VOA慢速英语:Event Aims to Build Interest in Science, Engineering

Last week we reported on Microsoft Corporation’s Imagine Cup finals in the United States. Team FlashFood from Arizona State University won top honors at the event. Its mobile application and website lets hotels, restaurants and farmers markets donate food to people who need it.
上周，我们报道了微软的“创新杯”美国赛区总决赛。来自亚利桑那州立大学的FlashFood队赢得该赛事冠军。其移动应用程序和网站让酒店、餐馆和农贸市场可以把食物捐给那些有需要的人。

The FlashFood project grew out of the Engineering Projects in Community Service program at Arizona State. The director of the program, Richard Filley, says the project has far-reaching possibilities. Mr. Filley plans to work with the team to decide what changes are necessary to make the project successful in other countries. For example, he notes a method of saving uneaten food, commonly called a doggie bag.
FlashFood项目出自亚利桑那州立大学社区服务计划的工程项目。该项目的主管Richard Filley称，该项目极具可能性。Filley先生计划与该团队合作，一起决定需要做出什么样的改变使得该项目在其它国家获得成功。例如，他注意到一个节约吃剩食物的方法，通常称为食物打包。

RICHARD FILLEY: “After you’ve gone to a restaurant, if you don’t eat all the food you take what’s left over and put it in what’s called a doggie bag. You take it home. You may feed it to the dog or you may eat it. Would those cultures in those different countries be open to the idea of taking leftover food and using FlashFood to connect with people who are hungry? We don’t know the answer to that yet.”
RICHARD FILLEY：“当你去餐厅后，如果你吃不下你所买的食物，你就会把吃剩的饭菜打包带回家。你可能拿它喂狗，也可能自己吃了。不同国家的文化是否会接受将吃剩的食物打包，并使用FlashFood把它们提供给那些挨饿的人们？我们还不知道这个问题的答案。”

The Microsoft Imagine Cup competition is now in its tenth year. Mark Hindsbo is a vice president with Microsoft. He says students today have a lot of technology available to help with their projects.
现在，微软创新杯竞赛迎来了它的第十个年头。Mark Hindsbo是微软的副总裁。他说，如今的学生们拥有众多能够有助于他们项目的技术。
 

MARK HINDSBO: “In the beginning people were building almost everything from scratch. We have built a lot of things in the industry over those ten years.”
MARK HINDSBO：“刚开始，人们几乎从零开始创建了一切。过去十年，我们已经在该行业创建了很多东西。”

Mr. Hindsbo says many of the software applications needed to complete such projects already exist. He offers Team FlashFood as a good example.
Hindsbo先生称，完成这些项目所需的许多软件应用软件已经存在。他说FlashFood团队就是一个很好的例子。

MARK HINDSBO: “The fact that they can build on the assumption that there are smartphones in the hands of most of the people that they need to coordinate with, there’s an online service with mapping and turn by turn direction.”
MARK HINDSBO：“事实上，他们的项目建立于大多数人需要协调他们手中有智能手机，可以提供在线导航服务这样一种假设。”

The Microsoft official says solving world problems is a major goal of the Imagine Cup competition. But, he adds, there is another goal that is equally important.
微软官方表示，解决世界难题是创新杯竞赛的一个重要目标。但是，他补充说，还有另一个目标也同样重要。

MARK HINDSBO: “In the U.S. alone we have probably around a million jobs that risk being unfilled over the next five years within the software and tech sector because we don’t have enough students. So when you look at the pipeline in science, technology engineering and math we come up way short.”
MARK HINDSBO：“仅在美国，由于我们没有足够的学生，未来五年内我们在软件和高科技领域，可能存在有近百万个岗位空缺的风险。所以，当你看一看管道科学、技术工程和数学领域的后备军，我们面临短缺。”

Mark Hindbro says he welcomes any efforts to increase interest in these areas of study.
Mark Hindbro说，他欢迎任何试图提高这一研究领域兴趣的努力。

A team from Drexel University also was a winner at the Imagine Cup finals in the United States. The Drexel Dragons designed a game to help students better understand mathematics. The Dr. Fishbowl team from Carnegie Melon University designed a game that teaches about sustainability, byproducts and waste.
一个来自德雷克塞尔大学的Drexel Dragons队也是创新杯美国赛区决赛的赢家。Drexel Dragons设计了一个游戏，以帮助学生们更好地理解数学。来自卡耐基梅隆大学的Dr. Fishbowl队设计了一个游戏来教导有关可持续发展，副产品和废弃物。

Team FlashFood will represent the United States at the Imagine Cup worldwide finals in Sydney, Australia. The event takes place July sixth through the tenth.
7月6日到10日，FlashFood队将代表美国参加在澳大利亚悉尼举行的创新杯全球总决赛。