英語聽力小短文走遍全世界52: 關(guān)于有毒的悖論

英語聽力原文：

There is nothing like the suggestion of a cancer risk to scare a parent, especially one of the over-educated, eco-conscious type. So you can imagine the reaction when a recent USA Today investigation of air quality around the nation's schools singled out those in the smugly (自鳴得意) green village of Berkeley, Calif, as being among the worst in the country.

沒有什么比致癌危險更能令一個家長擔(dān)驚受怕的了，特別是一個受教育程度過高、具有生態(tài)保護意識的家長。因此，你可以想象得出當(dāng)《今日美國》日報公布了一項關(guān)于學(xué)校周圍空氣質(zhì)量的調(diào)查后所引起的發(fā)響。調(diào)查顯示，被稱為“綠色村莊”的加州柏克萊市是全國空氣質(zhì)量最差的地區(qū)之一。

The city's public high school, as well as a number of daycare centers, preschools, elementary and middle schools, fell in the lowest 10%. Industrial pollution in our town had supposedly turned students into living science experiments breathing in a laboratory's worth of heavy metals like manganese, chromium and nickel each day. This is a city that requires school cafeterias to serve organic meals.

該市的公立高中、日托服務(wù)中心、幼兒園、小學(xué)和初中，都位于空氣質(zhì)量最差的10%的地區(qū)之內(nèi)。我們城鎮(zhèn)內(nèi)的工業(yè)污染似乎已經(jīng)把學(xué)生拿來做科學(xué)實驗，使他們置身于實驗室中，每天都呼吸著重金屬如錳、鉻、鎳等有害物質(zhì)。這是一座要求學(xué)校餐廳提供有機食物的城市。

Great, I thought, organic lunch, toxic campus.

我想，有機食物加上有毒校園，真是絕配啊!

Since December, when the report came out, the mayor, neighborhood activists (活躍分子) and various parent-teacher associations have engaged in a fierce battle over its validity: over the guilt of the steel-casting factory on the western edge of town, over union jobs versus children's health and over what, if anything, ought to be done.

自12月調(diào)查報告公布后，市長、街區(qū)活躍分子、各種連接父母和老師的協(xié)會都加入到確定這一報告是否屬實的激烈爭論中來了。他們強烈地譴責(zé)著城西那家鑄鋼廠的罪責(zé)，議論著工會應(yīng)該為孩子的健康做些什么，商討著任何應(yīng)該采取的措施。

With all sides presenting their own experts armed with conflicting scientific studies, whom should parents believe? Is there truly a threat here, we asked one another as we dropped off our kids, and if so, how great is it? And how does it compare with the other, seemingly perpetual health scares we confront, like panic over lead in syntheic athletic fields?

各方提供專家意見，并輔以科學(xué)研究加以佐證，但卻各執(zhí)一詞，父母又該相信誰呢?是否這里的空氣質(zhì)量真的已造成威脅呢?我們在接送孩子時彼此詢問，如果果真如此，這一威脅又有多大呢?與另一種我們似乎永遠(yuǎn)需面對的健康威脅，如運動場上鉛的危害相比，這一威脅又有多嚴(yán)重呢?

Rather than just another weird episode iin the town that brought you protesting environmentalists, this latest drama is a trial for how today's parents perceive risk, how we try to keep our kids safe-whether it's possible to keep them safe-in what feels like an increasingly threatening world. It raises the question of what, in our time, "safe" could even mean.

這并非另一出引來環(huán)保主義者抗議的鬧劇，此次事件是對當(dāng)今父母們在一個日益威脅我們的世界中如何看待危害，如何保護孩子安全(不管是否能夠保護他們的安全)的一次檢驗。它提出了一個問題——在我們的時代中，“安全”到底是指什么?

"There's no way around the uncertainty," says Kimberly Thompson, president of Kid Risk, a nonprofit group that studies children's health. "That means your choices can matter, but it also means you aren't going to know if they do." A 2004 report in the journal Pediatrics explained that nervous parents have more to fear from fire, car accidents and drowning than from toxic chemical exposure.

金伯莉·湯普森是非營利組織“孩子和危險”(Kid Risk)的主席，該組織主要研究孩子健康。金伯莉說：“面對不確定的危險時，我們毫無辦法。這也就是說，你的決定很重要，但卻也不能確定這些決定是否真有效。”《兒科》雜志2004年的一份報告解釋道，相比有毒的化學(xué)物質(zhì)，緊張的父母更擔(dān)心火災(zāi)、交通事故和溺水對孩子造成的危險。

To which I say: Well, obviously. But such concrete hazards are beside the point. It's the dangers parents can't-and may never-quantify that occur all of a sudden. That's why I've rid my cupboard of microwave food packed in bags coated with a potential cancer-causing substance, but although I've lived blocks from a major fault line (地質(zhì)斷層) for more than 12 years, I still haven't bolted our bookcases to the living room wall.

