The Weather
Really Affect Our
Health
Claudia Hammond: In Britain, the clocks have just
gone back. The evenings are closing in and weather is getting
colder and I for once feel like hibernating. And it turns out there
might be good scientific reason for this. The field of human bio
metrology proposes that the weather does have impact on our health
but mentally, like my desire to hibernate, and physically. The
filed has root in German speaking countries not surprising
considering that half of the German population claims the weather
has a direct effect on their health. In a moment, we will hear from
two people who have even set up services to advice people on the
weather’s effect.
Automatic Telephone
Answering: Hello this is an automatic telephone call on
behalf of your GP practice for the person in your household
diagnose with COPD.
Claudia Hammond: But before that, our reporter,
Anna Lucy went to the Austrian Terrell to sample the fresh air and
rather an unusual wind.
Anna Lucy: In the village of Obugluglu in
the Austrian outs, strange winds are blowing. Today the sun is out
and the cattle are happily munching the out plan grass but for
around 50 days a year, a wind could defend, passes down through the
valley and causes the fen sickness.
Respondent one: The fen? Oh it makes me really grumpy!
Don’t approach me when the fen is blowing.
Respondent two: Sometimes but not always I get a
headache. And sometimes I am getting sick. But I don’t know why
only sometimes and other times, I have no. It hasn’t always the
same degree you know.
Respondent three: Usually you know that the fen is coming
when people start running like mad in the street, you know. Because
they are all very aggressive and beeping, and doing with things
like nearly hit you.
Respondent four: Sometimes I feel it but strongly.
Anna Lucy: And what happens to you?
Respondent four: Headache, you feel sick, you know,
weak.
Anna Lucy: So what is this mysterious fen?
Gael Maine is a professor in the atmospheric science
department at the University of Ginsburg.
Professor Gael Main: Fen is a gusty wind and live off the
mountains, hills or even off gaps. When it just starts, you get a
big gust of air and then you have this wind blowing into your face
and shaking you around and blowing your hair up and all that. And
depending on the season, you can feel nice and warm or you can be
awfully cold, if it’s in the colder time of the year.
Anna Lucy: And how long does it last
for?
Professor Gael Main: That can be anytime from an hour,
running to several days in a row.
Anna Lucy: Although it may sound strange to
people who don’t live near mountains, it seems these winds really
do cause changes in health. Eva Vanker is bio mythologist working
at the university hospital in Myunec.
Eva Vanker: Weather sensitive people might
get headache or migraine. And people with pulmonary hdiseases might
get problems with their breathing or they might get some
asthmatic attack. Other studies found some hints for the
symptoms of heart disease and fen.
Anna Lucy: I understand that there are some
research about how fen can also affects people’s mental wellbeing.
Be depression or entering into psychiatrics units and even
suicide.
Eva Vanker: Yeah, that’s correct. We found
in one study which we conducted that there were more emergency
calls because of psychiatric, entries into psychiatric wards or
suicides.
Anna Lucy: And this was during fen
winds?
Eva Vanker: Yes, that was during fen
winds.
Anna Lucy: Despite finding a link with
mental problems, no one can find a biological explanation. However
there are some theories to why these warm winds trigger
headaches.
Eva Vanker: If the temperature is rising,
the body tries to keep his hot temperature and therefore, he has to
extend the arteries and veins and that might lead to headaches or
migraine attacks.
Anna Lucy: Rapid changes in air pressure
from winds rushing down the mountain have also been blamed for the
sickness. But back in Ginsburg, Professor Myer has spotted the
problem.
Professor Myer: The funny or the interesting thing is
that while this clearly can be experienced here. I have been to
quite a few other places in the world that there are also fen winds
but they don’t usually complain about “those headaches are drive us
going mad.”
Anna Lucy: So if other fen like gauss such
as that you know, Santana and borough winds don’t cause problems.
Are people in Neau just imagining things?
Unidentified Respondent 1: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Anna Lucy: It’s real.
Unidentified Respondent 1: Yeah, and some people even get
the problems before the fen is arriving.
Anna Lucy: So some people can predict when
it is coming?
Unidentified Respondent 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like a
weather forecast, yeah.
Unidentified Respondent 2: I know much about this
influence is from outside and I think, yeah, it’s really an effect
of, of nature.
Eva Vanker: We found out that it’s true
that the weather has an effect on the human health and on the human
body. We asked people who feel weather sensitive and they
were down in a diary when they have pain and how long they have
pain. And we found out that two sort of these people are really
weather sensitive because we also had several measurements between
these notes in the diary, and the real measurements of several
metrological parameters.
Anna Lucy: So it’s definitely not
all in the mind?
Eva Vanker: It’s not all in the mind. It’s
also genuine.
Claudia Hammond: Eva Vanker ending that reports from
Austria by Anna Lucy. So how much is there in this idea that the
weather can have a real impact on our health. Well enough for the
metrology office in Britain to offer help weather forecast to help
people with respiratory diseases. And I am joined from there
by Wane Eliot who heads the weather and health and department and
by Dr. John Bert who co-founded the Canadian Medical Metrology
Network. I mean John, if I can start with you, we heard about the
whole range of conditions there. People were convinced that they
were links between the weather and their health, how much good
evidence is there really for link between the two?
Dr. John Bert: There is a lot of good evidence. I think
what has to be appreciated is that we are mammals and most small
mammals can certainly know when the weather is changing well before
we appreciate it except for the weather forecast. There is an
emergency system, something that sends its changes in the weather.
In human beings, in somewhere I think we have repressed that, but
we can’t repress it all together in some of the changes that we see
are, as a result of receptors that we don’t understand how they
work.
Claudia Hammond: Yeah, I was going to ask you, do we know
what the mechanisms could be? I mean, it’s easy to see how you get
some burns when its puffing sun, you know, that affect by the
weather. You get more flu in winter. But something like migraine,
why should that be related to the weather, why should the weather
changing give you a migraine?
Dr. John Bert: I don’t think anybody knows. I think
that’s one of the things that really interest, the migraine, and I,
when we started medic lime, we wanted to provide a data bank of
people who are sensitive, who know that they are sensitive and who
we can contact to see if we can identify what it is.
Claudia Hammond: Well I want to bring in Wane Eliot, I
mean Wane, which conditions do you believe have the strongest links
with the weather?
Wane Eliot: Well we have been researching into this area
now for just over 80 years and I whole heartedly agree with what
Dr. Bert was saying that there was a lot of evidence. A lot of
initial research was based on correlations between
environmental information, chiefly the weather of course. And a
variety of health conditions and the respiratory conditions really
offered themselves as being the key area of research that we should
push ahead. And that’s where we are most advanced really in terms
of offering service to the healthcare worker and also the
individual with the respiratory condition and advising them what
they can do about it to keep themselves well.
Claudia Hammond: So John’s advice service is web based
and looks at the weather just coming up and in yours, you actually,
people actually get a phone call if the weather is going to be in a
certain way?
Wane Eliot: Well that’s trying to protect the example of
the respiratory condition, the chief one we are dealing with is
something called the COPD – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Diseases fully emphasize them on bronchitis depending on the
part of the lung that is affected. These people are clearly
affected by a variety of conditions but chiefly cold weather, and
quite windy weather while often placed parts, especially when there
is sudden change, a relatively quick change from mild conditions to
colder conditions. So the change is important. But also the level
of violence in the community at any one point and this is where the
kind of sophistication comes in with our particular services. You
take the two inputs and you basically use a fairly straightforward
models that we have designed which are signed a list to people who
have COPD as to whether they are likely to become unwell. And then
you can inform the individual, and in our case, because most people
who have COPD are generally over 55 and over 60, the telephone is
the obvious one to choose as opposed to SMS or E-mail, we actually
physically phone them.
Claudia Hammond: And there has more than 22 thousand
people you got signed up and soon you will know and finding them
each individually and telling them about the weather?
Wane Eliot: No. I was nearly told but I have managed to,
pass that one away. I say as an automatic system, which calls
people then, we introduced the system is solely done through the GP
practice and we are invited to take part and they are given a
patient pack and I can clear advice to what to do when you receive
this alert call. And if they take the measures based on diet, about
exercise, about taking your medications, if you haven’t keeping
your room temperature, the light temperature. Basic measures are to
keeping himself as well, the evidence shows that they stand a much
better chance of going through the winter in good health.
Claudia Hammond: And with the respiratory problems do you
know why it is that the weather might affect us? Do you know the
actual mechanism?
Wane Eliot: It’s about the lung function, the
constriction of the passage ways which makes the passage of oxygen
less efficient.
Claudia Hammond: Most of the works in this area of
weather and health seems to be done in countries with temperate
climates and we know there is something like meningitis build
across Africa and the outbreak are much worse during hot and dusty
conditions, is there any way of expanding your work wing to include
things like that?
Wane Eliot: Well I was recently in Geneva at the World
Health Organization meeting with some of the groups there and I
went with them with an expectation that they would be interested in
climate change and how weather patterns are likely to impact on
communities in tropical areas, predominantly Africa. And I
kind of with expectant to talk about that, and I mentioned that we
have this service with weather to respond conditionally, they asked
more. And I still played the telephone call to them, I have it on
my laptop then, and I sort of explained how it worked as first
showed and they were blown away about that. I thought well, I mean,
a lot of people in the developing countries is not new and I don’t
claim it is but I think there is something about, at the click of a
button, you could send out 22, 000 and it could ramp up to many,
many hundred thousands of people, there is no limit on that. In
areas where mobile phones are very, very, accessible in developing
countries now, so linking it to malaria, to meningitis, to
droughts, to many environmental issues is extremely possible.
Dr. John Bert: Yes, we have since January this year, we
have sent out about 650,000 e-mail alerts, all requested by
subscribers. So the reach is enormous for what is, what really is a
very small input of efforts in terms of, there is a huge win here
if we can only just get hold of it properly.
Claudia Hammond: And you find John is a scenario
that is hard to get people to take seriously enough, you know, will
people say to you, always a bit like blaming the full moon, you
know, sort of not believe what you are doing.
Dr. John Bert: Well 25 years ago when Dini Brook and I
started this, yes, it wasn’t possible to get any attention at all.
Now, it’s generally accepted and whoever I speak to in the medical
community. Since we have provided the mechanism in North
America and parts of Europe for people to get the warning and since
the brochure has shown what should be done. All they need to do is
to hear that there is a possible mechanism, and therein, they are
much interested in the subject.
Claudia Hammond: Dr. John Bert and Wane Eliot.
