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VOA慢速英语2010年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - UN Report Critic

时间:2010-06-04 06:44:21

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BOB DOUGHTY1: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Today, we will tell about a United Nations warning about Earth’s natural environments. We will have information about infections linked to hospital stays. We will also tell about a historic record of rainy seasons in Asia, and the search for life on other planets.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Scientists say keeping a count of all the different kinds of plants and animals on Earth is one way to measure the health of our planet. Scientists use the word biodiversity to describe the existence of many kinds of plants, animals and other organisms. One definition of biodiversity is the differences of life at all levels of biological organization.

But a United Nations report has little good to say about the health of biodiversity in the world. The report says national governments have failed to honor a biodiversity protection treaty. As a result, the report says, the rate of plant and animal species disappearing is continuing faster than ever before. Vertebrate species, for example, decreased by nearly one-third between nineteen seventy and two thousand six.

Polar bears, an endangered species, at a zoo in Antibes, France

The report says not one country has met all the biodiversity targets that were set eight years ago. That is when the first Global Biodiversity Outlook report was released. At the time, more than one hundred ninety countries agreed to reduce or halt biodiversity losses by twenty ten.

FAITH LAPIDUS: The U.N. report was based, in part, on one hundred ten national reports on action taken to reduce or stop the loss of biodiversity. The report did note some improvements, like increases in the size of protected land, especially coastal2 areas. But in general, the report says habitat losses outweigh3 the gains. The report says overfishing is a major problem that government rules have done little to stop. It warns of the possible collapse4 of fish species important to the commercial food supply.

The report identifies five main reasons for losses in biodiversity. They are changing habitats, overuse of resources, pollution, invasive species and climate change.

The report will be discussed at a U.N. biodiversity meeting set for October in Nagoya, Japan.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Hospitals not only treat infections. They can also cause them. In the United States alone, the number of infections in hospitals is estimated at close to two million each year. About one hundred thousand patients die.

A government report notes that little progress has been made in reducing what are called health care-associated infections. The most common are infections of the urinary tract5, surgical6 site and bloodstream.

A medical worker prepares to visit patients with an antibiotic7-resistant infection at a retirement8 home in Oslo, Norway

FAITH LAPIDUS: Many infections have been increasing while hospitals are taking steps to improve. The report shows, for example, an eight percent increase in cases of sepsis, or bloodstream infection, following surgical operations.

About forty percent of all health care-associated infections are linked to the use of catheters. Catheters are placed inside the body to collect waste fluids, so the patient does not have to get out of bed. But the report says the devices should be used only when necessary. It says urinary tract infections increased more than three and a half percent after a surgical operation.

BOB DOUGHTY: Another way to prevent infections is to give patients antibiotic drugs before an operation. Doctors are advised to give the drugs within the hour before surgery. Patients who get them earlier than one hour are more likely to get an infected surgical wound.

Also, doctors are advised to discontinue antibiotics9 within twenty-four hours after the surgery. The report says longer than that is usually not necessary. It can increase the risk of antibiotic resistance and serious kinds of diarrhea.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Asian monsoons11 affect half of the world’s population. Yet monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a seven hundred-year record of the rainy seasons. The researchers say the record is expected to provide guidance to experts making weather predictions.

Every year, moist air masses known as monsoon10 produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.

BOB DOUGHTY: Edward Cook works with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory12 at Columbia University in New York. He says the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. Professor Cook says climate records for the area have been kept since nineteen fifty. He says they are too recent and not detailed13 enough to be of much use.

So he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia. They looked for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than three hundred places.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas14. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the thirteen hundreds.

Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather.

EDWARD COOK: “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected15 by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.

Eugene Wahl is a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric16 Administration.

EUGENE WAHL: “There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy it can cause extensive flooding. So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for paleoclimate science.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: A report about the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas appeared in Science magazine.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Finally, is there life on Mars? Or Venus? Or on any of the other planets either inside or outside our solar system? That is one of the greatest mysteries that scientists are attempting to answer.

