VOA慢速英语--Amazon Reaches for the Stars
时间：2019-01-03 作者：英语课 分类：2018年VOA慢速英语(九)月
The American company Amazon.com is one of the biggest businesses in the United States and around the world. Now, the company is said to be negotiating 1 with the government in Chile on a plan to reach for the stars.
The Reuters news agency reports that Amazon hopes to store and use information collected by huge space telescopes in the South American nation.
Amazon is in talks with Chilean officials to store and mine what is called astrodata -- information gathered by the telescopes. If an agreement is reached, the company may be able to use the information to develop artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Chile’s government recently announced plans to combine data from all its telescopes and store it in a “cloud” computing 2 system. This means the information would be stored over the internet instead of a computer hard drive.
The government has yet to provide details of the astrodata possibilities. It did not say which companies might operate the computing cloud.
Amazon has been talking with Chile for two years about a possible data center. An official at InvestChile said such a center would provide services for local businesses and the government to store information on the cloud.
American astronomer 3 Chris Smith said the negotiations 4 have included talk about the possibility of Amazon Web Services (AWS) storing astrodata. Smith was involved in email exchanges between AWS and Chilean officials over the past six months. At the time, Smith was with AURA observatory 5, which leads three of the U.S. financed 6 telescope projects in Chile.
Amazon Web Service’s Jeffrey Kratz has met with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. Kratz confirmed the company’s interest in astrodata, but said that, for now, Amazon was making no announcements.
“Chile is a very important country for AWS,” he said in an email. “We kept being amazed about the incredible 7 work on astronomy 8 and the telescopes," Kratz wrote. He said the Chilean telescopes “can benefit from the cloud” by easing the difficulty of dealing 9 with information technology.
Why Chile?
Northern Chile is known for having clear skies, not much rain, and large areas without bright city lights. This makes it a perfect place to observe the night sky. Because of this, seventy percent of the money spent on astronomy in the world goes to Chile.
Many of the world’s most powerful telescopes operate in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest desert on earth. Chris Smith said that within five years, three of the world’s four next-generation billion-dollar telescopes will be in the South American country.
Powerful telescopes produce large amounts of information about the universe. If a deal between Chile and Amazon is reached, AWS’s cloud computing program could help.
Economy Ministry 10 officials are leading Chili's effort to store astrodata in the cloud. They said there are ways such data could help with more Earth-bound issues.
One ministry official, Julio Pertuze, said tools developed for the astrodata project could have other uses, such as identifying persons stealing goods from stores or helping 11 to protect endangered animals.
Pertuze spoke 12 at an event announcing Chile’s aim to build a virtual 13 observatory on the cloud.
Amazon’s founder 14 and leader Jeff Bezos is known for his interest in space. His company already provides a cloud platform for data from the Hubble Telescope and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Australia.
As Amazon explores the possibilities in Chile’s astrodata, another technology company, Google, is already a member of Chile’s Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. It will be fully 15 operational in 2022. Google also has a data center established in the country.
Just last month, crews started work on the telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The Giant Magellan Telescope is expected to give humans a view of the edge of the universe. The project will cost $1 billion to complete.
The huge device will have seven round mirrors that will be 24 meters around. The telescope and its computer will make the Giant Magellan Telescope 10 times as accurate as the American space agency’s Hubble Space Telescope.
The Giant Magellan Telescope should be ready for use in 2024. Scientists hope to be able to collect more light than any telescope ever built. They hope they will be able to see all the way back to the earliest days of the universe.
I’m Anne Ball.
Words in This Story
mine - v. to search for something valuable
artificial intelligence - n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence
benefit - n. to be helped by something
virtual observatory - n. an observatory that exists or occurs computers or on the Internet
view - n. the things that can be seen from a particular place
mirror - n. a piece of glass that reflects images
accurate - adj. free from mistakes or errors
- to work in computing 从事信息处理
- Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。
- A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
- He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。
- negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
- Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。
- Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
- Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。
- Capital expenditure can be financed by borrowing; operating expenditure should not. 资本支出可以靠借款，而运营费用不行。
- All purchases shall be financed with the proceeds of loan. 全部货款用贷款支付。
- Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
- Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。
- Mathematics is connected with astronomy.数学与天文学有联系。
- Astronomy is an abstract subject.天文学是一门深奥的学科。
- This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
- His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
- They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
- We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
- This reply is a virtual acceptance of our offer.这一回答实质上是接受了我们的建议。
- At that time the East India Company was the virtual ruler of Bengal.那时东印度公司是孟加拉的实际统治者。
- He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
- According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。