building things with technology and they are connected, why couldn't you a have a Silicon⁷ Valley in the middle of the most remote place on earth?'"  

The main difficulty seems to be securing the funding and safe distribution for large numbers of computers in poor countries facing war and poverty; places like Afghanistan. "The Afghani government desperately⁸ wants OLPC for it citizenry," says Keller. "The Ministry⁹ of Education says OLPC will end the isolation¹⁰ of its citizens. The UN in Afghanistan says this is the solution for girls' education in Afghanistan." 

Negroponte believes that, in addition to educating children, the computers enable both girls and boys to become agents for social change. "We find in Peru that as many as 50 percent of the kids, because they are in remote villages, are teaching their parents how to read and write."

He says evidence suggests that, in communities and schools worldwide where OLPC has made inroads, discipline problems go down, parents become more involved and kids literally 'run to school'.   "And," adds Negroponte, "in some of our earliest projects, in 2001 and 2002, every child that was in that experiment in first and second grade is still in school today. And that kind of impact, to me, is extraordinarily¹¹ heartwarming." 

It's clear that various factors market forces, technical breakthroughs, local communication networks and, most importantly, political will, must be aligned¹² before all children get their hands on the tools they need to thrive and contribute in our interconnected world. Still, One Laptop Per Child is doing everything it can, one laptop computer at a time.
 

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

3 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 desktop   

n.桌面管理系统程序；台式

参考例句：

• My computer is a desktop computer of excellent quality.我的计算机是品质卓越的台式计算机。
• Do you know which one is better,a laptop or a desktop?你知道哪一种更好，笔记本还是台式机？

6 rote   

n.死记硬背，生搬硬套

参考例句：

• Learning by rote is discouraged in this school.这所学校不鼓励死记硬背的学习方式。
• He recited the poem by rote.他强记背诵了这首诗。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

11 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

12 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。