SSS 2009-10-29_在线英语听力室_免费在线英语听力学习网站

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From Chernobyl to La Oroya, Peru, the world is littered with toxic¹ wastelands, the residue² of human industry. For the past two years, the Blacksmith Institute, an environmental health organization based in New York City, has been cataloguing the world's worst pollution problems. But with 40 cleanup projects in 19 countries, Blacksmith also knows that toxic pollution can be among the easiest problems to solve.

This week a new report by Blacksmith and Green Cross Switzerland highlights the best cleanup examples. First among equals: the global phase out of leaded gasoline, which has helped bring down blood levels of this potent³ neurotoxic in children. As of this year only 11 countries still use leaded gasoline.

Here are some other top successes: destroying stockpiles of chemical weapons globally as well as local stores of DDT in Tanzania; new cooking stoves to eliminate indoor air pollution in Ghana; separating copper⁴ mine tailings from the local water supply in Chile; alternative fuels to reduce air pollution in New Delhi as well as treating arsenic⁵ in well water in West Bengal; removing lead-contaminated soil in the Dominican Republic and Russia; reducing mercury vapors⁶ from artisanal gold mining in Indonesia; and new sewage systems to clean up contaminated Suzhou Creek⁷ in Shanghai.

Even the lingering radioactivity from Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear power accident, can be mitigated⁸. The introduction of a new containment⁹ structure around the meltdown as well as group therapies for the children can reduce radiation exposure by as much as 80 percent.

This is all grounds for hope even in the world's most polluted places.

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收听单词发音

1 toxic
adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的
参考例句：
The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。 There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

2 residue
n.残余，剩余，残渣
参考例句：
Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。 Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

3 potent
adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的
参考例句：
The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。 We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

4 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。

5 arsenic
n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的
参考例句：
His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。 Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

6 vapors
n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
His emotions became vague and shifted about like vapors. 他的心情则如同一团雾气，变幻无常，捉摸不定。来自辞典例句 They have hysterics, they weep, they have the vapors. 他们歇斯底里，他们哭泣，他们精神忧郁。来自辞典例句

7 creek
n.小溪，小河，小湾
参考例句：
He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。 People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

8 mitigated
v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
The cost of getting there is mitigated by Sydney's offer of a subsidy. 由于悉尼提供补助金，所以到那里的花费就减少了。来自辞典例句 The living conditions were slightly mitigated. 居住条件稍有缓解。来自辞典例句

9 containment
n.阻止，遏制；容量
参考例句：
Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。 Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。