VOA慢速英语2013 Pollution Threatens Health of 200 Million 污染威胁2亿人的健康

 

Pollution Threatens Health of 200 Million 污染威胁2亿人的健康

From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News.  I’m June Simms.

And I’m Faith Lapidus.  Today we will tell you about a new report on pollution.  It says pollution problems are threatening the health of up to 200 million people worldwide.  We will also report on concerns about dam projects in Vietnam.  And we will tell you how some Buddhist¹ monks² are learning to protect fresh water supplies high in the Himalayan Mountains. 

Two independent environmental groups have produced a report listing 10 of the world’s most dangerously-polluted places.  The two are the American-based Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland.  The 10 places are spread over eight countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.  The report says open areas polluted by dangerous environmental toxins³ are threatening the lives of tens of millions of people.   

The report says the substances are affecting people through the air they breathe, the food they eat or skin contact.  The toxins include lead, cadmium, chrome, oil, pesticides⁴, phenols, mercury, sarin, radionuclides and organic compounds. 

David Hanrahan is a technical adviser⁵ with the Blacksmith Institute.  He told VOA that four of the places on the list were on his group’s first list, which was released in 2006. 

“We have Chernobyl -- which is not going to go away, obviously -- in the Ukraine.  We have two sites in Russia -- which one is a huge smelter, the other is a major chemical complex, which we think used to do a lot of chemical weapons.  We have the mining site in Zambia, which I said work has been done to improve.  But, unfortunately, it’s an extremely poor, abandoned place.” 

The other areas are in Argentina, Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia and the Niger River Delta⁶ of Nigeria. 

David Hanrahan notes progress in cleaning up some of world’s most dangerously-polluted places.  For example, he says, the Dominican Republic was on the first top 10 list because of high levels of lead at a recycling center.  He says the country was removed from the list after the center was cleaned up and made into a playground for children.

Mr.  Hanrahan is reporting similar successful clean-ups in other places.  They include India and eastern Russia, and in some Chinese cities, which have reduced air pollution. 

He says in the past, experts often underestimated the link between health and the environment.  But he says public health officials in many countries now understand the need to deal with pollution.

“…problems that are, are really of the similar order as the big international public health concerns like tuberculosis⁷ and malaria⁸, HIV/AIDS.  Toxic pollution is in many countries the same order of magnitude and that is being recognized, which is one of the things we’re really quite pleased about.” 

David Hanrahan says more and more governments recognize that environmental pollution is a problem that can be solved.  He says developing countries are seeing improvements in the health of their citizens -- especially among children who are most at risk of getting sick or dying.

Policymakers, activists⁹ and others gathered recently for talks about water, food and energy in the Mekong River Basin.  The discussions took place in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi.

Over the past three years, work crews have been building the Xayaburi dam in Laos.  The dam is one of the most controversial hydropower projects in the Mekong.  It has tested the strength of the Mekong River Commission, which represents Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Some countries say the dam could affect fish populations downriver from the dam.  But work on the project has continued.

Hans Guttman is the chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission.  He says he believes the dam showed the commission’s member countries could talk about difficult issues. 

Carl Middleton is a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in the Thai capital, Bangkok.  He says he was not sure anything had been learned, especially about listening to the public and talking with people about the effect of dam projects.  He says Laos started working in October on another dam -- the Don Sahong.

“The opportunity that cross-border cooperation agreements say the Mekong agreement offers -- the way of creating channels for responsibility to move across borders easily -- it essentially¹⁰ failed in the case of Xayaburi because those mechanisms¹¹ didn’t facilitate great cross-border responsibility and the issue of justice got caught up in national territories rather than having a regional justice system.  Can things be better for Don Sahong?  We’ll have to wait and see.”

The meeting in Hanoi was the idea of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.  The group provides financial support for research on agricultural crop breeding.  It hopes a new map of dam projects in the Mekong would persuade governments to consider their effect on communities and the environment.

Carl Middleton says mapping is useful.  But he thinks more needs to be done to include people whose occupations are affected¹² in the decision-making process.

“The energy security comes at the expense of the forms of security that come from rivers, like food security and water security, so the question is: ‘How do you have a more integrated policy making that recognizes the current value that rivers provide whilst at the same time helping¹³ meet everyone’s energy needs as well?’  ‘Is it necessary that one be sacrificed for the other?’”

Mr. Middleton says countries need energy for economic development.  But he thinks they should think about ways to produce energy that do not require the building of hydropower dams. 

Representatives from 50 Buddhist monasteries¹⁴ gathered in India late last year for talks on protecting the high Himalayan mountain ranges and the Tibetan plateau.  The meeting was called the 5th Khoryug Conference on Environmental Protection for Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries and Nunneries in the Himalayas.  The organizers were the World Wildlife Fund’s Sacred Earth program and Khoryug -- an organization of 50 Buddhist monasteries.

The representatives discussed how to protect the area and its fresh water supplies.  They also heard how some grass lands are becoming deserts, and how lakes and river systems are drying up.

The Buddhist monks and nuns¹⁵ heard how to protect local water sources.  They also were told how to increase the amount of groundwater by harvesting rainwater.  Organizers of the conference hope the representatives will tell local villagers, and workers in other monasteries, what they learned. 

Tenzin Norbu is the Director of Environment and Development in the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala.

“When they go back, they should respect the value of the water.  So I think since most of these are from the Himalayan area which is connected to the Tibetan plateau, I think they should know the importance of the place where they came from, so that they can also create local awareness¹⁶ on how important it is to protect the Himalayan glaciers¹⁷ and the Himalayan area as such.”

Ogyen Trinley Dorje also was at the meeting.  He is expected to become the spiritual leader of Tibet when the current Dalai Lama dies.  He says studies show that the entire world faces an environmental emergency.  But he says Tibet and all of Asia face what he calls a “very immediate¹⁸ emergency.”  He spoke¹⁹ to a VOA reporter in New Delhi through a translator.

“Among particular concerns I think the unprecedented²⁰ amount of development in Tibet is causing serious pollution of water sources and also of course the melting of the glaciers and permafrost caused by climate change are an immediate source of threat to Tibet, Tibetan water and therefore to all of Asia which gets much of its water from the Tibetan plateau.”

Ogyen Trinley Dorje has not involved himself with political issues linked to Tibet, and he has not spoken much in public since he fled Tibet in 2000.  But he is concerned about the environment and has been speaking about the issue.

He says the Buddhist value of contentment -- being pleased -- could help save the environment by pushing back against consumerism, which he says is eating up the Earth’s resources.

This Science in the News was written by Christopher Cruise.  It was based on reports from Lisa Schlein in Geneva, Marianne Brown in Hanoi, and Anjana Pasricha in New Delhi.  Our producer was June Simms.  I’m Faith Lapidus.

And I’m June Simms.  You can comment on this story on our website, learningenglish.voanews.com.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes and our YouTube Channel, all at VOA Learning English. 

1 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

2 monks   

n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The monks lived a very ascetic life. 僧侣过着很清苦的生活。
• He had been trained rigorously by the monks. 他接受过修道士的严格训练。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

8 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

9 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》

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 monasteries   

修道院( monastery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In ancient China, there were lots of monasteries. 在古时候，中国有许多寺院。
• The Negev became a religious center with many monasteries and churches. 内格夫成为许多庙宇和教堂的宗教中心。

15 nuns   

n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句

16 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

17 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

18 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

19 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

20 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。