11岁小女孩成顶尖科学家 她的发明造福世界

A schoolgirl aged 11 has been honoured as "America's top young scientist" for inventing a quick, low-cost test to detect lead-contaminated water.

一名11岁的女学生因发明了一个快速、廉价测试铅污染水的方法，而被誉为“美国顶尖青年科学家”。

Gitanjali Rao was selected from 10 finalists who had spent three months collaborating with scientists to develop their ideas.

Gitanjali Rao是从10名参加决赛的选手们中被选出来的，他们花了三个月的时间与科学家们进行合作，来实现自己的想法。

Her device uses carbon nanotubes to detect the presence of lead. Thousands of US water systems are reportedly contaminated by lead.

她的设备使用了碳纳米管来检测铅的存在。据报道，数千个美国供水系统都有铅污染的问题。

Gitanjali's invention was inspired by the scandal in Flint, Michigan, where officials are facing charges, she told Business Insider.

Gitanjali向《商业内幕》透露，她的发明是受到了密歇根弗林特市丑闻的启发，该地的官员们正面临着指控。

Until now, testing reliably for lead was expensive and meant sending away samples for analysis.

到现在为止，要想准确可靠地检测到铅的存在，这都是非常昂贵的，同时这也意味着要发送样品，以用于分析。

But Gitanjali's portable invention allows a sensor linked to a mobile app to give an accurate, almost immediate analysis.

但是Gitanjali的便携发明，可以通过一个与手机app连接的传感器，就得出一个确切、及时的分析。

Gitanjali said she wanted to further refine the device so it could eventually go on the market.

Gitanjali表示，她想要进一步改善改设备，这样它最终就能进入市场了。

Gitanjali won a $25,000 prize for scooping the top award.

Gitanjali因为拿下了本次最高奖项，从而获得了一笔2.5万美元的奖金。