Elon Musk's Satellites Send Internet into Distant Chilean Village
2021-08-25
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1After a 30-minute walk and a short boat ride to his school in a distant part of southern Chile, Diego Guerrero can finally get on the internet.
2His school is in the small village of Sotomo, around 1,000 kilometers south of capital Santiago.
3Just 20 families live there. The town can only be reached by boat.
4Now, it is one of two places in Chile chosen for a new project to receive free internet for a year.
5The project is run by billionaire Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX.
6Starlink, a part of SpaceX, aims to send out 12,000 satellites as part of a network to provide internet services around the world,
7The plan is important for getting the money that SpaceX needs to pay for Musk's dream of developing a new rocket that can fly paying people to the moon and to try to colonize Mars.
8For Diego, 7, getting online is enough of a dream.
9"I really like the internet because we can do homework," he said.
10"It's faster so we can do more of it."
11Diego's father, Carlos, has bigger plans for his son.
12He hopes the new internet connection will provide his son with more opportunities.
13He takes Diego to school daily by boat, often battling the weather.
14He said, "I didn't have the option of going to school so you do it whatever the conditions, good or bad weather or pandemic, even if it's difficult."
15The school's seven students can go online by using personal devices provided by the education ministry to help their education.
16Their only teacher at the school, Javier de la Barra, said he looked forward to using the internet for professional development.
17The signal is received by a satellite dish on top of the school.
18Another device gives out a wireless signal to most of the school and outside areas.
19The plan is to extend it to the rest of the village.
20It only works from noon to midnight because of the limited supply of fuel to the generator that supplies power to the village.
21De la Barra said it is still a large improvement to the phone internet connection that a few people in the area use.
22The Starlink antennae was placed in July.
23Transport and Telecommunications Minister Gloria Hutt attended the ceremony for its start.
24She said she hoped Starlink would help those who have lived without the internet.
25The difficulty of living now without an internet connection became clear when the coronavirus lockdowns left people without good internet struggling to work or study.
26Chile has among the highest rates of internet connectivity in South America.
27Government numbers show that there are 21 million mobile internet connections among its population of 19 million as of March 2021.
28As Diego and Carlos know, having mobile internet does not mean you can always get a signal.
29Carlos Guerrero said, "What would be great is if all these services could be extended around our community, not just to a small part, so everyone could enjoy them."
30I'm Gregory Stachel.
1After a 30-minute walk and a short boat ride to his school in a distant part of southern Chile, Diego Guerrero can finally get on the internet. 2His school is in the small village of Sotomo, around 1,000 kilometers south of capital Santiago. Just 20 families live there. The town can only be reached by boat. 3Now, it is one of two places in Chile chosen for a new project to receive free internet for a year. The project is run by billionaire Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX. 4Starlink, a part of SpaceX, aims to send out 12,000 satellites as part of a network to provide internet services around the world, 5The plan is important for getting the money that SpaceX needs to pay for Musk's dream of developing a new rocket that can fly paying people to the moon and to try to colonize Mars. 6For Diego, 7, getting online is enough of a dream. 7"I really like the internet because we can do homework," he said. "It's faster so we can do more of it." 8Greater Opportunities 9Diego's father, Carlos, has bigger plans for his son. He hopes the new internet connection will provide his son with more opportunities. 10He takes Diego to school daily by boat, often battling the weather. He said, "I didn't have the option of going to school so you do it whatever the conditions, good or bad weather or pandemic, even if it's difficult." 11The school's seven students can go online by using personal devices provided by the education ministry to help their education. 12Their only teacher at the school, Javier de la Barra, said he looked forward to using the internet for professional development. 13The signal is received by a satellite dish on top of the school. Another device gives out a wireless signal to most of the school and outside areas. The plan is to extend it to the rest of the village. 14It only works from noon to midnight because of the limited supply of fuel to the generator that supplies power to the village. 15De la Barra said it is still a large improvement to the phone internet connection that a few people in the area use. 16The Starlink antennae was placed in July. Transport and Telecommunications Minister Gloria Hutt attended the ceremony for its start. 17She said she hoped Starlink would help those who have lived without the internet. The difficulty of living now without an internet connection became clear when the coronavirus lockdowns left people without good internet struggling to work or study. 18Chile has among the highest rates of internet connectivity in South America. Government numbers show that there are 21 million mobile internet connections among its population of 19 million as of March 2021. 19As Diego and Carlos know, having mobile internet does not mean you can always get a signal. 20Carlos Guerrero said, "What would be great is if all these services could be extended around our community, not just to a small part, so everyone could enjoy them." 21I'm Gregory Stachel. 22Pablo Sanhueza reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor. 23____________________________________________________________________ 24Words in This Story 25network - n. a system of computers and other devices (such as printers) that are connected to each other 26opportunity - n. a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something 27pandemic - n. an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world 28dish - n. something that is shaped like a shallow bowl 29generator - n. a machine that produces electricity 30mobile - adj. able to be moved from one place to another