VOA慢速英语2017 硅谷有能耐 理念变商机

 

Almost anyone with a good idea and the ability to write directions for a computer software program can make products that were not possible before the internet.

几乎每个有好想法，能制作电脑命令程序的人，都能制造出一种产品，这种产品在因特网出现之前难以想象。

But it is not enough to just have an idea. A team of people with different skills is necessary to turn that idea into reality.

仅仅有个好想法是不够得。一队拥有不同技能的人才能将想法变成现实。

Teams like this are often formed at an event called a hackathon.

像这样的团队往往被称为黑客马拉松

Sabeen Ali is the founder¹ and leader of a California company called AngelHack. It organizes hackathons around the world.

Sabeen Ali是加州一家公司名为AngelHack的创始人和领导人。该公司在全世界范围内都有这样的黑客马拉松团队。

At a hackathon, she says, people with creative ideas can join with others to develop and write computer programs.

她表示，在黑客马拉松团队中，每个有创新想法的人都可以和其他人交流，共同研发电脑程序。

“A hacker² is anyone that can take limited resources or be in any type of constraint³ -- time constraint, resource constraint, knowledge constraint -- and create something from nothing or something from very little.”

一个电脑黑客总能利用有限资源，在时间、资源和知识都有限的情况下，从零做起，开发出电脑程序。

As a child, Sabeen Ali learned to live on very little money. Her parents were immigrants from Pakistan. Her father died when she was very young.

还是孩童时，阿里就已经学会用较少的钱存活。她的父母是来自巴基斯坦的移民。在她很小的时候父亲就去世了。

“I lived in a house with a single parent, three kids. And we had to figure out how to do a lot of things on our own.”

我和妈妈一起生活，还有三个孩子。我们必须力所能及做很多的活。

Ali said she used her childhood experiences to create her company.

阿里说，她凭借幼时的经验创办了这家公司。

“Somebody who works in a larger organization 9-to-5, building the same app, day after day, can come and build that thing that’s been keeping them up at night. Or somebody like me, who’s an entrepreneur, who has this amazing idea -- I know how to make money from it, I know all the customers and the clients, but I don’t have the tech resources to be able to put it together -- I needed this type of outlet⁴ and support and forum⁵.”

有些人在大公司里工作，过着朝九晚五的生活，每天构建着同一个程序，日复一日，有时候还要加班到深夜。或者像我这样的企业家，会具有惊人的想法，我知道如何才能挣钱，知道消费者和客户需要什么，但是我不知道如何将这些资源整合起来，我需要这个团队平台，需要支持和帮助。

Her business has organized hackathons in more than 90 cities throughout the world. Hackers⁶ form teams, and compete to win awards for the best idea and best product.

她的公司在世界上90多个国家都有黑客马拉松团队。电脑黑客们组建成这个团队，竞争最好的主意和最棒的产品。

AngelHack works with a winner from each event for 12 weeks, helping⁷ them form companies and persuade people to invest money in their idea.

AngelHack和一个各项都突出的优胜者一起工作12周了，帮助他们组建公司，说服投资商为他们进行投资。

The top teams are brought to Silicon⁸ Valley, near San Francisco, where they present their idea to hundreds of possible investors⁹.

最顶尖的团队将会去旧金山的硅谷，他们可以在那里将自己的观点展示给潜在的百余位投资商。

Some teams helped by AngelHack have had great success. Investors gave one team $10 million. Two others were bought by Google, the technology company.

AngelHack旗下的好多团队获得了巨大成功。投资商们对团队的投资多达一千万。其中有两个团队为技术公司GOOGLE购得。

Words in This Story

software – n. programs or processed involving or related to a computer system

resource – n. supplies or support; something that generally improves one’s quality of life

constraint – n. a controlling force; repression¹⁰

entrepreneur – n. someone who organizes and launches a business

amazing – adj. surprising

outlet – n. an opening; a way to release something

forum – n. a public place; a center for open discussion

collaborative – adj. of or related to jointly working with others

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

3 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

4 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

5 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

6 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。