万花筒 Kaleidoscope2007-09-27&09-28, 笔记本电脑，为了孩子们

A visionary new mission to get a laptop into the hands of every poor child in the world, one billion of them. Today, the One Laptop Per Child Foundation is announcing the “Give One, Get One” Program. Listen to this, for 400 dollars you can buy a laptop for your child and another one is sent to a needy¹ child in a foreign country. Sounds great. Can this project change the world? For the answer, B, G.

For first and second graders in Cambridge, Massachusetts, new laptops are fun, new fixtures² in the classrooms.

You can, um, use it for your homework.

You, you could do kids stuff on it

And I can pick it up. See!

Wow!

If MIT professor Nicolas Negroponte has his way, scenes like this one will play out in classrooms around the world. His dream: to give each child in the developing world one of his specially³ designed laptops.

If you think of it as a laptop, it can be viewed as a luxury. If you think of it as education, it’s not a luxury.

Just how cool are the laptops? Well, according to the panel of experts I turned to, the products are extremely cool, allowing users not only to surf the net and read e-books, but to draw, to chat, to make movies. And since so many of its potential users don’t have electricity, there is the added bonus of being able to recharge the laptops with hand cranks or solar power. They are also certifiably kid-tested, able to withstand milk spills and drops of up to 5 feet.

Negroponte has been working to sell the low cost computers to government leaders who in turn give them to their country’s children. But now he is looking for the private sector⁴ to get in on the giving. Beginning November 12th, consumers can purchase two of the special laptops, one for themselves and one for a child in the developing country. Retail⁵ price for both, 400 dollars.

I am sure they will sell given that you got a 200-dollar tax write-off in addition to getting a really cool laptop.

Negroponte admits his ultimate goal is a lofty one.

10, 15 years from now, how will this world be different?

Poverty will be eliminated and there will be world peace.

10 to 15 years?

Might take 20.

1 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

2 fixtures   

（房屋等的）固定装置( fixture的名词复数 )； 如（浴盆、抽水马桶）； 固定在某位置的人或物； （定期定点举行的）体育活动

参考例句：

• The insurance policy covers the building and any fixtures contained therein. 保险单为这座大楼及其中所有的设施保了险。
• The fixtures had already been sold and the sum divided. 固定设备已经卖了，钱也分了。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。