VOA慢速英语2009年-Development Report - Dangerous Lead-Based

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
　
Workers clean up lead paint at a building in Providence¹, Rhode Island in 2006.

A new study shows that lead-based paint remains² a worldwide threat to public health. Paint containing lead is a major cause of lead poisoning in children.

The heavy metal enters the body when children breathe the paint dust or fumes³ in the air. Or when babies put their mouth on painted surfaces or swallow pieces of paint.

Lead can damage the brain and the nervous system. It can decrease intelligence, create behavior problems and slow a child's growth.

Researchers tested new household enamel⁴ paints from twelve countries in Africa, Asia and South America. The paints were sold under different brand names. The study found that almost three-fourths of the brands had dangerously high levels of lead.

Scott Clark is a professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio.

SCOTT CLARK: "Most of the paint brands that we looked at had at least one sample that was above ten thousand parts per million, which is over a hundred times the current U.S. standard."

The United States has restricted⁵ lead content in paint since nineteen seventy-eight. Until this past month, the safety standard for consumer paints was six hundred parts per million. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission⁶ has just lowered the limit to ninety parts per million.

The new study appears in the journal⁷ Environmental Research. The team found levels of lead as high as thirty-two thousand parts per million in tests on some paint samples from Ecuador.

Professor Clark's team also published a study in two thousand six. It found that the majority of new enamel paints from China, India and Malaysia contained lead at levels of at least five thousand parts per million.

Lead paint can be a danger not only to people in the country where it is made. Exports can spread the danger to other countries.

The professor says high quality paint can be produced without lead. He and his team are calling for a worldwide ban on lead-based paint. He says many parts of the world are doing too little to correct the problem of lead poisoning in children. He notes that research has found no safe level of lead.

Of course, lead paint is not the only cause of lead poisoning. Recently Chinese officials closed a manganese metal factory in Hunan province. More than one thousand children living nearby were reported to have high levels of lead in their blood. And in two thousand eight, seventeen people died in Senegal after lead exposure⁸ from a battery recycling center.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

4 enamel   

n.珐琅，搪瓷，瓷釉；(牙齿的)珐琅质

参考例句：

• I chipped the enamel on my front tooth when I fell over.我跌倒时门牙的珐琅质碰碎了。
• He collected coloured enamel bowls from Yugoslavia.他藏有来自南斯拉夫的彩色搪瓷碗。

5 restricted   

adj.有限的；受约束的

参考例句：

• Speed is restricted to 30 mph in towns. 在城里车速不得超过每小时30英里。
• a restricted range of foods 有限的食物种类

6 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

7 journal   

n.日志，日记；议事录；日记帐；杂志，定期刊物

参考例句：

• He kept a journal during his visit to Japan.他在访问日本期间坚持记日记。
• He got a job as editor of a trade journal.他找到了一份当商业杂志编辑的工作。

8 exposure   

n.暴露，面临；揭露，揭发；曝光

参考例句：

• After only a short exposure to sunlight he began to turn red.他在阳光下只晒了一会儿，皮肤就开始变红了。
• I threatened them with public exposure.我扬言要公开揭发他们。