VOA标准英语2010年-Hungary Threatened By New Chemical Dis

Environmentalists have warned of a new industrial accident in Hungary that they say could once again threaten villages, towns and even Budapest with toxic¹ red sludge. Just outside the Hungarian capital, a reservoir is being watched which has potentially similar problems as the one that collapsed³ in western Hungary in early October, killing⁴ at least nine people and injuring over 120 others.
Almasfuzito means something like apple trees. But romance seems to have disappeared from the village with this name.
Devastation⁵ after factory closureNext to the main road, this correspondent walks through a partly windowless former alumina plant accompanied by anxious officials. The factory, once the pride of communist Eastern Europe, was forced to close in the 1990s amid market reforms. More than one thousand people lost their jobs.
The factory, once the pride of communist Eastern Europe, was forced to close in the 1990s amid market reforms. More than one thousand people lost their jobs.
The plant left behind a gigantic decrepit⁶ reservoir complex filled with toxic red sludge,a byproduct of the conversion⁷ of bauxite⁸ for use in aluminum⁹ production. Seven pools hold 12 million tonnes of the hazardous¹⁰ waste produced since 1945, more than than 10 times the amount of Hungary's deadly toxic spill on October 4th.
In that accident the collapse² of a reservoir of a metals plant near the western village of Kolontar, caused a catastrophe¹¹. Some 800.000 cubic meters of red sludge flooded towns and villages, contaminating an area of some 40 square kilometers.
New dangersThere are now concerns that a similar accident will occur in Almasfuzito. Even the facility's manager Sandor Pirik, admits there are dangers.
Pirik explains that earthquakes can happen in the area where the former plant is located. He says, "We don't know how the reservoir will behave in such a situation." Another problem is frequent flooding from the nearby Danube river, but he says his workers constantly monitor the reservoir.? Environmental groups say an accident could spark trouble for drinking water supplies in nearby Slovakia and even Budapest, about 80 kilometers away.
The reservoir is located some 50 meters from the river Danube, one of Europe's main waterways. On several occasions the flooding Danube already reached the dam of the reservoir.
A private company, Tata's Environment Protection, is now in charge. It covers the reservoir, at least in part, with treated industrial waste, a profitable business. Yet Environmental Director Bela Farkas says he isn't worried.
Farkas jumps on the sludge, which looks like a red martian landscape. He says "At the plant where disaster struck, the sludge was liquid. Here that's not the case." He adds his workers have covered most of the reservoir, "while the plant in Ajka, near Kolontar, didn't even start to do that." But downstream in Budapest, the World Wildlife Fund is not convinced. The acting¹² director of its Hungarian branch Gabor Figeczky warns that a possible major accident at the plant in Almasfuzito might happen similar to the one near Kolontar.
"We can all be concerned that there might be another accident similar to this one," Figeczky says, "Because we don't know how stable these reservoirs are. We didn't know how stable this reservoir was in Kolontar. We don't have any information if there are regular checks in Almasfuzito done by the company or the authorities."Drinking supplies at riskHe says people in Almasfuzito have already complained about leakage¹³. Figeczky adds that drinking water supplies are at risk, due to the outdated¹⁴ technology used to build the reservoir so close to the Danube river. "In case of a flood the water from the Danube simply flows into the reservoir. The other major thing is that if there is a leakage from the reservoir then this red mud gets directly to the Danube. And if this red mud is still as alkaline as it was in the case of Kolontar, it will surely kill lots of the fish and lots of the wildlife in the Danube and also it will threaten the drinking water supply from the Danube," Figeczky said. But not all people in Almasfuzito want to think about the dangers of living near the reservoir, where workers are busy trying to cover the sludge. Standing¹⁵ near the red mud on a windy afternoon, Mayor Lukacs Karansebesy says he has fond memories about his time at the alumina factory.
He explains that he was very sad when the facility was closed in 1997 as he grew up with the idea that this was the biggest alumina plant in Eastern Europe.
The mayor says he could not imagine that this would all be over. "The plant meant security for people." He says his family worked at the plant. Its closure, he adds, "was a shock" for him and all the villagers of whom he is now the mayor.
An uncertain futureVillagers face an uncertain future as it remains¹⁶ unclear whether they'll be able to sell the produce from their farms amid concerns about the contamination of their lands and drinking water supplies. Almasfuzito is not the only place where the legacy¹⁷ of communist industrial policies come to light. The European Union and others have identified several hazardous chemical industries in the region and in the Balkans too.??? After the Soviet¹⁸ Union crumbled¹⁹ in 1991, investors²⁰ rushed to privatize state industries in Hungary and neighboring countries, but experts say the desire for quick profits have sidelined environmental considerations.
A study on toxic industrial zones in the region by the International Commission to protect the Danube River named nearly 100 contaminated sites, most of them in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

1 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。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 decrepit   

adj.衰老的，破旧的

参考例句：

• The film had been shot in a decrepit old police station.该影片是在一所破旧不堪的警察局里拍摄的。
• A decrepit old man sat on a park bench.一个衰弱的老人坐在公园的长凳上。

7 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

8 bauxite   

n.铝土矿

参考例句：

• Aluminum is made from bauxite.铝是从铝土矿中提炼出的。
• The United States was vulnerable to shortages of chrome,bauxite,and platinum.美国的弱点是缺少铬、矾土和铂。

9 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

10 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

11 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

13 leakage   

n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量

参考例句：

• Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor.大片地区都被核反应堆的泄漏物污染了。
• The continuing leakage is the result of the long crack in the pipe.这根管子上的那一条裂缝致使渗漏不断。

14 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 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。

17 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

18 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

19 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

20 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会