天气影响我们的健康
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：在英国，时钟刚刚转回了起点。夜幕落下，天气也变得越来越寒冷，而我感觉像要冬眠一般。也许对此会有一个很好的科学解释。人类生物计量领域认为，天气确实对我们的健康有影响，不仅是精神上的影响，还有身体上的影响，像我对冬眠的渴望。在德语国家，毫不夸张地可以听到，有一半的德国人宣称天气对他们的健康有着直接影响。在同一时刻，我们将会听到来自两方有关天气造成健康影响的咨询服务建议。
电话语音服务：您好，这里是全科医师自动语音服务电话系统，帮助你为家庭中的慢性阻塞性肺病患者进行诊断护理。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：但在此之前，我们的记者，安娜·露西前往奥地利特雷尔，呼吸新鲜空气并且体验了一种相当不寻常的风。
安娜·露西：在奥地利郊外的一个村庄里刮着奇怪的风。今天阳光明媚，牛儿在草地上愉快地吃着草。但每年有50天左右，会有一阵风从山谷里刮过来，让人生病。
调查对象一号：这风？它让我变得很暴躁的！如果风刮过来了，千万不要靠近我。
调查对象二号：我有时候会头疼，有时候就没事。有时还会像生病一样。但是我不知道为什么有时候难受，有时候就没有不适。而且每次的程度也不尽相同。
调查对象三号：通常，我们只要看到人们在街上像发了疯一样地飞奔，就知道风来了。他们都表现得非常暴躁，就像要袭击你一样。
调查对象四号：有时我可以感受到风，而且感觉非常强烈。
安娜·露西：然后你怎么样了呢？
调查对象四号：头痛，感觉像生了病一样，很虚弱。
安娜·露西：那么这阵风有何神秘之处呢？我们有请金斯伯格大学大气科学系教授盖尔·缅因来谈一谈这个问题。
盖尔·缅因教授：这是一种阵风，多发生在山脉区域、丘陵区、还有山体裂缝处。这种风刚起来时，你会感觉到猛烈地吹袭，风吹到面部，吹得你东摇西摆、站立不稳，然后头发都散开了，就像这样。根据季节的不同，有时你会感觉风非常的温暖而舒适，有时又会感觉寒冷刺骨，特别在寒冷的时节风更是如此。
安娜·露西：这种风通常会持续多久？
盖尔·缅因教授：它有可能会持续一个小时，或是连续数天不停地刮。
安娜·露西：不住在山区的普通人，是很难想象这种情形的，但这些风确实会给当地人的健康带来影响。伊娃·凡可是一名在麦乌奈克的大学医院工作的生物神话学家。
伊娃·凡可：对天气敏感的人可能感觉头痛或偏头痛。而肺部有疾病的人可能会感觉呼吸困难，也许还可能会引起哮喘发作。还有一些研究发现，心脏疾病的症状和风也有联系。
安娜·露西：我了解到，有一些研究表明，风还会影响人的心理健康，引发忧虑症，或是其它一些精神病症，甚至让人产生自杀倾向。
伊娃·凡可：是的，确实如此。我们在研究中发现，跟精神病患者或是自杀事件相关的急救电话占到了越来越多的比例。
安娜·露西：你是说这些情况都是发生在刮风期？
伊娃·凡可：是的，这些都是刮风期发现的问题。
安娜·露西：尽管目前发现了风与人类心理学上的一些联系，但是还无法在生物学方面做出解释。但也有一些理论，解释了这样温暖的风会引发头痛的问题。
伊娃·凡可：如果温度上升，而身体又试图适应这样的体温，那么动脉和静脉就会因此扩张，由此可能会引发头痛或偏头痛。
安娜·露西：当风从山顶刮下来的时候，会引起周围气压的急剧变化，这也被认为是致人发病的原因。金斯伯格大学的迈尔教授最先发现了这个问题。
迈尔教授：有趣的是，似乎只有这个地方的风才会产生这样的问题。我曾去过不少有风的地方，但是很少有人会像这样抱怨“头痛欲裂，让人发疯”。
安娜·露西：如果说其它地区的人，虽然也遭遇到各式各样的风，但都没有遇到像这样的问题。那么这种情况是不是这个村子里的人们臆想出来的？
某调查对象一号：不，不不。
安娜·露西：这是真的？
某调查对象一号：是真的。有些人甚至在刮风之前就会显现出这种病痛。
安娜·露西：那么有人能预测出什么时候风会来吗？
某调查对象一号：嗯，是的，就像天气预报一样，是的。
某调查对象二号：我确认这种影响是来自外部的，我认为这是大自然的一种作用力。
伊娃·凡可：我们发现天气确实对人的健康和身体有一定的影响。我们让那些对天气敏感的人，记录下了一份详细的日志，包括什么时候他们会感觉到疼痛，又会持续多长时间。然后我们发现有两类人对天气异常敏感，这不仅可以从他们记录的日志上统计出来，还可以通过一些实时测量的参数反映出来。
安娜·露西：就是说，这并不都是人们的猜想，而确有其事？
伊娃·凡可：并不都是人们的猜想，确实有部分得到了证实。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：以上是安娜·露西在奥地利对伊娃·凡可进行的采访报告。那么接下来，让我们看看天气对我们健康到底有怎样真真正正的影响吧。在英国的计量学办公室，为患有呼吸系统疾病的患者，提供天气预报服务。现在我们连线在那边的天气卫生部门的负责人韦恩·艾略特，还有加拿大医学计量网络的联合创办人约翰·伯特博士。约翰，你好，我想我们现在可以开始了。我们了解了一些相关的情况，人们也开始相信他们的健康与天气之间是存在某些联系的。那么我想问的是，现在是否有确切的证据说明了这种联系呢？
约翰·伯特博士：我们有非常充分的证据说明了这一点。我认为首先值得庆幸的一点是，我们是哺乳动物，而且大多数小型哺乳动物不需要天气预报也可以明显感受到天气的变化。哺乳动物体内存在一个应急系统，一旦天气变化，它就会发出信号。对人类而言，某些机体被抑制了。但是对于某些天气变化，我们仍然可以从机体的反应中看到这种机制的影子，虽然我们并不明白机体是如何工作的。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：嗯，我想问的是，你知道这种内在机制到底是什么吗？我的意思是，如果在烈日下的话，我们很容易就会晒伤，这确实是由天气导致的。而在冬天，我们很容易患上流感，这些都是显而易见的，但是像偏头痛这样的毛病，又怎么会跟天气有关呢？为什么天气一变化就会引发偏头痛？
约翰·伯特博士：我认为没有人知道这到底是怎么一回事，但这也正是它引人关注的地方。我认为有一种病症非常值得研究，就是偏头痛。我还是医学学院的学生时，我们就想要建立一个这样的数据银行，找到那些对天气敏感的人，或者说知道自己对天气敏感的人，我们可以联系他们，然后找出原因。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：嗯，我想问一下韦恩·艾略特先生，对于天气与人类健康之间的联系，您是怎么看的？
韦恩·艾略特：我们在这方面已经进行了80多年的研究了，我完全同意约翰·伯特博士的观点，对于天气与人类健康之间的联系，有很多证据可以证明这一点。我们最初始的研究是从环境信息与各种各样的健康状况和呼吸状况之间的内在联系开始，当然这里的环境信息主要指的就是天气信息，而后我们以之为主要研究方向不断地探索。我们在这方面最突出的研究已经可以运用到实际中去，为卫生保健工人和患有呼吸疾病的个人提供咨询服务，告诉他们如何可以保持一个健康良好的状态。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：约翰的咨询服务其实是一个基于网络的系统，它会自动关注天气变化情况。一旦天气有了特定的变化，人们就会接到电话？
韦恩·艾略特：嗯，我们这样做是为了保护那些患有呼吸系统疾病的病例患者，特别是慢性阻塞性肺病患者。这种疾病会诱发受感染的肺部，形成支气管炎，而这些患者非常容易受到极端外部条件的影响，主要是冷空气或者多风天气的影响，特别是天气从温暖向寒冷急剧变化的时候，尤其明显。因此，天气变化是我们关注的重点。对我们的特殊服务而言，社区里天气变化的程度却是一个相当复杂的问题。一旦天气发生变化，我们设计好的模型就会对比变化前后的两个数值，然后调出符合条件的事先存储好的慢性阻塞性肺病患者名单。然后你就可以通知这些患者。我们之所以选择打电话，而不是通过短信或电子邮件的方式，是因为这些患者的平均年龄都在55或60岁以上，电话无疑是最佳选择。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：可是那份电话名单上的人数超过了2万2千，一旦触发条件，你要找到所有患者的联系方式逐个通知天气变化吗？
韦恩·艾略特：不是这样的，我们有其他的管理方式。我们运用了一种自动系统，它会自动呼叫在名单上的注册患者，并告诉他们这个系统是通过全科医师自动语音服务来完成的，包括我们提供的一套患者护理方案，当患者接到电话时，我们会清楚地告诉患者该做什么。包括他们的饮食状况、运动锻炼状况、药物服用状况，还有房间的温度状况，阳光的温度状况等建议。通过这些基本措施来维持他们的良好身体状态，而且有证据表明，通过这些措施，他们有更大的可能性保持健康状态度过冬天。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：那么，通过研究呼吸疾病，您了解为什么天气会对我们的身体状况产生影响吗？到底是通过什么途径影响的呢？
韦恩·艾略特：这是由肺部的功能决定的。气温下降会引起肺部管道收缩，从而影响氧气吸收的效率。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：我们已知的有关天气和健康的相关研究大多都是在这些温带地区国家完成的。像非洲流行的脑膜炎，在炎热和多尘的天气里更容易爆发，那么以后您的工作是否会涉及类似这样的情况呢？
韦恩·艾略特：我最近在日内瓦，参加了世界卫生组织大会,在那里我和一些群体讨论了有关气候变化的问题，还有天气模式对热带地区的人类群体是如何产生影响的问题，我一度期望他们能对此表示出兴趣，当然，这里的热带地区主要是指非洲。我是怀着那样的期待谈论了一些想法，还有我们现在进行着的基于天气变化提供的服务，他们问了一些问题。我还用我的笔记本电脑演示了那套自动电话系统，向他们展示这套系统是如何工作的，但是最后他们都兴味索然地走开了。我开始设想得很好，因为那些发展中国家的人对此并不陌生。只需要轻击一下鼠标，就可以让2万2千人都享受到这份服务，并且可以覆盖更多人。在现在的发展中国家，移动电话已经非常普及了，那么将有关疟疾、脑膜炎、干旱等许多环境问题的信息以服务的方式提供给人们，这是非常容易实现的事情。
约翰·伯特博士：是的，自今年的1月份开始，按照订阅请求，我们就已经发送出了65万封电子邮件警报。我们其实只需要付出小小的投入，就可以获得很大的收获。如果我们能恰当地掌握好这些计量，就是巨大的成功。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：我想问，约翰，你认为自己的描述是否会太戏剧化了，让人很难去认真地去关注它实际的内容，我是说，有点理想化了，以至于人们并不真的相信你在做的这些事情。
约翰·伯特博士：
25年前，当蒂尼·布鲁克和我刚开始进行这项工作的时候，确实没有什么对此表示关注。但是现在不同了，大家早已普遍接受这个事实，当然包括医学界在内。我们在北美和欧洲的部分地区，开展这项服务以来，人们通过接收到的警报信息，按照我们事先发出的小册子上的指示来一一应对，效果不错。而且，当知道还有这样一种可能存在的人体机制时，他们表现得兴趣十足。
劳迪娅·哈蒙德：感谢约翰·伯特博士和韦恩·艾略特参与我们的节目。
Technology Brighten Our
Lives
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: And you hear it right
here on digital planets. We are on air, online and podcasting from
the BBC in London. I am Gareth Mitchell and still to come, novels
on your mobile phone. OK, not a novel idea in itself any more. But
in South Africa, there is a twist; a young reader gives us her
verdict. Now then, city dwellers, let me ask you, how well you know
the place where you live? In fact, I think we should rephrase that
for the 21st century “How well does your city know you?” And the
answer is increasingly well for conurbations that can track you
through the transport system and where the city’s utilities profile
you in terms of the services you use. But does all that mean that
many of us live in a city of dreams these days or the city of
nightmares? Rooted in the present but with an eye on the future, an
exhibition in New York is exploring the notion of the sentient city
and the BBC’s Laura Sheeter, has been to investigate.
