VOA慢速英语2021--Famous Cookies Delivered by Unusual Method

Famous Cookies Delivered by Unusual Method

The Girl Scouts² organization, founded in 1912, is well known for teaching important life and survival skills to girls.

Part of their goal, as stated on their website, is "to improve their corner of the world." One way they do that has become a beloved tradition. They sell Girl Scout¹ cookies!

Many people look forward to Girl Scout cookie season and have a favorite cookie.

Girl Scouts usually sell their cookies in person: door-to-door, in offices and businesses, on busy street corners and sidewalks. But the coronavirus pandemic has made selling the cookies harder. There are simply less people out in public.

Well, this year in one U.S. state some Girl Scouts will get around that face-to-face problem. Their cookies will be delivered by drones.

Google is using drones to deliver Girl Scout cookies to people's homes in a Virginia community. The town of Christiansburg has been a testing ground for delivery drones. The tests are operated by Wing, a division of Google's corporate³ parent Alphabet.

Representatives from Wing told the Associated Press (AP) that the company began talking to local Girl Scout troops because of the pandemic. The troops have been having a harder time selling cookies during the pandemic because of restrictions⁴.

Gracie Walker is an 11-year-old with Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Troop 224. Gracie told the AP that she is "excited" to be "part of history." She says the drones "look like a helicopter but also a plane."

Wing drones fly without a human pilot controlling them remotely. When a drone reaches the home, it drops the delivery on the front lawn.

Wing is also using the beloved Girl Scout cookies to build public support for drone delivery. The company is currently competing against Walmart, Amazon and others business.

However, there is not much evidence that people really want drone delivery services.

Amazon has also been working on drone delivery for years. In 2013, Amazon founder⁵ Jeff Bezos said in a TV interview that drones would be flying to customers' homes within five years. However, that date has long since passed.

A small study of people in Christiansburg appears to show that they are happy with the drones. But that study was done by researchers at nearby Virginia Polytechnic⁶ Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Also Wing helped to pay for the study.

Lee Vinsel is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and did the study. He said that neighborhoods in the area are "easiest for drone delivery." That might not be the case for more crowded places, he added.

Federal officials started announcing new rules in early April. These new rules will allow operators to fly small drones over people and at night. Most drones will need to be equipped so they can be identified remotely by law enforcement officials.

But all these problems have not lessened⁷ Gracie's drone delivery excitement. The Virginia Girl Scout said she hopes that people are going to realize drones are better for the environment.

And she adds, people can also just walk outside in their pajamas⁸ and get cookies.

Words in This Story

cookie – n. a sweet baked food that is usually small, flat, and round and is made from flour and sugar

corner – n. the place where two streets or roads meet

drone – n. an uncrewed aircraft or ship guided by remote control or onboard computers

delivery – n. the transfer of something from one place or person to another

troops - n. the basic organizational unit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts under an adult leader

remotely - adj. technical : from a distance

front lawn - n. an area in front of a house

pajamas - n. a loose usually two-piece lightweight suit designed especially for sleeping or lounging

customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

1 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

2 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 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。

6 polytechnic   

adj.各种工艺的，综合技术的；n.工艺(专科)学校；理工(专科)学校

参考例句：

• She was trained as a teacher at Manchester Polytechnic.她在曼彻斯特工艺专科学校就读，准备毕业后做老师。
• When he was 17,Einstein entered the Polytechnic Zurich,Switzerland,where he studied mathematics and physics.17岁时，爱因斯坦进入了瑞士苏黎士的专科学院，学习数学和物理学。

7 lessened   

减少的，减弱的

参考例句：

• Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来，多少削弱了演讲的力量。
• The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行，住在城内的中产家庭减少了。

8 pajamas   

n.睡衣裤

参考例句：

• At bedtime,I take off my clothes and put on my pajamas.睡觉时，我脱去衣服，换上睡衣。
• He was wearing striped pajamas.他穿着带条纹的睡衣裤。