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教学建议怎么写-淑媛
Many of these projects started as good ideas. Others had some level of success, but not enough to have a measurable effect on the lives of people in developing countries.
A nonprofit group in New York called MobileActive held the first FAILFaire earlier this year. MobileActive is made up of people and organizations that use technology to try to improve the lives of the poor.
Katrin Verclas came up with the idea for FAILFaire as a way to help nonprofit groups improve by learning from the mistakes of others.
Katrin Verclas: "The primary goal is to learn from failure and not to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. And for a community of practitioners to benefit from the lessons learned from other people so that we can do better the next time around, collectively as a field, and individually as organizations and practitioners."
Katrin Verclas says there are many reasons why projects fail, but one reason tops all others. She says development projects are not "one size fits all," yet many people try to import ideas as if they were.
What they fail to consider, she says, is the desires of the local people or their cultural, economic and political differences. She says the problem for many nongovernmental organizations and other groups is simply not knowing their audience.
Katrin Verclas: "Western organizations, or NGOs, or donors in particular have particular ideas about what might be alleviating a particular problem in a developing country, without a really good understanding of the end users or the beneficiaries."
The creator of FAILFaire says this is true not only with technology but other projects as well. Ms. Verclas hopes nonprofits in other industries and fields will create their own versions of FAILFaire.
A second FAILFaire took place in July in Washington. The World Bank Institute co-sponsored the event. To Katrin Verclas, it was a good sign to have the World Bank support such open discussions about failure.
Katrin Verclas: "We have a lot riding on this, after all. It’s not just products; it’s people’s lives and well-being and livelihoods in many developing countries that we’re talking about. So it’s incumbent upon us to be very, very honest about what projects aren’t performing according to expectations."
An award for the best worst failure story went to Michael Trucano from the World Bank Institute. What he presented was in fact a list. It was a list of what he considers the worst practices in the use of information and communication technologies in education.
Today, we learn about the environmental and agricultural importance of bat populations. And, we visit the "Cod Academy," a training program for fishers in the American state of Maine.
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BARBARA KLEIN: The United Nations has declared twenty eleven to twenty twelve the Year of the Bat. The campaign w
as launched last year as a way to strengthen efforts for protecting the world's only flying mammal.
These creatures can be found in many parts of the world. Bats live in cities, deserts, grasslands and forests. There are over one thousand two hundred bat species.
MARIO RITTER: The smallest bat in the world is from Southeast Asia. The Bumblebee bat measures about thirty millimeters in length. The world's largest bat, the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, has a wingspan of one and a half meters. Most bats eat insects, but many feed on fruit or nectar from flowers.
Many people think bats are blind, but this is not true. Many species have very good sight. Most bats communicate and find their way by making "echolocation" noises. They produce high-frequency noises and can estimate the distance of an object by using the sound echoes that bounce back to them. So, while bats may travel in total darkness, they "see" using sound.
BARBARA KLEIN: Sadly, bats are widely feared and misunderstood. Most bats come out of their shelters only at nightfall. Three bat species feed on blood. Because of these qualities, bats have long been linked in many cultures to death, darkness and vampires.
Yet bats are important for agriculture and our environment. They help pollinate plants and spread seeds. They also help control insects. Bats eat huge numbers of insects, including kinds that damage crops.
MARIO RITTER: For example, a brown bat can eat more than one thousand insects the size of a mosquito in one hour. One report says bats save American farmers billions of dollars every year by reducing crop damage and limiting the need for chemicals that kill insects. The report was published earlier this year in Science magazine.
Bats have also proved useful in the medical industry. Some bats carry a substance in their saliva that has been manufactured and used in medicine to help stroke victims.
BARBARA KLEIN: Over one-fifth of all bat species are under threat. They face disease and the human destruction of their natural environments. In the eastern United States, a disease called white-nose syndrome has greatly damaged bat populations over the past five years. The organization Bat Conservation International says white-nose syndrome has killed more than a million bats since it was discovered in a New York cave in two thousand six. In some areas, the disease has killed nearly one hundred percent of bat populations.
White-nose syndrome has now spread to at least nineteen other states and parts of Canada. The name of the disease comes from a white fungus found on the faces and wings of infected bats. The disease causes the creatures to awaken more often during hibernation, the period when they normally rest. Infected bats leave their shelters during winter and can freeze to death. Or they may use up stored body fat and starve to death.
MARIO RITTER: Leslie Sturges is doing what she can to save bats. She is the director of Bat World NOVA, a bat protect
ion group in the Washington, D.C. area. She cares for injured bats in the basement of her home. Then she releases them back into the wild.