LAURA SHEETER, BBC REPOTER: The whirring
fan of an intelligent rubbish bin but the wrong kind of littering
here, and it would come straight back out. This rather unnerving
object is just part of the exhibition toward the Sentient City
which tries to imagine how cities and our lives might change when
we can embed computers in anything and everything.
MARK SHEPARD, THE EXHIBITION CREATOR: Yes, a dial, you
can slightly be the selfish with the selfless mob.
LAURA SHEETER, BBC REPOTER: Mark Shepard is the
exhibition creator.
MARK SHEPARD, THE EXHIBITION CREATOR: The intention is
really to try to look at some of the large, social, cultural and
political implications of these new technologies less in
terms of fascination where the novelty of technologies but more in
terms of the potential implications of some these technologies. Are
we concerned if for example our street systems, traffic lights and
so forth are able to better managed rather than flow of traffics on
our city streets, probably not. That’s probably for the public good
but some of us will be irritated if, as we walk by a Starbucks, we
will get a discount coupon for our favorite espresso drink based on
our previous transaction history at that store, probably some of us
will be irritated about things like that. If, when trying to
enter a subway system my mobility patterns, transaction history and
current galvanic skin response reading happens to match that
of a profile of a terrorist and I am suddenly denied access to the
subway, I think many people would probably protest, what happens
when the system fails? These are some of the questions we have to
be asking ourselves now as opposed to after the fact.
LAURA SHEETER, BBC REPOTER: That’s exactly what
the inventors of the rubbish bin say they are doing. As well as the
bin JooYoun Paek and David Jimison, invented a sign that points at
passersby, and a bench that tips you off if you sit on it for too
long. David says they wanted to explore the possible down sides of
too much technology.
DAVID JIMISON: It raises concerns about safety - people
mentioned ‘my grandmother would be hurt if she was dumped off a
bench, also raises concerns about the homeless. What does it mean
to have furniture that evicts people after certain time?
LAURA SHEETER, BBC REPOTER: Other exhibits include
a system to track your rubbish online and natural fuse – a network
of plants plugged into the electrical system, which monitors
participants energy use – if they use too much, plants will
be killed, but if they act together to cut back consumption, the
plants will thrive, meaning more carbon capture, and more power for
all. But the exhibition isn’t just happening indoors or just in New
York. On the cold streets of Philadelphia, Anthony Thomson and Dana
Spiegle search for a good spot to work and they’ve come
equipped.
UNIDENTIFIED RESPONDENT: Internet sitting in desk rooms
are really like a three critical pieces of infrastructure. This is
all can we have, basically fixing into like a messenger bag, we got
a little table top white board, we got tons of sticky notes, one of
the most useful things that we put in this bag is street chalk, so,
we can actually write on the ground, and then we got bunch of.
LAURA SHEETER, BBC REPOTER: Their project breakout
user’s readily available high and low tech gadgets to show
people how they can escape the office and even hold board meetings
out on the street. They say it’s about reclaiming public
spaces.
UNIDENTIFIED RESPONDENT: When you ever get a group of ten
people gathering tables or sitting around with their laptops
open talking to each other, having looks like a conference room
discussion in the middle of a public issue， you know, so, there is
a little bit of spectacle, but then, people kind of, sort of get it
because it’s not anything particularly normal, its just that it’s
out of place and part of this idea of bringing work back to the
street because exactly that’s how it has been. I mean, offices are
good for clerical work and that’s about it. And that’s not the way
the economy work anymore, its not what people do for work. Right
now, you know, we are working for Philadelphia, and I'm completely
stimulated by what is going on and, you know, maybe I will go back
sit down and write for half an hour, or sit down in a coffee shop
but I can't get ideas there.
LAURA SHEETER, BBC REPOTER: So a mix picture of
the sentient city where technology can set us free, trip us up or
make us greener better citizens but how real are these visions?
Gregory Wessner from the Architectural League of New York who
commissioned the exhibition, says it's closer than you think.
GREGORY WESSNER OF ARCHITECTURAL LEAGUE OF NEW YORK: We
had a lecture by architects from Kohn Pedersen Fox in
collaboration with a woman from Cisco Systems who are working
right now on two cities, one in South Korea and the other in China
in which all the networks of medical, commercial, residential
infrastructure are being linked together and will make life better
or worse, I mean that remains to be seen, but they will open the
first buildings, so, this is happening right now.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Gregory Wessner ending
that report from Laura Sheeter, so, Bill Thompson, sentient city,
discuss.
BILL THOMPSON: Well sentient city are a very good
idea but as you said, we heard everything from Gregory they are
potentially dangerous idea because if you link everything together
and the system crashes, you have nothing. And so, you need to be
careful in the built of the environment becoming too dependent on
technology but the real potential for me for things like this is,
its going to be an environmental monitoring, its going to
be, in managing energy consumption, all those things where you can
take a modern, sort of metropolis and just make it more efficient
absolute planet friendly place for people to live. I think if we
use sensing network intelligently than other stuff we so being
thought about, but here, we have a real practical use in future
cities.
科技点亮生活
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：您现在收听的是伦敦BBC《数字平台》空中和在线直播。我是加雷恩·米切尔，接下来我们继续，你手机上的小说。不是手机里的新想法。在南非有个小故事，一个小读者为我们提供了她的建议。喂，城市居民，让我问你，你如何了解你居住的地方？我认为我们应该重新问，在21世纪，你的城市如何了解你？答案是：越来越多的行动，以及能够吸引您的运输系统和你在使用的城市公用事业服务。但是这意味着现在我们很多人都生活在一个充满梦想或者噩梦的城市吗？生活在现在，着眼于将来。在纽约的一个展览正在探索智能之城的概念。BBC的劳拉已经被派往那里做调查。
劳拉·希特尔，BBC记者：当你投放垃圾错误时，智能垃圾桶转动的风扇，将直接缩回。智能城市试图展示，当电脑系统植入周围一切事物时，我们的城市和人类生活将会发生的巨大变化。这个让人稍微神经紧张的小东西只是智能城市展览的一小部分。
马克·谢泼德，展会创建者：是的，拨个号，你会变成“自私”的人，当你拥有这部无私的手机。
劳拉·希特尔，BBC记者：马克·谢泼德是展会的创建人。
马克·谢泼德，展会创建者：我们的意图真的是想看看这些新的技术在社会，文化和政治领域的应用，很少想展示新技术的魅力，更多的是考虑这些技术的潜在应用。我们有关心到比如说我们的街道系统，交通信号灯等等能够得到更好的管理而不是在街道上走动的汽车吗？或许没有。或许对公众有利的事情，但是我们有些人也会被激怒，当我们路过一个星巴克的时候，如果我们能够根据我们以前在那个店的消费记录而获得我们最喜欢的饮料的折扣的话，或许有些人就会被此类事情所激怒。如果，当我们正在进入一个地铁的时候，我的流动模式，历史交易记录和现在的皮电反应检阅碰巧跟一个恐怖分子的资料相连接，我会突然因此而被拒绝进入地铁。我想很多人可能会抗议。如果当系统失效的时候会怎样？这些问题都是应该从事实的对立面来反问我们自己的。
劳拉·希特尔，BBC记者：那就是那些垃圾桶的发明者说的他们正在做的事情。BINJOOYOUNPAEK和大卫·吉姆森他们发明了一种针对路人的标牌和一种凳子，如果你在上边坐太久的话这个凳子会提醒你起立。大卫说他们希望研究过多技术应用可能存在的缺点。
大卫·吉姆森：考虑到安全问题，人们提到“我的祖母如果长时间坐在一条凳子上的话，可能会受到伤害”，也考虑到无家可归的人们。有这样一种过一段时间后就驱赶人的家具有什么意义呢？
劳拉·希特尔，BBC记者：其他的展品包括了一个在线垃圾跟踪系统和一个工厂用电监控系统。工厂用电监控系统用来监控入网的工厂的能源使用情况，如果使用太多，工厂将被集体关闭。但是如果他们一起节约用的话工厂得以生存，意味着将获取更多的碳和更多的能量。但是展览并不仅限于室内也不限于在纽约。汽车的刺耳的喇叭声。在寒冷的费城的街上，全身装备的安东尼和达纳正在寻找更好的工作地点。
匿名人:在只有书桌的一席之地，网络应用就很像基础设施的三个关键部分。这是我们所有的素材，我们把它们放在如信息包里面，一个小桌面白板，很多的即时贴，但我们觉得放在这个包里面最有用的东西就是粉笔，我们实际可以写在地面上，然后我们会得到很多。
劳拉·希特尔，BBC记者：项目突破利用现成的各种工具向人们展示如何能逃脱办公室，甚者在大街上召开董事会议。他们说这是公共空间的回收利用。
匿名人：当你聚集10个人在桌旁，或者开着他们的手提电脑，围坐在一起畅所欲言的谈话的时候，有如在会议室讨论一个公共议题一般，还有一点风景。慢慢的人们能接受了，因为毕竟不是很正常。其实就是在不合适的地点，但是这只是这个到大街上办公的部分想法，确切的说一直以来事实也是这样。我的意思是，办公室很适合那些文书处理工作。这已经不再是一种经济的工作方式，并不是人们为工作做的事。现在，你知道，我们为费城工作，我完全为我现在正在进行的事所鼓舞，或许我会回去写上半小时，或者在咖啡厅里坐下来，但是在那里我得不到任何想法。
劳拉·希特尔，BBC记者：那么一副混合的图片展现在我们面前，在知觉之城技术可以让我们很放松，挑剔我们或者是让我们成为更绿色跟好的市民。但是如何真正实现这些愿景呢？纽约建筑协会委托举办了这次展会，来自该协会的格雷·戈里说比你想象的要更近了。
纽约建筑协会的格雷·戈里：我们曾今听过一个来自孔恩—佩德森—福克斯建筑师联合事务所公司的建筑师的演讲，这个建筑师跟思科系统的一位女士合作演讲，这位女士主要在两个地方开展工作，一个是南韩，另外一个是中国。在这里，医疗，商业和住宅基础设施建设网络是连在一起的，至于能否能改善我们的生活条件，我们还需拭目以待，但是他们将开发第一栋此类建筑，这就是到目前的情况。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：格雷·戈里结束了从劳拉·希尔特的报道，现在比尔·汤普森，知觉之城，讨论。
比尔·汤普森：知觉之城是个很好的主意，但是正如戈里所提到的,他们也有潜在的危险，因为如果你连接所有的东西在一起，一旦系统崩溃，你将一无所有。所以你必须得在让环境过分依赖技术这件事上小心。但是我所真正担心的此类隐患是环境监控。在能源消费管理方面，所有的一切都将集中于如何把地球变得更环保并成为绝对适宜居住的地方。我想如果我们聪明的利用感应网络的话，那么他们将成我们实现我们所想的材料。但在这里，在未来城市我们有个真正的实际使用。
The Weather
Really Affect Our
Health
Claudia Hammond: In Britain, the clocks have just
gone back. The evenings are closing in and weather is getting
colder and I for once feel like hibernating. And it turns out there
might be good scientific reason for this. The field of human bio
metrology proposes that the weather does have impact on our health
but mentally, like my desire to hibernate, and physically. The
filed has root in German speaking countries not surprising
considering that half of the German population claims the weather
has a direct effect on their health. In a moment, we will hear from
two people who have even set up services to advice people on the
weather’s effect.
Automatic Telephone
Answering: Hello this is an automatic telephone call on
behalf of your GP practice for the person in your household
diagnose with COPD.
Claudia Hammond: But before that, our reporter,
Anna Lucy went to the Austrian Terrell to sample the fresh air and
rather an unusual wind.
Anna Lucy: In the village of Obugluglu in
the Austrian outs, strange winds are blowing. Today the sun is out
and the cattle are happily munching the out plan grass but for
around 50 days a year, a wind could defend, passes down through the
valley and causes the fen sickness.
Respondent one: The fen? Oh it makes me really grumpy!
Don’t approach me when the fen is blowing.
Respondent two: Sometimes but not always I get a
headache. And sometimes I am getting sick. But I don’t know why
only sometimes and other times, I have no. It hasn’t always the
same degree you know.
Respondent three: Usually you know that the fen is coming
when people start running like mad in the street, you know. Because
they are all very aggressive and beeping, and doing with things
like nearly hit you.
Respondent four: Sometimes I feel it but strongly.
Anna Lucy: And what happens to you?
Respondent four: Headache, you feel sick, you know,
weak.
Anna Lucy: So what is this mysterious fen?
Gael Maine is a professor in the atmospheric science
department at the University of Ginsburg.
Professor Gael Main: Fen is a gusty wind and live off the
mountains, hills or even off gaps. When it just starts, you get a
big gust of air and then you have this wind blowing into your face
and shaking you around and blowing your hair up and all that. And
depending on the season, you can feel nice and warm or you can be
awfully cold, if it’s in the colder time of the year.
Anna Lucy: And how long does it last
for?
Professor Gael Main: That can be anytime from an hour,
running to several days in a row.
Anna Lucy: Although it may sound strange to
people who don’t live near mountains, it seems these winds really
do cause changes in health. Eva Vanker is bio mythologist working
at the university hospital in Myunec.
Eva Vanker: Weather sensitive people might
get headache or migraine. And people with pulmonary hdiseases might
get problems with their breathing or they might get some
asthmatic attack. Other studies found some hints for the
symptoms of heart disease and fen.
Anna Lucy: I understand that there are some
research about how fen can also affects people’s mental wellbeing.
Be depression or entering into psychiatrics units and even
suicide.
Eva Vanker: Yeah, that’s correct. We found
in one study which we conducted that there were more emergency
calls because of psychiatric, entries into psychiatric wards or
suicides.
Anna Lucy: And this was during fen
winds?
Eva Vanker: Yes, that was during fen
winds.
Anna Lucy: Despite finding a link with
mental problems, no one can find a biological explanation. However
there are some theories to why these warm winds trigger
headaches.
Eva Vanker: If the temperature is rising,
the body tries to keep his hot temperature and therefore, he has to
extend the arteries and veins and that might lead to headaches or
migraine attacks.
Anna Lucy: Rapid changes in air pressure
from winds rushing down the mountain have also been blamed for the
sickness. But back in Ginsburg, Professor Myer has spotted the
problem.
Professor Myer: The funny or the interesting thing is
that while this clearly can be experienced here. I have been to
quite a few other places in the world that there are also fen winds
but they don’t usually complain about “those headaches are drive us
going mad.”
Anna Lucy: So if other fen like gauss such
as that you know, Santana and borough winds don’t cause problems.
Are people in Neau just imagining things?
Unidentified Respondent 1: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Anna Lucy: It’s real.
Unidentified Respondent 1: Yeah, and some people even get
the problems before the fen is arriving.
Anna Lucy: So some people can predict when
it is coming?
Unidentified Respondent 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like a
weather forecast, yeah.
Unidentified Respondent 2: I know much about this
influence is from outside and I think, yeah, it’s really an effect
of, of nature.
Eva Vanker: We found out that it’s true
that the weather has an effect on the human health and on the human
body. We asked people who feel weather sensitive and they
were down in a diary when they have pain and how long they have
pain. And we found out that two sort of these people are really
weather sensitive because we also had several measurements between
these notes in the diary, and the real measurements of several
metrological parameters.
Anna Lucy: So it’s definitely not
all in the mind?
Eva Vanker: It’s not all in the mind. It’s
also genuine.
Claudia Hammond: Eva Vanker ending that reports from
Austria by Anna Lucy. So how much is there in this idea that the
weather can have a real impact on our health. Well enough for the
metrology office in Britain to offer help weather forecast to help
people with respiratory diseases. And I am joined from there
by Wane Eliot who heads the weather and health and department and
by Dr. John Bert who co-founded the Canadian Medical Metrology
Network. I mean John, if I can start with you, we heard about the
whole range of conditions there. People were convinced that they
were links between the weather and their health, how much good
evidence is there really for link between the two?
Dr. John Bert: There is a lot of good evidence. I think
what has to be appreciated is that we are mammals and most small
mammals can certainly know when the weather is changing well before
we appreciate it except for the weather forecast. There is an
emergency system, something that sends its changes in the weather.
In human beings, in somewhere I think we have repressed that, but
we can’t repress it all together in some of the changes that we see
are, as a result of receptors that we don’t understand how they
work.
Claudia Hammond: Yeah, I was going to ask you, do we know
what the mechanisms could be? I mean, it’s easy to see how you get
some burns when its puffing sun, you know, that affect by the
weather. You get more flu in winter. But something like migraine,
why should that be related to the weather, why should the weather
changing give you a migraine?
Dr. John Bert: I don’t think anybody knows. I think
that’s one of the things that really interest, the migraine, and I,
when we started medic lime, we wanted to provide a data bank of
people who are sensitive, who know that they are sensitive and who
we can contact to see if we can identify what it is.
Claudia Hammond: Well I want to bring in Wane Eliot, I
mean Wane, which conditions do you believe have the strongest links
with the weather?
Wane Eliot: Well we have been researching into this area
now for just over 80 years and I whole heartedly agree with what
Dr. Bert was saying that there was a lot of evidence. A lot of
initial research was based on correlations between
environmental information, chiefly the weather of course. And a
variety of health conditions and the respiratory conditions really
offered themselves as being the key area of research that we should
push ahead. And that’s where we are most advanced really in terms
of offering service to the healthcare worker and also the
individual with the respiratory condition and advising them what
they can do about it to keep themselves well.
Claudia Hammond: So John’s advice service is web based
and looks at the weather just coming up and in yours, you actually,
people actually get a phone call if the weather is going to be in a
certain way?
Wane Eliot: Well that’s trying to protect the example of
the respiratory condition, the chief one we are dealing with is
something called the COPD – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Diseases fully emphasize them on bronchitis depending on the
part of the lung that is affected. These people are clearly
affected by a variety of conditions but chiefly cold weather, and
quite windy weather while often placed parts, especially when there
is sudden change, a relatively quick change from mild conditions to
colder conditions. So the change is important. But also the level
of violence in the community at any one point and this is where the
kind of sophistication comes in with our particular services. You
take the two inputs and you basically use a fairly straightforward
models that we have designed which are signed a list to people who
have COPD as to whether they are likely to become unwell. And then
you can inform the individual, and in our case, because most people
who have COPD are generally over 55 and over 60, the telephone is
the obvious one to choose as opposed to SMS or E-mail, we actually
physically phone them.
Claudia Hammond: And there has more than 22 thousand
people you got signed up and soon you will know and finding them
each individually and telling them about the weather?
Wane Eliot: No. I was nearly told but I have managed to,
pass that one away. I say as an automatic system, which calls
people then, we introduced the system is solely done through the GP
practice and we are invited to take part and they are given a
patient pack and I can clear advice to what to do when you receive
this alert call. And if they take the measures based on diet, about
exercise, about taking your medications, if you haven’t keeping
your room temperature, the light temperature. Basic measures are to
keeping himself as well, the evidence shows that they stand a much
better chance of going through the winter in good health.
Claudia Hammond: And with the respiratory problems do you
know why it is that the weather might affect us? Do you know the
actual mechanism?
Wane Eliot: It’s about the lung function, the
constriction of the passage ways which makes the passage of oxygen
less efficient.
Claudia Hammond: Most of the works in this area of
weather and health seems to be done in countries with temperate
climates and we know there is something like meningitis build
across Africa and the outbreak are much worse during hot and dusty
conditions, is there any way of expanding your work wing to include
things like that?
Wane Eliot: Well I was recently in Geneva at the World
Health Organization meeting with some of the groups there and I
went with them with an expectation that they would be interested in
climate change and how weather patterns are likely to impact on
communities in tropical areas, predominantly Africa. And I
kind of with expectant to talk about that, and I mentioned that we
have this service with weather to respond conditionally, they asked
more. And I still played the telephone call to them, I have it on
my laptop then, and I sort of explained how it worked as first
showed and they were blown away about that. I thought well, I mean,
a lot of people in the developing countries is not new and I don’t
claim it is but I think there is something about, at the click of a
button, you could send out 22, 000 and it could ramp up to many,
many hundred thousands of people, there is no limit on that. In
areas where mobile phones are very, very, accessible in developing
countries now, so linking it to malaria, to meningitis, to
droughts, to many environmental issues is extremely possible.
