VOA常速英语:Scientists Test Bamboo as Building Material

Helped by one of his students, professor Kent Harries is testing a bamboo pole for its radio load,how much of a pressure or wave it can withstand.
在一位学生的帮助下，Kent Harries教授正在测量竹竿的无线电负荷能力。探究其能负荷多强的电压和电波。

Building codes everywhere require strict standardization of tests for all materials, such as timber or concrete.But tests for bamboo have not been standardized even though the strength of at least three species is comparable to steel.
各地的建筑准则均规定，像木材或是混凝土等所有的建筑材料，都要进行严格的标准化检测。但是如今对竹子这种材料还没有一定的检测标准，尽管目前至少有三种竹子的建筑价值与钢铁不相上下。

“They are remarkably strong which are marked, the resilient, it’s optimized to be a very tall, obviously bamboo material,something like this, might grow 20 meters.and it supports its own weight,and of course it also supports huge wind loads in what knocks over that.”
“竹子质地明显很硬，弹性极强，非常适合做一些长的竹材料。比如像这个东西，能长到20米长。”它也能承受自身的重量，而且受到任何撞击时，它也能承受强大的风压。”

Bamboo is widely used as food for pandas, for forniture or engineer products, such as plywood, glue laminated and cross laminated timber.But not much outside its native growing area, mostly because of its round cross section. But there are other reasons too.
竹子通常可做为熊猫的食物，也可以用来做家具或是一些设计产品。比如胶合板、胶合木材和交叉复合木材等。但是竹子一般在其生长地之外的地区用的不多，主要是因为它的截面是圆的。但是除此之外还有一些别的原因。

“With this viewed in much of the world as well bamboo is for poor people, and so there is that mentality that we are trying to get over.”
“世界上大多数地区的人们认为竹子是穷人才用的，因此我们目前正在尽力克服这种心理。”

Bamboo is suitable for construction (that) requires significantly less resources than comparable timber.It’s highly sustainable, with a harvest cycle of about three years, while soft wood requires about ten, and hard wood more than 30 years.
竹子很适用于一些建造工程，而且明显比使用木材节约大量的资源。竹子属于高度可持续能源，其生长周期一般为3年，而软木一般是10年，硬木生长周期会超过30年。

“If we standardize it, if we provide essentially documentation as test methods which the engineers can hang their hat on,we bring the material into the mainstream.”
“如果我们可以制定标准化程序，发布必要的文件规定工程师在检测时能够遵循的检测方法，那么这种材料将成为一种主流。”

Harries says the standardized bamboo poles could be used in multiple stock columns vertically and for floors and roofs horizontally.In many countries, they are already used for wall panel structures.
Harries称标准化的竹竿可用于制作多种垂直料柱，平行地板和屋顶。在许多国家，竹竿已用于墙板结构制作中。