VOA常速英语:For West Virginia Town, No Wi-Fi, No Problem

As a visitor to Green Bank, it becomes apparent that you have to navigate the old-fashioned way: by reading road signs.That’s because GPS comes to a screeching halt as you approach this West Virginia town,which has two churches, an elementary school, a library and the world’s largest radio telescope.

Sherry manages the largest store in Green Bank, she was born here so the lack of WIFI connection is normal for her.We’ve never really had it, so most people would probably say we do it in the old-fashioned way,even though it is not the old-fashioned way, it’s just the way of living.”

On the store wall, an artifact from the past ... a phone attached to a wall jack ... the only way to call someone in Green Bank.

No modern wireless convenience here, Green Bank is frozen in time, somewhere in the 1950s. That is because there’s a 33,000-square-kilometer zone of silence.The closer you get to the telescope, the greater the restrictions.There’s a 16-kilometer radius around the Observatory where radio-controlled items, even toys, cannot be used.

This equipment I can actually look….to mind you the weak signal that could be interfering with the telescopes.

John Bauserman acts as the technical policeman. If he suspects there is an unauthorized signal, he drives to the house and inspects it for prohibited devices.Telescope police even works in a special room, much like a submarine .

This is the electrical submarine if you will, no electric waves could get into this room, none of them could get out of this room.

In the room, the walls are covered with coppers, same for the windows.Even the microwave oven has to be cabined into a special metal box.

“The power worked until that door is locked.”

The job of the scientists is to minimize the impact of the outside interference on radio telescope.Holstine says only once a week, when there’s regularly scheduled maintenance,can some prohibited devices be allowed near the telescope.The size of a football field, the telescope is so sensitive it could pick up signals sent from an alien world.

All the signals that we detect with the telescope so far,are just generated by unintelligent stars, galaxies, things of the universe. We have never detected anything from intelligent civilizations."

Local people respect the work of the scientists, and they are more than happy to live life Wi-Fi-free.

“You know, instead of sitting here on our phones, we just get out for fishing and hanging and going to each other’s houses.”

For the latest news, residents read the weekly local newspaper.When she’s looking for a phone number, Sherry reaches for the phone book.And instead of Facebook, Sherry enjoys daily conversations with her customers.In this town, everyone knows each other and communication is face to face.

VOA news Green Bank, West Virgini