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VOA慢速英语2013 非洲经济增长缓慢降低贫困率

时间:2013-10-16 14:03:26

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AS IT IS 2013-10-09 African Economic Growth Slow to Lower Poverty Rate 非洲经济增长缓慢降低贫困率

From VOA Learning English this is As It Is.

Welcome back. I’m Caty Weaver1.

Today we report on inventors, innovators and craftspeople -- both amateur and professional -- who gather to share, learn, build and network.

But first, we bring you details from a new survey that shows growing African economies don’t always help people living in those countries.

Survey: Economies Grow, But Poverty Remains2

Africa has some of the fastest-growing economies in the world. But a new public opinion study suggests this growth is doing little to reduce poverty.

The Afrobarometer survey shows the majority of Africans still lack basic needs like clean water, food, cooking fuel and medicine.

Afrobarometer says it is “an independent, nonpartisan research project that measures the social, political, and economic atmosphere in Africa.”

Jim Bertel tells us more about the findings.

Afrobarometer says poverty levels have improved very little over the past 10 years. Yet economies grew by an average of five percent during the same period.

The latest survey took place in 34 African countries between October 2011 and June 2013. More than 50,000 people answered the survey questions. Three out of four of them reported that they had gone without cash income at least once in the past year. Almost half of the poor people who answered the questions said they had gone without food or clean water once or several times in the past year. One out of every two said they struggled to get medical care.

Researchers presented the survey findings in Johannesburg last week. The problems are deepest in East and West Africa, but they said even countries with strong economies are affected3.

Robert Mattes is a professor at the University of Cape4 Town in South Africa. He says the findings should be a wake-up call to governments that poverty levels have actually increased in South Africa and Botswana.

“Based on that, one might say, with all the levels of growth that have been reported across the continent, with all the other kind of interventions5 that donors6 have made to try and bring down poverty, that there has not been much to speak of in the areas of success.”

The survey showed people in Togo, Burundi, Guinea, Niger and Senegal experience the highest levels of poverty. People in Mauritius and Algeria reported the lowest levels.

Most of the Africans in the survey criticized their government’s economic policies. Sixty-nine percent said they were dissatisfied with job creation. Seventy-six percent said they were not happy with efforts to reduce income gaps between the rich and the poor.

Afrobarometer says this survey suggests that either growth rates are not matching what is being reported or economic growth is not helping7 those at lower levels of the economy.

The researchers say the only way to reduce poverty levels is to increase investment in basic infrastructure8, like water pipes, electricity, education and health services.

Maker9 Faire

If you like to make things -- especially things that involve science -- then you might like to attend a Maker Faire. Maker Faires are held every year in different cities around the world. The recent one in New York City had hectares of colorful demonstration10 tables, science-based games, performance stages and “play islands.”

Eleven-year-old Genevieve Beatty, her 13-year-old sister, Camille, and their father Robert stood proudly next to a robot. It was a model of a Mars lander, about a meter and a half high. Genevieve says they built it themselves.

“Most of the ones that we built roll, like they have wheels, and some crawl and a few fly. It’s just fun to work with my dad and my sister.  I do all the, like, inside, like the electronics and like soldering11.”

Robert Beatty says Genevieve’s sister, Camille, had a natural interest in mechanical things. She would take apart household machines to understand how they worked. Robert, Camille and Genevieve began building items with transistors12 and LED lights. Before long, the two girls asked to build a robot.

“And that was pretty scary, but I thought, OK, if we really do a lot of research we will be able to figure out how to do it. So we just started learning on YouTube and various websites and trying to construct a little robot.”

In two years, the family has made nearly 35 robots, including several that science museums asked them to build. But Robert says the main point is fun, family and education.

“I often don’t know the subject of what we’re trying to learn, but we learn it together, or I teach it to them and then they do all the work. And that way they stay super engaged. As soon as I take over and try to do it myself, that’s boring, and they go off and do something else.  So the key is to get them to do the work themselves.”

