VOA慢速英語: 菲律賓漁民用玻璃纖維制造新船

菲律賓漁民用玻璃纖維制造新船

When Typhoon Haiyan devastated Philippines’ Leyte Island one year ago, many local fishermen lost their wooden boats.

Last year, a typhoon seriously damaged Leyte Island in the Philippines. More than 7,300 people died or are missing. Four million Filipinos lost their homes, and many of them lost their incomes.

去年，臺風(fēng)嚴(yán)重破壞菲律賓的萊特島。大概有7300多人死亡或失蹤。400萬人失去他們的家園，很多人失去收入來源。

Many fishermen were among them. They lost their wooden boats. Without them, they had no way to make money.

其中包括很多漁民，他們的木船遭受損失。沒有船，他們便失去掙錢的門路。

The fishermen used boats called “bancas.” These boats were made from wood taken from the island’s forests. But the forests were damaged by the powerful storm, making it difficult to quickly rebuild the boats.

漁民過去使用的船叫做“班卡船”。那些造船的木頭是從島上森林中砍伐的，但是森林被強(qiáng)臺風(fēng)破壞，很難快速地再造新船。

So a large, non-governmental environmental protection group is helping the fishermen rebuild their boats using a material made of glass and plastic. The material is called fiberglass. The group says fiberglass lasts longer than the wood and plywood materials the fishermen have traditionally used to build their boats.

因此，一個(gè)非政府的環(huán)保組織幫助這些漁民使用一種由玻璃和塑料材料來造船。這種材料叫做玻璃纖維。該組織人員稱玻璃纖維的造船比漁民使用傳統(tǒng)的木頭和膠合板造船使用的壽命長。

Patrick Vincent Co manages the bancas rebuilding project for the WWF. He and his employees are teaching fishermen how to build boats with fiberglass.

帕特克·文森特是世界自然基金會中班卡船重建項(xiàng)目的負(fù)責(zé)人，他和其它員工教漁民如何使用玻璃纖維造船。

“We feel that this is simply the next step forward, both out of necessity and out of practicality to use fiberglass rather than wood and plywood, and also something that is essentially ecologically sound.”

“我們認(rèn)為這是進(jìn)一步的發(fā)展，不論是出于必要性還是實(shí)用性的考慮，使用玻璃纖維而不用木頭或者膠合板造船，在一定程度上來說聽起來更生態(tài)環(huán)保。”

Ramon Binamira is a boat-building expert. He says many of the fishermen were worried about using fiberglass to build boats. He says they asked many questions.

雷蒙·本那米亞是造船專家。他說很多漁民對使用玻璃纖維造船感到擔(dān)心。他們問了很多問題。

“Is it strong enough? Will it be able to take the day-to-day abuse that the traditional boats have proven to be capable of taking?”

“玻璃纖維船是否夠穩(wěn)固？能否具有傳統(tǒng)船只的那種日復(fù)一日使用的承載能力？”

The fishermen tested the fiberglass bancas with a heavy tool called a “sledgehammer.” The fisherman used it to hit the sides of the fiberglass boats to see if the new boats were as strong as their wooden boats.

漁民是用一種“長柄錘”的大型工具來檢測玻璃纖維船。漁民使用長柄錘來敲打玻璃纖維船的邊緣，來檢測這種新船是否比他們的木頭船更穩(wěn)固。

Norberto dela Torre is a 78-year old fisherman. He says he was surprised by the strength of the fiberglass bancas.

諾維托·戴拉·托伊是位78歲的漁民。他說他對玻璃纖維的班卡船的性能感到驚訝。

Mr. dela Torre says the fiberglass boats are durable. He says they are stronger in water than wooden boats. And he notes wooden boats get dirty easily.

戴拉·托伊說玻璃纖維船持久耐用。它們在水中比木頭船更穩(wěn)固，而且木頭船在水中很容易臟。

The new fiberglass bancas are now being used only for small-scale fishing. But the World Wildlife Fund hopes the new boat-building skills that fishermen are learning will help them design and create larger fiberglass boats. The WWF says the technology will help them better-prepare for climate change and reduce the need for wood from forests damaged by Typhoon Haiyan.

新的玻璃纖維班卡船現(xiàn)在只能用在小規(guī)模的捕魚。但是世界自然基金會希望造新船的技能可以幫助漁民設(shè)計(jì)和建造更大型的玻璃纖維船。世界自然基金會稱這項(xiàng)技術(shù)會幫助他們更好地應(yīng)對氣候變化，同時(shí)減少對受臺風(fēng)“海燕”破壞的林木的需求。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

我是喬納森·伊凡斯。

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Words in This Story

durable – adj. staying strong and in good condition over a long period of time

fiberglass – n. a light, strong material that is made from thin threads of glass; it is used to make different products

plywood – n. a strong board that is made by joining thin sheets of wood with glue

typhoon – n. an extremely large, powerful and destructive storm that happens especially in the area of the Philippines