时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2013年(七月)


英语课

 


Satellite Broadband Aims to Revolutionize African Development



Lift-off for the O3b - or "Other 3 Billion" - satellite system occurred last week in French Guiana. The system goes "live" later this year when eight satellites will enter a lower orbit to provide a faster connection.


Its backers include Google and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, among others.


Founder 1 Greg Wyler said the "Other 3 Billion" are the people on the planet without access to fast Internet.


ᄀᄚThis will enable everybody, and it will be a cascading 2 effect, but it enables everybody in these societies to become economically relevant to the rest of the world,ᄀᄆ he said.


Fast connection, pervasive 3 coverage 4


The O3b satellites will provide Internet coverage anywhere within 45 degrees of latitude 5 north and south of the equator.


Rival Inmarsat will launch a satellite Internet system called Global Xpress later this year.


Dele Meiji Fatunla, web editor for Britainᄀᆵs Royal African Society, said, ᄀᄚIn the rural areas I think it would have an impact on the way people can get information related to healthcare, information related to education.ᄀᄆ


In the Atlantic off west Africa, cable-laying ships completed the submarine West Africa Cable System last year. Sub-Saharan Africa alone has nine submarine cables, with a total capacity of 22 terabytes.


Fatunla said broadband boosts economic growth.


ᄀᄚI think a lot of small and medium enterprises would benefit from that," he said. "And it might also have a political impact in the sense that the Internet, if itᄀᆵs fairly open, will allow organizations and people to mobilize much more effectively.ᄀᄆ


Other pressing needs


But broadband by itself wonᄀᆵt revolutionize governance, said Charles Kenny of the Center for Global Development in Washington.


ᄀᄚIf government isnᄀᆵt picking up the phone, if you will, if government isnᄀᆵt answering the emails, just having a broadband connection isnᄀᆵt going to help,ᄀᄆ he said.


And when it comes to healthcare, said Kenny, government money would be better spent on basic needs.


ᄀᄚVaccines, bed nets, itᄀᆵs the very basic health interventions 6 that are having a huge impact. Africa doesnᄀᆵt have many doctors; it doesnᄀᆵt matter if theyᄀᆵre all connected to broadband. So I think particularly where it comes to health, broadband may not be the ᄀᆴwiz-bangᄀᆵ solution,ᄀᄆ he said.


But Fatunla said broadbandᄀᆵs potential should not be underestimated.


ᄀᄚYou have to remember that thereᄀᆵs going to be a core of people who are active in societies in Africa, particularly civil society, who will benefit from there being better access to information," he said. "And I think those people will, in turn, be able to pressure government structures a lot more.ᄀᄆ


Analysts 7 warn that even though the satellites and cables are connecting to Africa, the prices charged by Internet service providers on the ground need to be lower before broadbandᄀᆵs full potential is realized. 




n.创始者,缔造者
  • 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。
流注( cascade的现在分词 ); 大量落下; 大量垂悬; 梯流
  • First of all, cascading menus are to be avoided at all costs. 首先,无论如何都要避免使用级联菜单。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • Her sounds began cascading gently. 他的声音开始缓缓地低落下来。
adj.普遍的;遍布的,(到处)弥漫的;渗透性的
  • It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
  • The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的,并且难以估算。
n.报导,保险范围,保险额,范围,覆盖
  • There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
  • This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。
n.纬度,行动或言论的自由(范围),(pl.)地区
  • The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
  • The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。
n.介入,干涉,干预( intervention的名词复数 )
  • Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
  • The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网
分析家,化验员( analyst的名词复数 )
  • City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
  • I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。
学英语单词
a'cockbill
A.F.C
active sleep
alveololabial groove
assinuate
balloonry
beagled
bitter almond camphor
BLUS resifual vector
carpetbagging
case bay part
Chelidonium majus
clean cutting
Colbeckite
Confederate flag
copped tanke
crude test
cruzen i.
depressure tank
Dianthus sinensis L.
directional intermolecular force
down-faulting
duosecant
duration units
earn a good reputation
ex-dividend stock
fatuousnesses
ferryer
floorspace
foreign-exchange dealer
future commission merchant
galvanometer
Gangean
genus Uma
gone poof
half-neighbo(u)rhood
harbor craft
hawse-pipe
heat-resistant coating
helitankers
hoarhead
hyperinsulinemic obesity
instruction-based architecture
intussusceptive growth
lacinia falcata
ladening
leariest
limiter amplifier
lyeth
marchment
merry-go-round machine
microsaccades
microwave acoustics
mildew-retarding agent
missionise
Mitha Singh
molecular heat conduction
morality of law
mystinus
neocerebellar agenesis
no-load field voltage
nuclear power generation
oonin
pentastomiasis
photoerythema
pick-and-mix
pinch for
plywood ceiling
poison parsley
polynomial hazard function models
pop hole
Population-weighted
postflood
practicing
prognathometer
ricers
rippling edit
rober'
s's
Santorini's caruncula major
senior reactor operator
separating yarn
shock incarceration
shunting yard
slaw
small-denomination
starting air distributor
symploce furcata
tape speed
taxloss
Tellerette packing
temporary import
time per piece
to put to use
treib
unlabeled statement
vaginal hysterotomy
valvulae fossae navicularis
vertical photograph
wet process of parting
white gum
X-ray Luminosity of cluster of galaxies