Three-dimensional printing was one of the most-popular areas of this year’s Maker Faire in New York. At one booth, a young designer named Todd Blatt sold brightly-colored jewelry13 that he made with software and nylon powder.

“I focused on designs that couldn’t be made with traditional manufacturing methods. So I have things that are linked together with no seams and metal pieces that are 3-D-printed in shapes that you couldn’t make molds out of. So it is really exciting to make these things that couldn’t exist otherwise.”

He uses software to draw the object he wants. Then he sends the design to a 3-D printer. It melts the nylon powder with a laser and builds the physical object one thin layer at a time.

“You can make products or you can make earrings14, jewelry and movie prop15 replicas16 and clothing accessories -- anything you want!”

Not everyone at the Maker Faire is high-tech17. A group based in Brooklyn, New York called “The Fixer’s Collective” had a table. Vincent Lai showed people how to repair a toaster and rewire a lamp.

“And we feel very comfortable being here because we also believe that fixing and repair is a strong part of the making process. Because as you create, and as you shape, and as you whittle18 and scrape, you’re gonna run into roadblocks. And so that’s when your fixing skills need to come into play.”

And that’s As It Is for today.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
2 remains 1kMzTy     
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。
3 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
4 cape ITEy6     
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风
参考例句:
  • I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
  • She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。
5 interventions b4e9b73905db5b0213891229ce84fdd3     
n.介入,干涉,干预( intervention的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
  • The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网
6 donors 89b49c2bd44d6d6906d17dca7315044b     
n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 );献血者;捐血者;器官捐献者
参考例句:
  • Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
  • About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 helping 2rGzDc     
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。
8 infrastructure UbBz5     
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施
参考例句:
  • We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
  • We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设,发展各类群众文化。
9 maker DALxN     
n.制造者,制造商
参考例句:
  • He is a trouble maker,You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼,你不要跟他在一起。
  • A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。
10 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
11 soldering 308a46b7e24a05d677a12004923dc03d     
n.软焊;锡焊;低温焊接;热焊接v.(使)焊接,焊合( solder的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Care must be exercised in attaching the lead wires to the soldering tabs. 在往接线片上焊导线时必须非常小心。 来自辞典例句
  • I suggest posing me with a soldering wand over my head like a sword. 我想让自己这样像把剑一样把电焊杆举过头顶。 来自电影对白
12 transistors ff750796e6ff1fb40d6a8248a6485dc3     
晶体管( transistor的名词复数 ); 晶体管收音机,半导体收音机
参考例句:
  • In semiconductor receivers transistors take the place of vacuum tubes. 在半导体收音机中晶体管代替了真空管。
  • We often turn to this handbook for information on transistors. 我们常从这本手册查阅有关晶体管的资料。
13 jewelry 0auz1     
n.(jewllery)(总称)珠宝
参考例句:
  • The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
  • Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。
14 earrings 9ukzSs     
n.耳环( earring的名词复数 );耳坠子
参考例句:
  • a pair of earrings 一对耳环
  • These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 prop qR2xi     
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山
参考例句:
  • A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
  • The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。
16 replicas 3b4024e8d65041c460d20d6a2065f3bd     
n.复制品( replica的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • His hobby is building replicas of cars. 他的爱好是制作汽车的复制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The replicas are made by using a thin film of fusible alloy on a stiffening platen. 复制是用附着在加强托板上的可熔合金薄膜实现的。 来自辞典例句
17 high-tech high-tech     
adj.高科技的
参考例句:
  • The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展,这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
  • The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。
18 whittle 0oHyz     
v.削(木头),削减;n.屠刀
参考例句:
  • They are trying to whittle down our salaries.他们正着手削减我们的薪水。
  • He began to whittle away all powers of the government that he did not control.他开始削弱他所未能控制的一切政府权力。

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