關(guān)于這點，我認(rèn)為顯而易見。但是，這些具體的危險是我們無法控制的，正是這類父母們不能，也或許永遠(yuǎn)無法預(yù)估的事故才有突發(fā)的可能。這也就是我為什么將含致癌物質(zhì)的微波爐食品從櫥柜中清除掉，但在這個離地質(zhì)斷層只有數(shù)個街區(qū)距離的地方住了12年多卻還沒有用螺栓將書柜與客廳墻壁固定在一起的原因。

英語詞匯整理：

1. eco-conscious 具有生態(tài)保護意識

eg: To promote environmental protection locally and globally, and to make more and more people become eco-conscious .

促進地區(qū)和全球范圍內(nèi)的環(huán)境保護，并使越來越多的人樹立環(huán)保意識。

2. investigation n. 調(diào)查

eg: It's only the initiative of the investigation.

這僅僅是調(diào)查的開始。

相關(guān)短語：

general investigation 普查

investigation team 調(diào)查組

3. smugly adj. 自鳴得意地

eg: The Major smiled smugly and sat down.

少校洋洋得意地笑著坐了下來。

4. daycare adj. 日托的

eg: It's a daycare centers.

這是一家日托中心。

5. supposedly adv. 大概，據(jù)測

eg: For this reason, prices can supposedly never go down.

出于這個原因，可以推測價格不會下降。

同近義詞：

perhaps/ maybe/ like adv.可能;按照推測;恐怕

6. organic adj. 有機的

eg: I am not good at organic chemistry.

我的有機化學(xué)學(xué)得不好。

相關(guān)短語：

organic law 基本法

organic life 有機生物

organic system 有機系統(tǒng)

7. toxic adj. 有毒的

eg: Too much toxic waste is being dumped at sea.

太多的有毒廢料在向大海里傾倒。

相關(guān)短語：

toxic gas 毒氣

toxic effect 毒性作用;毒效

highly toxic 劇毒;高毒性的

toxic substance 有毒物

toxic shock syndrome 中毒性休克綜合癥

8. fierce adj. 激烈的

eg: What he said met with fierce opposition.

他的話語遭到激烈反對。

相關(guān)短語：

fierce competition 激烈的競爭

fierce stare 生氣時瞪著眼睛;怒目;搖滾

9. versus prep. 對抗，與......相對

eg: They argued about traveling by train versus traveling by plane.

他們爭論乘火車旅行好還是坐飛機旅行好。

同近義詞：

in the teeth of prep.對;與......相對;對抗

10. conflict v. 沖突

eg: Your interests conflict with mine.

你的利益和我的沖突。

相關(guān)短語：

in conflict with 和......沖突

conflict with 沖突;與......抵觸

in conflict 有矛盾;不一致

11. perpetual adj. 永久的，長期的

eg: He has run his course and takes his perpetual rest.

他已走完他的行程而長眠了。

相關(guān)短語:

perpetual motion machine 永動機

perpetual calendar 萬年歷

12. confront v. 面臨

eg: She was confronted with severe money problems.

她面臨嚴(yán)重的資金問題。

相關(guān)短語：

confront with 使面臨......

confront choices 面對選擇

confront danger 面對危險

confront death 面對死亡

13. panic n. 恐慌

eg: There was a panic when the building caught fire.

大樓起火時, 人們一片驚慌。

相關(guān)短語：

panic over 感到驚慌失措

no panic [美國俚語]不大高明;平凡

panic disorder 驚恐性障礙，恐慌癥

in panic 驚慌的

panic button 應(yīng)急開關(guān)

14. synthetic adj. 合成的，人造的

eg: Boots made from synthetic materials can usually be washed in a machine.

用合成材料做成的靴子通?？梢栽跈C器里洗。

相關(guān)短語：

synthetic rubber 合成橡膠

synthetic process 合成過程

synthetic reaction 合成反應(yīng)

15. athletic adj. 運動的，運動員的

eg: They have been given college scholarships purely on athletic ability.

他們完全憑他們的運動才能獲得了大學(xué)獎學(xué)金。

相關(guān)短語：

athletic sports 體育運動

athletic field 運動場，田徑場地

athletic ability 運動能力

athletic meeting 運動會;田徑比賽

16. weird adj. 奇怪的

eg: It was a weird old house,full of creaks and groans.

