VOA慢速英语2016 竹子是一种常见的建筑材料

Making Bamboo a Common Building Material 竹子是一种常见的建筑材料

Bamboo is one of the world’s most useful plants. For thousands of years bamboo has been used in many different ways -- from food to medicine to clothing and, in small ways, as a building material.

竹子是世界上最有用的植物。几千年来竹已经使用在许多不同方面上，从食物、衣服到药品，在小的方面是作为建筑材料。

However, bamboo is not often used as a building material in the developed world. It is not made according to officially set measurements, or standards. It simply grows in the ground. A professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania is trying to change that.

然而，在发达国家，竹子不经常用作建筑材料。那是因为它没有官方的正式测量或标准。它只生长在地上。宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡大学的教授正试图改变这种情况。

The professor and his students are testing the strength of bamboo. They are testing its radial load, or how much pressure or weight it can take before breaking.

教授和他的学生正在测试竹子的强度。他们正在测试它的径向载荷，或可以承受多大压力或重量，以打破它以前可以承受的重量。

That pressure was too much.

能承受的压力很大

Kent Harries 1 is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Harries says that testing methods for bamboo need to be the same for all. They need to be standardized 3.

肯特哈瑞斯是匹兹堡大学的教授。哈瑞斯表示，对竹子的测试方法要是相同的。他们需要被标准化。

Building codes everywhere require strict standardization 4 of tests for all materials, such as timber or concrete. But tests for bamboo have not been standardized.

各地建筑规范要求严格标准化地测试如木材或混凝土等材料。但测试竹并没有标准化。

Standardizing 5 test methods for bamboo will help to bring the plant into common use, or the mainstream 6. It will also give engineers and builders around the world a dependable standard – or as Harries says, a testing method they can hang their hat on.

标准化测试方法将有助于使竹子被普遍使用,或者是成为主流。它还将给世界各地的工程师和建筑工人一个可靠的标准——或如哈瑞斯说，他们可以依靠的一个测试方法。

"If we standardize 2 it, if we provide essentially 7 documentation, test methods which the engineers can hang their hat on, we bring the material into the mainstream."

“如果我们规范它，如果我们可以提供让工程师可以使用并让我们能够把竹材料成变成主流的文件或测试方法。”

Why is bamboo a great building material?

为什么竹是一种伟大的建筑材料?

Harries sees bamboo as a great building material.

哈瑞斯认为竹是一种伟大的建筑材料。

First, it is strong. The strength of at least three species of bamboo is similar to steel. Besides its strength, Harries says that bamboo has other features that make it a great building material. He says it is resilient, meaning it keeps its shape and strength even under pressure.

首先，它是强大的。至少有三种竹子的强度与钢相近。除了它的力量，哈瑞斯说，竹子有其他的特性使它成为一种伟大的建筑材料。他说竹子有弹性，这意味着即使受到压力，它也可以保持其形状和力量。

"It's a remarkably 8 strong material, remarkably resilient. It's optimized 10 to be very tall. Obviously bamboo material, something like this, might grow 20 meters and it supports its own weight, and, of course, it also supports huge wind loads ..."

“这是一种非常强大和非常有弹性的材料。它可以长到很高。显然竹材料有可能会增长到20米，它可以支撑自己的体重，而且，它当然还可以承受巨大的风力……”

Bamboo also grows quickly. Bamboo that is suitable for construction needs much less resources than wood.

竹子的增长也很迅速。适用于建筑的竹子比木头需要更少的资源。

The harvest cycle of bamboo is about 3 years. Softwoods such as cedar 11, pine and spruce have a harvest cycle of about 10 years. And hardwoods that come from flowering plants such as oak, maple 12 and walnut 13 need more than 30 years.

竹子的收获周期约为3年。软木如雪松、松树和云杉收获周期约10年。而硬木，来自开花植物如橡树、枫树和胡桃木则需要超过30年。

Harries says bamboo poles could be joined together into columns for building floors and roofs. In many countries they are already used for wall panel structures.

哈瑞斯表示，竹竿可以加入建筑地板和屋顶的行列。在许多国家，他们已经把竹子用于墙板结构。

Bamboo might have a bad reputation

竹子可能有一个坏名声

Bamboo is widely used as food for panda bears. It is also used for furniture or man-made building products such as flooring and window covers, or blinds.

竹子被广泛用作熊猫的食品。它也用于家具或地板和窗户等人造建筑产品表面，或百叶窗。

However, bamboo is not used much outside its native growing area. This is mostly because of its round shape. But there are other reasons too.

然而，竹子在其生长的本地区域也很少被使用。这主要是因为它是圆形的。但也有其他原因。

Bamboo, it seems, has an image problem. People think – or have the mentality 14 – that bamboo is a low quality building material.

竹子，似乎，有一个形象问题。人们认为——或持有心态——竹是一个低质量的建筑材料。

"It is viewed in much of the world as well, bamboo is for poor people, and so there's that mentality that we're trying to get over."

“在世界的很多地方的人们都这么认为，竹子是穷人才使用的，所以我们才试图克服有这样的心态。”

Words in This Story

standard – n. a fixed 15 official unit of measurement

radial load - adj. pressure or weight that weighs on an object from a right angle

standardized – adj. to change (things) so that they are similar and consistent and agree with rules about what is proper and acceptable

hang (your) hat on – idiomatic 16 phrase a skill or trait or whatever that you use or rely on

mainstream – adj. the thoughts, beliefs, and choices that are accepted by the largest number of people

resilient – adj. able to return to an original shape after being pulled, stretched, pressed, bent 17, etc.

optimize 9 – v. to make (something) as good or as effective as possible

harvest cycle – n. the annual cycle of activities related to the growth and harvest of a crop. These activities include loosening the soil, seeding, special watering, moving plants when they grow bigger, and harvesting, among others.

image – n. the idea that people have about someone or something

mentality – n. a particular way of thinking