VOA慢速英语2018 印第安纳波利斯:美国中西部的“硅谷”

Indianapolis: ‘Silicon 1 Valley’ in the US Midwest

Indianapolis, the capital of the state of Indiana, is not often thought of as a technology center. One city official, however, believes the city’s image is changing.

印第安纳州首府印第安纳波利斯通常不被认为是科技中心。然而一位市政府官员认为，这座城市的形象正在发生变化。

Angela Smith Jones is the deputy mayor of economic development. She compares Indianapolis to a version of Silicon Valley.

安吉拉·史密斯·琼斯（Angela Smith Jones）是负责经济发展的副市长。她将印第安纳波利斯同硅谷进行了比较。

In other words, Indianapolis is becoming a center for new, technology-based businesses, similar to Silicon Valley in California.

换句话说，印第安纳波利斯正在成为以科技为基础的新业务中心，类似于加州的硅谷。

Last year, technology companies in Indianapolis added $7.7 billion to the city’s economy. They employed 75,000 people and are seeking more. Openings for technology-related jobs increased 40 percent last year.

去年，印第安纳波利斯的科技公司为该市的经济贡献了77亿美元。他们雇佣了7.5万人，并在寻求雇佣更多人。去年，科技相关的工作机会增加了40%。

Kenzie Academy

肯齐学院

Courtney Spence is the founder 2 of a school in Indianapolis that teaches people technology skills. Spence says the city is on the edge of a “tech boom.”

考特尼·斯宾塞（Courtney Spence）是印第安纳波利斯一所学校的创始人。该学校教给人们科技技能。斯宾塞表示，该市正处于“科技繁荣”的边缘。

Spence and her school, Kenzie Academy, are trying to keep technology talent in the Indianapolis area.

斯宾塞和她创办的肯齐学院正致力于把科技人才留在印第安纳波利斯地区。

"Our point is to bring people from Indianapolis to stay in Indianapolis," says Spence. To do that, the school places students in local companies as quickly as possible.

斯宾塞表示：“我们的目标是把印第安纳波利斯人留在当地。”为此，该校尽可能快地把学生安排进当地公司。

Kavitha Kamalbabu is one of Kenzie’s top students. Born in India, she is 36 years old and the mother of two school-age children.

卡维塔·卡玛巴布（Kavitha Kamalbabu）是肯齐学院的得意门生之一。36岁的卡玛巴布出生在印度，是两个学龄儿童的母亲。

Kamalbabu says that she knew she wanted to work in technology. But, she could not launch a career in San Jose or another city in Silicon Valley. She needed to stay close to her home and family in Indianapolis. So she began a two-year program at Kenzie Academy to earn a degree as a software developer.

卡玛巴布表示，她知道自己想从事科技领域的工作。但是她无法在硅谷的圣何塞等城市开创职业生涯。她需要靠近她在印第安纳波利斯的住所和家族。所以她在肯齐学院开始就读一项为期两年的课程，以获得软件开发人员的学位。

Recently, Kamalbabu and some other students were invited to visit a local company called Steady Serve. The business has created an app to reduce waste by measuring how much beer remains 3 in a beer storage container.

最近，卡玛巴布和其他一些学生被邀请访问了一家名为Steady Serve的当地公司。该公司已经开发出一个应用程序，通过测量啤酒存储容器中的啤酒剩余量来减少浪费。

In the past, the head of Steady Serve, Steve Hershberger, hired workers from big universities near Silicon Valley. Now, he is choosing candidates from Kenzie to work on the coding. He says he likes the qualities he sees in the local workers.

过去，Steady Serve公司的负责人斯德蒂·哈斯伯格（Steve Hershberger）从硅谷附近的大学招人。现在他从肯齐学院招人从事编程工作。他说，他喜欢自己在当地员工身上看到的那些品质。

“It’s like [Kenzie Academy] folded the country and brought San Jose into Indianapolis,” he says.

他说：“肯齐学院就像是把圣何塞带到了印第安纳波利斯。”

Silicon Valley still popular

硅谷仍然很受欢迎

However, students who are already in Silicon Valley may not like the idea of working in the area known as the Midwest.

然而，已经身在硅谷的学生可能不会有在中西部地区工作的想法。

Max Comolli is a first-year student at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Comolli said he would not leave California for Indiana because Silicon Valley already has "such a great tech scene already established."

马克斯·科莫利（Max Comolli）是加州帕罗奥多市斯坦福大学的大一学生。科莫利表示，他不会离开加州去印第安纳州，因为硅谷已经建立起来如此伟大的科技圈子。

Diego Garcia is working on a Master’s degree at Stanford. He says that when he considers top technology areas, he thinks of "California or New York, not Indianapolis."

迪亚戈·加西亚（Diego Garcia）正在斯坦福大学攻读硕士学位。他说，当他考虑顶级科技地区时，他会想到加州或纽约，而不印第安纳波利斯。

But Stanford University freshman 4 Alexa White has a different opinion. She grew up in Detroit, Michigan, another city in the Midwest. She thinks a technology capital in the region would "benefit the field" and create diversity.

但是斯坦福大学新生爱丽莎·怀特（Alexa White）看法不同。她在另一座美国中西部城市密歇根州底特律市长大。她认为地区科技首府会惠及当地并创造多元化。

Seeking greater diversity

追求更多元化

Estimates say women make up only a small percentage of workers in technology fields. In that way, Kenzie Academy in Indianapolis is similar to the rest of the field. Of the current class, only Kamalbabu and another person, Mya Williams, are female. The next class of 18 students starting later this year will have three women.

据估计，女性只占到科技领域员工的微小比例。在这方面，印第安纳波利斯的肯齐学院跟其它学校类似。在目前的课程中，只有卡玛巴布和麦尔·威廉姆斯（Mya Williams）是女性。今年晚些时候开课的下一个班级的18名学生中将会有3名女生。

School officials at Kenzie say they are trying hard to bring more women to the school. They are also planning to create more academies internationally, starting in Malaysia.

肯齐学院的官员表示，他们正在努力尝试让更多女性进入该校。他们还计划从马来西亚开始，在国际上创建更多学院。

Founder Courtney Spence goes further. She says she wants to create academies like Kenzie all over the world.

该学院的创始人斯宾塞想得更远。她说她想在全球创办肯齐学院这样的学校。

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

boom – n. a rapid growth of business

code – n. a set of instructions for a computer?

talent – n. a person or group of people with a special ability to do something well?

fold – v. to bend one part of (something) over or against another part?

scene – n. a particular area of activity that involves many people?

benefit – n. a good or helpful result or effect?

region – n. a part of a country, of the world, etc., that is different or separate from other parts in some way?

diversity – n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization