河海大學研究生英語一Unit9pollutionisadirtyword

1、unit 9 pollution is a dirty wordthe earth is our home. we must take care of it, for ourselves and for the next generation. this means preserving the quality of our environment.the importance of this task is stressed by scientists who study the relation of man to nature. these scientists are called e

2、cologists, from the greek word oikos, which means home. ecologists are responsible for keeping the land, air, and water clean. "how are we doing?" an ecologist was asked recently. "lousy" the scientist said, sniffing the fume-laden air. "we've got to do a better job - an

3、d soon - or it will be too late."地球是我們的家園。為了我們自己和下一代，必須照顧好它。這意味著保護 我們的環(huán)境質(zhì)量。這項任務(wù)的重要性是研究人與自然關(guān)系的科學家強調(diào)的。這些科學家稱為生態(tài)學家，來自希臘字oikos,這意味著家園。生態(tài)學家們負責保持土地，空氣， 和水的清潔。"我們該怎么做？”最近生態(tài)學家被問到?！霸愀??！笨茖W家聞著油 煙的空氣說。“我們必須做得更好，不久，或者很快就太晚了?！眂onsume, consume, consume! our society is consumer oriented-dangerously so.to

4、keep the wheels of industry turning, we manufacture consumer goods in endless quantities, and, in the process,are rapidly exhausting our natural resources. but this is only half the problem. what do we do with manufactured products when they are worn out? they must be disposed of, but how and where?

5、 unsightly junkyards full of rusting automobiles already surround every city in the nation. americans throw away 80 billion bottles and cans each year, enough to build more than ten stacksto the moon. there isn ' t room for much more waste, and yet the factories on. they cannot stop because ever

6、yone wants a job. our standard of living, one of the highest in the world, requires the consumption of manufactured products in ever-increasing amounts. man, about to be buried in his own waste, is caught in a vicious cycle. “ stop the world, i want to get off," is the way a popular song put ma

7、ndilemma.消費、消費、消費！我們的社會以消費者為中心一這是很危險的。為了讓工 業(yè)的車輪保持轉(zhuǎn)動，我們大量地生產(chǎn)消費品，而且在此過程中迅速地消耗我們的 自然資源。但這只是問題的一半。當這些工業(yè)產(chǎn)品被用過之后我們拿它們怎么辦呢？它們必須被處理掉，但是如何處理或在哪里處理呢？堆滿生銹汽車的難看的垃圾場已經(jīng)包圍了這個國家的每一座城市。每年美國人扔掉800億個瓶罐，足夠堆到月球十幾堆了。再也沒有空間放更多的廢物了，但是工廠還在繼續(xù)生產(chǎn)著。工廠不能停下來，因為每個人都需要工作。我們的生活水平是世界上最高的之一，需要不斷增加生產(chǎn)產(chǎn)品的消費。馬上就要被自己制造的垃圾淹 沒的人類處于一種惡性循環(huán)之中。讓

8、世界停下來，我要走開。”一首流行歌曲就是這樣描述人類的困境。it wasn ' t always like this. only 100 years ago man lived in harmony with nature.there weren' sto many people then and their wants were fewer. whatever wastes were produced could be absorbed by nature and were soon covered over. today this harmonious relationsh

9、ip is threatened by manfo resicjhc knofability to see intothe future 預見力）and planning, and by his carelessness and greed. for man is slowlypoisoning his environment.事情并非一直如此。僅在100年前，人與自然仍在和諧相處。那時沒有這么 多的人口，人們的需求也比現(xiàn)在少得多。制造出的任何垃圾都能被自然界吸收， 并很快被掩蓋起來。由于人們?nèi)狈h見和計劃以及冷漠貪婪，現(xiàn)在這種和諧關(guān)系正在面臨威脅。人類正在慢慢慢地毒害他的生存環(huán)境。pollu

10、tion is a “dirty word. to pollute means to contaminateto spoilsomething by introducing impurities, which make it unfit or unclean to use. pollution comes in many forms. we see it, smell it, taste it, drink it, and stumble through it. we literally live in and breathe pollution, and, not surprisingly,

11、 it is beginning to threaten our health, our happiness, and our very civilization.污染是個臟詞，污染意味著玷污-即用不潔之物弄污某物，使之不凈或不宜使用。污染來自很多組成。我們可以看見的，聞到的，嘗到的，喝到的，還有碰 到的。我們幾乎就生活在污染中，呼吸著它。并且，毫不奇怪的是，它已在危害 我們的健康、幸福和文明。once we thought of pollution as meaning simply smog-the choking, stinging, dirty air that hovers over

12、 cities. but air pollution, while it is still the most dangerous, is only one type of contamination among several which attack the most basic life functions.曾經(jīng)我們認為污染僅指煙霧-即懸浮在城市上空那令人窒息、氣味刺鼻的骯臟空氣?？諝馕廴救允亲钗ｋU的一種污染，但它只是危害人類最基本生活活動的 幾種污染之一。through the uncontrolled use of insecticides, man has polluted the

13、land, killing the wildlife.by dumping sewage and chemicals into rivers lakes, we have contaminated our drinking water. we are polluting the oceans, too, killing the fish and thereby depriving ourselves of an invaluable food supply.由于不加控制地使用殺蟲劑，殺死野生動物，人類污染了大地；由于向河里 和湖里傾倒污水和化學藥品，我們已經(jīng)污染了飲用水。我們也正在污染海洋，殺

