VOA慢速英語：印第安納波利斯成為美國中西部地區(qū)的“硅谷”

Indianapolis: ‘Silicon Valley’ in the US Midwest

印第安納波利斯成為美國中西部地區(qū)的“硅谷”

Indianapolis, the capital of the state of Indiana, is not often thought of as a technology center. One city official, however, believes the city's image is changing.

印第安納州首府印第安納波利斯通常不被認為是科技中心。然而一位市政府官員認為，這座城市的形象正在發(fā)生變化。

Angela Smith Jones is the deputy mayor of economic development. She compares Indianapolis to a version of Silicon Valley.

安吉拉·史密斯·瓊斯(Angela Smith Jones)是負責經(jīng)濟發(fā)展的副市長。她將印第安納波利斯同硅谷進行了比較。

In other words, Indianapolis is becoming a center for new, technology-based businesses, similar to Silicon Valley in California.

換句話說，印第安納波利斯正在成為以科技為基礎(chǔ)的新業(yè)務(wù)中心，類似于加州的硅谷。

Last year, technology companies in Indianapolis added $7.7 billion to the city's economy. They employed 75,000 people and are seeking more. Openings for technology-related jobs increased 40 percent last year.

去年，印第安納波利斯的科技公司為該市的經(jīng)濟貢獻了77億美元。他們雇傭了7.5萬人，并在尋求雇傭更多人。去年，科技相關(guān)的工作機會增加了40%。

Kenzie Academy

肯齊學院

Courtney Spence is the founder of a school in Indianapolis that teaches people technology skills. Spence says the city is on the edge of a "tech boom."

考特尼·斯賓塞(Courtney Spence)是印第安納波利斯一所學校的創(chuàng)始人。該學校教給人們科技技能。斯賓塞表示，該市正處于“科技繁榮”的邊緣。

Spence and her school, Kenzie Academy, are trying to keep technology talent in the Indianapolis area.

斯賓塞和她創(chuàng)辦的肯齊學院正致力于把科技人才留在印第安納波利斯地區(qū)。

"Our point is to bring people from Indianapolis to stay in Indianapolis," says Spence. To do that, the school places students in local companies as quickly as possible.

斯賓塞表示：“我們的目標是把印第安納波利斯人留在當?shù)亍?rdquo;為此，該校盡可能快地把學生安排進當?shù)毓尽?/p>

Kavitha Kamalbabu is one of Kenzie's top students. Born in India, she is 36 years old and the mother of two school-age children.

卡維塔·卡瑪巴布(Kavitha Kamalbabu)是肯齊學院的得意門生之一。36歲的卡瑪巴布出生在印度，是兩個學齡兒童的母親。

Kamalbabu says that she knew she wanted to work in technology. But, she could not launch a career in San Jose or another city in Silicon Valley. She needed to stay close to her home and family in Indianapolis. So she began a two-year program at Kenzie Academy to earn a degree as a software developer.

卡瑪巴布表示，她知道自己想從事科技領(lǐng)域的工作。但是她無法在硅谷的圣何塞等城市開創(chuàng)職業(yè)生涯。她需要靠近她在印第安納波利斯的住所和家族。所以她在肯齊學院開始就讀一項為期兩年的課程，以獲得軟件開發(fā)人員的學位。

Recently, Kamalbabu and some other students were invited to visit a local company called Steady Serve. The business has created an app to reduce waste by measuring how much beer remains in a beer storage container.

最近，卡瑪巴布和其他一些學生被邀請訪問了一家名為Steady Serve的當?shù)毓尽Ｔ摴疽呀?jīng)開發(fā)出一個應(yīng)用程序，通過測量啤酒存儲容器中的啤酒剩余量來減少浪費。

In the past, the head of Steady Serve, Steve Hershberger, hired workers from big universities near Silicon Valley. Now, he is choosing candidates from Kenzie to work on the coding. He says he likes the qualities he sees in the local workers.

過去，Steady Serve公司的負責人斯德蒂·哈斯伯格(Steve Hershberger)從硅谷附近的大學招人。現(xiàn)在他從肯齊學院招人從事編程工作。他說，他喜歡自己在當?shù)貑T工身上看到的那些品質(zhì)。

"It's like [Kenzie Academy] folded the country and brought San Jose into Indianapolis," he says.

他說：“肯齊學院就像是把圣何塞帶到了印第安納波利斯。”

Silicon Valley still popular

硅谷仍然很受歡迎

However, students who are already in Silicon Valley may not like the idea of working in the area known as the Midwest.

然而，已經(jīng)身在硅谷的學生可能不會有在中西部地區(qū)工作的想法。

Max Comolli is a first-year student at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Comolli said he would not leave California for Indiana because Silicon Valley already has "such a great tech scene already established."

馬克斯·科莫利(Max Comolli)是加州帕羅奧多市斯坦福大學的大一學生。科莫利表示，他不會離開加州去印第安納州，因為硅谷已經(jīng)建立起來如此偉大的科技圈子。

Diego Garcia is working on a Master's degree at Stanford. He says that when he considers top technology areas, he thinks of "California or New York, not Indianapolis."

迪亞戈·加西亞(Diego Garcia)正在斯坦福大學攻讀碩士學位。他說，當他考慮頂級科技地區(qū)時，他會想到加州或紐約，而不印第安納波利斯。

But Stanford University freshman Alexa White has a different opinion. She grew up in Detroit, Michigan, another city in the Midwest. She thinks a technology capital in the region would "benefit the field" and create diversity.

但是斯坦福大學新生愛麗莎·懷特(Alexa White)看法不同。她在另一座美國中西部城市密歇根州底特律市長大。她認為地區(qū)科技首府會惠及當?shù)夭?chuàng)造多元化。

Seeking greater diversity

追求更多元化

Estimates say women make up only a small percentage of workers in technology fields. In that way, Kenzie Academy in Indianapolis is similar to the rest of the field. Of the current class, only Kamalbabu and another person, Mya Williams, are female. The next class of 18 students starting later this year will have three women.

據(jù)估計，女性只占到科技領(lǐng)域員工的微小比例。在這方面，印第安納波利斯的肯齊學院跟其它學校類似。在目前的課程中，只有卡瑪巴布和麥爾·威廉姆斯(Mya Williams)是女性。今年晚些時候開課的下一個班級的18名學生中將會有3名女生。

School officials at Kenzie say they are trying hard to bring more women to the school. They are also planning to create more academies internationally, starting in Malaysia.

肯齊學院的官員表示，他們正在努力嘗試讓更多女性進入該校。他們還計劃從馬來西亞開始，在國際上創(chuàng)建更多學院。

Founder Courtney Spence goes further. She says she wants to create academies like Kenzie all over the world.

該學院的創(chuàng)始人斯賓塞想得更遠。她說她想在全球創(chuàng)辦肯齊學院這樣的學校。

I'm Bryan Lynn.

布萊恩·林恩報道。