英语听力文摘 English Digest 398、人工臭氧可行吗？

Making New Ozone¹
构建新的臭氧层

Don: Yaël,We’re always hearing that the ozone layer is being depleted, and how bad this is because we need it to protect us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.

But I’ve been thinking, and there has to be a more effective way to restore the ozone layer than just by sitting around not releasing any more harmful chemicals into the air so the ozone has a chance to repair itself.

Yaël: Ok, like what?

D: Well, how hard could it be to make more ozone? We must have plenty of raw materials.

After all the ozone molecule contains three oxygen atoms–and the oxygen molecules we breathe contain two oxygen atoms, so can we just use that oxygen to produce a bunch of ozone ourselves and stick it back up in the atmosphere?

        Y: No!

        D: No?

 

        Y:No, we can't manufacture our ozone to replace the ozone hole.

D: Why not?

Y:Several reasons prevent us from doing this. For one thing, ozone in large quantities is extremely hazardous and volatile, which makes it hard to work with, to say the least. Also, the ozone layer is immense–there’s roughly twenty billion tons of it–and we’d have no way of handling such large quantities.

Plus, the ozone layer requires a huge amount of energy to maintain itself, which right now it gets from the sun. Taking over natural ozone production would require more than double the energy the United States produces annually².

That would cause an enormous amount of blackouts.

And that’s why the only way we know to fight ozone depletion³ is by cleaning up our act and giving nature the chance to take its course.

Don: 我们常常听到臭氧层正在逐渐消失的消息，这可不是件好事。因为臭氧层保护我们人类免受太阳过量的紫外线侵害。

但是，我一直在考虑，比起不再释放任何有害化学物质到空气中静观其变而言，我们可以采取有效措施修复破坏的臭氧层。

Yaël: 有何高见？

D:我们不要不少原材料，人工合成更多的臭氧层应该不难吧？

毕竟，所有的臭氧分子由三个氧原子组成；我们呼吸的氧分子包含两个氧原子。这样，我们可以自己用氧气制造臭氧，以此替代破坏的臭氧层圈。

Y:没门。

D:没门？

Y:没错，我们无法生产臭氧来取代臭氧层空洞。

D:为什么不行？

       Y:我们无法办到，原因诸多。要知道，大量的臭氧是有害且易挥发的。因此，至少不便于我们运作。此外，臭氧层是密集的，大约有200亿吨，我们无法操作如此庞大的臭氧。

       再者，维护稳定的臭氧层需要不少能量，而这些目前来自太阳能。要接手生产天然臭氧层需要的能源是美国每年生产的两倍以上。

这有可能会引发灯火管制。

这就是我们保护臭氧层消失的唯一可行办法是从我们自己做起，爱护环境，顺其自然。

let nature take its own course：顺其自然

blackouts:灯火管制

 

1 ozone   

n.臭氧，新鲜空气

参考例句：

• The ozone layer is a protective layer around the planet Earth.臭氧层是地球的保护层。
• The capacity of ozone can adjust according of requirement.臭氧的产量可根据需要或调节。

2 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

3 depletion   

n.耗尽，枯竭

参考例句：

• Increased consumption of water has led to rapid depletion of groundwater reserves.用水量的增加导致了地下水贮备迅速枯竭。
• Farmers should rotate crops every season to prevent depletion of the soil.农夫每季应该要轮耕，以免耗尽土壤。