2015年 河海大学研究生英语一Unit 9 pollution is a dirty word

Unit 9 pollution is a dirty word

The 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 ecologists, 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 - and soon - or it will be too late."

地球是我们的家园。为了我们自己和下一代，必须照顾好它。这意味着保护我们的环境质量。 这项任务的重要性是研究人与自然关系的科学家强调的。这些科学家称为生态学家，来自希腊字Oikos，这意味着家园。生态学家们负责保持土地，空气，和水的清洁。”我们该怎么做？”最近生态学家被问到。“糟糕。”科学家闻着油烟的空气说。“我们必须做得更好，不久，或者很快就太晚了。”

Consume, consume, consume! Our society is consumer oriented-dangerously so. To 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? 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 stacks to the moon. There isn’t room for much more waste, and yet the factories grind on. They cannot stop because everyone 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 man’s dilemma.

消费、消费、消费！我们的社会以消费者为中心－这是很危险的。为了让工业的车轮保持转动，我们大量地生产消费品，而且在此过程中迅速地消耗我们的自然资源。 但这只是问题的一半。当这些工业产品被用过之后我们拿它们怎么办呢？它们 必须被处理掉，但是如何处理或在哪里处理呢？堆满生锈汽车的难看的垃圾场已经包围了这个国家的每一座城市。 每年美国人扔掉800亿个瓶罐，足够堆到月球十几堆了。再也没有空间放更多的废物了，但是工厂还在继续生产着。工厂不能停下来，因为每个人都需要工作。 我们的生活水平是世界上最高的之一，需要不断增加生产产品的消费。马上就要被自己制造的垃圾淹没的人类处于一种恶性循环之中。“让世界停下来，我要走开。”一首流行歌曲就是这样描述人类的困境。

It wasn’t always like this. Only 100 years ago man lived in harmony with nature. There weren’t so 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 relationship is threatened by man’s lack of foresight (n. ability to see into the future预见力) and planning, and by his carelessness and greed. For man is slowly

poisoning his environment.

事情并非一直如此。仅在100年前，人与自然仍在和谐相处。那时没有这么多的人口，人们的需求也比现在少得多。制造出的任何垃圾都能被自然界吸收，并很快被掩盖起来。由于人们缺乏远见和计划以及冷漠贪婪，现在这种和谐关系正在面临威胁。人类正在慢慢慢地毒害他的生存环境。

Pollution is a “dirty” word. To pollute means to contaminate —— to spoil something 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, it is beginning to threaten our health, our happiness, and our very civilization.

污染是个脏词，污染意味着玷污－即用不洁之物弄污某物，使之不净或不宜使用。污染来自很多组成。我们可以看见的，闻到的，尝到的，喝到的，还有碰到的。我们几乎就生活在污染中，呼吸着它。并且，毫不奇怪的是，它已在危害我们的健康、幸福和文明。

Once we thought of pollution as meaning simply smog---the choking, stinging, dirty air that hovers over 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.

曾经我们认为污染仅指烟雾－即悬浮在城市上空那令人窒息、气味刺鼻的肮脏空气。空气污染仍是最危险的一种污染，但它只是危害人类最基本生活活动的几种污染之一。

Through the uncontrolled use of insecticides, man has polluted the 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杀虫剂，杀死野生动物，人类污染了大地；由于向河里和湖里倾倒污水和化学药品，我们已经污染了饮用水。我们也正在污染海洋，杀害鱼类，从而使我们自己失去了一项宝贵的食物来源。

Part of the problem is our exploding population. More and more people produce more wastes. But this problem is intensified by our “throw-away” technology. Each year Americans dispose of 7 million autos, 20 million tons of waste paper, 25 million pounds of toothpaste tubes 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 of its parts may still be functioning. Baby’s diapers, which used to be made of reusable cloth, are now paper throwaways. Soon we will wear clothing made of paper: “Wear it once and throw it away,” will be the slogan of the fashion conscious.

