環(huán)球英語 1357 Cola Life
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Adam Navis.
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And I’m Rena Dam. 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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In rural Zambia, in Southern Africa, there are not very many people. It is far from the big city, and there is plenty of space. Imagine you enter a small town here. You see only a few buildings. You see a health clinic - a place for medical treatment. In the clinic there are places to keep and sell medicine. But this clinic is empty; there is no medicine here. Next to the clinic is a small store. This store is not empty. It is full of crates, or square boxes. And the crates are full of the sweet soda drink, Coca-cola.
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People can buy Coca-cola in most places in the world, even rural Zambia. The Coca-cola company has a huge system of vehicles and people that transport the Coca-cola. This system works very well. But some people wonder if this transportation system can do something more. Can it bring healthy products, like medicine, to areas far away from cities and roads? Today’s Spotlight is on a new project that is trying to do just that. It is called Colalife.
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The Coca-cola company began making Coca-cola in 1886. This soda drink is now one of the world’s most popular products. People everywhere recognize the red sign with white letters. People around the world drink 1,500,000,000 servings of Coca-cola every day. Today, Coca-cola is the largest drink company in the world. People drink Coca-cola even in the smallest villages!
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How does Coca-cola reach these far off places? They have a main office in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. But almost every country has its own factories. They make Coca-cola there and put it into bottles. In most places, small businesses buy Coca-cola from this local factory. They buy the soda in glass bottles. Red crates hold the bottles safely for transport. The small business owns the crates. They can use them again and again to transport new bottles of Coca-cola.
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In busy cities, people transport Coca-cola in trucks. But in rural places, people use different vehicles. People carry crates of Coca-cola on the back of two wheeled bicycles. Cars and motorcycles transport Coca-cola. Sometimes people even use wheeled carts pulled by horses or donkeys.
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People everywhere want to drink Coca-cola. And local business people can make money by selling Coca-cola. So they find a way to bring Coca-cola to the town. This is why the stores in rural Zambia have Coca-cola even when they do not have medicine or health supplies.
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But the need for health supplies in these areas is great. Many people - especially children - suffer from the common sickness diarrhea. This sickness spreads very quickly. It is common in areas that do not have clean water. Diarrhea can make children very weak and sick. But it has a very simple cure. However, many rural families do not have a way to get health supplies. So children in rural areas often die from diarrhea.
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Harriet Phiri is the mother of four children. They live in a country area near Lusaka, Zambia. She believes her children’s health problems are caused by the lack of clean water. The bacteria carried in the water makes her children sick. She tells the Inter Press Service News Agency:
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"We do not have clean water except from a shared source, which is far from my home. And it is difficult to fight diseases carried in the water. Every year, we have the problem of floods. Almost every three months, we have a case of diarrhea.”
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Many of the families in Zambia have similar problems with disease. Simon Berry was an aid worker in Zambia for many years. He saw the terrible effects of diarrhea on children. He tells the Guardian newspaper:
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“An unbelievable one in every five children there died before the age of five. It seemed insane that you could get this fizzy drink but you could not buy health supplies to stop children dying of diarrhea.”
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But then Simon had an idea. He wanted to use the Coca-cola system to help transport health supplies. He went to the Coca-cola company with his idea. And they agreed to help! So, in 2011 Simon and his team began a new organization. It is called Colalife. Colalife is doing testing to see if Simon’s idea can be successful. Simon Berry wrote in the Guardian newspaper:
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“Why can we not put simple medicines or supplies into Coca-Cola crates? So where ever you can get a cola, you can get health supplies to prevent and treat diarrhoea and malaria.”
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Colalife designed a small box called the Aidpod. The box is shaped to fit into the crate, between the bottles of Coca-cola. Up to ten Aidpods can fit into each crate. The Aidpod box can carry medicine or health supplies. It is made of natural materials. It can keep out insects and water. This way, the medicine travels safely with the Coca-cola. People like Harriet Phiri can get treatment for their children.
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The aim of Colalife is to put local people in control. Colalife will help each town or area decide what health supplies they need most. Then they will plan to transport these things in the Aidpods. But before this can happen, Colalife must finish their test of the system.
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Colalife is beginning the test in Zambia with very simple, but needed, health supplies. Each Aidpod will contain vitamins and salts for treating diarrhoea. The salts make people with diarrhoea strong enough to be able to drink and eat again. People simply add them to clean water.
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The salts in the Aidpod also come with medical information. The information tells people how to avoid becoming sick. It also teaches people what to do if they do get sick. The Aidpods will also contain soap for washing hands. Washing hands is one of the best ways to prevent disease.
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Colalife is a new project. There are many questions that the Colalife organization needs to answer about how the whole system will work. But if it works, there will be more treatments for diarrhoea for children in rural Zambia. There will be hope coming from a place people do not expect. And people in far off towns may be able to get health supplies as easily as they get Coca-cola!
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The writer and producer of this program was Rena Dam. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can find our programs on the internet at https://www.radioenglish.net This .program is called, ‘Cola Life’.
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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
