旨在保护非洲民间故事的应用程序

    From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

    For hundreds of years, Africans have preserved their history through storytelling. But, some Africans worry that oral traditions will be lost to Internet connections and social media.
    数百年来,非洲人都通过口述故事来保留他们的历史。但是一些非洲人担心,口述传统将败给互联网连接和社交媒体。

    This has led one Nigerian woman to create a mobile phone application, or app, as a way to preserve African folk stories. Elizabeth Kperrun is a businesswoman and fashion designer. She calls her mobile app AfroTalez. The AfroTalez app tells children's stories that teach moral lessons. Ms. Kperrun says she wanted to create the app to preserve some of the stories told to her when she was a child in Nigeria.
    这使得一位尼日利亚女性创建了一个手机应用程序作为保护非洲民间故事的一种途径。Elizabeth Kperrun是一位女商人和时装设计师。她称自己的移动应用程序为AfroTalez。该应用程序可以讲述教导品德课程的儿童故事。Kperrun女士表示,她想要创建这个应用程序来保护她儿时在尼日利亚听到的一些故事。

    "Sometimes you can't teach a child something by telling the child, ‘Don't do this'. In fact, I think it gave me context. In a story somebody stole something and then something bad happened to them. Alternatively, somebody else did something good and they ended up really happy or really rich," Kperrun said.
    她说,“有时候,你不能通过告诉孩子‘不要这样’来教导孩子一些东西。其实我觉得它给了我语境。在一个故事中,有人偷了东西,然后坏事发生在他们身上。另外,有人做了好事,他们最终都变得很快乐或很富有。”

    "Hello children. My name is Liz and I'd like to tell you a story about a tortoise, an elephant, and a hippopotamus."
    “大家好,孩子们。我是莉兹,我想给大家讲一个关于乌龟、大象和河马的故事。”

    The voice of "Aunt Liz" narrates the story, while a full-screen animation appears. An arrow signals when it is time to move on. There are also quizzes on object recognition and counting throughout.
    莉兹大妈的声音讲述着这个故事,与此同时出现的是全屏动画。当需要进入下一步时就会出现一个箭头。另外还有识图猜谜和计数贯穿始终。”

    "Can you point at Mr. Elephant? No, try again. Good! Find the rope. No, try again.... Good!"
    “你能找出大象吗?不对,再试一次。对了!找出绳子,不对,再试一次。对了!”

    Kperrun spoke to her older relatives to help collect stories for the application. The stories come from an ethnic group of about four million people called the Tiv who live in southeast Nigeria and northwest Cameroon. Ms. Kperrun says she wants to include folktales from other parts of Nigeria in local languages in those areas.
    Kperrun恳求她的长辈帮助她为这个应用程序收集故事。这些故事来自于人口约为400万的Tiv民族,他们居住在尼日利亚东南部和喀麦隆西北部。Kperrun表示,她希望囊括尼日利亚其它地区当地语言的民间故事。

    "I want to keep it centered around folk stories. I don't want the popular ones that, let's say, Walt Disney has made really really popular... I think it's only fair and respectful that we keep certain cultures alive because most of the folk stories are part of the tapestry that keeps cultures together," Kperrun said.
    她说,“我希望让这个应用程序围绕民间故事。我不想要流行故事。比如说,迪士尼真的很受欢迎。我认为我们保持某些文化鲜活才是公平恭敬,因为大部分民间故事都是保证文化传承的一部分。”

    Kperrun writes and reads the stories. Her business partner and husband Idamiebi Ilamina- Eremie does the animation.
    Kperrun编写和朗读了这些故事。她的老公兼生意伙伴Idamiebi Ilamina- Eremie做动画。

    AfroTalez is available for Android users and can be downloaded for free in the Google Play store. So far, AfroTalez has more than 50,000 users.
    AfroTalez适用于安卓用户,它可以在Google Play商店中免费下载。到目前位置,AfroTalez已经拥有超过5万个用户。

    Funding for the app has been a major challenge. Ms. Kperrun hopes to use a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the next version of AfroTalez to be released this year.
    这个应用程序的资金一直是一大挑战。Kperrun女士希望采用群众募资活动为今年发布的下一个版本提供资金。

    Ms. Kperrun says technology does not have to destroy or replace traditions. She says her goal is to combine both new technology and old traditions to keep African culture alive.
    Kperrun女士表示,科技并不需要破坏或取代传统。她说,她的目标是结合新技术和旧传统,以保持非洲文化鲜活。

    "Africa is our home. I think we are so in a rush to become Western that we are forgetting things that are really really important, things that should be passed on of who we are, and I don't think that's right."
    “非洲是我们的家园。我觉得我们如此急于西化,忘记了真正重要的、应该由我们传承的东西。我认为这样做不对。”

    I'm Jonathan Evans.
    我是乔纳森·埃文斯(Jonathan Evans)。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利,未经授权请勿转载,违者必究!)