走遍全世界52: 关于有毒的悖论

There is nothing like the suggestion of a cancer risk to scare a parent, especially one of the over-educated, eco-conscious type. So you can imagine the reaction when a recent USA Today investigation¹ of air quality around the nation's schools singled out those in the smugly (自鸣得意) green village of Berkeley, Calif, as being among the worst in the country.

没有什么比致癌危险更能令一个家长担惊受怕的了，特别是一个受教育程度过高、具有生态保护意识的家长。因此，你可以想象得出当《今日美国》日报公布了一项关于学校周围空气质量的调查后所引起的发响。调查显示，被称为“绿色村庄”的加州柏克莱市是全国空气质量最差的地区之一。

The city's public high school, as well as a number of daycare centers, preschools, elementary and middle schools, fell in the lowest 10%. Industrial pollution in our town had supposedly turned students into living science experiments breathing in a laboratory's worth of heavy metals like manganese, chromium and nickel each day. This is a city that requires school cafeterias to serve organic meals.

该市的公立高中、日托服务中心、幼儿园、小学和初中，都位于空气质量最差的10%的地区之内。我们城镇内的工业污染似乎已经把学生拿来做科学实验，使他们置身于实验室中，每天都呼吸着重金属如锰、铬、镍等有害物质。这是一座要求学校餐厅提供有机食物的城市。

Great, I thought, organic lunch, toxic² campus.

我想，有机食物加上有毒校园，真是绝配啊！

Since December, when the report came out, the mayor, neighborhood activists³ (活跃分子) and various parent-teacher associations have engaged in a fierce battle over its validity: over the guilt⁴ of the steel-casting factory on the western edge of town, over union jobs versus⁵ children's health and over what, if anything, ought to be done.

自12月调查报告公布后，市长、街区活跃分子、各种连接父母和老师的协会都加入到确定这一报告是否属实的激烈争论中来了。他们强烈地谴责着城西那家铸钢厂的罪责，议论着工会应该为孩子的健康做些什么，商讨着任何应该采取的措施。

With all sides presenting their own experts armed with conflicting scientific studies, whom should parents believe? Is there truly a threat here, we asked one another as we dropped off our kids, and if so, how great is it? And how does it compare with the other, seemingly perpetual health scares we confront, like panic over lead in syntheic athletic⁶ fields?

各方提供专家意见，并辅以科学研究加以佐证，但却各执一词，父母又该相信谁呢？是否这里的空气质量真的已造成威胁呢？我们在接送孩子时彼此询问，如果果真如此，这一威胁又有多大呢？与另一种我们似乎永远需面对的健康威胁，如运动场上铅的危害相比，这一威胁又有多严重呢？

Rather than just another weird⁷ episode iin the town that brought you protesting environmentalists, this latest drama is a trial for how today's parents perceive risk, how we try to keep our kids safe-whether it's possible to keep them safe-in what feels like an increasingly threatening world. It raises the question of what, in our time, "safe" could even mean.

这并非另一出引来环保主义者抗议的闹剧，此次事件是对当今父母们在一个日益威胁我们的世界中如何看待危害，如何保护孩子安全（不管是否能够保护他们的安全）的一次检验。它提出了一个问题——在我们的时代中，“安全”到底是指什么？

"There's no way around the uncertainty," says Kimberly Thompson, president of Kid Risk, a nonprofit group that studies children's health. "That means your choices can matter, but it also means you aren't going to know if they do." A 2004 report in the journal Pediatrics explained that nervous parents have more to fear from fire, car accidents and drowning than from toxic chemical exposure.

金伯莉·汤普森是非营利组织“孩子和危险”（Kid Risk）的主席，该组织主要研究孩子健康。金伯莉说：“面对不确定的危险时，我们毫无办法。这也就是说，你的决定很重要，但却也不能确定这些决定是否真有效。”《儿科》杂志2004年的一份报告解释道，相比有毒的化学物质，紧张的父母更担心火灾、交通事故和溺水对孩子造成的危险。

To which I say: Well, obviously. But such concrete hazards are beside the point. It's the dangers parents can't-and may never-quantify that occur all of a sudden. That's why I've rid my cupboard of microwave food packed in bags coated with a potential cancer-causing substance, but although I've lived blocks from a major fault line (地质断层) for more than 12 years, I still haven't bolted our bookcases to the living room wall.

