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VOA标准英语2008年-Activist Paul Polak Inspires Others with Low Te

时间:2008-07-24 01:22来源:互联网 提供网友:xiesuyi   字体: [ ]
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"If you're going to come up with a practical solution to any problem," Paul Polak observes, "you have to first talk to the people who have the problem and listen to what they have to say. So that's what I did."
 
Paul Polak is dedicated1 to developing practical solutions that attack poverty at its roots

Psychiatrist2 Paul Polak was drawn3 to the problem of poverty while working with poor patients, and began his efforts in international development by talking with subsistence farmers in Bangladesh. They are among the world's one billion people who live in extreme poverty, which the World Bank defines as earning one dollar a day or less.

Polak has interviewed more than 3000 of these poor farmers, and notes, "They represent the vast majority of dollar-a-day people in the world. And everything we've done comes from what we learned from them."
 
Low-cost drip-irrigation systems ensure that 80 or 90% of precious stored water goes right to the roots of the plants

One important lesson was that poor farmers need better tools to make their farms more efficient, so Polak established a non-profit organization called International Development Enterprises, or IDE, to develop and market cheap technologies. They include a drip irrigation system that uses plastic bags, tubes and the power of gravity.
 
A Cambodian woman irrigates4 her field with a treadle pump

IDE also produces a foot-powered pump, or treadle pump, for accessing ground water, which allows poor farmers to grow cash crops in the dry season, when they bring higher prices. He says the system quickly pays for itself. "It costs $8. Installed on a tube well, it costs $25. And when a farmer makes an investment, maybe part of that is borrowed, the average net return is $100 dollars after expenses in the first year."

IDE distributes the pumps through local businesses, providing an income for those who sell and install the devices.

Polak embraces a business model, and in addition to his non-profit work, has started a profit-making business to design and sell simple, practical devices in the developing world. He says poor farmers should be respected as business partners, not viewed as objects of charity, as they often are.

"A great deal of development aid is delivered as a gift," he says. "It's very clear from my experience that you can't donate people out of poverty. Poor people themselves have to invest their own time and money."
 
IDE commissions local companies to manufacture treadle pumps

Polak's organization has sold one and a half million treadle pumps in Bangladesh alone. From Cambodia to Somalia, IDE sells simple drip irrigation systems and low-cost donkey carts. Polak says demand for these low-tech devices is immense, noting that there are 450 million farms of under two hectares in the world, but most agricultural tools and products are geared to big operations.

Polak has outlined his insights in a book called Out of Poverty, and it's required reading at the California Institute of Technology, where engineering professor Ken5 Pickar teaches a course on design for the developing world. Inspired in part by Polak, Pickar's class has teamed up with industrial design students from Landivar University in Guatemala to make products for poor villagers in that Central American country.
 
Industrial designer Paulina Qui?ones chats with a young Guatemalan boy who rode in one of the project's wheel- chairs made from a bicycle (Photo by Joseph Koehler)

"The most successful one we've had recently has been a wheelchair which has been made by carving6 up bicycles," he reports. "They're actually able to form a very inexpensive sturdy wheelchair appropriate for a nation where people live on roads which are not very good, and where wheelchair substitutes right now in rural areas are basically putting people in a wheelbarrow, or allowing them to crawl through the dirt."

Several CalTech graduates have set up a non-profit company to manufacture and distribute the wheelchairs.

Pickar says his students look to Polak for inspiration, not to government or international agencies, as they tackle the problem of poverty in the developing world. "In development, most exercises of this nature are just that, they're exercises. They don't really result in any lasting7 value." He admits they may raise money and help donors8 feel good about themselves, but adds, "in terms of significantly improving the lot of people whose lot needs to be improved, the numbers of really successful folks, you can count on the fingers of certainly less than two hands. So when a guy is successful, you have to say, well, maybe he's saying something we should all listen to."

Pickar and his students are listening to Paul Polak. So are students in similar classroom programs at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And some graduates from each school have followed Polak's lead in designing products to improve the lives of the poor in developing countries.

 

 


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1 dedicated duHzy2     
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的
参考例句:
  • He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
  • His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。
2 psychiatrist F0qzf     
n.精神病专家;精神病医师
参考例句:
  • He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
  • The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。
3 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
4 irrigates afadff4d24f55efe432e5dcf31658c68     
灌溉( irrigate的第三人称单数 ); 冲洗(伤口)
参考例句:
  • The Yangtse River irrigates vast stretches of farmland along its course. 长江灌溉着两岸的大片农田。
  • Water drafted from the well irrigates the field. 从井中抽出来的水用于灌溉田地。
5 ken k3WxV     
n.视野,知识领域
参考例句:
  • Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
  • Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.
6 carving 5wezxw     
n.雕刻品,雕花
参考例句:
  • All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
  • He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。
7 lasting IpCz02     
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
参考例句:
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
8 donors 89b49c2bd44d6d6906d17dca7315044b     
n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 );献血者;捐血者;器官捐献者
参考例句:
  • Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去,请给我们发电子邮件。
  • About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
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TAG标签:   VOA标准英语  Activist  Paul  Polak  In  Activist  Paul  Polak  In
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