VOA慢速英语2014 AS IT IS 2014-05-04 Pre-Natal Care Goes Mobile in Uganda 在乌干达产前检查可以用手机来完成

 

AS IT IS 2014-05-04 Pre-Natal Care Goes Mobile in Uganda 在乌干达产前检查可以用手机来完成

Hello again, and welcome to As It Is!  I’m Jonathan Evans in Washington.

Today on the program, we tell about how drones are raising both hopes and concerns across the African continent.  But first, we turn our attention to the African nation of Uganda.  A new program is available to help pregnant women who live far away from cities.  The program is designed to operate on smartphone and other mobile devices.  June Simms has more.

Pre-Natal Care Goes Mobile in Uganda

Three university students in Uganda have created a smartphone application that may help improve health care for pregnant women in rural areas.  

Joshua Okello, and two other students at Makerere University in Kampala, created the app in 2012.  They call it WinSenga.  “Senga” is the local word used to describe a female family member who helps a woman during pregnancy¹.  The “Win” in the name comes from the Microsoft product Windows.  Last year, the computer software company gave Mr. Okello and his partners $50,000 to continue development on their WinSenga app. 

A small microphone is placed inside a plastic horn.  Mr. Okello says midwives in the area have used similar devices for centuries to help women during childbirth.

“It’s a long cone-shaped device with a hole through it and a flat top.  The midwife places it on the belly² and listens in.  Every midwife in this country has seen it, and that is what they are trained with.”

The smartphone app records and examines the sound of the unborn baby’s heartbeat.  Mr. Okello says if the app suspects a problem, then it informs the midwife of different actions she might take.

“Say you have a baby and we detect that the heartbeat is less than 120 beats per minute.  That is a problem.  So immediately, we pop up something that says ‘please, we suggest that you could do A, B, C, D.’”

Mr. Okello says having a mobile device with this app could make it easier for health care workers to reach women in villages far away from cities.  He says it will also be less-costly³ than the machines that are now being used.

“We are getting a solution that’s cheaper, which means that more clinics are going to get it.  If we could get Huawei or I don’t know who to give us phones for free, we are looking at a solution that’s less than $100.”

Juliet Birungi is an obstetrician, a doctor who cares for pregnant women.  She has tried WinSenga.  She says hospitals could use the app to help medical workers follow the health of the baby even when they are not there. 

“You have so many mothers in labor⁴, and we do not have enough staff.  You find that while the mother is laboring⁵ here, the other one is delivering, the other one is bleeding.  So when you come, you are able to look at the recording⁶.”

Dr. Burungi says having these up-to-date records of the baby’s health condition could make the difference between life and death.  But she says the app is not a substitute for a trained medical worker.

Mr. Okello says the app could also be helpful in other developing countries with similar problems to Uganda.  And he says, with further changes to the app, it could even be used at home by pregnant women in developed countries. 

I’m June Simms.

And I’m Jonathan Evans.  Thanks for joining us today on As It Is from VOA Learning English.

We often hear stories about military use of drones in targeted attacks.  Drone manufacturers say these unmanned aircraft can have many other uses.  But some observers are increasingly concerned about privacy issues.  Here again is June Simms.

Drones Raise Hope and Questions across Africa

African militaries want drones to help them guard their borders and large open spaces.  But makers⁷ of these drones -- which are also called unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs -- say they could do much more than military work.  They could deliver medicine, protect endangered species, and move goods quickly and cheaply.  ?But some experts warn that letting drones operate, even for good uses, could create problems.

Kenyan engineer James Munyoki has built several drones.  One of them can carry a load of up to six kilograms.  He is trying to increase that to 10 kilograms.

“When I started building them, I was thinking the payload would be something like a camera for surveillance purposes.  We need that in Kenya. 

?That would enhance security.  Apart from that, it can also monitor traffic.  These are drones that can be used maybe for things like journalism⁸ or photography.  So the application is not just going to be for military purpose or security purpose.”

Park rangers⁹ in South Africa are flying small drones to watch over endangered rhinos¹⁰.  Some experts say drones could also be used to document the flow of refugees trying to escape conflict in their countries, or to record government abuses of human rights.  They could help in search and rescue operations and transport aid to hard-to-reach or dangerous areas. 

Africa’s strong economic growth and bad road conditions are seen as a great business opportunity for drone makers.  They believe battery-powered drones could move from one charging center to another, carrying items to villages far from cities.

Kristin Sandvik is the Director of the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian¹¹ Studies.  She says drones may solve some problems but create others.

"Across Africa, very few countries have comprehensive domestic legislation on privacy and data protection and information storage.  A drone cannot only see or listen.  It can also sense and hear and read.  So in a couple of years’ time when you have the smaller drones also outfitted¹² with facial recognition technology or smaller drones that could potentially hack¹³ into wireless¹⁴ systems.”

Ms. Sandvik says drones carrying cameras may be used to deliver aid to a refugee camp.  But, she asks, what happens to the information it may gather?

“Is the drone going to give this humanitarian crisis mapping information, is that going to be handed over to the International Criminal Court, for example?”

Drones are not yet ready for widespread use.  The sensor¹⁵ technology needed to prevent drones from crashing into things needs to be improved.  They are also costly.  And, in most countries drones or other aircraft cannot be flown without special laws governing their use.  

Opponents and supporters of drones do not agree on much.  But they do agree that the technology is coming, likely within the next ten years.  And they say Africa needs to be ready.

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 laboring   

n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• The young man who said laboring was beneath his dignity finally put his pride in his pocket and got a job as a kitchen porter. 那个说过干活儿有失其身份的年轻人最终只能忍辱，做了厨房搬运工的工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But this knowledge did not keep them from laboring to save him. 然而，这并不妨碍她们尽力挽救他。 来自飘（部分）

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

9 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

10 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 outfitted   

v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They outfitted for the long journey. 他们为远途旅行准备装束。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They outfitted him with artificial legs. 他们为他安了假腿。 来自辞典例句

13 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

14 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。

15 sensor   

n.传感器，探测设备，感觉器（官）

参考例句：

• The temperature sensor is enclosed in a protective well.温度传感器密封在保护套管中。
• He plugged the sensor into a outlet.他把传感器插进电源插座。