VOA慢速英语:Students At The University of Johannesburg Are Building Solar-powered Cars

Students at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa are building solar-powered cars and racing them in competitions. The University is training the students to become experts in different types of energy.
南非约翰内斯堡大学的学生正建造以太阳能为动力汽车并驾驶它们参加比赛。该大学正在培养学生们成为不同类型的能源专家。

Their 300-kilogram solar-powered car is traveling at more than 100 kilometers per hour through the South African countryside, and it is using less electric power than a small kitchen appliance. The young engineers who built the car drove it in the Solar Challenge, a national racing competition for cars that use alternative energy.
他们重达300公斤的太阳能汽车正以超过100公里的时速穿过南非农村地区，并且比一件厨房小家电耗电更少。建造这台汽车的这位年轻工程师驾驶着它参加了太阳能汽车挑战赛，这是一项全国替代能源汽车比赛。

Kegan Smith is the former manager of the project and a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. He says the university wants the students to learn about green energies using realistic examples.
Kegan Smith是该项目前任经理，他也是约翰内斯堡大学的讲师。他说，该大学希望通过实例让学生们了解绿色能源。

"With what we do at the moment in fossil fuels, if we continue like this, there is not going to be a future. And if we do this kind of alternative energy, the cars are one application. But the nice thing with the cars it that it's a mindset change. If you can start shaping students' mind now, it's going to change the mindset of people in general. How do you use your lights? How do you use your electricity?" explained Smith.
Smith解释到，“如果我们继续使用化石燃料下去，就不会有未来。而如果我们使用替代能源，汽车是应用之一。但好处是这是观念的改变。如果你现在开始塑造学生们的观念，就会改变一般人的思维定势。你如何使用电灯？如何用电？”

When he was a student in 2010, Mr Smith was part of a group that built a hybrid alternative-energy powered car. Since then, students have built more cars using both hydrogen and solar power.
2010年，当他还是学生时，斯密斯先生是一个建造了混合替代能源动力汽车的小组的一员。从那时起，学生们建造了更多使用氢气和太阳能动力的汽车。

Warren Larter is also a former student, he is the university's solar car project manager. He says he does not expect solar-powered cars to be more popular than gasoline-powered cars, but Mr Larter says, they do offer an important learning tool to help students develop new technologies.
Warren Larter以前也是一名学生。他是该大学太阳能汽车项目的负责人。他说，他并不指望太阳能汽车比汽油动力车更受欢迎。但Larter先生称，它们确实提供了一个重要的学习工具，以帮助学生们开发新技术。

"For us, it's a research thing. Our exact example is Formula One. You'll never see those cars on the road, but the technologies that go into them, you see it in every single car in every single household across the world. So that's where we are pushing it. This is our Formula One of alternative energy," said Larter.
Larter先生称，“对我们来说这是一项研究。现实的例子是一级方程式赛车。你永远不会看到这些汽车上路，但其中用到的技术可以在全球每个家庭的每台汽车上看到。所以这就是我们的推动作用。而这就是我们的替代能源一级方程式赛车。”

Warren Larter started a company that lets students to work on projects that private companies have expressed an interest in supporting. He says the energy market is changing, and there is a great need for engineers with more modern experience.
Warren Larter开了一家公司，让学生们从事私人公司已经表示有兴趣支持的项目。他说，能源市场正在发生变化，让工程师拥有现代经验很必要。

"Locally, there is a lack of experts in alternative energy and in particular in solar technology. We seem to be importing a lot at this stage, which is not ideal... We should have the experts locally, so [a] project like this really pushes that. We have guys working with the solar panels, working on different aspect of the project. So instead of importing the guys and flying them in to work on this, we use the local guys, so they know just as much and can even do better than the international guys," said Larter.
Larter说，“当地缺乏替代能源专家，特别是太阳能技术方面。在这个阶段我们似乎引进了很多专家，这不太理想，我们应该有更多本地的专家。所以类似该项目推动了这一点。我们的小伙子们从事太阳能电池板工作，从事不同方面的项目。所以不用引入专家让他们飞过来工作，我们用本地的专家，他们懂得一样多，甚至可以比国际上人员做得更好。”

Kegan Smith agrees. "I got guys working on huge systems on the telecom sites, because that's what they did in the cars. So the experience they gain from the cars are now working towards it in the industry," said Smith.
Kegan Smith同意该观点。“我的小伙子们在电信网站庞大的系统上工作，因为他们在汽车上也做这些。他们从汽车上学到的经验在行业内得到了应用。”

Warren Larter and his team of students are now working on a third car to enter into the next Solar Challenge in August 2014. They want to win the national competition and then compete internationally.
Warren Larter及其学生团队正在研究第三辆赛车以参加2014年8月举行的下一届太阳能汽车挑战赛。他们想赢得全国比赛，然后参加国际比赛。