VOA常速英语2014--英特尔国际科学展吸引青少年参赛

Youth Take Center Stage at International Science Fair 英特尔国际科学展吸引青少年参赛

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of spectators gathered in Los Angeles for what is known as the world’s largest high school science research competition. 

This year's Intel International Science and Engineering fair in Los Angeles drew 1,700 students from around the globe to compete for $5 million in awards and scholarships.

今年在洛杉矶举行的英特尔国际科学展吸引了全世界1700名学生来角逐价值500万的奖项和奖学金。

 Zarin Rahman, 17 was among the finalists. She submitted a study suggesting a link between the use of electronic devices and problems with weight management and sleep deprivation 1.

17岁的拉赫曼是决赛选手之一，她递交的论文揭示了电子设备使用与体重控制和睡眠缺失的关联。

“The award doesn’t really matter to me," she noted 2, "but then, people will know who I am, read my project, and then I can spread my message and research more than I have been already."

“这奖对我来说没什么，但人们会知道我是谁，会了解到我的项目，这样我就可以将更好地传播我的信息和研究。”

Teacher Judith Vasquez, who was on a field trip with students, hopes they will be inspired to pursue careers in math and science, especially the young women.

教师朱迪思·瓦斯克斯和学生一起来实地考察，希望能激发学生尤其是年轻女孩们探索数学和科学的热情。

“Because science typically tends to be more of a boy thing," she explained. "They’re more geared towards it and we want them to be exposed … equally exposed to everything."

“因为科学一般来说是男孩子做的事情，男孩们更容易对科学嘎庆曲，我们希望他们什么都能接触下。”

Students compete in a variety of categories: behavioral sciences, medicine, and physics to name a few.  Often times, ideas presented here become reality.

学生们参与各种各样的竞争：行为科学、医学和物理学等。通常他们提出的创意都会成为现实。

“Twenty percent of the students who come here have already gotten a patent for their work or they’ve applied 3 for patents," noted said Wendy Hawkins, Intel executive director. "So they’re intending of going back and make these things real.”

英特尔的董事温迪·霍金森说，“来这里的学生中，有20%的已经得到专利或已经申请专利。所以他们渴望能将这些专利转化为现实。”

One of those students is 15-year-old finalist Miriam Demasi.  After reading about a 2003 earthquake that leveled a small town in Iran, she developed a new building material.  She said her product is cheaper, stronger, and has a higher insulation 4 value, which will result in less deforestation.

其中一位这样的学生是15岁的Miriam Demasi，在了解到2003年的地震令伊朗一个小镇夷为平地后，她开发了一种新的建筑材料。她说她的产品更廉价、结实，有更好的绝缘性，这样就无需更多砍伐森林了。

“I haven’t implemented 5 it yet but with the help of an aid organization getting it known to those people, I believe they would adopt it readily,” she said.

“我还没有将这种材料付诸实践，但在一个援助机构的帮助下我宣传了这种材料，相信他们会很快采用它。”

The winner is...

This year's biggest prize worth $75,000, went to 15-year-old American student Nathan Han of Boston, Massachusetts.

今年最大的奖项价值7.5万美元，获奖者是来自美国马萨诸塞州波士顿的15岁学生Nathan Han。

“The goal of my project was to create a system that can predict the harmfulness of mutations anywhere in the person’s genome.  So anywhere in their DNA,” he said, adding that he became interested in mutating genes 6 after learning a family friend had been diagnosed with cancer.

“我的项目的目的是创建能预测人体基因突变危害的系统，涉及DNA的各个方面。”他说在了解到一位家族朋友患上癌症后就对突变基因产生兴趣。