【In a Grain of Sand】－从潜水到“上网”

STUDENT IN VENEZUELA, LATIN AMERICA

委内瑞拉学生，拉丁美洲

From diving to 'surfing'

从潜水到“上网”

Rogelio Morales, Central University of Venezuela（委内瑞拉中央大学）

A metallurgical engineering graduate of the University of Venezuela, Rogelio Morales has some unusual entries on his resume. For one thing, he is a licensed commercial diver, and once worked as a professional diver for eight months in Seattle, Washington.

身为委内瑞拉中央大学冶金工程学研究生，Rogelio Morales的履历表上有着一些不寻常的项目。其中之一是，他是一位有执照的商业潜水员，曾经在华盛顿州西雅图市担任八个月的职业潜水员。

Morales loved his underwater work, but quickly decided that he was more interested in underwater inspection than in commercial diving. This led him back home, to a master’s program at Central University of Venezuela in non-destructive testing. “It’s a less-invasive method of testing,” Morales explains. “You don’t have to destroy something to see if it is warped. You can use different methods, like X-rays, testing magnetic particles, and ultrasonic. It fits in well with my background in metallurgical engineering.”

Morales喜爱他的水下工作，但是不久便确定他对水下检查的兴趣多过于商业潜水。这引导他回到家乡加入委内瑞拉中央大学的非破坏性测试硕士班。Morales解释:“它是一个较不具侵入性的测试方法，你不须为了检视某个东西是否反常而毁坏它。你可以用一些不同的方法，像是X光、测试磁性粒子和超音波。它完全契合我的冶金工程学背景。”

Morales first encountered MIT’s OpenCourseWare when he was looking on the Internet for information on stereoscopic vision, which has enormous potential for divers encountering turbid water conditions. Morales was able to find helpful information on MIT OCW, especially in Course 9.537 – Special Topics in Vision Science. The projects for Course 13.017 – Design of Ocean Systems I, also provided Morales with a wealth of new and useful concepts.

Morales第一次遇到麻省理工学院的“开放式课程计划”（MIT’s OpenCourseWare，MIT OCW）是当他在网际网络上寻找实体镜的视觉资料之时，该资料说明在遭遇混浊水域状况时对潜水员有许多可能性。Morales能够从MIT OCW找到有帮助的资料，尤其是在9.357－2001课程－视觉科学特论课程中（Course 9.537 – Special Topics in Vision Science）。13.017－课程海洋系统设计I （Course 13.017 – Design of Ocean Systems I）专案，也提供Morales丰富的新的和有用的概念。

Morales acknowledges that some of the same ideas he has found on MIT OCW are probably also available in the Central University library, in books or journals. “But with books,” he argues, “it’s much harder to find this information in a timely fashion. And with OCW, you also know that it’s new information.”

Morales承认他在MIT OCW所找到的，可能也能从委内瑞拉中央大学图书馆（书籍或期刊中）找到一些相同的概念。他辩解:“但是用书籍，很难适时地找到这类资讯。而用OCW你会知道它是新资讯。”

Morales has been quick to share information about MIT OCW with other students—and professors—in his program. “I often download information from the Web site in different topics,” he explains, “and give it to a professor in my faculty. Sometimes we discuss the information, other times they use the slides from the site in class. It’s a great resource.”

Morales立即和在他的计划中的其他学生以及教授们分享有关MIT OCW的资讯。他解释:“我时常从网络下载不同主题的资讯，并且交给我的学院的一位教授。有时候我们讨论这些资讯，其他时候他们在课堂上用来自网站的投影片。它是很好的资源。”

Morales also feels that MIT OCW has a broader potential in Venezuela. “Not everybody in Venezuela has the opportunity to go to college,” he points out. “It’s really hard to get in to university. So OCW is a great option. For example, there’s a program here called New Neighborhood. They use OCW to download information for poor people on technology, or humanities, or other areas. This has allowed a lot of people to access this information who might otherwise have been unable to do so. OCW has enormous potential for our country.”

Morales也觉得MIT OCW在委内瑞拉有宽广的可能性。他指出:“在委内瑞拉不是每个人都能上大学。进入大学真的很难。因此OCW是很棒的选择。譬如，这里有一个计划称为<新邻居>。他们用OCW为穷人下载科技、人文或其他领域的资讯。这让很多以别的方式无法做到的人得以接触这类资讯。OCW对我们的国家来说有无数的可能性。”