美国国家公共电台 NPR 3 Black Teenage Scientists Had A Breakthrough, Then Came The Trolls

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell should only be proud this week. The 17-year-old women, all juniors at Benjamin Banneker High School in Washington, D.C., created a simple way to use copper¹ shards², drinking straws and filter flaws - simple, though I'm not smart enough to understand it - to show how to purify water in school drinking fountains that may be contaminated by lead. They tested and even tasted the water. Their rudimentary purifier works.

The three friends became one of eight teams that are finalists in a NASA competition to apply space technologies to earthly challenges. They invited people to vote for projects on social media platforms. The water purifier devised by the young women seemed to win attention. Hundreds of schools across the United States have drinking water that is contaminated by lead. It's a serious problem that could use good ideas.

And by the way, the students from Banneker are the only team among the finalists who are all African-American women. At a time when they should have heard nothing but accolades³ and encouragement, some unidentified people on 4chan, an Internet posting site where racists and homophobes have posted anonymous⁵ nonsense, began to put up bigoted⁶ comments about the young women. There's no need to quote those comments here. The trolls suggested ways to hack⁷ the NASA voting system to prevent the young women from winning.

NASA decided⁸ they had to shut down the voting system because it was compromised. They denounced the racist⁴ attacks and added, NASA continues to support outreach and education for all Americans, and encourages all of our children to reach for the stars. India Skinner told the Washington Post she hopes people would see photos of their team and see we're just regular girls and we want to be scientists.

The winners will spend two days at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. As to their futures⁹, Ms. Skinner would like to become a pediatric surgeon. Ms. Sharrieff plans to become a biomedical engineer. Ms. Snell would like to be an anesthesiologist.

I cannot imagine what the kinds of people who post racial insults about promising¹⁰ young students might wind up doing with their lives. The three young women from Banneker High School seem to be well on their way to helping¹¹ others.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

2 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

3 accolades   

n.（连结几行谱表的）连谱号( accolade的名词复数 )；嘉奖；（窗、门上方的）桃尖拱形线脚；册封爵士的仪式（用剑面在肩上轻拍一下）

参考例句：

• Unlike other accolades for literature which tend to value style or experimentation. 有别于其他偏重风格活实验性的文学奖项。 来自互联网
• Build your trophy room while amassing awards and accolades. 建立您的奖杯积累奖项和荣誉。 来自互联网

4 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

5 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

6 bigoted   

adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• He is so bigoted that it is impossible to argue with him.他固执得不可理喻。
• I'll concede you are not as bigoted as some.我承认你不象有些人那么顽固。

7 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

10 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

11 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。