Dr. John Bert: Yes, we have since January this year, we
have sent out about 650,000 e-mail alerts, all requested by
subscribers. So the reach is enormous for what is, what really is a
very small input of efforts in terms of, there is a huge win here
if we can only just get hold of it properly.
Claudia Hammond: And you find John is a scenario
that is hard to get people to take seriously enough, you know, will
people say to you, always a bit like blaming the full moon, you
know, sort of not believe what you are doing.
Dr. John Bert: Well 25 years ago when Dini Brook and I
started this, yes, it wasn’t possible to get any attention at all.
Now, it’s generally accepted and whoever I speak to in the medical
community. Since we have provided the mechanism in North
America and parts of Europe for people to get the warning and since
the brochure has shown what should be done. All they need to do is
to hear that there is a possible mechanism, and therein, they are
much interested in the subject.
Claudia Hammond: Dr. John Bert and Wane Eliot.
天气影响我们的健康
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：在英国，时钟刚刚转回了起点。夜幕落下，天气也变得越来越寒冷，而我感觉像要冬眠一般。也许对此会有一个很好的科学解释。人类生物计量领域认为，天气确实对我们的健康有影响，不仅是精神上的影响，还有身体上的影响，像我对冬眠的渴望。在德语国家，毫不夸张地可以听到，有一半的德国人宣称天气对他们的健康有着直接影响。在同一时刻，我们将会听到来自两方有关天气造成健康影响的咨询服务建议。
电话语音服务：您好，这里是全科医师自动语音服务电话系统，帮助你为家庭中的慢性阻塞性肺病患者进行诊断护理。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：但在此之前，我们的记者，安娜·露西前往奥地利特雷尔，呼吸新鲜空气并且体验了一种相当不寻常的风。
安娜·露西：在奥地利郊外的一个村庄里刮着奇怪的风。今天阳光明媚，牛儿在草地上愉快地吃着草。但每年有50天左右，会有一阵风从山谷里刮过来，让人生病。
调查对象一号：这风？它让我变得很暴躁的！如果风刮过来了，千万不要靠近我。
调查对象二号：我有时候会头疼，有时候就没事。有时还会像生病一样。但是我不知道为什么有时候难受，有时候就没有不适。而且每次的程度也不尽相同。
调查对象三号：通常，我们只要看到人们在街上像发了疯一样地飞奔，就知道风来了。他们都表现得非常暴躁，就像要袭击你一样。
调查对象四号：有时我可以感受到风，而且感觉非常强烈。
安娜·露西：然后你怎么样了呢？
调查对象四号：头痛，感觉像生了病一样，很虚弱。
安娜·露西：那么这阵风有何神秘之处呢？我们有请金斯伯格大学大气科学系教授盖尔·缅因来谈一谈这个问题。
盖尔·缅因教授：这是一种阵风，多发生在山脉区域、丘陵区、还有山体裂缝处。这种风刚起来时，你会感觉到猛烈地吹袭，风吹到面部，吹得你东摇西摆、站立不稳，然后头发都散开了，就像这样。根据季节的不同，有时你会感觉风非常的温暖而舒适，有时又会感觉寒冷刺骨，特别在寒冷的时节风更是如此。
安娜·露西：这种风通常会持续多久？
盖尔·缅因教授：它有可能会持续一个小时，或是连续数天不停地刮。
安娜·露西：不住在山区的普通人，是很难想象这种情形的，但这些风确实会给当地人的健康带来影响。伊娃·凡可是一名在麦乌奈克的大学医院工作的生物神话学家。
伊娃·凡可：对天气敏感的人可能感觉头痛或偏头痛。而肺部有疾病的人可能会感觉呼吸困难，也许还可能会引起哮喘发作。还有一些研究发现，心脏疾病的症状和风也有联系。
安娜·露西：我了解到，有一些研究表明，风还会影响人的心理健康，引发忧虑症，或是其它一些精神病症，甚至让人产生自杀倾向。
伊娃·凡可：是的，确实如此。我们在研究中发现，跟精神病患者或是自杀事件相关的急救电话占到了越来越多的比例。
安娜·露西：你是说这些情况都是发生在刮风期？
伊娃·凡可：是的，这些都是刮风期发现的问题。
安娜·露西：尽管目前发现了风与人类心理学上的一些联系，但是还无法在生物学方面做出解释。但也有一些理论，解释了这样温暖的风会引发头痛的问题。
伊娃·凡可：如果温度上升，而身体又试图适应这样的体温，那么动脉和静脉就会因此扩张，由此可能会引发头痛或偏头痛。
安娜·露西：当风从山顶刮下来的时候，会引起周围气压的急剧变化，这也被认为是致人发病的原因。金斯伯格大学的迈尔教授最先发现了这个问题。
迈尔教授：有趣的是，似乎只有这个地方的风才会产生这样的问题。我曾去过不少有风的地方，但是很少有人会像这样抱怨“头痛欲裂，让人发疯”。
安娜·露西：如果说其它地区的人，虽然也遭遇到各式各样的风，但都没有遇到像这样的问题。那么这种情况是不是这个村子里的人们臆想出来的？
某调查对象一号：不，不不。
安娜·露西：这是真的？
某调查对象一号：是真的。有些人甚至在刮风之前就会显现出这种病痛。
安娜·露西：那么有人能预测出什么时候风会来吗？
某调查对象一号：嗯，是的，就像天气预报一样，是的。
某调查对象二号：我确认这种影响是来自外部的，我认为这是大自然的一种作用力。
伊娃·凡可：我们发现天气确实对人的健康和身体有一定的影响。我们让那些对天气敏感的人，记录下了一份详细的日志，包括什么时候他们会感觉到疼痛，又会持续多长时间。然后我们发现有两类人对天气异常敏感，这不仅可以从他们记录的日志上统计出来，还可以通过一些实时测量的参数反映出来。
安娜·露西：就是说，这并不都是人们的猜想，而确有其事？
伊娃·凡可：并不都是人们的猜想，确实有部分得到了证实。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：以上是安娜·露西在奥地利对伊娃·凡可进行的采访报告。那么接下来，让我们看看天气对我们健康到底有怎样真真正正的影响吧。在英国的计量学办公室，为患有呼吸系统疾病的患者，提供天气预报服务。现在我们连线在那边的天气卫生部门的负责人韦恩·艾略特，还有加拿大医学计量网络的联合创办人约翰·伯特博士。约翰，你好，我想我们现在可以开始了。我们了解了一些相关的情况，人们也开始相信他们的健康与天气之间是存在某些联系的。那么我想问的是，现在是否有确切的证据说明了这种联系呢？
约翰·伯特博士：我们有非常充分的证据说明了这一点。我认为首先值得庆幸的一点是，我们是哺乳动物，而且大多数小型哺乳动物不需要天气预报也可以明显感受到天气的变化。哺乳动物体内存在一个应急系统，一旦天气变化，它就会发出信号。对人类而言，某些机体被抑制了。但是对于某些天气变化，我们仍然可以从机体的反应中看到这种机制的影子，虽然我们并不明白机体是如何工作的。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：嗯，我想问的是，你知道这种内在机制到底是什么吗？我的意思是，如果在烈日下的话，我们很容易就会晒伤，这确实是由天气导致的。而在冬天，我们很容易患上流感，这些都是显而易见的，但是像偏头痛这样的毛病，又怎么会跟天气有关呢？为什么天气一变化就会引发偏头痛？
约翰·伯特博士：我认为没有人知道这到底是怎么一回事，但这也正是它引人关注的地方。我认为有一种病症非常值得研究，就是偏头痛。我还是医学学院的学生时，我们就想要建立一个这样的数据银行，找到那些对天气敏感的人，或者说知道自己对天气敏感的人，我们可以联系他们，然后找出原因。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：嗯，我想问一下韦恩·艾略特先生，对于天气与人类健康之间的联系，您是怎么看的？
韦恩·艾略特：我们在这方面已经进行了80多年的研究了，我完全同意约翰·伯特博士的观点，对于天气与人类健康之间的联系，有很多证据可以证明这一点。我们最初始的研究是从环境信息与各种各样的健康状况和呼吸状况之间的内在联系开始，当然这里的环境信息主要指的就是天气信息，而后我们以之为主要研究方向不断地探索。我们在这方面最突出的研究已经可以运用到实际中去，为卫生保健工人和患有呼吸疾病的个人提供咨询服务，告诉他们如何可以保持一个健康良好的状态。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：约翰的咨询服务其实是一个基于网络的系统，它会自动关注天气变化情况。一旦天气有了特定的变化，人们就会接到电话？
韦恩·艾略特：嗯，我们这样做是为了保护那些患有呼吸系统疾病的病例患者，特别是慢性阻塞性肺病患者。这种疾病会诱发受感染的肺部，形成支气管炎，而这些患者非常容易受到极端外部条件的影响，主要是冷空气或者多风天气的影响，特别是天气从温暖向寒冷急剧变化的时候，尤其明显。因此，天气变化是我们关注的重点。对我们的特殊服务而言，社区里天气变化的程度却是一个相当复杂的问题。一旦天气发生变化，我们设计好的模型就会对比变化前后的两个数值，然后调出符合条件的事先存储好的慢性阻塞性肺病患者名单。然后你就可以通知这些患者。我们之所以选择打电话，而不是通过短信或电子邮件的方式，是因为这些患者的平均年龄都在55或60岁以上，电话无疑是最佳选择。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：可是那份电话名单上的人数超过了2万2千，一旦触发条件，你要找到所有患者的联系方式逐个通知天气变化吗？
韦恩·艾略特：不是这样的，我们有其他的管理方式。我们运用了一种自动系统，它会自动呼叫在名单上的注册患者，并告诉他们这个系统是通过全科医师自动语音服务来完成的，包括我们提供的一套患者护理方案，当患者接到电话时，我们会清楚地告诉患者该做什么。包括他们的饮食状况、运动锻炼状况、药物服用状况，还有房间的温度状况，阳光的温度状况等建议。通过这些基本措施来维持他们的良好身体状态，而且有证据表明，通过这些措施，他们有更大的可能性保持健康状态度过冬天。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：那么，通过研究呼吸疾病，您了解为什么天气会对我们的身体状况产生影响吗？到底是通过什么途径影响的呢？
韦恩·艾略特：这是由肺部的功能决定的。气温下降会引起肺部管道收缩，从而影响氧气吸收的效率。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：我们已知的有关天气和健康的相关研究大多都是在这些温带地区国家完成的。像非洲流行的脑膜炎，在炎热和多尘的天气里更容易爆发，那么以后您的工作是否会涉及类似这样的情况呢？
韦恩·艾略特：我最近在日内瓦，参加了世界卫生组织大会,在那里我和一些群体讨论了有关气候变化的问题，还有天气模式对热带地区的人类群体是如何产生影响的问题，我一度期望他们能对此表示出兴趣，当然，这里的热带地区主要是指非洲。我是怀着那样的期待谈论了一些想法，还有我们现在进行着的基于天气变化提供的服务，他们问了一些问题。我还用我的笔记本电脑演示了那套自动电话系统，向他们展示这套系统是如何工作的，但是最后他们都兴味索然地走开了。我开始设想得很好，因为那些发展中国家的人对此并不陌生。只需要轻击一下鼠标，就可以让2万2千人都享受到这份服务，并且可以覆盖更多人。在现在的发展中国家，移动电话已经非常普及了，那么将有关疟疾、脑膜炎、干旱等许多环境问题的信息以服务的方式提供给人们，这是非常容易实现的事情。
约翰·伯特博士：是的，自今年的1月份开始，按照订阅请求，我们就已经发送出了65万封电子邮件警报。我们其实只需要付出小小的投入，就可以获得很大的收获。如果我们能恰当地掌握好这些计量，就是巨大的成功。
克劳迪娅·哈蒙德：我想问，约翰，你认为自己的描述是否会太戏剧化了，让人很难去认真地去关注它实际的内容，我是说，有点理想化了，以至于人们并不真的相信你在做的这些事情。
约翰·伯特博士：
25年前，当蒂尼·布鲁克和我刚开始进行这项工作的时候，确实没有什么对此表示关注。但是现在不同了，大家早已普遍接受这个事实，当然包括医学界在内。我们在北美和欧洲的部分地区，开展这项服务以来，人们通过接收到的警报信息，按照我们事先发出的小册子上的指示来一一应对，效果不错。而且，当知道还有这样一种可能存在的人体机制时，他们表现得兴趣十足。
劳迪娅·哈蒙德：感谢约翰·伯特博士和韦恩·艾略特参与我们的节目。
今天还有一个问题就是大家常常问到的课后怎么学习听力？
答：听力做题不是学习的全部，课后学习主要以能力训练为主，包括审题训练，又快又全；快速听力训练，要适应快速听力的语速，并且准确识别单词；还有就是单词训练了，包括剑桥4到剑桥8的课后听力原文中的生词和我博客上的词汇表。
老师晚上好啊，有个雅思听力问题，我在听听力尤其是section3和4的时候，碰到一个blank没听到很容易就被影响到，导致后面的一到两个blank也听不完整，怎样克服呢？？求解答~~
答：填空题处理要同时关注3-5题的定位词，就算你忽略了其中的一两个，你还是可以迅速找到正确的位置，不至于丢太多的分数。
有人对关键词如何改写有问题？
答：关键词改写有两个层次，第一是准确找到并正确改写，注意总结讲课过程中的规律，尤其是对出现在答案附近的，起主要作用的内容进行改写，另外改写也是有词性限制的，不是每种词性都要改写，还有改写的方式有两种，一种是常规改写，另外一种是解释型改写，后者较难。
