VOA常速英语:应用程序帮盲人找到公车站

Now imagine looking for that same bus stop as a blind person.
现在再想象一下，假如你是一个盲人，要寻找同一个公交车站。

“If there are no sighted people available to guide you to the bus stop, or to alert you to when the bus is coming, you are out of luck.”
“如果没有视力正常的人把你带到公交车站，或者在车来的时候提醒你，那你只能是认倒霉了。”

Using a smartphone’s voiceover and GPS functions can help, but there’s a catch.
使用智能手机的语音辅助程序和GPS功能可以对这种情况有所帮助。但这当中还有一个大问题。

“GPS gets you to within about 30 feet of your final destination.But that last 30 feet, when you are blind, is the last 30 feet of frustration, because you can’t get to your precise goal.”
“GPS可以把你带到目的地附近30英尺之内的地方。但在你看不见的情况下，这最后的30英尺路就是30英尺的无奈，因为你根本就没有办法到达准确位置。”

And that could mean being left behind.
这就意味着自己要被落下。

But in Boston, the BlindWays app enlists the public’s eyes to help the blind.
不过在波士顿，BlindWays应用程序借用了公众的眼睛来帮助盲人。

“We designed an accurate way for people to contribute clues that are landmarks around the bus stop.They could be a mailbox, a fire hydrant, a bench, a tree.And those become something that a visually impaired person could listen to on blind ways as they are navigating. ”
“我们设计了一个准确的途径，来让大家提供各公交车站周围地标的线索。这些线索有可能是一个邮箱、消防栓、长凳或者大树等。这样一来，那些视觉障碍者就可以用听的方式来进行导航。”

For the blind, the app helps create a mental map leading to a bus stop.
对于盲人来说，这款应用程序可以帮助他们在大脑当中建立一个通往公交车站的地图。

“Independence and autonomy, and not having to rely on, you know, more segregated types of transportation,that’s really what visually impaired people want.”
“有独立自主的出行能力，不需要依赖隔离型交通工具，这才是视障人士真正想要的。”

Through public crowdsourcing, BlindWays has covered 5,200 of Boston’s 7,800 bus stops.And its creators want to replicate their efforts in other cities.
通过众包模式，波士顿共7800个公交车站中已有5200个安装了BlindWays。而该应用程序创始人希望在其他城市也能继续推广，为盲人的正常出行贡献一份力量。

“We’re all getting more and more used to living in a mobile world and therefore,we could contribute anywhere and anytime to help a colleague or somebody in our community.It’s a powerful model for us, I think we’re going to see more.”
“如今我们越来越习惯生活在移动世界，这样一来也可以随时随地帮助同事或者社区中的人。这是一个非常强大的模式，我相信未来还会有更多惊喜等着我们。”

For the blind and visually impaired, seeing more means the ability to do more, one ride at a time.
对于盲人和视力障碍人士来说，看到的越多意味着能做的也就更多。一劳永逸。

Tina Trinh, VOA news.
VOA新闻，缇娜·郑为您播报。