14、 害魚類，從而使我們自己失去了一項寶貴的食物來源。part of the problem is our exploding population. more and more people produce more wastes. but this problem is intensified by our “throwaway" technology. each year americans dispose of 7 million autos, 20 million tons of waste paper, 25 million pounds of toothpaste tube

15、s and 48million cans. we throw away gum wrappers, newspapers,and paper plates. it is no longer fashionable to reuse anything. today almost everything is disposable'. instead of repairing a toaster or a radio, it is easier and cheaper to buy a new one and discard the old, even though 95 percent o

16、f its parts may still be functioning. baby' diapers, which used to be made of reusable cloth, are now paper throwawayssoon we will wear clothing made of paper:" wear itonce and throw it away, " will be the slogan of the fashion conscious.迅速膨脹的人口也是問題的一部分。越來越多的人產(chǎn)生越來越多的垃圾。但是這個問題被我們的“廢品”技術(shù)

17、加劇。每年美國人扔掉700萬輛汽車，2000萬噸廢紙，2500噸牙膏皮和4800萬個罐頭皮。我們?nèi)拥艨谙闾前b包裝紙，報 紙和紙碗盤。把它們?nèi)拥魮Q新既容易又便宜，盡管其中95%仍可使用。孩子的尿布以前是用可以重復使用的布，現(xiàn)在是紙制一次性用品。不久我們就能穿上紙制的衣服。穿一次就扔”將成為時尚意識的標志。where is this all to end? are we turning the world into a gigantic dump, or is there hope that we can solve the pollution problem? fortunately, sol

18、utions are in sight. a few of them are positively ingenious.這一切該走向何處？我們是要把世界變成一個大垃圾場還是希望可以治理 污染問題？幸運的是，解決辦法已經(jīng)有了，其中有些還非常巧妙。take the problem of discarded automobiles, for instance. each year over 40,000 of them are abandoned in new york city alone. eventually the discards end up in a junkyard. but car

19、s are too bulky to ship as scrap to a steel mill. they must first be flattened. this is done in a giant compressor which can reduce a cadillac to the size of a television set in a matter of minutes. any leftover scrap metal is mixed with concrete and made into exceptionally strong bricks that are us

20、ed in buildings and bridges. man ' s ingenuity has come to his rescue.以廢棄汽車的問題為例。每年就紐約一座城市就有4萬多輛被廢棄。最終這 些廢棄物就要堆積在垃圾場。但是汽車太大，不像碎鐵片那樣被運到鋼鐵廠。它們首先得被壓扁。這項工作可由一輛巨大的壓縮機完成。在幾分鐘內(nèi)它就把一輛卡迪拉克壓縮成電視機大小。余下的金屬碎片可與水泥混合可為制成特別堅硬的 磚，用于樓房與橋梁，人的創(chuàng)造力拯救了人類。what about water pollution? more and more cities are building sew

21、age treatment plants. instead of being dumped into a nearby river or lake, sewage is sent through a system of underground pipes to a giant tank where the water is separatedfrom the solid material, purified, and returned for reuse to the community water supply. the solid material, called sludge is co

22、nverted into fertilizer. the sludge can also be made into bricks.那么水污染呢？越來越多的城市在建廢水處理廠。廢水不再被排到附近的河 或湖里而是通過一個地下管道系統(tǒng)輸送到一個巨大容器里面，水從固體物質(zhì)中分離、凈化，然后返回到社區(qū)供水系統(tǒng)重新利用。那些固體物質(zhì)被稱為軟泥。可以 轉(zhuǎn)化成肥料，也可以用來做磚。controlling air pollution is another crucial objective. without food, man can live about five weeks, without water a

23、bout five days. without air, he can only live five minutes, so pure air is a must. here the wrongdoer is the automobile. where there is a concentration of automobiles, as in our big cities, air pollution is severe. it is important to see that our cars are equipped with pollution-control devices. suc

24、h devices effectively reduce the harmful gases emitted from the engine.控制空氣污染也是件至關(guān)重要的任務(wù)。沒有食物，人大約能活5周；沒有水，人能活5天。沒有空氣，人只能活5分鐘，所以純凈的空氣是必不可少的。罪魁 禍首的是汽車。比如我們的大城市，在汽車密集的地方空氣污染就很嚴重。確保 汽車都裝上控制污染的裝置是重要的。這樣的裝置可以有效地減少引擎排出的有power plants, factories, and apartment buildings can also avoid air pollution. when poss

25、ible they should use clean fuels like gas and oil. and the smokestacks of these buildings should be equipped with filters and other smoke-reduction devices.發(fā)電廠、工廠和公寓樓也可避免污染空氣。如有可能，應使用液化氣及油這 類潔凈燃料。這些建筑物上的煙囪應裝上過濾或其他減少煙霧的裝置。can we eliminate pollution altogether? probably not. modern man pollutes withev

26、erything he does, so total elimination would require drastic measures. every power plant would have to shut down. industries would have to close. we would have to leave all our automobiles in the garage. every bus and truck and airplane would have to stop running. there would be no way to bring food to the cities. there would be no heat and no light. un