LESLIE STURGES: "You hear a lot of people refer to bats as filthy. But they aren't. They groom like cats and dogs do. They use these toes back here to actually comb their fur coat out."
MARIO RITTER: Ms. Sturges also talks about the importance of bats during visits to schools and nature centers. Her goal is to support their protection by bringing attention to the good things that bats provide to people and the environment.
She and her assistant are caring for about thirty injured, sick or orphaned bats this summer.
BARBARA KLEIN: When the bats are healthy, she moves them to a closed off area next to her home so they can learn once more how to fly.
One of her bats is named Shaggy. She plans to release him, but first wants to make sure he eats well. When the sun sets, she sets him free. But he does not want to leave just yet.
LESLIE STURGES: "So I think what I am going to do is put him back in and let him nap for an hour and I am going to try and release him later tonight. Because he has to go. He can't live here."
BARBARA KLEIN: Ms. Sturges says Shaggy has a good chance of survival because red bats are common in the area.
(MUSIC)
MARIO RITTER: Several fishermen in Maine recently completed a study program at the country's first ever "Cod Academy." The Maine Aquaculture Association directs the program. It trains fishermen who usually earn a living fishing in the ocean to be fish farmers. The program is aimed at helping commercial fishers to find a new way to carry out their trade.
(SOUND)
On a recent morning, a fishing boat left the public dock in the seaside community of Sorrento, Maine. But the men on the boat were not going fishing ... they were going farming.
SEBASTIAN BELLE: "Today we're probably going to be moving cages and sorting codfish so the students will get experience doing that".
BARBARA KLEIN: That was Sebastian Belle. He is head of the Maine Aquaculture Association. It operates the new "Cod Academy" in partnership with the University of Maine and other organizations.
About one and a half kilometers out to sea, the boat finds eight circular pens. A rubber tube encloses each one. The pens are covered with netting material to keep out seabirds. Inside each of the fifty-meter wide areas are up to fifty thousand cod. Most of these fish will be served on dinner tables around the world.
MARIO RITTER: This is the only commercial cod farm in Maine. The operator is Great Bay Aquaculture, a fish-farming company. It is one of the partners in the Cod Academy.
Mr. Belle says that during a year, students are taught everything they need to know about operating a floating farm.
SEBASTIAN BELLE: "One of the things we've been teaching the students is how to feed the fish and not overfeed the fish. So you want to give them enough feed, and not waste any feed and make
it as efficient as possible."
MARIO RITTER: The fish-farmers in training take turns throwing special fish food into the pen.
Air bubbles appear as thousands of cod come up to feed. They can be seen from the boat with an underwater camera.
BARBARA KLEIN: Bill Thompson is one of the Cod Academy's four students. He says the program has showed him that aquaculture, or fish-farming, is a wise choice
Today, we tell about one of the greatest thinkers in the world, Leonardo da Vinci. He began his career as an artist. But his interest in the world around him drove him to study music, math, science, engineering and building design. Many of his ideas and inventions were centuries ahead of his time.
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STEVE EMBER: We start with one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous drawings, called "Vitruvian Man." This work is a good example of his ever questioning mind, and his effort to bring together art, math and science.
"Vitruvian Man" is a detailed sketch of a man's body, which is drawn at the center of a square and circle. The man's stretched arms and legs are in two positions, showing the range of his motion. His arms and legs touch the edges of the square and circle.
Detail from the drawing "Vitruvian Man"
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: With this drawing Leonardo was considering the size of the human body and its relationship to geometry and the writings of the ancient Roman building designer Vitruvius.
Leonardo wrote this about how to develop a complete mind: "Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else."
STEVE EMBER: Leonardo da Vinci spent his life studying and observing in order to develop a scientific understanding of the world. He wrote down his thoughts and project ideas in a series of small notebooks. He made drawings and explained them with detailed notes. In these notebooks, he would write the words backwards. Some experts say he wrote this way because he wished to be secretive about his findings. But others say he wrote this way because he was left-handed and writing backwards was easier and helped keep the ink from smearing.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The notebooks show many very modern ideas. Leonardo designed weapons, machines, engines, robots, and many other kinds of engineering devices.? When disease spread in Milan, Leonardo designed a city that would help resist the spread of infection. He designed devices to help people climb walls, and devices to help people fly. He designed early versions of modern machines such as the tank and helicopter. Few of these designs were built during his lifetime. But they show his extraordinarily forward- thinking mind.
The notebooks also contain details about his daily life. These have helped historians learn more about the personal side of this great thinker.
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STEVE EMBER: Very little is known about Leonardo's early life. He was born in fourteen fifty-two in t
he town of Vinci. His father, Ser Piero da Vinci, was a legal expert. Experts do not know for sure about his mother, Caterina. But they do know that Leonardo's parents were never married to each other. As a boy, Leonardo showed a great interest in drawing, sculpting and observing nature.
