VOA慢速英语2018 宝马加入改善刚果采矿条件的项目（在线收听）

BMW Joins Project to Improve Mining Conditions in Congo

German carmaker BMW is exploring ways to improve working conditions at cobalt mines in Congo.

德国车企宝马正在寻找方法以提升刚果钴矿的工作环境。

Cobalt is a hard, shiny metal that is often mixed with other metals. It is very rare but extremely important to the production of batteries.

钴质地坚硬、色泽光亮，经常与其他金属掺杂在一起。钴十分稀有，但对电池的生产极为重要。

Wireless electronics, such as mobile phones, currently use most of the world’s cobalt. But a single electric car requires about one-thousand times more cobalt than a mobile phone.

无线电子产品，比如手机，目前的用钴量是最高的。但一辆电动汽车所需的钴是手机的近一千倍。

Carmakers are hoping to increase sales of electric cars but are struggling to get the metal.

很多车企都希望增加电动车的销售额，但苦于无法获得钴。

The world’s largest known supplies of cobalt are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

世界上已知储钴量最大的地方是刚果民主共和国。

BMW said the project is seeking ways to improve working and living conditions in places where the metal is mined through manual labor. The company is working on the project with chemical company BASF, battery maker Samsung SDI and German development agency GIZ.

宝马称，该项目正在寻求方法以提升工作和生活环境。只要需要人工开采钴的地方都是改善环境的对象。该公司正在跟巴斯夫化学公司、电池制造商三星SDI以及德国发展机构GIZ合作开展该项目。

The project will work on one trial mine within the next three years, BMW said. The company will not directly buy cobalt from the mine, it said. Instead, the mine will be operated by a local cooperative.

宝马称，该项目将在未来3年间在一个矿区试行运作。宝马还表示其不会直接才该矿区购置钴。相反，这个矿区会由当地某合作商来运作。

BMW said, if effective, the measures could be used to improve systemic problems at other mines as well.

宝马表示，如果有效果，这些措施就可以用来改善其他矿区的系统性问题。

Manual operations are responsible for about 20 percent of the cobalt mined in the DRC. Industrial mining operations account for the rest.

人工开采占刚果钴开采量的20%，剩下的部分是工业开采。

But many companies involved in both kinds of cobalt mining have been accused of environmental, health and safety and human rights violations.

但很多参与这两种钴矿开采模式的公司受到了指控，内容有关环境、健康、安全和违背人权问题。

Words in This Story

battery – n. a device that is placed inside a machine to supply it with electricity

mobile – adj. able to be moved?

manual – adj. doing or involving hard physical work?

cooperative – n. a business or organization that is owned and operated by the people who work there or the people who use its services