這是所神秘而可怕的舊宅，到處嘎吱嘎吱作響。

相關(guān)短語：

dree one's weird 認(rèn)命,聽天由命

17. episode n. 事件

eg: That's an episode in my life I won't forget forever.

那是我一生中永遠(yuǎn)不會忘記的經(jīng)歷。

相關(guān)短語：

an episode in 一個插曲,一段經(jīng)歷

the episode about/ of 有關(guān)......的情節(jié)

18. protest v. 抗議

eg: They were protesting soaring prices.

他們在抗議不斷飛漲的物價。

相關(guān)短語：

protest against 反對，對......提出抗議

without protest 心甘情愿地;不反對地

under protest 抗議著;極不樂意地

protest about 對......提出抗議

19. environmentalist n. 環(huán)境學(xué)家

eg: The environmentalist launched out at great length on energy preservation.

這位環(huán)境保護論者就節(jié)約能源問題發(fā)了一通議論。

20. perceive v. 看待，感知

eg: He has now perceived his error.

他現(xiàn)在認(rèn)識到了自己的錯誤。

相關(guān)短語：

perceive as 視為;當(dāng)作

perceive by 通過......感覺到

21. nonprofit adj. 非營利的

eg: Most of that money goes to nonprofit organizations that run programmes for the poor.

那筆錢的大部分用于從事扶貧項目的非營利性組織。

相關(guān)短語：

nonprofit organization 非營利性機構(gòu)

22. pediatric adj. 兒科的

eg: The study was published Thursday in The Journal of Pediatrics.

這項研究發(fā)布于周四的《兒科學(xué)》雜志上。

23. drown v. 溺水

eg: How many drowned when the boat capsized?

當(dāng)船傾覆時有多少人淹死了?

相關(guān)短語：

drown out 淹沒，壓過

drown in (使)淹死于(某處);(聲音)壓過(另一聲音);陷于,沉浸于

24. concrete adj. 實在的，有形的，混凝土的

eg: A wooden table is a concrete object.

一張木制的桌子是一件實在的東西。

相關(guān)短語：

in the concrete 在實際領(lǐng)域內(nèi);實際上;具體地

concrete structure 混凝土結(jié)構(gòu);具體結(jié)構(gòu)

concrete object 實在的東西

25. occur v. 發(fā)生

eg: I don't want such a thing to occur again.

我不希望再發(fā)生這樣的事情。

相關(guān)短語：

occur as 以......的形式出現(xiàn)

occur for 發(fā)生在......時候

occur to ......發(fā)生在;被想起(到)

26. rid v. 除去

eg: It is not easy to rid oneself of a bad habit.

要改掉壞習(xí)慣并不容易。

相關(guān)短語：

be rid of 除掉,擺脫

get rid of 除掉,去掉

get rid off 擺脫，去掉

27. coat v. 外面套上

eg: The floor is coated with varnish.

地板上涂了一層清漆。

相關(guān)短語：

cut one's coat according to one's cloth 量體裁衣,量入為出

coat with 以(某物)包裹或覆蓋(某物)

baste someone's coat 痛打某人

take off one's coat 認(rèn)真著手工作，使勁兒干;準(zhǔn)備打架;挑釁

trail one's coat 故意引起爭端

turn one's coat 叛變;改變立場(或觀點、信仰等)

28. potential adj. 潛在的

eg: The company has identified 60 potential customers.

該公司已確定了60位潛在的客戶。

相關(guān)短語：

potential for 在......方面的潛力

develop one's potential 發(fā)揮潛力

realize sb's potential 認(rèn)識某人的潛力

29. bolt v. 閂住，用螺栓固，定在一起

eg: The frightened boy bolted all the doors and windows.

這個嚇壞了的孩子閂上了所有的門窗。

相關(guān)短語：

bolt from the blue 晴天霹靂

bolt down 用螺栓旋緊;狼吞虎咽吃(食物)

bolt in 把......關(guān)在里面

bolt out 把......關(guān)在外面;急逃

bolt on 栓在......上;連接在......上

佳句采摘：

So you can imagine the reaction when a recent USA Today investigation of air quality around the nation's schools singled out those in the smugly green village of Berkeley, Calif, as being among the worst in the country.

因此，你可以想象得出當(dāng)《今日美國》日報公布了一項關(guān)于學(xué)校周圍空氣質(zhì)量的調(diào)查后所引起的反響。調(diào)查顯示，被稱為“綠色村莊”的加州柏克萊市是全國空氣質(zhì)量最差的地區(qū)之一。