美国有线新闻 CNN 世界污染严重

 

If you live on Earth, here are two things to keep in mind: one, Fridays are awesome¹! And two, and this is not awesome, there’s a good chance that the air you breathe is too polluted to be healthy.

如果你生活在地球上，这里有两件事要记住:一、周五是最棒的!第二，很有可能你呼吸的空气污染太严重而损害健康。

That’s according to a new study just released² this week by the World Health Organization, which is part of the United Nations. It says the vast majority of the global population is breathing air that has high levels of pollutants³. Asia and Africa are the worst continents for this.

这是根据世界卫生组织本周发布的一项新研究得出的结论。世界卫生组织是联合国的一部分。报告说，全球绝大多数人呼吸的空气中含有高浓度的污染物。亚洲和非洲大陆是最糟糕的。

But in cities across North and South America, Europe and the eastern Mediterranean⁴, pollution levels are still too high to be what the WHO calls healthy.

但在北美、南美、欧洲和地中海东部的城市，污染水平仍然过高，无法成为世卫组织所称的健康水平。

The cities in America with the most polluted air included Los Angeles, California, as well as Bakersfield, Fresno and Napa. They also included Indianapolis, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis, Missouri. But one of these places have anywhere near the level of pollution that’s seen in Peshawar, Pakistan, Cairo, Egypt, and Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

美国空气污染最严重的城市包括洛杉矶、加州、贝克斯菲尔德、弗雷斯诺和纳帕。还包括印第安纳波利斯、印第安纳州、路易斯维尔、肯塔基州和密苏里州的圣路易斯市。但其中一个地方的污染水平接近白沙瓦、巴基斯坦、开罗、埃及和沙特阿拉伯的朱拜勒。

The report says pollution isn’t just a city air problem. It’s bad in people’s homes and poor areas of the world, where wood and charcoal⁵ power stoves and open fires are used to cook and heat. The upside of the study is that many cities are keeping track of pollution and that can lead to steps to clean it up.

报告说，污染不仅仅是城市的空气问题。在人们的家中和世界的贫困地区，这是很糟糕的，在那里人们用木头和木炭的电炉和明火做饭和取暖。这项研究的好处是，许多城市都在跟踪污染情况，这可能会导致清理污染的措施。

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

2 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

3 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

5 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。