VOA慢速英語:The Water Purification Disc - "MadiDrop"

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語農(nóng)業(yè)報道。

Students at the University of Virginia have developed a new way of purifying water. They say it could bring improved water quality to millions of people in the developing world. They called it MadiDrop. Field testing begins recently in South Africa. The laboratory in which the MadiDrop is made operates like a kitchen.

美國弗吉尼亞大學(xué)學(xué)生已經(jīng)開發(fā)出了一種凈化水的新方法。他們表示，它可能會給發(fā)展中國家數(shù)以百萬計的人們帶來水質(zhì)的改善。他們稱之為MadiDrop。最近在南非開始進行現(xiàn)場測試。制造MadiDrop的實驗室運作起來就像個廚房。

Workers add ingredients and mix, weigh, press and bake. What the workers are making is a ceramic disc that contains silver.

工人們添加各種原料，然后混合，稱重，按壓和烘烤。工人們在做的是含銀的陶瓷圓盤。

When the disc is dropped in water, silver ions are released to purify the water. Ions are atoms that have an electrical charge. Testing at the University of Virginia shows that the disc produces clean, safe water.

當圓盤被放入水中，陰離子釋放出來開始凈化水。離子是帶電荷的原子。在弗吉尼亞大學(xué)進行的測試表明，這種圓盤可以生產(chǎn)出干凈安全的用水。

Beeta Ehdaie is a doctoral candidate at UVA.

Beeta Ehdaie是弗吉尼亞大學(xué)(UVA)的一名博士生。

"It's not just about making a really great technology that effectively removes or kills bacteria and pathogens. It's about making a low cost, simple to use one, tailored to people in developing countries who don't have many resources."

他說，“這不僅是一項有效殺死細菌和病原體的偉大技術(shù)，而且低成本，簡單易用，特別適合缺少資源的發(fā)展中國家人民。”

The students are experimenting with different sizes of MadiDrops to match them with different sized water containers. Why the name "MadiDrop"?

學(xué)生們在試驗各種不同尺寸的MadiDrop以適應(yīng)不同大小的水容器。為什么命名為MadiDrop呢?

The word "madi" means water in Tshivenda, a language of Limpopo Province in South Africa. There, fifty women run a factory that makes water filters. The university started the factory last summer.

“Madi”在文達語中是水的意思，文達語是南非林波波省的一種語言。在那里，50名婦女運營著一家制造濾水器的工廠。弗吉尼亞大學(xué)去年夏天開辦了這家工廠。

The women mix sawdust and clay to make flower pot shaped filters that they use to purify drinking water. The water flows through the filters is which trap bacteria and solid particles. The factory sells the filters to local families. Manager Certinah Khashane says the work has changed the women's lives.

婦女們將鋸木屑和粘土混合，制成用來凈化飲用水的花盆狀濾水器。水流經(jīng)濾水器時，細菌和固體顆粒被過濾出來。這家工廠將濾水器賣給當?shù)氐募彝?。該工廠的經(jīng)理Certinah Khashane表示，這項工作改變了婦女們的生活。

"When they get money for those pots, they just buying school uniform for their children."

“當她們從這些濾水器中賺到錢時，她們就會給自己的孩子買校服。”

But the MadiDrop is smaller and less expensive than the filters. Over the next few months, students will test the MadiDrop in South Africa.

但和濾水器相比，MadiDrop更小更便宜。在接下來的幾個月里，學(xué)生們將在南非測試MadiDrop。

Maggie Montgomery is a water expert with the World Health Organization. Over Skype, she explained what field testing should show.

瑪吉·蒙哥馬利(Maggie Montgomery)是世衛(wèi)組織的水專家。她通過Skype解釋了現(xiàn)場測試的目的。

"Do they find it convenient, does it have a certain taste they don't like to the water, what happens once it becomes exhausted?"

她說，“人們是否覺得它方便?是否覺得它給水帶來一種他們不喜歡的異味，當它失效后會發(fā)生什么?”

If the testing is successful, the South African women will make and sell the MadiDrops. The goal is to expand such factories to other developing countries and improve millions of lives each year.

如果測試成功，這些南非婦女就將開始生產(chǎn)和銷售MadiDrop。其目標是把這類工廠推廣到其他國家去，每年改善數(shù)以百萬計人的生活。

Jim Smith is a UVA engineering professor. He leads the project.

吉姆·史密斯(Jim Smith)是弗吉尼亞大學(xué)的工程教授，他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了這一項目。

"Imagine a magic stone and you take this magic stone and you drop it in your water container. It purifies the water and makes it safe to drink. And then imagine that this magic stone only costs a few dollars. That's what a MadiDrop is."

“想象一下，一塊神奇的石頭，人們把它投入水容器中它就能凈化水，讓這些水可以安全飲用。然后想象一下，這塊神奇的石頭只要幾美元。而這就是MadiDrop。”

Professor Smith says he has received calls from companies that want to make the MadiDrop.

史密斯教授表示，他已經(jīng)接到一些希望生產(chǎn)MadiDrop的公司的電話。