迅速膨胀的人口也是问题的一部分。越来越多的人产生越来越多的垃圾。但是这个问题被我们的“废品”技术加剧。每年美国人扔掉700万辆汽车，2000万吨废纸，2500吨牙膏皮和4800万个罐头皮。我们扔掉口香糖包装包装纸，报纸和纸碗盘。 把它们扔掉换新既容易又便宜，尽管其中95％仍可使用。孩子的尿布以前是用可以重复使用的布，现在是纸制一次性用品。不久我们就能穿上纸制的衣服。“穿一次就扔”将成为时尚意识的标志。

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, solutions are in sight.

A few of them are positively ingenious. 这一切该走向何处？我们是要把世界变成一个大垃圾场还是希望可以治理污染问题？幸运的是，解决办法已经有了，其中有些还非常巧妙。

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 cars 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 used in buildings and bridges. Man’s ingenuity has come to his rescue.

以废弃汽车的问题为例。每年就纽约一座城市就有4万多辆被废弃。最终这些废弃物就要堆积在垃圾场。但是汽车太大，不像碎铁片那样被运到钢铁厂。它们首先得被压扁。这项工作可由一辆巨大的压缩机完成。在几分钟内它就把一辆卡迪拉克压缩成电视机大小。余下的金属碎片可与水泥混合可为制成特别坚硬的砖，用于楼房与桥梁，人的创造力拯救了人类。

What about water pollution? More and more cities are building sewage 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 separated from the solid material, purified, and returned for reuse to the community water supply. The solid material, called sludge is converted into fertilizer. The sludge can also be made into bricks.

那么水污染呢？越来越多的城市在建废水处理厂。废水不再被排到附近的河或湖里而是通过一个地下管道系统输送到一个巨大容器里面，水从固体物质中分离、净化，然后返回到社区供水系统重新利用。那些固体物质被称为软泥。可以转化成肥料，也可以用来做砖。

Controlling air pollution is another crucial objective. Without food, man can live about five weeks, without water about 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. Such devices effectively reduce the harmful gases emitted from the engine.

控制空气污染也是件至关重要的任务。没有食物，人大约能活５周；没有水，人能活5天。没有空气，人只能活５分钟，所以纯净的空气是必不可少的。罪魁祸首的是汽车。比如我们的大城市，在汽车密集的地方空气污染就很严重。确保汽车都装上控制污染的装置是重要的。这样的装置可以有效地减少引擎排出的有害气体。

Power plants, factories, and apartment buildings can also avoid air pollution. When possible 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.

发电厂、工厂和公寓楼也可避免污染空气。如有可能，应使用液化气及油这类洁净燃料。这些建筑物上的烟囱应装上过滤或其他减少烟雾的装置。

Can we eliminate pollution altogether? Probably not. Modern man pollutes with

everything 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. Under these conditions, our population would die in a short time.

我们能根除污染吗？也许不能。现代人无论做什么都在污染环境，所以要根除污染就需要极端的措施。每个电站都要关闭，工厂也要关闭，把所有的汽车都放在车库里，公共汽车、卡车和飞机都停止运行。这样将无法把食物运到大城市，也将没有光和热。在这种条件下，不久人类就会都死掉。

Since such a drastic solution is impossible, we must employ determined public action. We can reduce pollution, even if we can’t eliminate it altogether. But everyone must do his part. Check your car to see if the pollution-control device is working. Reduce your use of electricity. Is air-conditioning really necessary? Don’t dump garbage or other waste on the land or in the water. Demand that government take firm action against polluters. We can have a clean world, or we can do nothing. The choice is up to you.

既然这种极端措施是不可行的，我们必须发动公众行动起来，尽管我们不能将污染一起根除，但我们可以减少污染。但每个人必须尽到自己的责任。检查一下你的车，看看防污染装置是否运转正常。减少用电。空调是否真的必要？不要向大地或水里面倾倒垃圾或其他废物。要球政府采取严格行动与污染斗争。我们可以拥有一个干净的世界，也可以什么都不做。选择取决于你。