VOA标准英语2014--加纳竹制自行车得到全世界的关注

 

Ghana Bamboo Bikes Gain Worldwide Attention 加纳竹制自行车得到全世界的关注

APPAH, GHANA— 

Bamboo does not get much respect in Ghana.

Farmers see it as a nuisance to be cleared from their land. Construction workers use it to prop¹ up buildings under construction.

But Kwabena Danso thinks bamboo is worth more than that.

His company, Booomers International, has been making bicycle frames out of bamboo, sending them from the Ashanti Region village of Appah to Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and elsewhere.

Bamboo "has so many opportunities for the country. Like, as we want to go into other products, it’s a great opportunity for us revise and then get the people to know that there’s great advantage to bamboo," Danso says.

Local workers

Danso says he hires young men from nearby villages and puts them to work, sanding, gluing and binding² his bamboo frames. 

His company churns out about 50 of the frames per month, using locally produced bamboo for the frames and cassava flour mixed with epoxy as one of the glues.

Bicycle frames are commonly made out of carbon fiber³, steel or aluminum⁴. 

Besides being a successful social enterprise, Danso says Booomers also serves as a source of livelihood⁵ for young men like foreman Abdul Razak.

Without this job, Razak says he would still be living at home with his parents.

"If there is this company it is not there, I don’t know where I’d be by now," Razak says.

Danso has sold only a few of his frames within Ghana. 

One of his customers, Walter Kudzodzi, purchased a bike earlier this year.  Kudzodzi says his solid-wood frame rarely escapes notice when he goes for rides around his neighborhood.

"For example, on Saturday, I rode about five kilometers around my neighborhood and everywhere I went, people were just looking at me," Kudzodzi says.

'Try it'

"Once and a while you hear the exclamation⁶, ‘Hey, it’s made out of bamboo, hey, that’s the bamboo bicycle,’ ... and anytime I stopped to take a breather, people come close to me and say, ‘Wow, we heard about this, but this is the first time we’ve seen it. Is it functional⁷? Does it work?'  I say yeah, try it," Kudzodzi says.

With his shop overwhelmed with orders, Danso says Booomers is poised⁸ for expansion. 

He says he hopes to get more of his frames on the streets, not just the roads of foreign countries, but on those in Ghana as well.

1 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

2 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

3 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

4 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

5 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

6 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

7 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

8 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。