TED演讲:变得更健康的不能说的秘密(5)

 Number one: we can fertilize¹ our food. 第一：这能为我们的食物施肥。

Each one of us is pooping and peeing something that could fertilize half or maybe all of our food, depending on our diet. 我们每个人都产生能够肥沃我们一半甚至全部食物的排泄物，具体取决于我们的食谱。

And that dark brown poo in the toilet is dark brown because of what?  我们的便便为什么是深棕色的？

Dead stuff, bacteria. That's carbon. 因为无机物、细菌。都是碳

And carbon, if we're getting that into the soil, is going to bind² to the other minerals and nutrients³ in there. 如果我们把这些碳弄进土壤里，它们将会与土壤中的其它矿物质、养分结合。

Boom! Healthier food. Voilà! Healthier people. 更加健康的食物。哇啦！更加健康的人们。

And chemical fertilizers by definition don't have carbon in them.  化肥从定义上来讲是不含碳的。

Imagine if we could move our animal manure⁴ and our human manure to our soil,  想像假如我们能够把这些生物养分全部放进土壤，

we might not need to rely on fossil fuel-based fertilizers, mine minerals from far away. 我们也许就不需要依赖于化石燃料基肥料，或是老远拉来的矿物质了。

Imagine how much energy we could save.  我们会节约多少能量啊。

Now, some of us are concerned about industrial pollutants⁵ contaminating this reuse cycle. That can be addressed. 现在，我们其中的一些人也许正担心着工业有害物质污染循环圈。这确实需要被强调。

But we need to separate our discomfort⁶ about talking about poo and pee  但是我们需要把因为讨论到排泄物而感到的不适与其区分开来。

so we can calmly talk about how we want to reuse it and what things we don't want to reuse. 只有这样我们才能平静地讨论如何循环利用它们，还有哪些东西我们不希望循环使用。

And get this: if we change our approach to sanitation⁷, we can start to slow down climate change. 还有这个：如果我们改变了卫生设施体系，我们将开始减缓气候变化。

Remember that carbon in the poop?  还记得粪便中的碳吗？

If we can get that into our soil bank, it's going to start to absorb carbon dioxide that we put into the air. 如果那笔碳进账土壤银行，它们会帮助吸收我们自己扔进空气中地二氧化碳。

And that could help slow down global warming.  这就会帮助我们减缓全球变暖。

1 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

2 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

3 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

5 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

6 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

7 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。