VOA慢速英语2013 共享办公室为公司省钱

 

AS IT IS 2013-08-15 Shared Offices Save Companies Money 共享办公室为公司省钱

Hello and welcome back.  I’m Jim Tedder¹ in Washington. On today’s program, we go to South Africa to hear about a different way of doing business.  How would you like to have a job that lets you work right beside people who may be working for another company?  Sounds strange, right?  Well, we’ll explain.  And then some very good news from India about the fight against polio.  And …one more thing …a look back at an American music festival that helped to define an entire generation.  As It Is is coming your way!

Johannesburg, South Africa, has a new commercial trend. Owners of small businesses and self-employed people are renting desks and services in shared centers.  That way, they save money and exchange ideas with others.

A shared space called the OPEN Collaborative Workspace is a good example.  It operates on the fourth floor of a building in a pleasant area just south of downtown Johannesburg.  The neighborhood is called Maboneng.

Inside the workplace is a large open space with meeting rooms and work rooms off to the side.  Desks, tables and chairs are set up for meetings.  The windows rise from floor to ceiling, permitting a good look at the city outside.  A worker keeps the OPEN workspace users supplied with coffee.

Westleigh Wilkinson manages the space and also runs his own business from the workplace. It is an event planning company.

 “We have got a lot of great stories where businesses have started here and grown into…Maboneng as a whole”

 The OPEN center has about 30 members.  Most are small start-up companies related to the field of technology. But there are also “satellite” offices for manufacturing companies.  One member of the OPEN Collaborative Workspace operates an online center for games of chance.

Paul Keursten owns part of OPEN Collaborative Workspace.  He notes that many traditional offices are dull and uninviting. By comparison, he praises the center’s atmosphere as lively, a place that helps people develop ideas as they drink coffee and talk.

This shared space and spaces like it are not the only places in Johannesburg that serve people who work alone or at a distance from their companies.  For example, there is the IT Corner in the Johannesburg suburb of Melville. The IT Corner is a coffee shop that gives many neighbors a place to work as well as a place to meet new and old friends.  Amanda Forsythe is a local political worker.  She says she visits the IT Corner often.

“This for me is an ideal working space, because not only do I get to see various people all in one go, often.  But I also get to know what’s happening in the neighborhood…Before becoming a counselor² I had my own company and working as an entrepreneur.  That can also be incredibly lonely…”

Such spaces can also provide chances for networking.  Luthando Mfabe works for a company called Digital Voodoo, which does digital marketing³.  The company has its headquarters in the OPEN workspace.  Mr. Mfabe says meeting and talking with others about subjects of interest can open new possibilities.

“You do get a lot of exposure. We do get a lot of business, like from just collaborating⁴ or just sharing the space.” 

Mr. Mfabe has cooperated with another OPEN member on advertising⁵ campaigns they are currently offering to several international clients.

Good news in the fight against polio

The World Health Organization says the disease poliomyelitis, better known as just polio, is no longer a threat in India. In 2009, half of the world’s polio cases were there. But in 2011, only one new case was reported there. Karen Leggett tells how India has worked to stop the spread of the disease.

Polio is caused by a virus.  It spreads very quickly from one person to another.  Victims often lose the use of their arms and legs.  In the most serious cases, polio can kill a person.

Twenty-five years ago, polio affected⁶ 200,000 children in India each year.  The United Nations children’s organization, UNICEF, sent teams of health workers into local villages.  Team members like Zareena Parveen told families in her neighborhood about the importance of giving liquid medicine to children to protect them against polio.

“They used to think that our children will become sterile⁷ and will not be able to have children when they grow up.  They used to think like this before.  But now they don’t.  Now they allow their kids to get the drop.”

Asma Khatun is a mother in the town of Ghaziabad in the northern state of Utter Pradesh.

 “Whenever anyone comes, we get the children vaccinated⁹.  Even if nobody came to our house, we would send our children to get vaccinated.”

A local Muslim leader says the vaccination¹⁰ campaign has been successful because it is supported by religious leaders.

 “The polio vaccination campaign has been successful here because our Muslim scholars are with us.  With their support, we are able to make people understand that giving children the vaccine¹¹ is beneficial and crucial.”

The Indian government has now launched a new campaign to vaccinate⁸ 170 million children under the age of five.  The campaign will target newborn babies, migrants and people living in poor, crowded areas where the disease spreads more quickly. I’m Karen Leggett .

And I’m Jim Tedder in Washington.  It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed, but it was on this date in 1969 …44 years ago…that Woodstock happened.  It became known as the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, even though it took place on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, not Woodstock, New York.  A huge crowd …some say 400,000 …long-haired, politically and socially liberal young people …”Hippies” …arrived to hear three days of live music by some of America’s greatest rock and roll bands.

1 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

2 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 affected   

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。

7 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

8 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

9 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

10 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

11 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。