VOA慢速英语: 加纳大街上的竹子脚踏车（双语）

加纳大街上的竹子脚踏车

Bicycle frames are usually made out of materials like carbon fiber, steel or aluminum. But in rural Ghana, a businessman has developed another way to make bicycles from a natural product -- bamboo.

通常自行车的框架结构是由碳纤维、钢管或者铝合金构成。但是在加纳的乡村地区，一个商人发明了一种新方法，用自然原料——竹子来造自行车。

Bamboo does not get much respect in Ghana. Farmers think of bamboo as an unwanted plant that needs to be cleared from their land. Construction workers use it to support buildings while they are being built.

在加纳，竹子并不太受人重视，农民认为竹子是他们最不想要的植物，想把它们从土地上清理掉。建筑工人用竹子来支撑建造的房子。

But Kwabena Danso thinks bamboo is much more valuable. He operates a business called Booomers International. His company makes bicycle frames out of bamboo. The wooden bike parts are sent from Mr. Danso’s village to other countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Australia.

但是卡本纳·丹斯奥认为竹子确实很有价值，他经营着一家叫做布玛国际（Booomers International），他的公司用竹子制造自行车车架。丹斯奥村庄生产的木制自行车销往其它国家，包括：德国、荷兰和澳大利亚。

Kwabena Danso says bamboo can help a country like Ghana in many ways. He says he wants to, in his words, “get the people to know that there’s a great advantage to bamboo.”

卡本纳·丹斯奥说竹子在很多方面都能够帮助像加纳这样的国家。用他的话说，他想让人们知道竹子有很大的用处。

Young men from nearby villages come to work at Booomers International. They sand, glue and connect the bamboo frames. The company makes about50 of the bicycle frames each month. The bamboo is grown locally. The glue to hold the parts together is made of flour from the cassava plant.

丹斯奥村庄附近的年轻人在布玛国际工作，他们把竹子打磨、粘合、连接成一个车架。公司每个月生产大概50个自行车车架。竹子是当地生长的，用来粘合各部分零件的胶水是木薯粉做成的。

Mr. Danso says Booomers International provides good jobs to young men like Abdul Razak. He serves as a foreman or supervisor for the company. Mr.Razak says that without this job, he would still be living at home with his parents. He adds that the job helps him a lot.

丹斯奥说布玛国际为年轻人提供了不错的工作机会，阿卜杜拉·拉扎克就是其中一员。他是公司的监工，拉扎克说要是没有这份工作，他还跟父母住在一起呢，这份工作给了他很大帮助。

Kwabena Danso has sold only a few of his bamboo bicycle frames within Ghana. Walter Kudzodzi is one of his customers. He bought a bicycle earlier this year. Mr. Kudzodzi says his bike gets a lot of attention when he rides around his neighborhood.

在加纳国内，丹斯奥只销售了一些自行车车架。瓦尔特·库多兹是他的一个客户，库多兹今年早些时候购买了一辆自行车，他说骑车走在路上的时候，引来很多人注目。

“For example on Saturday, I rode about five kilometers around my neighborhood and everywhere I went, people were just looking at me. And once and a while you hear the exclamation, ‘Hey, it’s made out of bamboo, hey, that’s the bamboo bicycle,’ yeah know, and anytime I stopped to take a breather, people come close to me and say, ‘Wow, we heard about this, but this is the first time we’ve seen it. Is it functional?’ Does it work? I say yeah, try it.”

“在周六，在街区里骑行了5千米，走到哪儿，人们都会看着我，会听到他们说：‘嘿，那个车子用竹子造的，嘿，那是个竹子脚踏车。’只要我停下来休息时，就会有人靠近，跟我说：‘哇，我们听说过竹制自行车，但是这是第一次见，怎么样？车子各个功能良好吗？’我说是的，你可以试试”

Mr. Danso’s business has received lots of orders for his bicycles. He says Booomers is ready for expansion. He hopes to have more of his bamboo frames not just in foreign countries, but also on the roads of Ghana.

丹斯奥的公司收到很多脚踏车订单。他说布玛公司需要扩大规模。他希望他的竹子车架的自行车不仅能销往外国，还能出现在加纳的路上。

I’m Jonathan Evans.

我是乔纳森·伊凡斯。

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

bamboo – n. a tall plant with hard hollow stems that are used for building and to make furniture, tools, etc.

beneficial – adj. producing good or helpful results or effects: producing benefits

exclamation – n. a sharp or sudden cry: a word, phrase, or sound that expresses a strong emotion

expansion – n. the act of becoming bigger or of making something bigger