访谈录 2008-04-25&4-27 14岁少年的风车梦

William, hi, good to see you.

Thanks

So, we got a picture I think, where is this?

This is my home, this is where I live.

Where, what country?

In Malawi *zone, yeah, Malawi.

OK, now, you’re 19 now?

Yeah, I am 19-year-old now.

5 years ago, you had an idea. What was that?

I want to make a windmill.

Windmill?

Yeah.

And so, did you want to power, electricity, for lighting² stuff³?

Yeah.

So what did you do, how did you realize that?

Er, after I dropped out from school, I went to library, and I read a book that draw using image, and it gave me information about doing the mill¹. And I try **

So, (applause) so, you copied, you exactly copied the design in the book?

Er, no, I adjust⁴. 

What happened?

*in design of the mill, in the image of the book, it had got 3 leaf plates, in my I had got four plates.

The book has 3, and you have set 4? You made that out of what?

Er, I made 4 plates just because I want to increase power.

OK, did you test the 3 and found that the 4 would be better?

Yeah, I adjust.

And what did you make the windmill out of? What the materials did you use?

I use the * frame⁵ and piles of plastic plates **poles.

Well, we have pictures in the next slide?

Yeah, so that’s the windmill.

And so, in that windmill, what, it worked?

When the wind blows, it produces electricity.

How much electricity?

2 volts⁶.

And so, that lit a light for the house? How many lights?

4 bulbs and 2 radios.

Well!

Yeah.

And so, next slide.

So who’s that?

This my fiancée. Work in the radio.

So, what did they make of that, you were 14, 15 at that time, what did they make of this?

They impressed?

Yes.

So what you gonna do with this? What did you ,I mean, do you want to build another one?

Yeah, I want to build another one to pump water, irrigation⁷ for crops.

So, this sort of have to be bigger?

Yeah.

How big?

I think it will produce more than 20 volts.

So they will produce irrigation for the entire village? (yeah) well, and so you are talking to people here attend, to get people who might be able to help in some way to realize this dream.

Yeah, if you can help me and my fiancée.

And as you think of your life going forward, you’re 19 now, do you picture continuing with this dream of working in energy.

Yeah, I am still thinking to work on energy.

Well, whatever, it’s a real honor⁸ to have you at this type of conference⁹. Thank you so much for coming.

Thank you.

 

1 mill   

n.磨坊，碾磨机；制造厂，工厂；vt.磨，碾

参考例句：

• The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
• The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。

2 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

3 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

4 adjust   

vt.调整，使适应于，校准；vi.调整，适应于，校准

参考例句：

• Foreigners take some time to adjust to our way of life.外国人要花一些时间才能适应我们的生活方式。
• It is difficult to adjust one's habits to someone else.一个人很难使自己的习惯适于他人。

5 frame   

n.框架，结构，体格；vt.构成，设计，制定，使适合，陷害； 框架，（是指在数据链路层中，将网络层数据包加上开始与结尾信息包组成一个框架）

参考例句：

• The house has a wooden frame which is faced with brick.这个房子是木质结构的砖瓦房。
• We must frame up that picture.我们必须给那幅画装上框。

6 volts   

n.（电压单位）伏特( volt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The floating potential, Vf is usually only a few volts below ground. 浮置电势Vf通常只低于接地电位几伏。 来自辞典例句
• If gamma particles are present, potential differences of several thousand volts can be generated. 如果存在γ粒子，可能产生几千伏的电位差。 来自辞典例句

7 irrigation   

n.灌溉，冲洗

参考例句：

• Irrigation is easy in the South because of the abundance of water.南方多水，利于灌溉。
• Irrigation is important for farming.灌溉对农业是非常重要的。

8 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

9 conference   

n.（正式的）会议；讨论

参考例句：

• We're having a conference and we'd like you to sit in.我们将举行一次会议，希望你来旁听。
• The conference will come to a close this afternoon.今天下午会议闭幕。