VOA标准英语2015--英国科学家开发廉价可调眼镜

 

UK Scientists Develop Cheap Adjustable¹ Glasses 英国科学家开发廉价可调眼镜

Ninety-five percent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa who need glasses don't own a pair, according to the Britain-based charity foundation Vision for a Nation.

Its founder², British philanthropist James Chen, says Rwanda — whose 11-million residents are served by 14 ophthalmologists — is just one nation where the need for the glasses is great, especially among schoolchildren.

“We expect that perhaps a million people in Rwanda will need some form of vision correction, and out of that probably 900,000 people will just need a simple reading glass, and we would be able to supply that," he says of his company, Adlens, which manufactures two types of adjustable glasses based on technology developed at Oxford³ University.

The glasses, he says, are easy to use and offer a wide range of magnification.

“You have two lenses, [and] as they move against each other, the part of the eye you can see out the power changes with the two lenses moving against each other," he says. "The other technology we have is the fluid-filled [lens], which is a chamber⁴; on the one side you have a plastic kind of a sheet, and as you put in the fluid; which is a silicone oil, it changes the curvature of that and so that's what's changing the power.”

Adlens ophthalmologist Graham Mackenzie says the glasses are especially suitable for people with variable eyesight.

“If your eyesight does fluctuate from day to day, or even minute to minute, you can just readjust the lens power to meet your needs," MacKenzie says. "The technology as it currently stands has a very high power range — so high, in fact, that we can capture 90 percent of all the sorts of refractive errors that are out in the world.”

With a subsidy⁵ from the World Bank, Rwandans will pay only about $1.50 for the adjustable glasses, which is roughly equal to three-days' wages in the country.

The Vision for a Nation foundation has trained some 1200 nurses to help the vision-impaired learn how to use the product.

If everything goes well with the distribution and adoption⁶ of adjustable lenses in Rwanda, Vision for a Nation plans to distribute them in other countries, too.

1 adjustable   

adj.可调整的，可校准的

参考例句：

• More expensive cameras have adjustable focusing.比较贵的照相机有可调焦距。
• The chair has the virtue of being adjustable.这种椅子具有可调节的优点。

2 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。

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

5 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

6 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。