VOA慢速英语20060529a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - With Solid Fuels, a Deadly Risk of Indoor Air PollutionBy Lawan Davis

Broadcast: Monday, May 29, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Development Report.


Charcoal¹ sellers in Haiti in 2004. Most of Haiti's forests have been cut down, largely to provide wood for cooking fuel.

The World Health Organization says half of the world's population burns wood, coal, animal waste or other solid fuels. More than three thousand million people use solid fuels to cook and to heat and light their homes.

But people who burn these fuels often breathe in large amounts of smoke. This can lead to pneumonia² and other diseases. Children are especially at risk.

The W.H.O., the United Nations health agency, recently published a report about the dangers of solid fuels. The report says these fuels are the cause of one and one-half million deaths each year.

Two out of three deaths happen in Southeast Asia and in Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

Among the victims are an estimated eight hundred thousand children and five hundred thousand women. Experts say indoor pollution also kills two hundred thousand men each year.

The World Health Organization says there has been little progress since nineteen ninety in supplying more people with modern cooking fuels.

The report discusses what it would take to cut the use of solid fuels in half by two thousand fifteen. To do that, almost five hundred thousand people every day would need to gain modern energy services. But experts say gains in health and productivity³ would more than pay for the costs required.

The W.H.O. estimates a yearly cost of thirteen thousand million dollars to supply liquefied petroleum⁴ gas to half the people now using solid fuels. It says that investment would result in yearly economic gains of ninety-one thousand million dollars. Other kinds of fuel would cost more.

Eva Rehfuess wrote the W.H.O. report. She says there are simple solutions that could help people in the short term. These include cleaner-burning stoves and better systems to clear the air in homes. She says longer-term solutions include a change to cleaner cooking fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas, biogas, ethanol or plant oils.

Miz Rehfuess says users would pay most of the investment costs, but some public investment would be needed to start the process.

The report is called Fuel for Life: Household Energy and Health. It can be found on the World Health Organization Web site at w-h-o dot i-n-t (who.int). Enter the words Fuel for Life in the search box at the top.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Lawan Davis. Read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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。

2 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

3 productivity   

n.生产力，生产率，多产

参考例句：

• Farmers are introducing in novations which increase the productivity.农民们正引进提高生产力的新方法。
• The workers try to put up productivity.工人设法提高生产率。

4 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。