However, because Leonardo was born to parents who were not married to each other, he was barred from some studies and professions. He trained as an artist after moving to Florence with his father in the fourteen sixties.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: It was an exciting time to be in Florence, one of the cultural capitals of Europe. Leonardo trained with one of the city's very successful artists, Andrea del Verrocchio. He was a painter, sculptor and gold worker. Verrocchio told his students that they needed to understand the body's bones and muscles when drawing people.
Leonardo took his teacher's advice very seriously. He spent several periods of his life studying the human body by taking apart and examining dead bodies. Experts say his later drawings of the organs and systems of the human body are still unequalled to this day.
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STEVE EMBER: While training as an artist, Leonardo also learned about and improved on relatively new painting methods at the time. One was the use of perspective to show depth. A method called "sfumato" helped to create a cloudy effect to suggest distance. "Chiaroscuro" is a method using light and shade as a painterly effect. The artist also used oil paints instead of the traditional tempura paints used in Italy during this period.
Leonardo's first known portrait "Ginevra de'Benci"
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Leonardo's first known portrait now hangs in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. He made this painting of a young woman named Ginevra de'Benci around fourteen seventy-four. The woman has a pale face with dark hair. In the distance, Leonardo painted the Italian countryside.
He soon received attention for his extraordinary artistic skills. Around fourteen seventy-five he was asked to draw an angel in Verrocchio's painting "Baptism of Christ." One story says that when Verrocchio saw Leonardo's addition to the painting, he was so amazed by his student's skill, that he said he would never paint again.
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STEVE EMBER: Leonardo once said the following about actively using one's mental abilities: "Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." His mind was so active that he did not often finish his many projects.
One religious painting he never finished was called "Adoration of the Magi". He was hired to make the painting for a religious center. The complex drawing he made to prepare for the painting is very special. It shows how carefully he planned his art works. It shows his deep knowledge of geometry, volume and depth. He drew the many people in the painting without clothes so that he could make sure th
at their bodies would be physically correct once covered.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Around fourteen eighty-two, Leonardo moved to Milan. There, he worked for the city's ruler, Ludovico Sforza. This ruler invited Leonardo to Milan not as an artist, but as a musician. Historians say Leonardo was one of the most skillful lyre players in all of Italy. But he also continued his work as a painter. He also designed everything from festivals to weapons and a sculpture for Ludovico Sforza.
STEVE EMBER: One famous work from Leonardo's Milan period is called "Virgin of the Rocks." It shows Jesus as a baby along with his mother, Mary, and John the Baptist also as a baby. They are sitting outside in an unusual environment. Leonardo used his careful observations of nature to paint many kinds of plants. In the background are a series of severe rock formations. This painting helped Leonardo make it clear to the ruler and people of Milan that he was a very inventive and skillful artist.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Leonardo later made his famous painting "The Last Supper" for the dining room of a religious center in Milan. He combined his studies in light, math, psychology, geometry and anatomy for this special work. He designed the painting to look like it was part of the room. The painting shows a story from the Bible in which Jesus eats a meal with his followers for the last time. Jesus announces that one of them will betray him.
The work received wide praise and many artists tried to copy its beauty. One modern art expert described Leonardo's "Last Supper" as the foundation of western art. Unfortunately, Leonardo experimented with a new painting method for this work. The paint has suffered extreme damage over the centuries.
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STEVE EMBER: In addition to the portrait of Ginevra de'Benci that we talked about earlier, Leonardo also painted several other non-religious paintings of women. One painting of Cecilia Gallerani has come to be known as "Lady with an Ermine" because of the small white animal she is holding. This woman was the lover of Milan's ruler, Ludovico Sforza.
However, Leonardo's most famous portrait of a woman is called the "Mona Lisa." It is now in the collection of the Louvre museum in Paris. He painted this image of Lisa Gherardini starting around fifteen-oh-three. She was the wife of a wealthy businessman from Florence named Francesco del Giocondo. It is from him that the painting takes its Italian name, "La Gioconda."
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Lisa Gherardini is sitting down with her hands crossed in her lap. She looks directly at the painter. She seems to be smiling ever so slightly. A great deal of mystery surrounds the painting. Experts are not sure about how or why Leonardo came to paint the work. But they do know that he never gave it to the Giocondo family. He kept the painting with him for the rest of his life, during his travels through France and Italy.
Leonardo da Vinci died in France in fifteen nineteen. A friend who was with
him at his death said this of the great man's life: "May God Almighty grant him eternal peace. Every one laments the loss of a man, whose like Nature cannot produce a second time."