第二个层次是可以找到改写，但是不知道如何解决问题，有两个建议给大家，第一，在做题过程中，如果可以找到改写词，那么在选择定位词的时候就要回避这些内容，避免可能出现的误导，第二，在课后注意背诵相关的同义词改写汇总。相信通过这以上的两个层次的讲解可以解决大家学习中的一些问题。
今天广元路的班级同学提问，现在把其中很多人都闻到的问题分几次给予回答; 1.填空题常常容易听到答案，但是每次书写都会出错
回答：原因主要是由以下几点引起的，首先考虑自身发音的问题，尤其是单词后半部分拼写出错的同学，其次考虑是否很久都没有读过英语，造成对单词的发音拼写不敏感，易出错。
The Number of People Working Aboard Is
Declining
BBC News with Jonathan Izard.
A new report commissioned by the BBC World Service
says there has been a dramatic decline in the number of
people moving out of their native countries to work aboard
since the start of global recession. The research
also found that the migrants are generally sending less money home
than they used to. Here is our economic correspondent Andrew
Walker.
The report paints a picture of recession that it had a dramatic
impact on economic migration. The story is varied but the general
pattern is one of fewer people moving aboard for work. However
despite the loss of income many face, the research did not find
evidence of massive return migration. That may reflect the fact
that for many migrants economic condition are worst at home. In
addition, many would find it difficult if they want to return to
the host country later. And migrants are generally sending less
money back home where these remittances are often an
important source support for family's living standards.
Reports from the Afghan capital Kabul say a suicide bomber has
blew himself up near the airport. The report said the blasted
occurred outside the main gate of the airport's military base
causing a large plume of smoke. There are some reports of
casualties but details are still sketchy. The airport
is used as base by the NATO-led forces fighting the Taliban.
World News from the BBC.
海外工作人员数量大幅下降
BBC新闻，由乔纳森·伊扎德报导。
由BBC世界服务栏目委托进行的一项新的调查显示，全球经济陷入不景气以来，选择到海外工作的人员数量大幅下降。调查还披露，海外劳务人员寄回家里的钱与以往相比有所减少。请听本台经济频道的记者安德鲁·沃克的报导。
报告显示，全球经济萧条对商业移民造成重大打击。尽管个案千姿百态，但基本模式只有一个，那就是选择到海外工作的人越来越少了。然而，即便不少人都面临着收入水平的下滑，调查人员却没有找到任何证据表明会有大量商业移民返乡。这可能反映出对于很多海外劳务人员来讲，家乡的经济状况才是最糟糕的。此外，很多人会发现，日后想要返回自己的祖国将更加艰难。海外劳工寄回家里的钱基本上都减少了，而这笔汇款对于他们家人的生活水平往往至关重要。
来自阿富汗首都喀布尔的报道称，一名自杀式爆炸袭击者在机场附近将自己引爆。报道中说，爆炸发生在机场军事基地的主要出入口外面，引起了大量的浓烟。部分报道提到了伤亡人数，但事件的具体细节尚不清楚。这座机场被北约军队用作打击塔利班武装的总部。
以上是BBC世界新闻。
Obama’s Health Reform Plan
BBC News with Fiona McDonald.
President Obama is telling a joint session of the United States
Congress that he intends to be the last president to take up the
course of health reform. He told Congress that US is the only rich
country that allows millions of its people to endure the
hardship of going without health care.
Obama: Our collective failure to meet this challenge,
year after year, decade after decade, has led us to the breaking
point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured who live everyday just one accident or
illness away from bankruptcy.
President Obama said his plans would improve health
insurance for those who have it, and would include a public
insurance option for those without cover. He said his plan was
designed to aid all Americans, but it also had to be paid for by
all Americans.
Obama: The plan I am announcing tonight would meet three
basic goals: It will provide more security and stability to those
who have health insurance; It will provide insurance for those who
don’t; And it will slow the growth of health care costs for our
families, our businesses and our government. It’s a plan that asks
everyone to take responsibilities for meeting this challenge, not
just government, not just insurance companies but everybody
including employers and individuals.
President Obama said the Congress agreed on about 80% of the
reforms that he needed. But opponents of the President’s package
argued that covering 46 million uninsured Americans will cost too
much and involve the government to an unacceptable degree in
the private affairs of its citizens.
Guatemala has declared a national disaster over a food
shortage that has killed more than 400 people since the start of
the year. The Guatemalan government says 55,000 families in 7
provinces are suffering from severe food shortages. The Guatemala
President Alvaro Colom said the crisis had reached historic
proportions.
(SOUND)
On the one hand, the inherited problem was worsened by the
droughts resulting from climate change and the effects of the
global economic crisis. Actions carried out by the government have
prevented the problem reaching more serious consequences. The
government will not get lost in the discussion of technical issues.
For us a single life has invaluable importance, that’s why I call
on different sectors of the country so that we all confront this
serious problem.
The Mexican government has announced that a single man was
responsible for the hijacking of a Mexican plane that
arrived in Mexico City from the city resort of Cancun. The Mexican
Security Secretary said the 40-year-old Bolivian told police that
he received a divined revelation. He said he wanted to warn
Mexican President Felipe Calderon of an impending
earthquake. Police stormed the plane and released more than one
hundred passengers and crew unharmed.
World News from the BBC.
奥巴马的医疗改革计划
BBC新闻，菲奥娜·麦克唐纳报导。
奥巴马总统在美国国会的一个联合会议上表示，他打算成为经受医疗改革历程的最后一位总统。他在国会上说，美国是唯一的一个让自己的数百万人民承受没有医疗保险之痛的富裕国家。
奥巴马总统：我们大家年复一年，几十年来都没有战胜这一挑战，现在已经把我们带到了这个转折点。每个人都明白没有保险的艰难，生活中的一次意外事故，或一场疾病就会让我们变得一无所有。
奥巴马总统表示，他的计划将改善那些已经拥有医疗保险的人，同时也将为没有保险的人提供一个公共医疗保险的选择。他还表示他的计划是为了帮助所有美国人，不过，这个计划也必须得由全体美国人来买单。
奥巴马总统：今晚我宣布的计划将实现三个基本目标：为拥有医疗保险的人提供更多的保障与稳定；为没有保险的人提供保险；为我们的家庭、企业和政府机构放缓医疗费用增长的速度。这个计划要求大家为迎接其背后的挑战而承担责任，不仅是政府，也不仅是保险公司，而是包括雇主和个人在内的所有人。
奥巴马总统称，国会有80%的人赞同他提出的改革。但是，总统的一揽子计划的反对派则坚持认为医疗保险要覆盖4600万没有保险的美国人将耗资过大，而政府将因此卷入公民的私事之中，此举并不受人欢迎。
危地马拉宣布了一个粮食短缺的全国性灾难，今年年初以来，已有超过400人死于饥荒。危地马拉政府称，遍布7个省的55,000个家庭正在遭受粮食严重短缺带来的痛苦。危地马拉总统阿尔瓦罗·科洛姆表示，这场危机已达到历史最高比例。
（背景声音）
另一方面，气候变化造成的旱灾及全球经济危机的影响激化了历史遗留问题。危地马拉政府采取的措施已经阻止问题造成更为严重的后果。政府不会在讨论技术问题时迷失方向。对我们来说，个人的生命是无价的，这就是为什么我要呼吁国家的各个部门共同正视这个严重的问题。
墨西哥政府宣布，一名男性要为从度假胜地坎昆市飞往墨西哥城的飞机劫持事件负责。墨西哥安全局局长称，一名40岁的玻利维亚人告诉警方他收到了一个神谕。他称自己想提醒墨西哥总统费利佩·卡尔德龙即将发生一场地震。警察冲进飞机，解救了100多名安然无恙的乘客和机组人员。
BBC世界新闻报导。
Ian and his environmental
project
Ian Same: I am Ian Same, I am the chief
executive of Impact Asset Management, based in London.
