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
adsorption chromatography
Aguas Zarcas
Aimargues
air feeder
Alleppey
Almen extreme pressure lubricant testing machine
annuniciator
ASCB
barley sugar
beddy-bye(s)
Bethnal Green
blueing process
body-snatcher
broad-brim
Bulbophyllum reptans
carcelle
celery leaf spot
certificate of bank balances
charge position
Computing Surface
curriculums
Dali City
dress-coated
eight-year study
Eun.
extramaster
follow ... inclinations
free-electron laser
fringe setae
frontierlands
gauze kerchief
girals
graverobbers
griddlecakes
higher-ranked
index of scanning helix
keel clearance
Korean Strait
Lented
LF reject
lienomycin
llano
low potential metal
lumped parameter circulator
macroamylasemic
melting speed ratio
mode of deformation
mother-of-thousands
Mount's Bay
non riparian
nonrefugee
north-easterners
Old Pretender
oligodotia
Oloiserri
organouranium compound
passive incontinence
ping-pong buffer
plain module board
planimetric line
plate cylinder
poker coordinates
prefacive
pulpitis
rairoad engineering
range span
record-collector
Rhododendron hukwangense
salween r.
segled card
Selma chalk
shock position
sounding device
stauntonin
stores fund
supernutrition
surirella voigtii
surplus
Suzuka-tōge
swr indicator
syndrome of stagnated gallbladder qi with disturbing phlegm
Sāngla
tetrahedral angle
thermoperiodicity
transverse occipital sulcus
trond
tub-fast
tummy crunch
Turbellaria
two-pence piece
ultra-high-speed lift
unhele
unobservable quantity
unsety
variable quadri-correlator
vicchio
wavefront advance
wet-bulbs
Wohlhynian fever
wtnh
Xuan Duong
zonary placentation