听力来源：NPR，仅用于个人英语学习。
原文链接: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/29/728053503/how-a-radio-frequency-is-delivering-high-speed-internet-to-small-towns
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How A Radio Frequency Is Delivering High Speed Internet To Small Towns
May 29, 2019
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: A quarter of rural Americans don't have access to the Internet. Northern Michigan University in the state's Upper Peninsula has found a unique way to help with that. It's tapping into a government-owned radio frequency to deliver high-speed Internet to some of those people. From Interlochen Public Radio, Taylor Wizner reports.
TAYLOR WIZNER, BYLINE: Korah Hopper is a sandy-blonde-haired 12-year-old who loves sports and playing the saxophone. When she used to try to go online, it was frustrating.
KORAH HOPPER: We were in the middle, and it would, like, just slow down automatically - just, like, randomly stop and have to, like, reload, or you'd have to exit out of the page and redo it.
WIZNER: Hopper lives in Engadine, a small town of 900, surrounded by forests and located on the southern edge of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For years, Hopper shared dial-up Internet with her five siblings and her dad. But now she has high-speed Internet, thanks to a little-known public resource that's sitting unused in vast rural parts of the country. It's called the Educational Broadband Spectrum, and it's controlled by the federal government and reserved for educational use, but most schools lease it to private companies like Sprint Wireless. Eric Smith, who runs the broadband program there, says he first used the radio spectrum to bring Wi-Fi to its off-campus students, and then it blossomed to 61 underserved communities all across the UP.
ERIC SMITH: Our interest is in having them be able to access their educational needs so that they can become more productive, better citizens and make them better contributors to their communities.
WIZNER: Smith says, in the '60s, the government set aside the frequency for schools, but didn't have a great plan to regulate it. So in the '90s, the FCC stopped giving it away. Besides NMU, only two school districts in California and one in Virginia also use it to create their own Internet networks. Fast forward to three months ago when it went live in the tiny town of Engadine. That meant anyone living within nine miles of the local school got Internet service for only $20 to 35 a month. Engadine Schools Superintendent Angie McArthur says that's a big deal because before, Internet service could cost nearly double that.
ANGIE MCARTHUR: Our student body is about - we have about 65% percent who qualify for free and reduced meals, so spending a large amount of a monthly income doesn't work.
WIZNER: For her, it's about teaching her kids it's a big world.
MCARTHUR: We can sometimes be isolated. And so to find ways to expand our students' knowledge - the world is bigger than Engadine.
WIZNER: Korah Hopper says having high-speed Internet means she doesn't have to wait hours to do her homework anymore. And that means she can upload her saxophone practice in record time.
KORAH: It used to take people four hours to - for them to upload it. Now it takes them, like, maybe a half an hour to an hour.
WIZNER: Now the university wants to bring the service to 54 communities over the next year. Meanwhile, the FCC is reconsidering how to dole out the radio spectrum. And that makes Eric Smith a bit nervous. He fears a bidding war with private companies who may not lease out the spectrum at a rate schools can afford.
SMITH: If we lose that building block, if that's not available, then it takes away an important tool that educators have to make sure that people receive the education they're entitled to.
WIZNER: A tool that can bring online learning to students no matter where they live. For NPR News, I'm Taylor Wizner.
知识点笔记
1.....delivering high speed internet to small towns...
deliver: 表示寄送、送达，注意这里网络服务也用了这个动词。
e.g.1.The Canadians plan to deliver more food to southern Somalia...
2.We were told the pizza would be delivered in 20 minutes.
2.tap into: 利用，进入
e.g.1.Surely, we can tap into that kind of talent and tools.
2.That a hacker could use it to tap into your phone or computer.
3.It makes this the hottest borehole in the world and the plan is to tap into its energy.
4.And I think there's a market out there that hasn't been tapped into.
3.dial-up Internet: 拨号上网
4.blossom: 开花，引申义：发展、成功
e.g.1.Why do some people take longer than others to blossom?...
2.What began as a local festival has blossomed into an international event.
5.upload：上传
download：下载
6.dole out : 发放，发给
e.g.1.Vera was doling out candy to all the kids.
2.We can keep doling out corporate welfare to big oil companies – or we could keep investing in the renewable energy that creates jobs and lowers our carbon pollution.
7....the education they're entitled to.
be entitled to:有权享有，有资格享有
e.g.1.If the warranty is limited, the terms may entitle you to a replacement or refund...
2.They are entitled to first class travel...
3.There are 23 Clubs throughout the U.S., and your membership entitles you to enjoy all of them.
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