Mike Williams: And tell me about the company, what is
it?
Ian Same: Impact Asset is a specialist
investment manager in the environmental market sector, and we are
currently managing over two and a half billion US dollars of money,
which comes to pension funds and insurance companies. We
invest that in private companies and public companies in the
environmental space.
Mike Williams: You say it is a specialized market and
growing but it grows because of pressure, and particularly
government pressure doesn't it?
Ian Same: Yes. I think that the overarching
thesis here is that economic growth is increasingly unsustainable.
Rising populations, rising standards of living are putting more and
more pressure on scarce natural resources and weak
infrastructure. And governments have to step in because
otherwise society is going to sort breakdown ultimately. You can
see that in many Asian countries where rate of urbanization and the
absolute magnitude of populations means that the
sewerage systems, the energy systems just can't cope with
the pressure.
Mike Williams: Can I ask what your motivation is,
are you trying to save the planet, or you here to make a profit, I
mean, what are you in this business for?
Ian Same: Well, our company, Impact Asset
Management is being established very firmly to allow investors to
make more money than they would from the mainstream opportunities
out there. So corporately, we are trying to make as much money as
possible. The people who work here tend to be, like myself,
scientists or engineers who are personally interested in the space,
because in that way this is where we did our training, this is
where we, sort of it, enjoy spending our time. I think it is fair
to say most of us do have a green tilt.
Mike Williams: It is not a charity.
Ian Same: Certainly not a charity, no, if
you look at our return on shareholder value or growth in
total shareholder returns over the last five years, our share
prices gone for 4 pence to 37 pence over the last four years,
that’s not bad return for anybody.
Mike Williams: Looking forward to Copenhagen, to the UN
talks on the climate change deal. I wonder what happens to you and
your business if there isn't a deal there. I wonder if you think
that the appetite of investors might, might diminish if they see no
progress there.
Ian Same: It’s severe to imagine that there
won’t be a deal in Copenhagen, the history of international
environmental negotiations of last 20 years is that, almost
invariably, they come up with a 11th hour or the
11th hour 59th minute with an announcement of
victory and that agreement is made in principle. The most likely
outcome for Copenhagen will be exactly that. I think and there will
be a period for the next 6 to 12 months where the details are
freshed out, and that's where the potential for the sectors we are
investing in will be either enhanced or not. Now if there is no
deal in 12 months time, absolutely no, no progress, many of the
areas we’re investing in will still make good progress, so there
still be a demand for clean water, there still be a need for
commodity recycling and still be a need for switch away from with
fossil fuels etc.
Mike Williams: There is been a suggestion in this week
from an influential think tank supported by the British government
that there should be a massive increase in new green taxes. What do
you think about that? What does that leave you and your business
model?
Ian Same: I think politically it is very
difficult to implement severe tax changes in any economy,
particularly in the UK, overnight. There has been, however, a quite
a successful migration towards tougher green taxes over the last 10
to 20 years by tightening the ratchet and that to me seems more
politically acceptable. So public policy makers have to be more
nuance more subtle, and increase the incentives across the board.
But it needs, that needs to be done in the context of two political
realities: one is that people don't like overnight surprises and
don't trust the hyperfiction argument that these increased taxes in
part A of the economy will be offset by reductions in part B
of the economy, people don’t believe that. And secondly people need
vision, people need leadership, and we don’t seem to be getting
that as much as we could be doing.
Mike Williams: Ian Same, and grateful for your time.
Thank you very much.
Ian Same: Thank you very much.
伊恩和他的环保项目
伊恩·桑姆：我是伊恩·桑姆，是伦敦作用力资产管理公司的总裁。
麦克·威廉姆斯：介绍一下你的公司吧，是做什么的？
伊恩·桑姆：我们是环保领域专业的投资管理人，我们目前在管理超过25亿美金的资金，这些资金大部分来自退休基金和保险公司。我们把这些钱投资在私人公司和上市公司环保项目上。
麦克·威廉姆斯：你说这是个特别的市场，正在不断的壮大，可是它的壮大是因为压力，尤其是政府的压力，是吗？
伊恩·桑姆：是的。一个非常重要的理论：经济增长越来越无法维持下去。不断增长的人口，不断提高的生活标准，正在给越来越匮乏的自然资源和薄弱的基础设施施加压力。政府部门必须介入，不然我们的社会就会坍塌。你可以看到，在很多亚洲国家，都市化比率和庞大的人口基数让污物处理系统和能源系统不堪负荷。
麦克·威廉姆斯：我想问一下，你的动机是什么？拯救地球，还是赚钱？我的意思是你们公司的目的到底是什么？
伊恩·桑姆：我们公司建立在一个非常稳定的前提下，投资者在里面可以赚到更多的钱，甚至比其他主流行业赚得还要多。所以就公司来讲，我们是以盈利为目的的。在这里工作的人，都跟我一样对这个行业感兴趣，我们的科学家，还有工程师都怀着浓厚的兴趣在这里做研究，我们工作得很愉快。可以说，我们大部分人都很有环保意识。
麦克·威廉姆斯：这不是慈善。
伊恩·桑姆：当然不是慈善，您看看这5年我们在股东价值上的回报或股东总回报率的增长就知道了。我们的股票价值四年来从0.04英镑上升到了0.37英镑，这个回报对任何人来说是不错的。
麦克·威廉姆斯：我非常期待哥本哈根会议，期待联合国做出的气候变化协议。我很想知道，如果没有达成协议，你跟你的公司会发生什么状况。如果会议没有进展，不知道你的投资者会不会失去兴趣。
伊恩·桑姆：很难想象哥本哈根会议没有进展。历史上过去20年的国际环保谈判，几乎无一例外地在11小时或11小时59分钟的时候告捷，并产生原则性协议。这是哥本哈根会议最有可能的结果。我相信在未来的6至12个月里面，协议细节将被详细解读，从那里我们会看出我们投资领域的潜力是否会增大。如果在12个月里面没有任何协议达成，毫无进展，我们在其他领域的投资仍然会产生好的收益。毕竟我们仍然需要干净的水资源，需要物品循环利用，需要改变化石燃料的使用习惯。
麦克·威廉姆斯：在这个礼拜英国政府通过深思熟虑后，建议大幅提高新的环保税，你的看法是什么？你会不会因为这样而偏离你的经营模式？
伊恩·桑姆：我感觉政治上来讲，在任何经济形式下都很难贯彻严厉的税收变化，特别是对英国来讲，一夜之间就发生改变是很难的。在过去的10到20年来，政府在这方面都是谨慎的调整环保税收，这样的过程是比较成功的，对我而言，更能在政治上接受。因此，公共决策者必须更细心更敏锐，并且要加强刺激性政策。这需要在两个方面的政治可能性：第一，很多人都不喜欢突然的变化，不相信未成文的争议性结果，比如提高某一面部分的税，来补足其他的税，大家都不想有这样的波动，第二，人们需要一个导向，需要引领，目前我们还没有感觉到政府在这一点上的作用。
麦克·威廉姆斯：以上是伊恩·桑姆，感谢你和我们分享这些。
伊恩·桑姆：非常感谢。
Mobile Phone Novels in South African
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Alright, thank you very much for
that Bill. Well, we are going to, a little bit of story now
actually, Mfundu and Kate are planning to go to a party and its
going to be a really big one, so, they were very much hoping that a
friend Songesfon is going be going along too, but they haven’t seen
her for a few ays. And what’s more some doggy guys gave another of
that clue, a thick envelope to pass on to the elusive
Songesfon. It’s all very strange especially as unbeknown to the
friends. They chat off the football game, watching them silently
and just out of sight, is Songesfon herself. So, what’s going on?
What she has been up to? What’s in that mysterious envelope? Well
to find out, you just have to point your phone to the Kontax mobile
website. That’s because over there the story continues in 20
further chapters. Though, so called M-novels aren’t new, in fact,
they are huge in Japan; this one is a part of educational
initiative to bring more young people into readership. The
Shuttleworth Foundation based in Cape Town is behind it and they
try to invest. I have been speaking to a young fan of M-novels and
also Steve Vosloo, fellow of the 21st Century Learning at the
foundation. And to bring young readers in, they are offering free
air time to those who lead the best comments on their websites.
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: It's really hard to get teenagers'
attention; there are so many companies and so much marketing
vying for their time that you kind of have to incentive
their involvement. So we have given away a fairly small price at
100 rand which is probably about 8 pounds.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Maybe $12 US dollars, that kind of
equivalent then.
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: Exactly, yeah and for everyday, we
published a story over 21 days as to 21 chapters and everyday we
are asking readers to leave a comment, and the best comment wins
100 rand air time.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: So, are the comments fed back into
the story or is it just really because you are trying to build a
community around these stories?
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: Correct, yeah, in this instance, we
are not actually incorporating the comment into the story. In forte
coming sequels, we will definitely want to try that, a kind of
chose your own adventure, either that option or actively
incorporate the stories and kind of tell the story in real time.
That’s what happens in Japan, the M-novel movement is really big
there and we have been watching that for a couple of years. We held
some really interesting workshops with teenagers in Cape Town to
develop the story and to end the story itself, you set a couple of
a dilemma moment where we knew that teenagers have got
strong opinions about these things and that they would comment on
the site. For example, one of the teenagers she finds out that her
mother has HIV. And so she wants to drop out of school to go and
work to support her and that’s a kind of dilemma point. Another
moment is where they find the cell phone of a missing girl. And to
find her, do they go through her contacts and her deleted messages?
Is it ok to do that? And we have written it in that short, almost
movie script style, 400 words each chapter is a bit of cliff hanger
of demands, you get to wait for the next day for the next chapter.
So, that’s strong, I mean, we have had over 43,000 visits to the
novel site. So, you know, I am really happy with those results.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Someone would say, why should we
keep pondering to the short attention span of some of these young
people, I don’t necessarily agree with this but maybe listeners are
thinking that, we went to school, we were given books, its wasn’t
easy to get to the worrying pace that they made us to and it was
where we ended up with a good literate population. As a result,
should we be pondering to this modern obsession with wide size
culture?
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: My hope is that if kids read this, and
they think it themselves as non-readers and they don’t like books.
That they will read this and enjoy it so much that they will go to
the library and take a book out. There is a danger that this is as
far as they would get, but I think and I hope that it goes beyond
this because it changes their dispositions towards reading and
towards writing. I would also mention that this is the world’s
first M-novel in English and also in a local language which is
really closer. And that’s been great, you know we have had a really
great response to that. And I think it bids well for other titles
and other cell phone stories in Africa in local languages.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Is this essentially taking what is a
normal book and just put in the text or onto the phone rather than
the printer’s page or are you trying to do something with the
mobile phone or most as a luxury medium in itself perhaps.
