[ti:Google Reports Progress in Bringing Internet Service to Rural Areas] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The owner of technology company Google [00:04.20]has reported progress in its plan to offer Internet service [00:10.68]to rural areas around the world. [00:15.64]Google's parent company, Alphabet, [00:19.48]calls the plan "Project Loon." [00:23.00]Its goal is to increase access to the billions of people [00:29.97]currently without internet connectivity. [00:34.76]Alphabet has no plans to use traditional wiring, which can be costly. [00:42.68]Instead the idea is to float huge balloons about 20 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. [00:53.64]The balloons would act like telecommunications satellites, [00:58.76]providing internet service to the rural areas. [01:04.32]The huge objects would ride air currents to either stay in place [01:10.44]or move to another position high in the skies. [01:15.62]At first, the idea was to have a large number of balloons circling the planet. [01:23.56]One balloon would move away from an area [01:27.00]while another arrived to guarantee service in the affected areas. [01:33.84]But Alphabet announced it has found a way to make balloons [01:38.20]float over one area for an extended period. [01:43.18]In a statement released online, the company said its software [01:49.72]"can now send small teams of balloons to form a cluster [01:54.92]over a specific region where people need internet access. [02:01.20]This is a shift from our original model [02:04.76]...in which we planned to create rings of balloons sailing around the globe, [02:10.80]and balloons would take turns moving through a region to provide service." [02:18.32]The company said the discovery was made during tests of balloons [02:23.80]launched from the island of Puerto Rico to float in Peruvian airspace. [02:31.32]The company said some of the balloons stayed in the same area for as long as three months. [02:39.92]The company said the discovery should speed up the project and reduce costs: [02:46.64]"We'll reduce the number of balloons we need [02:49.84]and get greater value out of each one." [02:54.36]But Project Loon workers must still find ways to increase the life of the balloons. [03:02.65]A British Broadcasting Corporation report says the longest service for a single balloon was 190 days. [03:14.08]Google has also explored the idea of providing internet service to rural areas [03:20.72]using solar-powered drone aircraft. [03:24.84]But it cancelled that project because of technological barriers and high costs. [03:33.12]I'm Bryan Lynn. [03:35.32]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM