At Home in a Shipping Container

At Home in a Shipping Container
An American company designs a heavy-duty house for poor workers in Mexico. Transcript of radio broadcast:
04 October 2008

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

An American named Malcom McLean invented a better box and changed the world. He designed the shipping containers that today carry most of the world's goods. Standardized containers can go on ships, trains or trucks and are easy to load and unload.

Malcom McLean was a truck driver who built a big trucking company. Then he bought a steamship company which he later renamed Sea-Land. He launched his idea in nineteen fifty-six using an old tanker.

Malcom McLean died in two thousand one. But his work lives on -- and not just for moving and storing goods. Surplus containers have found use as offices and housing. In recent years, some wealthy people have had homes designed from shipping containers. But containers also are being used for emergency shelters and to shelter the homeless.

A company called PFNC Global Communities has designed a steel container home for poor people. It has thirty square meters of space with a sleeping area, a bathroom and a kitchen. It also has connections for electricity and water, and special paint to help protect against the sun’s heat.

Several years ago, a graduate business student named Brian McCarthy was visiting American companies in Ciudad Juarez, a border city in Mexico. He was there as part of his studies. He saw that many workers lived in shelters made of paper or scrap metal. More than a year later, he read about a house designed from a shipping container.

At the time, his cousin Pablo Nava was in his third year at Notre Dame University in the state of Indiana. Pablo Nava became interested in the project. He suggested that they enter the idea in a competition for business plans at the university. They won.
With Pablo Nava and two others, Brian McCarthy established PFNC Global Communities to build the container homes. PFNC stands for the Spanish words "Por Fin Nuestra Casa" -- "Finally, a Home of Our Own." The company now operates in the American state of New Mexico but will move to Juarez soon.

The sample home is twelve meters long and about two and a half meters in width and height. The kitchen has a stove to cook meals and a refrigerator to keep foods cold. Children and adults have separate sleeping areas.

The company hopes manufacturers in Ciudad Juarez will buy the homes for workers and their families. PFNC wants to keep the price below ten thousand dollars.

And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jerilyn Watson.


----------------------------Google Translate

在主页中海运集装箱
一家美国公司设计了一种重型穷人家的工人在墨西哥。全文电台广播：
2008年十月四日

这是美国之音特别英语发展报告。

美国名为马尔科姆麦克莱恩发明了一种更好的方块，改变了世界。他设计的集装箱进行，今天世界上的大部分货物。标准化的集装箱可以对船舶，火车或卡车和易于装卸。

马尔科姆麦克莱恩是一名卡车司机是谁打造一个大卡车公司。然后，他买了一轮船公司，后来改名为海陆。他开始了他的想法在1956年使用旧油轮。

马尔科姆麦克莱恩死亡2000人。但是，他的工作生活-而不是仅仅为移动和储存货物。剩余的集装箱发现用作办公室和住房。近年来，一些富有的人已经从房屋设计的集装箱。但是，集装箱也被用于紧急避难所和无家可归者收容所。

一家名为PFNC全球社区设计了一个钢容器家穷人。它三〇平方米空间与睡眠区，浴室和厨房。它还具有连接的电力和水，特别油漆，以帮助保护免受太阳的热量。

几年前，毕业的学生命名的商业布莱恩麦卡锡访问的美国公司在华雷斯，边境城市在墨西哥。他在那里的一部分，他的学业。他看见许多工人住在庇护所制成的纸或金属废料。一年多后，他阅读有关房屋设计的集装箱。

当时，他的表妹巴勃罗纳瓦在他的第三个年头在圣母院大学在印第安纳州。巴勃罗纳瓦成为对该项目感兴趣。他认为，他们的想法进入了竞争的商业计划在大学。他们韩元。
随着蒙托亚纳瓦和其他两个布莱恩麦卡锡设立PFNC全球社区建设的集装箱家园。 PFNC代表西班牙改为“百翅片我们的价格之” -“最后，主页我们自己的。 ”该公司目前经营在美国的新墨西哥州，但将迁移到华雷斯很快。

样本家庭为十二米长，约两个半米，宽度和高度。厨房里有一个炉子做饭，一台冰箱的食物，以保持冷。儿童和成年人有单独的休息区。

该公司希望制造商在华雷斯将购买的房屋的工人和他们的家人。 PFNC希望保持价格低于10000美元。

，这是美国之音特别英语发展报告撰写的Jerilyn沃森。