时间:2018-12-15 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2007年(十一)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.


A few degrees can make a big difference when it comes to food storage. Foods can go bad if they get too warm. But for many of the world's poor, finding a good way to keep food cool is difficult. Refrigerators are costly 1 and they need electricity.


Yet spoiled food not only creates health risks but also economic losses. Farmers lose money when they have to throw away products that they cannot sell quickly.


 
Mohammed Bah Abba's pot-in-pot cooling system
But in nineteen ninety-five a teacher in northern Nigeria named Mohammed Bah Abba found a solution. He developed the "Pot-in-Pot Preservation/Cooling System." It uses two round containers made of clay. A smaller pot is placed inside a larger one.


The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand. The inner pot can be filled with fruit, vegetables or drinks. A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system.


Food stored in the smaller pot is kept from spoiling through a simple evaporation 2 process. Water in the sand between the two pots evaporates 3 through the surface of the larger pot, where drier outside air is moving.


The evaporation process creates a drop in temperature of several degrees. This cools the inner pot and helps keep food safe from harmful bacteria. Some foods can be kept fresh this way for several weeks.


People throughout Nigeria began using the invention. And it became popular with farmers in other African countries. Mohammed Bah Abba personally financed 4 the first five thousand pot-in-pot systems for his own community and five villages nearby.


In two thousand, the Rolex Watch Company of Switzerland honored him with the Rolex Award for Enterprise 5. This award recognizes people trying to develop projects aimed at improving human knowledge and well-being 6.


A committee considers projects in science and medicine, technology, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural history. Winners receive financial assistance to help develop and extend their projects.


The award is given every two years. The next one will be given in two thousand eight.


And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss 7.



1 costly
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
2 evaporation
n.蒸发,消失
  • Be careful not to lose too much liquid by evaporation.小心不要因蒸发失去太多水分。
  • Our bodies can sweat,thereby losing heat by evaporation.我们的身体能出汗,由此可以蒸发散热。
3 evaporates
v.(使某物)蒸发掉( evaporate的第三人称单数 );消失,不复存在;使脱水
  • Heat evaporates water into steam. 水受热变成水蒸气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • As the water evaporates, a crust of salt is left on the surface of the soil. 随着水分的蒸发,地面上留下了一层结晶盐。 来自辞典例句
4 financed
为…供给资金,从事金融活动( finance的过去式和过去分词 )
  • 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。
5 enterprise
n.企业单位,商业公司,事业,计划
  • They are determined to carry forward the enterprise.他们决心把事业进行下去。
  • The enterprise has excellent prospects.这家企业的远景极其美好。
6 well-being
n.安康,安乐,幸福
  • He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
  • My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福,却被误解为多管闲事。
7 moss
n.苔,藓,地衣
  • Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
  • He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。
标签: voa 慢速英语
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adazzle
adoptively
all agog to
audilest
back-packing
Barbados maidenhair
bices
big game
bioelectrical integrator
board a ship
briar-patch
Cacicus
catch ups
chloris
course-changing motion
cryptogonus angusticarinatus
dance after someone's piping
data coverage
deturgescence
disulfuryl
doctoral thesis
Dome Creek
dragline crane
drinking-cups
East Asia
electrodynamic ammeter
electronic forms
endurance life test
enties
epifluorescence microscopes
escapeland
extraanatomical
fastness to rubbing
fine copper
finger-bone
framing set
fuel transient response
glucose enzyme transducer
half as much as
headache powder
homostyled
hydrodynamic brake operating valve
immovable goods
inevidence
jump suit
kief, kieff
legerdemainists
light locomotive running
lister-planter
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marginal revenue production
mediocubital
melt composition
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minute surface
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Myohyangsanmaek
nebularia lugubris
nerve tonic
nitropenton
normal melting point
obtain access to
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over-the-obstruction
Papalin
parameter mode
parcenaries
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patronage system
pavo muticuss
peribursal
pinecone fishes
platanthera bifolias
prevalution test
queensryches
re-impose
retail-store
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rockmart
Rydrin
Rājpur
saturated norm
seamed-efficiency
senile leukocyte stage
service of writ
shahrokh
simultaneous ejaculation
sinularia halversoni
slide lathe
solvolyse
straight filing
surface hydrology
symphysis pubis
tefenperate
telecontrol configuration
three-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship
time-area diagram
tuck-point
unthreading
vertical head
winged flying object
world heritage committee