VOA标准英语2010年-Scientists Advocate Technology's Role

Scientists from more than a dozen West African countries discuss how technology can help meet Millennium¹ Development Goals.

World Leaders are gathering² in New York this week to discuss the United Nations Millennium Development Goals - a set of objectives that range from cutting child and maternal³ mortality to halving⁴ the number of people who go hungry by 2015.

But at a recent gathering in Nigeria of journalists and scientists from more than a dozen African countries, participants lamented⁵ the lack of importance that technology and science have played in achieving these goals.

Dr. Umar Bindir, the director general of Nigeria's National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion⁶, spoke⁷ about the role science should play in development at the First Regional Workshop of the Science Journalism⁸ Cooperation.

"We must make sure our science is connected to technology, and our technology is connected to products, to processes to know-how," he said. "This is how we are going to take the future of this continent in our hands. This is how were going to solve problems. This is how we're going to insure jobs are available for our children and children's and colleagues.

Bindir stressed that of the eight MDGs that have been laid out, the most essential is to halve⁹ poverty. But he added that a lack of available statistics makes it extremely difficult.

"And for you to be able to do that, you must be able to know the poverty levels that you have first, quantitatively¹⁰. It means that you have to conduct surveys; you have to document the elements of poverty. How many people are not drinking clean water, how many children cannot go to school? What is the capacity of the agricultural system? What is the strength of the institutions to actually get people educated, and so on and so forth," said Bindir.

In Nigeria, where the conference was held, more than $6 billion has been spent on MDGs in the past four years, but 70 percent of the population still lives in poverty.

UNICEF adviser¹¹ for water, hygiene¹² and sanitation¹³ in West and Central Africa, Chris Cormency, said Senegal is one country that has used technology to make some of these improvements.

"They have really done some innovative¹⁴ things in Senegal for water," he said. "Well I think one of the things they have done is they have sort of tied in some of the new I.T. initiatives, cell phones into their monitoring, so they are able to keep really high functioning rates of their water points. Because they have set up systems that at the village level can be used to transmit information on a broken pump for example."

Bindir said, despite advances such as those in Senegal, "the road from our laboratories to the industry remains¹⁵ too long."
 

1 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

4 halving   

n.对分，二等分，减半[航空、航海]等分v.把…分成两半( halve的现在分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• You searched those halving your salary cut your enthusiasm. 你呈现，薪水减半降低了你的任务热情。 来自互联网
• Halving the repeater spacing made it possible to quadruple the bandwidth. 把增音机间隔缩小一半，就能使带宽增加三倍。 来自互联网

5 lamented   

adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
• We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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 halve   

vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半

参考例句：

• Let's halve the project between our two teams.让我们两个队平均分担这项工程吧。
• I'll halve expenses with you.我要跟你平均分摊费用。

10 quantitatively   

adv.数量上

参考例句：

• With the ease, radiation detectors can be used semi-quantitatively in the field. 使用射线探测器可以很方便地进行野外半定量测定。 来自辞典例句
• In other words, you are to analyze them quantitatively and qualitatively. 换句话说，你们要对它们进行量和质的分析。 来自辞典例句

11 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

12 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

13 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

14 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。