国家地理 拉响关于水质的警报(3)

Everyone has a right to clean water, no matter what you look like, how much money you make, or which political party you favor. In America, that right is enshrined in the Clean Water Act of 1972, which defines how the EPA regulates pollutants¹ in U.S. waters, and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, which establishes maximum amounts of pollutants in all public water systems. Those federal laws were passed at the peak of environmental degradation² in our country -- a time when smog choked our cities and rivers were so contaminated they regularly caught fire.

每个人都有权利喝干净的水，无论长相如何、收入多少、支持哪个政党。在美国，1972年《净水法案》和1974年《安全饮用水法案》明确保障了这项权利。《净水法案》明定美国环境保护局如何规范美国水域中的污染物，《安全饮用水法案》则制定所有公共自来水系统中的污染物含量上限。这两个联邦法都是在美国环境问题最严重时通过的，当时雾霾围堵我们的城市、河流污染严重导致经常起火燃烧。

Those laws and many other regulations at state and city levels have made great progress toward reducing pollution and addressing public health. Some of us now don't worry about the toxicity³ of the air for our children's afternoon soccer games or the flammability of the local river, primarily because our environmental protections have worked. But in far too many places around the country, those basic laws are not being upheld or enforced, and people are suffering the consequences.

这两个联邦法加上许多州级和市级法规，在减少污染和处理公卫方面获得巨大进展，我们之中某些人现在不必担心孩子在下午足球赛时受到空气毒害，或是当地河流会起火燃烧，主要就是因为我们的环境保护法规发挥了作用。但在全美有更多地方，这些基本法都不受重视或没有执行，让人民来承担恶果。

1 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

2 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

3 toxicity   

n.毒性，毒力

参考例句：

• The hoarse grunt or squeal is characteristic of toxicity.嘶哑的哼声和叫声是中毒的特征。
• Dieldrin is related to aldrin,and its toxicity to earthworms is similar.狄氏剂与艾氏剂有关，对蚯蚓的毒性是相似的。