VOA慢速英语20061030a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Designs: a Water-Purifying Straw, a Firewood-Saving CookstoveBy Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Monday, October 30, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Today we tell you about the LifeStraw water-purifying device. Then learn about a wood-burning cookstove that scientists hope will reduce the loss of forests in poor countries.




The LifeStraw is a thick plastic tube twenty-five centimeters long. You place one end into water and drink from the other. The water passes through a series of filters to catch extremely small particles. Iodine² and active carbon are also used in the cleaning process. It all takes about eight minutes for one liter.

The maker³ of the LifeStraw says it kills organisms that spread diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid and cholera⁴. The device filters most bacteria and parasites⁵. But it has limits, including against viruses. Also, it does not remove arsenic⁶ or other heavy metals from water.

The Vestergaard Frandsen Group, a Danish company with headquarters in Switzerland, invented the LifeStraw last year. The company makes disease-control textiles including malaria⁷ nets treated to kill mosquitoes.

The LifeStraw costs about three dollars. It can be worn on a string around the neck. It has a lifetime of up to seven hundred liters, or about one year. The first large shipments went to Pakistan after the earthquake last year.

The company notes that each day, worldwide, more than six thousand children and adults die from unsafe drinking water.

Another problem in many poor areas is finding enough firewood to cook with. Forests can disappear as more and more trees are cut down.

Scientists have developed a cookstove that was tested in refugee camps in Darfur, Sudan. The scientists are from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley.


Christina Galitsky observes cooking methods used by the women of Darfur

Two of them, Ashok Gadgil and Christina Galitsky, went to Darfur late last year. They found that many refugee families were missing meals for lack of fuel.

The light metal stove needs much less fuel than the traditional cooking methods used in the camps. This would mean less need for women to leave the camps to search for firewood and risk being attacked in violence-torn Darfur.

Since the visit, the researchers have improved the stove. Now they are trying to set up production. They estimate that the stoves could be built locally in Darfur for about fifteen dollars each. They say about three hundred thousand are needed. The hope is to begin producing five thousand stoves by the end of the year.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. I'm Steve Ember.

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 iodine   

n.碘，碘酒

参考例句：

• The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
• Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

5 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

6 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

7 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。