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: We also want to take experiment
towards the story telling process. So, instead of just
taking a book, and digitizing it and publishing it on a cell phone,
we have talked to the features of cell phones which are
interactive, very social, there are communication devices. And so
when you register on the site you get a profile - like Facebook -
you get a wall, you get a status message and you get four friends
immediately. And those four friends are the main characters in the
story. And you can write on the wall and as the story develops, the
status messages of the four characters reflect what happens in the
story. So, if Songes who are Sabul have an argument, then, in each
one of the status messages, it would say, oh she really doesn’t
understand me or what’s up with him. So, that’s been interesting
and we have fans or readers writing great comments on the
character’s walls, for example, in the last chapter, the one of
characters, Songes, where she breaks her arm in this big
climax at the end of the story, and one of readers wrote and
said ‘hey girl currently I am sitting with a broken ankle, so, I
feel your pain, let’s get through this together’ with a smiling
face.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: On the line now we have Sugar, who I
gathered is one of the fans of these novels. So, Sugar, what is
your comment? Are you enjoying these M-novels?
SUGAR, A FAN OF KONTAX: Actually I love how the story
ends and how they put the story. Actually, I think that’s how
friendship should be, you know. What I like about them is that they
have a teamwork and they all work together and they solve a mystery
together as a team. We learn a lot because they are more that needs
you come to take you time to go to the dictionary and look for
them. So, I think we really do learn from the stories to improve
our vocabulary, ok?
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Hehe and, so, just don’t repeat it,
having looked at these novels on your mobile phones does it then
make you want to go to the library or the bookshops and read
old-fashion style like normal book?
SUGAR, A FAN OF KONTAX: No, no, I am reading on the phone
because it is easy because you can read every time you want to get
it, when you wake up, you can read anytime maybe at late because at
that libraries and other bookshops are closed, so, its easier when
you have your phone with you and just log on to the website and
just read.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: What about the cost of these because
the air time is getting cheaper but it’s still not exactly cheap in
many places?
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: In South Africa we have a very
expensive voice and SMS charges but rarely cheap Mobile Data
Charges. So, we worked out that for you to read a chapter on the
page, it will cost you a half a pea and you could read this entire
book for eleven pea in mobile charges but the story itself is free,
that’s all you pay and for Africa, that’s a very affordable
price.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Just doing the math, you could get
about eight complete stories for about $1 US dollar or
thereabout.
STEVE VOSLOO COMMUNICATION AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS AT
SHUTTLEWORTH FOUNDATION: Exactly!
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Probably I can do math that.
That’s says Steve Vosloo, we also heard from Sugar, who is one of
the readers. Yeah, so Bill repeating a question really to Steve
that these whole idea of going into and also, is going to lead
people into big actual books?
BILL THOMPSON: It might do, and even if it doesn’t, it’s
going to encourage them to read narrative fictions, to read stories
and I think give them so much information presented these days in
chunks of social networks sites, the e-mails, anything that get
young people reading longer forms, is a good idea. It is well
established within the world of children’s fiction or the ones
called high low fiction which are stories written for older
children with younger reading age, I mean a poor reading skills and
they are older children’s subjects but written in a style that it
can be read by children who don’t read very well and they are very
successful. So, I think projects like this which engage with
children, do stand a good chance of working.
Gareth Mitchell, Presenter: Great, well, thank you very much
Bill, as I said, in the ends. We are going left happily after,
Bills verdict on windows 7, we videoed now is going to be on our
Digital Planet listeners’ group, so if you are on Facebook, just
type in digital planet listeners into that to see the video. I am
Gareth Mitchell, the producer is Collin Grant, we have more theme
next week, bye, bye.
南非的手机小说
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：好的，非常感谢你比尔。嗯，我们现在插一个小故事。穆方多和凯特正计划去参加一个晚会，这将是个很大的晚会。所以他们非常希望他们的朋友桑杰芬也跟他们一起去，但是他们已经有段时间没见到她了。更让人吃惊的是，有些装时髦的家伙将一个厚厚的信封转给难以捉摸的桑杰芬。真的很奇怪，尤其是朋友都不知道的事情。看球的时候他们一直在讨论，默默的看着他们，看完的时候只剩桑杰芬她自己。到底怎么呢了？在那个神秘的信封里装的是什么呢？为了搞清这个问题，你只需将你的手机登录KONTAX手机网站。那是因为这个故事的余下20个章节都存在那里的。虽然，这个叫做手机小说的不是新鲜东西，事实上，在日本巨多。这个是让更多年轻人成为读者的入门教育的一部分。设在开普敦的沙特尔沃思基金在其后支持投资他。我跟一个手机小说的年轻的粉丝以及史蒂夫·沃斯卢谈过，史蒂夫·沃斯卢是这个21世纪学习基金的研究员。为了吸引年轻的读者，他们为那些在他们网站上留下最好评论的读者提供免费广播。
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：真的很难吸引青年人的注意，有很多公司和他们的营销都争相要激励他们的参与。所以我们付出了100兰特的约合计8英镑的代价。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：可能合约12美金。
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：很准确，每天都这样。我们在21天出版了一个新的故事，共21章。每天我们都会要求读者给出评论，最好的评论获得价值100兰特的广播时间。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：这些评论是被纳入故事里了还是仅仅因为你们想围绕故事构建一个社区？
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：对的，这种情况下我们并没有把评论融入到故事里去。但从长远来看，我们当然想那样做。可以选择一段你自己的经历，要么作为一种选择要么实际的穿插到故事里去，或者在现实中说出这个故事。那已经在日本出现。手机小说运动真的很强大，我们已经关注他好几年了。我们在开普敦和青年人一起举办了些真正有意思的工作室来开发故事和结束故事。你设置一个进退两难的情景，在此我们知道那些对此有着很强烈想法的青年人将会在此网站留下评论。譬如说一个青年人她发现了她的母亲染了艾滋病毒,因此她想辍学去参加工作来支助她。这就是一个两难的情景。另外一种两难的情景就是他们发现了一个迷失了的女孩的手机。接下来去寻找她。他们会从她的联系人里面和她已经删除的短息里面去寻找蛛丝马迹吗？这样做合适吗？我们就仅仅写那么一点点，就像电影剧本风格一样，每章节400字就是一个可以自由发挥的提纲。下一章你得等到明天。所以这样就很强，我是说，我们的小说网站已经有了43000个访问量。所以，你知道，我真的对此结果很高兴。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：有的人会说为什么我要不断思考这些年轻人的短期的一个关注点呢？我没必要同意这一点，但是可能有听众在思考那个问题。我们去上学，发给我们书籍。要达到他们要求的令人担忧的速度不是那么容易，但却产生了大量受过教育的人群。那么，我们是不是应该主动思考现代人对于这个大千文化的困惑呢？
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：我的希望是如果孩子读了这个，如果他们认为他们自己是没有读过的读者而且他们不喜欢书籍，那么他们将会读这个而且会很喜欢以至于他们会去图书馆并借出一本书。危险就是这只能根据他们所得而定，但是我想，我希望它能超出这个本身，因为他将会改变孩子的阅读和写作的心情。我也想提及的是这是世界上第一个英文版和本地方言版的手机小说。本地方言版的将更贴近一些。现在已经很棒，你知道我们已经获得了很好的反应。我想这对在非洲及当地方言的其他书刊和手机故事也同样适合。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：本质上就是把普通的书变成文本上传到手机，而不是打印到纸张上？或者你们准备对手机做文章，疑惑最多的只是让它成为一种奢侈的传媒？
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：我们也想对说故事的步骤做一个实验。所以除了拿本书，将它数字化并出版到手机上之外，我们也谈论了手机的一些特征，譬如互动性，社会性，含有交流的设备。所以当你在网页上注册后就可以得到一个资料，像FACEBOOK,你马上得到得到一个讨论区域，一个状态信息和四个朋友。这四个朋友就是这个故事的主要角色。当故事发展的时候，四个角色的状态信息反馈故事所发生的事情。所以如果桑格丝有一个争论的话，然后，所有的状态信息会显示：噢，她真的不理解我或者他到底怎么回事。所以那就会很有意思，我们有粉丝或者读者在角色讨论区域发表很好的评论。在最后一章，其中一个角色桑格丝,在故事结尾的高潮中她打破了她的手臂，一个读者这样写着说道：嘿，女孩，现在我正坐着，我的脚踝受伤了，所以我能感觉到你的痛，让我们一起度过吧。并附上了一个笑脸符号。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：苏格在线上，他是这个小说的粉丝，那么苏格，你什么看法？你很喜欢这些手机小说吗？
苏格，KONTAX的粉丝:实际上我很喜欢故事的结尾以及他们怎样放置这些故事。事实上，我想那就是友谊应该的样子，你知道，我对他们喜欢的是，他们有一个团队，他们携手合作，他们一起解决一个个谜。我从中学到了很多，因为它会占用你很多时间去书店去查询资料，所以我想我们真的从故事中学到了很多，增加了我们的词汇量。好吗？
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：呵呵，请不要重复，你从你的手机定了这些小说，然后他使你去图书馆或者书店看旧的普通书籍吗？
苏格，KONTAX的粉丝:不是，不是，我在手机上看书是因为很容易，你可以随时随地的看。当你醒来的时候你可以看，或者晚点图书馆和书店都关门了的时候，所以当你有手机的时候就方便了，你只要登录网站就可以看书了。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：成本会怎样啊？因为广播会便宜点，但是在很多地方都不便宜。
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：在南非，语音和短信都很昂贵，但是手机数据传输费非常便宜。我们计算出阅读一章只需要花你0.5个南非币，读完整本书也只要11个南非币的手机收费，故事本身是免费的。那就是在非洲所要付的，是个很容易承受的价格。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：那就是说如果你花1美金的话你可以看完8个完整的故事。
史蒂夫·沃斯卢，沙特尔沃思基金会通信和分析技能研究员：确实。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：好，那就是史蒂夫·沃斯卢，还有一个读者苏格。那么比尔，重复一个问题，是针对史蒂夫的，这整个想法真的能把人们带入到实际书籍里去吗？
比尔·汤普森：可能会，就算他不会，但是它可以鼓励人们去阅读小说，阅读故事。我想这些天我们通过社会网络站点，e-mails,以及其他年轻人能够阅读更长形式的文章的地方发布了很多信息。在儿童小说世界、低小说（专供高龄低阅读能力的孩子，高龄孩子的主题，但是写作风格是按低龄孩子的阅读能力设计的）群里面得到很好的建设。我想这样跟孩子相关的主题应该很有发展空间。
加雷恩·米切尔，主持人：太好了，那么，非常感谢你比尔，我们将会开心的结束今天的节目，比尔对windows7的评论。我们已经录制了录像，将放在我们的《数字平台》的听众群里面，所以如果你在FACEBOOK上的话，请输入数位平台听众来看录像。我是加雷恩·米切尔，制片人是科林·格兰特，下周我们将有更多的主题，再见。
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