2007年VOA标准英语-Tools to Improve Lives, Health in the Developin

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New York
09 August 2007
 

Design is a topic most often associated with luxury goods. But an exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York focuses on innovative² ways to address the needs of the world's poor. The objects on display represent a new trend in design, one that mixes sustainable and recycled materials with ancient knowledge and high technology.

The Cooper-Hewitt's Cynthia Smith curated the exhibit

The United Nations says 90 percent of the world's population lacks the money to buy even the most basic goods. Life is an endless struggle to get enough water, food, cooking fuel and shelter just to survive.

The outdoor exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum displays tools to meet those needs, and others that address education, better health, and income-generating work. "The kind of design that's in the show, Design for the Other 90%, really can impact people's lives,” curator Cynthia Smith says. “It can improve lives and even save lives."

For transporting things, there is the Boda bicycle, built long and with a low center of gravity. It can handle large loads of goods, or two passengers in addition to the bicyclist.  For carrying water home, there's the Q Drum, a plastic container shaped like a ring or doughnut, with a hole in the middle.

“You put the water inside the doughnut,” Smith says, “and then you roll it along the ground -- as opposed to putting it on your head, or pushing it with a wheelbarrow."

Micro-irrigation devices on display include this foot-operated bamboo treadle pump for drawing up ground water

The life-straw makes dirty water safe to drink in the time it takes to draw it up from a pond or puddle³. Solar-powered lights are woven into a flexible portable light mat, so that people can read or work at night. And for growing food even during a drought, there are micro-irrigation devices on display, including a bamboo treadle pump.

"You use it with a walking motion,” Smith says. “It brings water up from the ground, costs roughly $40. Over two million are in use today. The impact for that one is that in Bangladesh alone, they've increased their net income by $1.4 billion."

The pot-in-pot cooler keeps vegetables fresh for days -- making it possible to earn money from produce that would otherwise spoil before it could be brought to market. "It's designed by Mohammed Bah Abba, an engineer out of Nigeria,” Smith says. “It's one ceramic⁴ pot inside another ceramic pot. Between the two pots, there's sand. You pour water into the sand, and as the air evaporates, the hot air escapes from the center of the pot, and leaves cool air."

Sergio Palleroni is an architecture professor who designs for poor communities. His group's solar cooker is made from scrap⁵ metal, and uses the same principle. Standing⁶ in front of the cooker, which looks like a mirrored satellite dish with a small black pot hanging in the middle, Palleroni explains how it works. 

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Architect Sergio Palleroni designs for poor and squatter communities

“You turn it to where the line of sun is straight to the center, and then all the rays of the sun will come, reflect, and then hit the black surface [of the pot at the center] and heat it up. So, that's why it's on a stand. You rotate it around and focus it, and then essentially⁸ for half an hour or an hour, while the sun is still in that general path, you have a super-efficient stove."

The cooker is faster than an ordinary stove, and saves both trees and the hours people formerly⁹ spent searching for fuel. Hundreds of families can cook at once on giant versions, which follow the sun with clockwork mechanisms¹⁰ made of bicycle parts. While the sun’s heat concentrates on a long metal cooking bar, the rest of the device remains¹¹ cool. "It allows people to cook from what's really abundant along the equatorial belt,” Palleroni says. “Most poverty happens along the equatorial belt. And one resource you have in abundance is the sun."

Other highlights of the show include a fleet of motorcycles that carry wireless¹² Internet from village to village, and furniture built of wood salvaged¹³ after Hurricane Katrina. 

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 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。

3 puddle   

n.(雨)水坑，泥潭

参考例句：

• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑，沿着人行道跑了。
• She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下，跌在水坑里。

4 ceramic   

n.制陶业，陶器，陶瓷工艺

参考例句：

• The order for ceramic tiles has been booked in.瓷砖的订单已登记下来了。
• Some ceramic works of art are shown in this exhibition.这次展览会上展出了一些陶瓷艺术品。

5 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 squatter   

n.擅自占地者

参考例句：

• The squatter settlements originally came into being through illegal land invasions. 违章建筑区最初是通过非法的土地占有而形成的。
• Squatter control is maintained by regular patrols and hut-to-hut checks. 当局定期逐户视察所有寮屋，以收管制之效。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

10 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 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。

12 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

13 salvaged   

（从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物）

参考例句：

• The investigators studied flight recorders salvaged from the wreckage. 调查者研究了从飞机残骸中找到的黑匣子。
• The team's first task was to decide what equipment could be salvaged. 该队的首要任务是决定可以抢救哪些设备。