Steve Squyres is the chief scientist for the American space agency’s Mars Rover Project. He says the agency currently has twenty-eight projects working in astrobiology, or the study of life in outer space. One involves landing on the surface of the planet Mercury. Others go much deeper into space.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Steve Squyres says one of the most complex projects involves landing on Mars. A robot would then pick up rocks and soil, and send them back to earth for testing.

The scientist says this mission has been planned for many years, but he is not sure when it will happen. The huge costs of space flights often delay them for years. But as he says, the search for life in outer space is a long-term goal, and he is still hopeful.

Other projects include sending unmanned spacecraft to Europa, an icy moon of the planet Jupiter. Scientists would use radar17 to search for liquids under the ice. Life is thought to need both water and the right chemicals to guarantee survival.

But not all tests for life in outer space take place far away, and not all involve the search for liquids. University of California biologist Bill Schopf studies ancient fossils and the dirt they are found in on earth. He examined fossilized remains18 in a piece of gypsum found on the bottom of the Mediterranean19 Sea. So when spacecraft are sent to other planets, scientists will look for layers of gypsum in hopes of finding similar fossils. One such gypsum field was found on Mars six years ago.

Water and organic materials are necessary for life as we know it. Scientists strongly believe that finding such substances will be goals of future space flights. Getting them back to earth for study is the next big project.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jim Tedder20, Caty Weaver21 and Brianna Blake, who was also our producer. I’m Bob Doughty.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.
 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 doughty Jk5zg     
adj.勇猛的,坚强的
参考例句:
  • Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质:脾气倔强,性格刚强。
  • The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。
2 coastal WWiyh     
adj.海岸的,沿海的,沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
  • This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
3 outweigh gJlxO     
vt.比...更重,...更重要
参考例句:
  • The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
  • One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。
4 collapse aWvyE     
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。
5 tract iJxz4     
n.传单,小册子,大片(土地或森林)
参考例句:
  • He owns a large tract of forest.他拥有一大片森林。
  • He wrote a tract on this subject.他曾对此写了一篇短文。
6 surgical 0hXzV3     
adj.外科的,外科医生的,手术上的
参考例句:
  • He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
  • All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前,必须消毒。
7 antibiotic KNJzd     
adj.抗菌的;n.抗生素
参考例句:
  • The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
  • Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。
8 retirement TWoxH     
n.退休,退职
参考例句:
  • She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
  • I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。
9 antibiotics LzgzQT     
n.(用作复数)抗生素;(用作单数)抗生物质的研究;抗生素,抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
  • The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。
10 monsoon 261zf     
n.季雨,季风,大雨
参考例句:
  • The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
  • The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。
11 monsoons 49fbaf0154b5cc6509d1ad6ed488f7d5     
n.(南亚、尤指印度洋的)季风( monsoon的名词复数 );(与季风相伴的)雨季;(南亚地区的)雨季
参考例句:
  • In Ban-gladesh, the monsoons have started. 在孟加拉,雨季已经开始了。 来自辞典例句
  • The coastline significantly influences the monsoons in two other respects. 海岸线在另外两个方面大大地影响季风。 来自辞典例句
12 observatory hRgzP     
n.天文台,气象台,瞭望台,观测台
参考例句:
  • Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
  • Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。
13 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
14 atlas vOCy5     
n.地图册,图表集
参考例句:
  • He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
  • The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图,其中包括3幅英国地图。
15 affected TzUzg0     
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。
16 atmospheric 6eayR     
adj.大气的,空气的;大气层的;大气所引起的
参考例句:
  • Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
  • Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。
17 radar kTUxx     
n.雷达,无线电探测器
参考例句:
  • They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
  • Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。
18 remains 1kMzTy     
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。
19 Mediterranean ezuzT     
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的
参考例句:
  • The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
  • Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。
20 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
21 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

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