关于这点，我认为显而易见。但是，这些具体的危险是我们无法控制的，正是这类父母们不能，也或许永远无法预估的事故才有突发的可能。这也就是我为什么将含致癌物质的微波炉食品从橱柜中清除掉，但在这个离地质断层只有数个街区距离的地方住了12年多却还没有用螺栓将书柜与客厅墙壁固定在一起的原因。

英语词汇整理：

1. eco-conscious 具有生态保护意识

eg: To promote environmental protection locally and globally, and to make more and more people become eco-conscious . 
促进地区和全球范围内的环境保护，并使越来越多的人树立环保意识。

2. investigation n. 调查

eg: It's only the initiative of the investigation.
这仅仅是调查的开始。

相关短语：
general investigation  普查
investigation team  调查组

3. smugly adj. 自鸣得意地

eg: The Major smiled smugly and sat down.
少校洋洋得意地笑着坐了下来。

4. daycare adj. 日托的

eg: It's a daycare centers.
这是一家日托中心。

5. supposedly adv. 大概，据测

eg: For this reason, prices can supposedly never go down.
出于这个原因，可以推测价格不会下降。

同近义词：
perhaps/ maybe/ like adv.可能；按照推测；恐怕

6. organic adj. 有机的

eg: I am not good at organic chemistry.
我的有机化学学得不好。

相关短语：
organic law 基本法
organic life 有机生物
organic system 有机系统

7. toxic adj. 有毒的

eg: Too much toxic waste is being dumped at sea.
太多的有毒废料在向大海里倾倒。

相关短语：
toxic gas  毒气
toxic effect 毒性作用；毒效
highly toxic 剧毒；高毒性的
toxic substance 有毒物
toxic shock syndrome⁸ 中毒性休克综合症

8. fierce adj. 激烈的

eg: What he said met with fierce opposition⁹.
他的话语遭到激烈反对。

相关短语：
fierce competition 激烈的竞争
fierce stare 生气时瞪着眼睛；怒目；摇滚

9. versus prep. 对抗，与......相对

eg: They argued about traveling by train versus traveling by plane.
他们争论乘火车旅行好还是坐飞机旅行好。

同近义词：
in the teeth of  prep.对；与......相对；对抗

10. conflict v. 冲突

eg: Your interests conflict with mine.
你的利益和我的冲突。

相关短语：
in conflict with  和......冲突
conflict with  冲突；与......抵触
in conflict  有矛盾；不一致

11. perpetual adj. 永久的，长期的

eg: He has run his course and takes his perpetual rest.
他已走完他的行程而长眠了。

相关短语:
perpetual motion machine 永动机
perpetual calendar 万年历

12. confront v. 面临

eg: She was confronted with severe money problems.
她面临严重的资金问题。

相关短语：
confront with  使面临......
confront choices 面对选择
confront danger 面对危险
confront death 面对死亡

13. panic n. 恐慌

eg: There was a panic when the building caught fire.
大楼起火时, 人们一片惊慌。

相关短语：
panic over 感到惊慌失措
no panic [美国俚语]不大高明；平凡
panic disorder¹⁰ 惊恐性障碍，恐慌症
in panic 惊慌的
panic button 应急开关

14. synthetic¹¹ adj. 合成的，人造的

eg: Boots made from synthetic materials can usually be washed in a machine.
用合成材料做成的靴子通常可以在机器里洗。

相关短语：
synthetic rubber 合成橡胶
synthetic process 合成过程
synthetic reaction 合成反应

15. athletic adj. 运动的，运动员的

eg: They have been given college scholarships purely¹² on athletic ability.
他们完全凭他们的运动才能获得了大学奖学金。

相关短语：
athletic sports 体育运动
athletic field 运动场，田径场地
athletic ability 运动能力
athletic meeting 运动会；田径比赛

16. weird adj. 奇怪的

eg: It was a weird old house,full of creaks and groans¹³.
这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。

相关短语：
dree one's weird 认命,听天由命

17. episode n. 事件

eg: That's an episode in my life I won't forget forever.
那是我一生中永远不会忘记的经历。

相关短语：
an episode in 一个插曲,一段经历
the episode about/ of 有关......的情节

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

5 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

6 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

11 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

12 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

13 groans   

n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• There were loud groans when he started to sing. 他刚开始歌唱时有人发出了很大的嘘声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was a weird old house, full of creaks and groans. 这是所神秘而可怕的旧宅，到处嘎吱嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》