VOA标准英语2010年-Aid Organizations Use Technology in Af

The World Food Program provides food assistance to more than 600,000 "food-insecure" Burundians in a country of eight million people.

WFP-Burundi Public Information Officer Marc Neilson says in order to gauge¹ where there is need, WFP staff go out on fact-finding missions.

"So for example if you enter in a village that the government has recommended as at risk or if based on past studies you may think is at risk, you will do a study in there, and you will ask questions everything from, 'How many meals a day are you eating? How are you cooking? What do you use to cook? What kind of fuel do you have to cook? How many people are in the household?" said Neilson.

WFP program assistant Gerard Bisman is interviewing Elisabeth Tembaidai in Bihogo village in northern Burundi. He is asking her, in the Kurundi language, how much maize² she eats each month and where she gets her food.

He is typing her answers directly into a handheld electronic device as part of a new initiative by WFP to use technology to help keep tabs on the country's food situation.

 
VOA - Z. Baddorf
The information collected on a PDA is used to determine where to send food aid.

The palmtop computer is a little larger than a normal cell phone. Since he started using the device in March, Bisman says the result is more accurate data, collected faster because there is no prep time and no paper shuffling³.

He says it is very interesting to use the device because it is a lot faster. It is used to take him about an hour and a half to complete the entire interview with paper and now it takes only half an hour.

The WFP staffer says the survey takers appreciate the improved technology, too.

Bisman says they used to be very, very tired when we did the survey with pen and paper, but with the 30-minute digital survey, they do not get as tired. A nd so they provide more accurate data, he added.

Tembaidai, a 56-year-old primary school teacher, had never been interviewed by the WFP and said it is the first time for her to see such a device. She said it shows the country is making progress.

A few years ago, Tembaidai received food aid from the WFP because she said there was a food shortage in her village due to a drought. She hopes WFP will provide them with food this year, too.

"We will probably need some help in regards to food this year, because the water that used to come from up north does not come anymore," she said.. "It is the dry season and the village is short of food at the moment."

Neilson said interviewing people like Tembaidai with the electronic devices provides a more precise picture of the needs of the country.

"So you have the speed of gathering⁴ data, which means you can expand your survey area and that makes it more valid⁵ by interviewing more people," Neilson said.

Right now, WFP Burundi is in Phase One of the project with information collected on a memory card and sent to the main office in Bujumbura. But soon, WFP staff members in the field will begin transmitting their findings wirelessly⁷.

Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with average income per person at about $300 per year. It only emerged from a 13-year civil war in 2006, with one rebel group finally laying down its arms just last year. But the country has a new hi-speed 3G wireless⁶ network.

Sending the data wirelessly to the central database to be analyzed⁸ will allow the WFP to plan more effectively and quickly where to send food around the country.

Each device costs about $200, so with two devices in each of the 15 provinces, that comes out to about $6,000, not including the cost of training personnel. Neilson said it is a "good investment."

"Anytime you can save doing that, it means those most at risk, the poor, are getting the assistance faster and more effectively, and you are not perhaps going in an area where you really should not be," he said. "WFP needs to be in the areas that are most at risk and that is the bottom line. And so anything that can help improve that process, reduce the time to get there, improve the data, improve the validity of the data, is to me definitely worth the investment."

Neilson said the technological⁹ advances have improved the ability of aid organizations like the World Food Program to do their work effectively. The U.N. agency has put the wireless devices to use elsewhere in Africa, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the U.N. Children's Fund uses hand-held devices to provide a rapid assessment¹⁰ during emergency situations, and in the West African countries of Togo and Niger, the U.S National Centers for Disease Control has got into the act too, using devices with global positioning system capabilities¹¹ to help prevent malaria¹².

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

3 shuffling   

adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Don't go shuffling along as if you were dead. 别像个死人似地拖着脚走。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some one was shuffling by on the sidewalk. 外面的人行道上有人拖着脚走过。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

6 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。

7 wirelessly   

不用电线的，用无线电波传送的

参考例句：

• I heard it on the wireless. 我是从无线电收音机里听到的。
• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio. 收音机里有许多无线电线路。

8 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

10 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

11 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。