VOA慢速英语2017 硅谷有能耐 理念变商机

Almost anyone with a good idea and the ability to write directions for a computer software program can make products that were not possible before the internet.

几乎每个有好想法，能制作电脑命令程序的人，都能制造出一种产品，这种产品在因特网出现之前难以想象。

But it is not enough to just have an idea. A team of people with different skills is necessary to turn that idea into reality.

仅仅有个好想法是不够得。一队拥有不同技能的人才能将想法变成现实。

Teams like this are often formed at an event called a hackathon.

像这样的团队往往被称为黑客马拉松

Sabeen Ali is the founder 1 and leader of a California company called AngelHack. It organizes hackathons around the world.

Sabeen Ali是加州一家公司名为AngelHack的创始人和领导人。该公司在全世界范围内都有这样的黑客马拉松团队。

At a hackathon, she says, people with creative ideas can join with others to develop and write computer programs.

她表示，在黑客马拉松团队中，每个有创新想法的人都可以和其他人交流，共同研发电脑程序。

“A hacker 2 is anyone that can take limited resources or be in any type of constraint 3 -- time constraint, resource constraint, knowledge constraint -- and create something from nothing or something from very little.”

一个电脑黑客总能利用有限资源，在时间、资源和知识都有限的情况下，从零做起，开发出电脑程序。

As a child, Sabeen Ali learned to live on very little money. Her parents were immigrants from Pakistan. Her father died when she was very young.

还是孩童时，阿里就已经学会用较少的钱存活。她的父母是来自巴基斯坦的移民。在她很小的时候父亲就去世了。

“I lived in a house with a single parent, three kids. And we had to figure out how to do a lot of things on our own.”

我和妈妈一起生活，还有三个孩子。我们必须力所能及做很多的活。

Ali said she used her childhood experiences to create her company.

阿里说，她凭借幼时的经验创办了这家公司。

“Somebody who works in a larger organization 9-to-5, building the same app, day after day, can come and build that thing that’s been keeping them up at night. Or somebody like me, who’s an entrepreneur, who has this amazing idea -- I know how to make money from it, I know all the customers and the clients, but I don’t have the tech resources to be able to put it together -- I needed this type of outlet 4 and support and forum 5.”

有些人在大公司里工作，过着朝九晚五的生活，每天构建着同一个程序，日复一日，有时候还要加班到深夜。或者像我这样的企业家，会具有惊人的想法，我知道如何才能挣钱，知道消费者和客户需要什么，但是我不知道如何将这些资源整合起来，我需要这个团队平台，需要支持和帮助。

Her business has organized hackathons in more than 90 cities throughout the world. Hackers 6 form teams, and compete to win awards for the best idea and best product.

她的公司在世界上90多个国家都有黑客马拉松团队。电脑黑客们组建成这个团队，竞争最好的主意和最棒的产品。

AngelHack works with a winner from each event for 12 weeks, helping 7 them form companies and persuade people to invest money in their idea.

AngelHack和一个各项都突出的优胜者一起工作12周了，帮助他们组建公司，说服投资商为他们进行投资。

The top teams are brought to Silicon 8 Valley, near San Francisco, where they present their idea to hundreds of possible investors 9.

最顶尖的团队将会去旧金山的硅谷，他们可以在那里将自己的观点展示给潜在的百余位投资商。

Some teams helped by AngelHack have had great success. Investors gave one team $10 million. Two others were bought by Google, the technology company.

AngelHack旗下的好多团队获得了巨大成功。投资商们对团队的投资多达一千万。其中有两个团队为技术公司GOOGLE购得。

Words in This Story

software – n. programs or processed involving or related to a computer system

resource – n. supplies or support; something that generally improves one’s quality of life

constraint – n. a controlling force; repression 10

entrepreneur – n. someone who organizes and launches a business

amazing – adj. surprising

outlet – n. an opening; a way to release something

forum – n. a public place; a center for open discussion

collaborative – adj. of or related to jointly working with others