VOA慢速英语:Mobile Telephones Changing Lives in Africa

The World Bank estimates there are about 650 million mobile phone users in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. That is greater than the number of users in the United States and European Union.
Samia Melhem works for the World Bank to increase information technologies in Africa. She says mobile phones are the fastest growing technology on the continent.
世界银行估计撒哈拉南部非洲国家约有6.5亿手机用户，这个数字比美国和欧盟的手机用户人数大。Samia Melhem就职于世界银行，职责是促进发展非洲的信息科技。她说手机是非洲发展最快的科技。

“Faster than TV, definitely faster than electricity. More people have access to mobile phones and hence communication. More people have internet access today in Africa than they have access to water, clean water, or even sanitation. So we can say that this has been the most significant revolution in terms of changing the African landscape and how people live their daily life.”
“手机普及比电视和电都要快，很多人都有手机和沟通工具。如今，非洲能上网的人数比能拥有水、清洁水甚至卫生设施的人都要多。所以我们可以说，这已经成为改变非洲前景和人们生活方式的最重要变革。”

cnn television recently named seven ways of life it says have been revolutionized because of mobile phones. They include political activism, education, entertainment, disaster management, agriculture and health.
cnn电视台最近指出手机彻底改变生活的7个方面，包括政治活动、教育、娱乐、灾难管理、农业和卫生。

Another area is banking. Reports say half or more of the adults in Gabon, Kenya and Sudan use mobile money. Rene Mendy sells goods in the streets of Dakar, Senegal. But he never had enough money to open a bank account.
另一个领域是银行业。报道称在加蓬、肯尼亚和苏丹，有一半以上的成年人使用移动支付。RRene Mendy在塞内加尔达喀尔市的街道上卖东西。但他没有足够的钱来开设银行账户。

Now he uses a mobile phone banking service called Orange Money. With his telephone, he can add or take out as little as one dollar. He can make payments and send money to family members who live far away.
现在他使用名为Orange Money的手机银行服务，可以在手机上存取小到一美元的资金，还可以进行支付，或向远方的家人寄钱。

Orange Money says it serves four million customers in ten countries. The World Bank’s Samia Melham notes that the French company is facing competition from other mobile banking services.
Orange Money称目前的客户遍布10个国家，达到400万人。世界银行的Samia Melham说，这家法国公司目前遇到来自其他移动银行服务公司的竞争。

“The mobile banking is a huge trend. And people in the West don’t understand it, because most people have bank accounts and they have credit cards. It [mobile banking] is the instantaneous acquisition of cash at a much lower cost. The cost is the cost of sending an SMS, which is almost nothing compared to what traditional transfer agents, like Western Union, would charge - 10 dollars or more for a particular money transfer.”
“移动银行是个大趋势，西方国家的人们不理解这点，因为他们大多数人都有银行账户和信用卡。而手机银行可以即时以低成本获取现金，成本就是发送一条短信，传统的转账机构如西联汇款对每笔资金转账收取10美元或更多，因此手机银行相比之下成本只是九牛一毛。”

In education, the United Nations agency UNESCO is holding its second Mobile Learning Week in Paris later this month. Conference delegates are to discuss how mobile phone use can increase the number of people who read. Other issues include how mobile technologies can support teachers, and make it easier for girls and women to receive an education.
教育方面，联合国教科文组织本月底将在巴黎举行第二届移动技术学习周。会议代表们将讨论手机应用如何提升阅读人群的数量。其他的问题还包括，手机技术如何帮助教师及让女孩和妇女更容易接受教育。