VOA常速英语2014--Colombian Designers Develop Landmine-defeating Shoe 哥伦比亚设计师开发地雷探测鞋垫（在线收听）

Colombian Designers Develop Landmine-defeating Shoe 哥伦比亚设计师开发地雷探测鞋垫

Landmines are one of the more controversial weapons of war. Hidden from sight, they maim and kill and remain long after conflicts end. According to the United Nations, 110 million active landmines are scattered over 70 countries.

For five decades, Colombia has been plagued by insurgencies and countless, planted landmines.  But, one company there may have found a way to defeat the explosives our eyes can’t see.

After decades of armed conflict, landmines remain buried all over Colombia.

几十年的武装冲突过后,哥伦比亚全国各地仍然遍布地雷。

De-miners use high-tech gear to find these explosives, but that does little for civilians.

排雷人员使用高科技装备寻找潜在隐患,但平民并不具备这些条件。

“What we wanted was to come up with an idea for a product that could greatly benefit the soldiers and farmers that are affected by these explosives,” said Jose Ivan Perez, creative director of Lemur Studio, an industrial design firm in Bogota.

“我们想要的是设计一种使得受这些地雷影响很深的士兵和农民们大大受益,”波哥大工业设计公司狐猴工作室创意总监何塞·伊万·佩雷斯这样说道。

哥伦比亚设计师开发地雷探测鞋垫.jpgHe's been developing an insole that alerts the wearer of nearby landmines.

他一直在开发一款提醒使用者附近有地雷的鞋垫。

“The concept is a metal detector with a planar coil made of conductive material that sends a signal to a device on the user's wrist,” he said.

“设计的概念是一块由导电材料制成的平面线圈金属探测器,它会向使用者的手腕设备发送一个信号。”他说道。

Perez says the signal will help the wearer either avoid or remove the explosive device.

佩雷斯表示这样的信号将帮助佩戴者避免或排除爆炸装置。

The Colombian government is welcoming the technology.

哥伦比亚政府对这项技术表示支持。

“If we are a country so affected by the mine problem, it is clearly justifiable and necessary that we develop our own national capabilities:

“如果我们的国家受地雷问题影响很深,我们开发自己国家的能力显然合理而且必要:

research and technological development that allows for the de-miners, for example, to more safely go out to the fields to do their work,” said Daniel Avila Camacho, director of Colombia's Mine Action Program.

应用于排雷人员的研究和技术开发,例如,更安全地前往雷区工作,” 哥伦比亚的排雷行动项目的主任丹尼尔·阿维拉·卡马科说道。

Camacho says much of the blame rests with what he calls “illegal, armed groups.”

卡马科称大部分责任取决于他所谓的“非法武装组织”。

“Colombia continues to be one of the countries most affected by landmines in the world," he said. "

“哥伦比亚仍是世界上受地雷影响最严重的国家之一”他说道。

To date, over the last 23 years, the country has had more than 10,600 victims.”

“到目前为止,在过去的23年,全国已经有超过10600名受害者。”

The effects are devastating, and not always fatal.

影响是毁灭性的,但并不总是致命的。

The landmine-detecting insole is still in the development stage, and with experts agreeing that it's impossible to estimate the number of undetonated mines in Colombia… production can't come soon enough.

地雷探测鞋垫还处于发展阶段,而专家同意不可能估计在哥伦比亚的地雷数量，产量肯定不够快。