VOA常速英语2019--缺乏互联网接入让西弗吉尼亚人很受伤

Lack of Internet Access Hurting West Virginians

Work starts early at Sprouting¹ Farms in this rural area of West Virginia.Employees handpick the organic produce, rinse², prepare and box it up on site, ready to distribute to area customers.The farm also serves as a training center for aspiring³ farmers who want to learn how to grow and market sustainable produce.The challenge is making that process profitable says project director Fritz Buettner.“In order to improve the bottom line for the farmer we have to keep what I would call the food hub costs down so that’s the cost of aggregation⁴, distribution, marketing⁵, all those things.”And that he says takes broadband connectivity which is limited or unavailable in rural areas such as this.“Right now I would say like half of our farmers maybe do not have access to a solid internet or even cell phone communication to make these types of transactions happen.”In the town of Hinton, a 30-minute drive from Sprouting Farms, connectivity is not an issue.Once a thriving railroad community, the town now depends on high-speed Internet to connect with the outside world.Ken⁶ Allman says his online business venture which connects hospitals and physicians around the world would not exist without access to high-speed Internet.

在西弗吉尼亚州的这个农村地区的新芽农场，人们很早就开始工作了。员工手工挑选有机农产品、冲洗、准备并在现场装箱，准备分发给地区客户。该农场还可作为那些想学习如何种植和销售可持续农产品的有抱负的农民的培训中心。项目总监Fritz Buettner说，挑战在于如何使这个过程有利可图。“为了提高农民的底线，我们必须降低我所说的食品中心成本，这就是聚集、分销、营销等所有这些方面的成本。”他说，这就需要宽带连接，而在这样的农村地区宽带连接会受限或并不可用。“现在我想说的是，我们一半的农民可能无法访问可靠的互联网，甚至无法通过手机通信来实现这些类型的交易。”在距新芽农场30分钟车程的辛顿镇，网络连接不是问题。这个小镇曾经是一个繁荣的铁路社区，现在依靠高速互联网与外界连接。Ken Allman说，如果没有高速互联网，他将无法在全球范围内建立连接医院和医生的在线商业经营项目。

“The fact that our team of people in Hinton West Virginia are working with people in Mumbai India or in Tel Aviv Israel to solve problems in, in our field across the U.S., speaks to the magic of what broadband and mobile can do in a small community.”Joe Brouse agrees, as executive director of the New River Gorge⁷ Regional Development Authority, his job is to help stimulate⁸ and promote economic development in the region. But he says lack of connectivity is hindering that objective.“Business is expected, households expect it if people want to live here they need to have access. It’s an aspect of being in the modern world.”The topography of the state and low population levels are among the reasons why affordable⁹ broadband is lacking he says, but he remains¹⁰ hopeful.“Our economic development agency works with the state of West Virginia to kind of look at creative solutions to it,that might involve a mixture of grant and loan programs to entities¹¹ that can own, can own the fiber¹² and help with the delivery system.”He points to Hinton as an ideal model.

“我们在西弗吉尼亚州辛顿的团队正在与印度孟买或以色列特拉维夫的人们合作，以解决我们在美国各地的农田中的问题，这一事实说明了宽带和移动网络在一个小社区可以做什么的魔力。”Joe Brouse同意这一点，作为新河谷地区发展局的执行主任，他的工作是帮助激励和促进该地区的经济发展。但他说，缺乏宽带连接阻碍了这一目标的实现。“商业是可期待的，各个家庭希望有业务。如果人们想住在这里，他们需要有机会接触宽带连接。这是当今世界生活的一个方面。”他说，该州的地形和低人口水平在为什么缺乏负担得起的宽带的原因之列，但他仍然充满希望。“我们的经济发展机构与西弗吉尼亚州合作，研究一种创造性的解决方案，这可能涉及对拥有、拥有光纤和帮助传输系统的实体的赠款和贷款计划的混合计划。”他指出辛顿镇是一个理想的榜样。

By many standards it’s a small place but it’s actually ahead of the game in terms of providing broadband. That’s the story we want to tell all over the state rural Appalachia.That’s encouraging news for Fritz Buettner.“If I’m thinking about the future and we’re gonna grow, these farmers and they’re gonna to be doing more we want more farmers in the network that connectivity issue needs to be dealt with.

从许多标准来看，这是一个小地方，但事实上，在提供宽带方面却遥遥领先。这是我们想在整个阿巴拉契亚州农村地区想告诉大家的故事。这对Fritz Buettner来说是个鼓舞人心的消息。“如果我考虑未来，我们将会去种植，这些农民，他们将做更多的事情，我们希望网络中有更多的农民，这一网络的连接性问题需要解决。

1 sprouting   

v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• new leaves sprouting from the trees 树上长出的新叶
• They were putting fresh earth around sprouting potato stalks. 他们在往绽出新芽的土豆秧周围培新土。 来自名作英译部分

2 rinse   

v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗

参考例句：

• Give the cup a rinse.冲洗一下杯子。
• Don't just rinse the bottles. Wash them out carefully.别只涮涮瓶子，要仔细地洗洗里面。

3 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

4 aggregation   

n.聚合，组合；凝聚

参考例句：

• A high polymer is a very large aggregation of units.一个高聚物是许多单元的非常大的组合。
• Moreover,aggregation influences the outcome of chemical disinfection of viruses.此外，聚集作用还会影响化学消毒的效果。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

8 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

9 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

12 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。