VOA慢速英语2018--巴西关闭拉丁美洲最大的垃圾填埋场

Brazil Closes Latin America’s Largest Landfill

When Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa designed Brazil’s capital, the city of Brasilia, their detailed¹ plans did not include where to put food waste and other garbage.

The answer was the Estrutural garbage dump, which opened 67 years ago.

The dump is just 20 kilometers from the presidential palace in Brasilia. It has become the biggest landfill in Latin America.

But on January 19, the dump was closed. Governor Rodrigo Rollemberg opened a new landfill further outside the city as a replacement². The move has angered thousands of scavengers who make a living from the garbage. They go through the waste and take what they believe is worth saving.

At the opening of the new landfill, the governor said, “We cannot live with this open wound in the midst of our nation’s capital, a dump where human beings put their lives at risk seeking a livelihood⁴ in an undignified way.”

Since Brasilia was founded in 1960, it has grown to become the nation’s fourth-largest city. It is home to about 2.5 million people.

For years, thousands of poor people searched through the Estrutrual dump for cans, copper⁵ wire or anything else that could be used or sold.

Generations of garbage pickers brought their children to work in the smelly, dirty landfill.

Rollemberg’s plan is to employ the scavengers at new recycling centers, where the garbage can be separated in cleaner conditions.

But people working in the old dump on its last day said they refuse to trade their source of earnings⁶ for government jobs that pay too little to support their families.

“I’ll have to start working the streets looking through garbage cans,” said Evando Souza. He worked at the landfill every day for five years.

Souza told the Reuters news agency that in a good month he could earn about $937. That is more than three times the lowest wages permitted under Brazilian law.

Souza told Reuters he was thinking of returning to his home state of Maranh?o in northeast Brazil.

Environmentalists made a strong case for closing the old garbage dump. They warned that it was polluting Brasilia’s water supply. The city has already been forced to limit use of water supplies because of extremely dry weather.

Brasilia is home to many well-paid government employees. Its many wealthy households produce a lot of garbage.

More than 1,200 tons of garbage were left every day at the old landfill.

Its closure will affect families living in a nearby community called Cidade Estrutural. Set up by garbage pickers, the community is home to an estimated 40,000 people. Many will have a hard time finding other jobs as Brazil slowly rises out of its worst recession in years.

Some members of the garbage pickers said they would rather stay working in the old dump than have the cost of a long trip to and from the new recycling centers.

Valdir Dutra, another scavenger³, also spoke⁷ with Reuters. Dutra said he has searched through the dump’s garbage for 16 years. He said, “Rollemberg hasn’t offered us a real alternative. We cannot survive on that pay.”

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in this Story

scavenger – n. a person who searches through food waste and other unwanted objects for something that can be saved or used.

household – n. people who live in the same house or home

source – n. someone or something that provides what is needed

picker – n. someone who picks up or takes something

recycling – adj. of or related to the process of reusing materials

undignified – adj. lacking self-control in behavior or appearance

1 detailed   

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。

2 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

3 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 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。