VOA常速英语2019--富国将垃圾出口到其他国家 导致环境问题

50 kilometers outside Kuala Lumpur in the middle of a palm oil plantation¹, mountains of plastic waste lie abandoned. Much of it has travelled thousands of kilometers from wealthy countries in Europe and North America. Local residents are suffering the consequences. They just dump the non-recyclable plastic or the rejected product, and then they burn it in the backyard of this factory. So, those toxic² fumes³ actually already caused a lot of health problems to our residents. Last year, China banned the import of plastic waste, sending the global industry into turmoil⁴. Wealthy countries are exporting their own plastic waste problems overseas, says Greenpeace.

吉隆坡50公里外的一个棕榈油种植园中，一些塑料垃圾堆积而成的山无人问津。其中许多垃圾都是从数千公里外的欧洲和北美富国运送而来的。当地居民饱受垃圾山造成的影响之苦。他们将不可回收的垃圾或者废弃的物品倾倒在这里，然后在这座工厂的后院焚烧垃圾。这些有毒气体实际上已经给当地居民造成了许多健康问题。去年，中国禁止了塑料废弃物的进口，这让全球的塑料垃圾交易行业变成了一团乱麻。许多富国正在将自己的塑料垃圾问题带往海外，绿色和平组织表示道。

They have a good collection of facilities. It’s actually they like sending like half of their collective waste to other countries. Before the trial ban, they just ran to China for recycling, but they do not take this further step to ensure those recyclable are properly recycled. And now after the China waste ban, they just find another new places to send their recyclables to. The Greenpeace report says more than half of that waste, three million tons a year, is being redirected toward Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. They do not have enough capacities for handling such a large amount of imported foreign waste, so there some pollution to the local environment. In response, many Southeast Asian countries are imposing⁵ their own restrictions⁶ on plastic waste imports, forcing the trash into less regulated markets, such as Indonesia and India. At a United Nations conference in Geneva this week, 180 countries are discussing a proposal to force plastic waste exporters to receive permission from destination countries in advance, a system known as “Prior Informed Consent”.

他们有大量设备。实际上，他们倾向于将半数左右的垃圾集合运往其他国家。在试禁令发布之前，这些垃圾运往了中国进行回收，但这些国家并不会采取进一步措施来确保这些垃圾进行了妥善的可回收处理。而现在，中国已颁布垃圾禁令，所以这些国家只能另谋他法，寻找新的地方来运送可回收垃圾。根据绿色和平组织的报告，这些国家半数以上的垃圾，即每年300万吨的垃圾，即将运往东南亚，包括马来西亚、越南和泰国。他们没有足够的能力来应对如此大量的外国进口垃圾，因此，当地环境就会受到污染。在应对垃圾进口时，许多东南亚国家正在对塑料垃圾的进口实行限制措施，这迫使垃圾流入了垃圾管理相对宽松的国家，如印尼和印度。本周，在日内瓦举行的一次联合国会议上，180个国家都在讨论一个方案，来迫使塑料垃圾出口国事先获得垃圾运送目标国家的同意。该体系名为“事先知情准许令”。

For those dealing⁷ with the impact, the changes can’t come soon enough. We are killing⁸ ourselves by using too many plastic. We are too dependent on plastic. Please manage and handle your own trash. Don’t dump to our country. Greenpeace says the ultimate solution does not lie in improving, recycling, but in cutting back drastically on plastic production and consumption worldwide.

对于应对垃圾危害的国家来说，转变不会很快就到来。使用过多的塑料无异于自杀。我们太依赖塑料了。请管理好自己的垃圾，不要丢到我们国家来。绿色和平组织表示，最终的解决方案并不在于提升和回收，而在于大幅减少世界范围内塑料的生产和消耗。

1 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

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 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 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

5 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 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。