2006年VOA标准英语-Former Microsoft Employee Brings High Tech

By Nico Colombant
Accra, Ghana
15 March 2006

In Ghana, a small private university is helping¹ with entrepreneurial efforts to turn the aid-dependent West African country into a high-tech² hub. Although the task is daunting³, early signs are encouraging.

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"This is our Africana and English collection. Again, it's a small collection but it's very focused on the courses that we are teaching here in Africana studies, African history, African philosophy," explains Associate Director of Development Matthew Taggart as he gives a tour of Ashesi University.

The name means "Beginning" in the local Akan language.

Students here are mostly interested in computer science and business management and all the computers at their disposal. 

 
Patrick Awuah  
  
The university's president and founder⁴ is Patrick Awuah. He studied in the United States and worked for the software giant, Microsoft.

But, after he and his wife - also a Microsoft employee - had a child, they decided⁵ it was time to give back to his native Ghana.

"This is a very rewarding project to be engaged in," he says. "Students are doing well. The first class graduated last year and they are placed in industry and are doing very well. We are getting very good reports back and that's very important. Frustration⁶ has to do with (the fact) working in Ghana is not always easy. Infrastructures⁷ are not where it needs to be and we have to struggle with that. "

"I've written part of it but I need to test it. So I have to write a little more code and then test the program and then submit it. I'll just email it to my lecturer," explains.

Araba Amuasi  
  
Araba Amuasi. She is doing homework for a computer class. She is scheduled to graduate in 2007. Like most students, some of her schooling⁸ is paid by her parents, but she also gets a loan to cover the several thousand-dollar tuition.

Amuasi says her dream is to become a great African computer programmer.

"I want to get a couple of friends together and set up a company that would develop software that is cheaper and will fit into our context better," she says. "Because, now, almost everything we use here is developed outside the country, outside the continent. There are certain scenarios⁹ that don't quit work when you implement¹⁰ the programs here. So I want to do something that is more centered on Africa."

Over at a nearby company called Rancard Solutions, Ehigozie Binitie is introducing two Ashesi graduates he recently hired.

He is the chief technology strategist for the development of business application software.

 
Privileged students 
  
"We are an ambitious young company, forward looking with every intention of going global," he explains. "Now, it is a little hard to capture that culture and mindset. There are lots of graduates who do not really believe in it. They have not experienced, first hand, what it is to work at the cutting edge. And, so, they struggle to see how and why it can be done in Ghana by Ghanaians like themselves. There is just a bit of a mind gap. And, I think it's an exposure thing. So, I think it is definitely a breath of fresh air to meet kids coming out of school with a mindset (with which) you can really accomplish a lot."

Binitie says, after initial frustrations¹¹ to turn Ghana into a high-tech center for West Africa, refocused efforts are starting to pay dividends¹².

"I think it is coming back around. I think that in 2000 the mood for high tech companies started out, but what we, initially¹³, fundamentally, a lot of us got wrong was our business model," he says. "We were not quite sure where we fit in or our relevance¹⁴ in the economy and how that played out in terms of pure business economics. There were lots of novel ideas but the relevance in the market space was not clearly defined. Since 2001, there has been lots of shaking and consolidation¹⁵ in the industry. And we're beginning to see companies who are using technology to deliver services from core telecommunications to using telecommunications to deliver anything from money, to services, to education. We're finding companies who are beginning to discover real market needs."

The man behind some of these new high-tech prospects¹⁶ in Ghana, Awuah, says it was nice to succeed for himself in the United States. Still, he feels he is doing much more now for others.

"When I was working at Microsoft that was also very exciting. Those were heady times when I was there in the late 80's and early 90's," he says. "There are times when I am back in Seattle and I go visit some of my colleagues who are still there. They are working on some pretty cool technology and certainly there is a part of me that misses that sometimes. But what I am doing now is equally challenging, even more challenging I think than what I was doing at Microsoft."

All the students at the university seem to be full of ideas and business plans, trying to design profitable and useful technological¹⁷ improvements.

Amuasi wants to develop software in local languages for Ghanaians who cannot read or write in French or English.

"We are looking at something that is developed in a language that will suit them. Stuff like that has been done in India where they use software that uses language that people are familiar with in India," she says.

Rather than adding to the brain drain that afflicts¹⁸ so many sectors¹⁹ of the continent's economy and leave to the United States or Europe, she and other bright students now say they have enough opportunity to stay here.

1 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。

2 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

3 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

4 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。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

7 infrastructures   

n.基础设施( infrastructure的名词复数 )；基础结构；行政机构；秘密机构

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。 来自互联网
• The increasingly fast urbanization process requires more and more infrastructures. 我国城市化进程不断加快，对城市基础设施的需求也越来越大。 来自互联网

8 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

9 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

12 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

13 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

14 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

15 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

16 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

17 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

18 afflicts   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Level 3-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 三级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。
• Level 1-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 一级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。

19 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》