VOA慢速英语 2007 1119a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - A WiLD Idea: Wireless¹ Long-Distance Internet for Rural Poor
By Jill Moss² / Broadcast: Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:00:00 UTC

Eric Brewer³ at his Berkeley Intel Research Laboratory

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Eric Brewer is a busy man. He is a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also director of the Intel Research Berkeley Lab. There, he leads a team of students and Intel company researchers on projects with new technologies.

One of their creations⁴ is a WiFi-based long distance network, or WiLDNet. Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity⁵. Wi-Fi connections, or hot spots, can be found in airports, hotels, coffee shops and many other places.

But Wi-Fi is designed for short distances. Eric Brewer predicts that most WiLDNets will only need to cover several kilometers of territory. Yet, in Venezuela, a network using WiLDNet technology and special software reaches over three hundred eighty kilometers.

Each endpoint in a WiLDNet uses a router that takes only about seven watts⁶ of power. It can be powered by car batteries, energy from the sun or electricity from a local provider.

The routers cost about four hundred dollars. But Eric Brewer tells us the price should be less once the technology is finalized⁷ for mass production. The networks use antennas⁸ aided by relays⁹ in places where they cannot be stationed in direct line of sight of one another.

WiLDNets can be used for humanitarian¹⁰ or business purposes or both. The hope is that companies will expand connectivity in rural markets.

Rural schools in Ghana and the Philippines are using WiLDNets to connect to the Internet. And in Guinea-Bissau, networks are being used to link community radio stations.

In southern India, a WiLDNet connects eye-care centers in poor villages to an eye hospital in the city of Theni. Villagers receive care from doctors at the hospital through videoconferencing. So far, thirty thousand patients have been examined this way. Eric Brewer says three thousand patients with especially serious vision problems now are able to see much better as a result of their care.

One more thing about Professor Brewer: he is a former billionaire. He and a Berkeley graduate student formed the Internet search company Inktomi in nineteen ninety-six. It became profitable¹¹. But the dot-com crash and rising competition from Google shook the company and it was sold to Yahoo in two thousand three.

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

1 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

2 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。

3 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

4 creations   

创造( creation的名词复数 )； 创造物； （尤指所述由上帝）创造天地； 宇宙

参考例句：

• This artist's creations are worth collecting. 这个艺术家的作品值得收藏。
• The intellectual creations of individual nations become common property. 各民族的精神产品成了公共的财产。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

5 fidelity   

n.忠诚，忠实；精确

参考例句：

• There is nothing like a dog's fidelity.没有什么能比得上狗的忠诚。
• His fidelity and industry brought him speedy promotion.他的尽职及勤奋使他很快地得到晋升。

6 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

7 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

9 relays   

v.转述( relay的第三人称单数 )；转达

参考例句：

• New relays of troops were sent to the battle front. 新补充的部队已送往前线。 来自辞典例句
• His questioners worked on him in relays. 审讯人员轮流对他进行审讯。 来自辞典例句

10 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

11 profitable   

adj.有益的，能带来利益的，有利可图的

参考例句：

• That business became profitable last year.那项生意去年变得很赚钱。
• The convention business is very profitable for the hotel industry.承办会议业务能给旅馆业带来很高的利润。