环球英语 — 630：Awarding Ideas
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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Joshua Leo.
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And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Could you save someone from drowning? Samuel Adeloju is a student in Sydney, Australia. He hopes to prevent many drowning deaths. But he is not a lifeguard - he does not work by the water, and jump in to save people. No, he is an inventor and designer. And he has just won the James Dyson Award for Innovation. He won by following a very simple direction: "Design something that solves a problem." Today's Spotlight is on this award and the surprising winning designs.
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James Dyson is a famous British inventor. He designs new products using modern technology. People know him best for designing a new kind of vacuum cleaner - a machine that cleans dust and dirt from the floor. He began working on this design in the 1970s. He did not like the way his old vacuum cleaner worked. So he spent five years developing a new design - one that does not use a bag to collect the dirt. His design became very popular. Now Dyson vacuum cleaners are common in Europe and North America.
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Have you ever thought of a new and better way to do something? As an inventor, James Dyson wants to encourage people to find new ways to solve problems. The James Dyson Award is for students who are studying design in school. Every year thousands of students from all over the world enter the competition. They design many new things. This process is not easy. They spend a lot of time reading and doing research. Then they plan the design. Finally, they present the design for the award. This includes a written report, pictures and drawings. The design is important - but the design must do two things two things to win. It must solve a problem. And it must be a new and different idea! That is what innovation means.
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In 2008, the winner was Michael Chen, an American who lives in London, England. He designed a coat for people who ride bicycles. These small two wheeled vehicles are very helpful in cities. This coat will help the bicyclist communicate with the other people on the road. It lights up when the bicyclist moves. So if the person riding lifts his right arm, there will be lights on the right arm of the jacket. This should reduce the number of accidents for bicyclists. It is especially important for people who ride in large cities or at night time.
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Many of the designs are made to solve very serious problems. For example, Samuel Adeloju's winning design. His design was for a machine that can save people from drowning. World-wide, over one million people die every year from drowning. Many of these deaths can be avoided.
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Samuel Adeloju's design is named "Longreach." It has two parts. The first part looks a bit like a rocket launcher or a bazooka. But it does not shoot bullets! Instead, it shoots the second part of the design - a very unusual device. At first the device looks like a large rounded bullet. But when it touches the water, it grows. Its final shape is the English letter "U". It floats to a person struggling in the water. It can be sent over a great distance and it also has a light on it. This will be very useful in situations where someone needs help very quickly.
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The award is a great honour for Samuel Adeloju. He has won 20,000 British pounds - about 36,000 US dollars. His school, the University of New South Wales in Australia, also gets 10,000 pounds. He will also visit the Dyson Company's design development centre in Malaysia or the UK. Here he can see the company's new designs, and learn more about their design process.
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Adeloju is the biggest 2010 winner. But he is not the only winner! There are many prizes for other design students who have entered their inventions. Twelve other students win smaller prizes in the international competition. And there are national prizes for every country that joins. Thousands of people have looked at the designs on the internet, so these design students are already a bit famous.
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There are many new ideas that will positively affect health and safety. Some of the other designs include a water bottle that cleans water. This bottle is small enough to carry and it can be filled with dirty water. It then cleans the water through a filter. A bottle like this could reduce diseases that are spread through water.
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Another design is a vest that fits around the body of a person who needs medical help. This is especially for people who are having heart problems, like a heart attack or cardiac arrest. Usually an emergency team would pump a person's chest to help move blood around the body. Instead, the vest will do this job! This will free the medical people to do other things, like starting an intravenous needle.
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Michael Chen, Samuel Adeloju and many other students have wonderful ideas. But it is often very difficult for students to turn their ideas into products. The James Dyson award connects the new designers to people who can make the product. There are already plans for trials of "Longreach". Soon, it may be used to save people from drowning.
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Without awards like this, these young design students would have a hard time getting companies to look at their work. This way they have more chances for someone to want to produce their design. The companies can then make and market the products. Hopefully, over time these innovative designs will help people around the world.
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If you could design something or make it work better, what would you change? How would you solve a problem through innovation? There are always many problems that we can see around us. An inventor like Samuel Adeloju always looks for what is possible - and then keeps working until the answer is found! As James Dyson says: "Anyone developing new products and new technology needs one characteristic above all else: Hope."
