(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
Millions of people in developing countries living near toxic waste dumps. A new study looked at the dangers of living near these chemical waste sites. An environmental organization in New York studied water and soil samples from 373 waste sites, these were in three countries - India, Pakistan and Indonesia. The researchers found that more than 8.6 million people were living near the sites in 2010, and were exposed to many chemicals.
Richard Fuller was an author of the study.
"Lead, chromium, mercury, phosphates, different kinds of organic chemicals, pesticides and the like. They're all over the world, unfortunately."
Mr. Fuller heads the Blacksmith Institute, which paid for the study. The institute works to solve pollution problems in low- and moderate-income countries.
The study says people living near the dumps lost more than 828-thousand years of healthy life from toxic waste exposure. The researchers based this finding, an estimates of illness, disability and early death. By comparison, they say malaria caused less illness and early death in the same three countries. Air pollution, they say caused a little more.
The study found that lead created the highest pollution levels, this metal if absorbed into the blood, can harm the brain development of unborn babies, and lower the intelligence of children.
Two-thirds of those exposed to lead near waste dumps in Pakistan, India and Indonesia were children and women of child-bearing age.
Kevin Chatham-Stephens was the lead author of the study, he is a pediatric environmental health expert at the Mount Sinai school of medicine in New York. He says people living near toxic waste sites can take simple steps to reduce their risk.
"Even though it may not sound like a lot, washing your hands is one of the most effective ways that we can decrease our exposure to chemical pollutants - just because we know that oftentimes chemicals such as lead can end up in the dust and if we have that dust on our hands, and then we eat our foods and we wipe our mouths or something like that, then that chemical can enter into our body."
The Blacksmith Institute is studying toxic waste sites in 70 other developing countries, it hopes to help organize clean-up efforts. Richard Fuller says cleaning-up is a slow process, but the countries he's working with have been eager to cooperate.
"Everyone here has the right heart and [is] keen to do the best that they can. So, we think it's possible. It's just going to take a lot of work."
And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English, I'm June Simms.
文本为51VOA听写整理
译文属可可原创,仅供学习交流使用,未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.toxic waste [环境] 有毒废物,毒废料
Too much toxic waste is being dumped at sea.
太多的有毒废料在向大海里倾倒 。
2.phosphate n. 磷酸盐;皮膜化成
The role of these glands is to regulate calcium and phosphate in our bloodstream.
这些腺体的作用是稳定血液中钙质和磷酸盐的含量 。
3.child-bearing age 生育年龄
She is past her child bearing age.
她已过了生育年龄 。
4.pediatric adj. 小儿科的
Pediatric emergency medicine is a rapidly growing area of medicine.
儿科的急救医学是医学界迅速发展的领域 。
5.wipe vt. 擦;消除;涂上
I hope you'll wipe that thought from your mind.
我希望你打消那念头 。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道 。
发展中国家有数百万人生活在有毒垃圾场附近,一份最新研究着眼于居住在化学垃圾场附近的危害 。纽约某环境组织研究了373个垃圾场的水和土壤样本,包括印度、巴基斯坦和印尼 。研究着发现,2010年有超过860万的人生活在垃圾场附近,接触到很多化学品 。
理查德·富勒是这项研究的作者 。
“铅、铬、汞、磷酸盐、各种有机化学品、杀虫剂等等,很不幸全世界都有这些东西 。”
富勒是布莱克史密斯研究所的负责人,该研究所为这项研究提供的资金,并致力于找到低收入和中等收入国家解决污染问题的办法 。
研究发现,居住在垃圾堆旁边,接触有毒物质会使健康寿命受损8.28万年 。研究者基于这些发现、对疾病、残疾和早亡的估计,通过对比,他们发现在这三个国家,疟疾导致的疾病和早亡还不如垃圾站多 。他们说大气污染会导致更多问题 。
研究发现铅的污染程度更高,铅被吸收进入血液的话,能损害胎儿大脑的发育,降低孩子的智商 。
在巴基斯坦、印度和印尼,接触垃圾场附近铅的人有三分之二的是儿童和育龄妇女 。
凯文·查塔姆·斯蒂芬斯是这项研究的领衔作者,他是纽约西奈山医学院里一名儿童环境健康专家 。他说,居住在有毒垃圾站附近的人要减少危险,只需采用很简单的方法 。
“尽管听起来方法很简单,其实洗手是最有效的方法,可以减少所接触的化学污染物的量,我们知道,像铅这样的化学物质会混在灰尘中,如果手上有灰尘,吃东西擦嘴时就会让化学物质进入体内 。”
布莱克史密斯研究所正在研究另外70个国家的有毒垃圾站,希望能帮助动员清洁活动 。理查德·富勒说,清洁工作是个慢功夫,但与他合作的国家都很愿意这么做 。
“每个心思端正的人都很愿意尽自己最大力量,所以我们觉得这是有可能的,只是需要做出大量努力而已 。”
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道,我是朱莉·西姆斯 。