VOA慢速英语2019 新航运规则旨在减少空气污染，但可能对海洋有危害（在线收听）

New Shipping Rules Aim to Reduce Air Pollution, But Could Harm Seas

New shipping rules aimed at reducing air pollution will take effect in January 2020.

新航运规则将于2020年1月生效，旨在减少空气污染。 

The rules, put in place by the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, will change the kind of fuel that ships can use.

这些由国际海事组织制定的规则将改变船舶的燃料种类。 

Ships, for the most part, will no longer be able to use fuels with a sulfur content above 0.5 percent.

在很大程度上，船舶将不再能够使用硫含量超过0.5%的燃料。 

Current rules permit a sulfur content of around 3.5 percent.

目前的规定允许硫含量在3.5%左右。 

The IMO’s stated goal is to reduce air pollution.

国际海事组织的目标是减少空气污染。 

However, experts and civil society leaders warn that the new rules could have a bad side effect.

然而，专家和民间团体负责人警告说，这些规定可能会产生不良的副作用。 

Ship crews might dump more sulfur and nitrates into the ocean.

船员可能会向海洋中排放更多的硫和硝酸盐。 

After January 2020, ships will still be able to use higher-sulfur fuel if they have pollution cleaning devices called scrubbers.

在2020年1月以后，如果船舶上有一种叫做涤气器的污染清洁设备，那么就仍然可以使用高硫燃料。

There are two kinds of scrubbers: open-loop scrubbers and closed-loop scrubbers.

有两种涤气器：开环式涤气器和闭环式涤气器。 

Open-loop scrubbers use water to remove sulfur coming through a ship’s smokestack and then pump the waste into the sea.

开环式涤气器利用水来去除轮船烟囱里的硫，并将废物排入大海。 

Closed-loop scrubbers keep most of the water used in the cleaning process on the ship for disposal later at a port.

闭环涤气器将清洗过程中使用的大部分水留在船上，等之后到了港口再处理。 

A few countries will ban the use of open-loop scrubbers.

一些国家将禁止使用开环涤气器。 

Singapore and Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates are two examples.

例如，新加坡和阿拉伯联合酋长国的富查伊拉镇。 

China is also set to extend a ban on scrubber discharge to coastal areas.

中国还将扩大对沿海地区使用涤气器的禁令。 

“Were open-looped scrubbers ever a really good idea?”

“使用开环式涤气器真的起作用吗？” 

Bill Hemmings of the Clean Shipping Coalition asked industry figures at the IMO’s headquarters in London.

清洁航运联盟的比尔·海明斯在国际海事组织伦敦总部询问了行业人士。 

Years of studies have examined whether open-loop scrubbers hurt human and marine life by putting dangerous chemicals into the water.

多年来，人们一直在研究开环式涤气器是否会将危险的化学物质倒入水中，从而伤害人类和海洋生物。

The results, so far, have not been clear.

到目前为止，结果还不清楚。 

The IMO has supported further study into the environmental impact of scrubbers.

国际海事组织支持进一步研究涤气器对环境的影响。 

“It’s a bit of a blind spot, and the optics of it are not great,” said Alan Gelder to the Reuters news agency.

“这是一个盲点，它的光学效果不是很好，”艾伦·盖尔德对路透社说。 

Gelder is vice president of refining at consulting company Wood Mackenzie.

盖尔德是咨询公司伍德麦肯兹公司炼油业务的副总裁。 

“Though some studies suggest the impact of open-loop scrubbing is going to be very small given the great volume of seas, which already contain many sulphates,

“尽管一些研究表明，很多海洋中都含有大量的硫酸盐，使用开环式涤气器对其影响甚小。 

what it’s doing is solving air pollution by producing a marine pollutant instead.”

不过，它所做的是通过产生一种海洋污染物来解决空气污染。” 

The stated aim of the new rules is to improve human health.

新规定的既定目标是改善人类健康。 

A study last year said that ship pollution with current sulfur levels caused about 400,000 premature deaths from lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.

去年的一项研究称，目前的硫含量造成的船舶污染导致约40万人过早死于肺癌和心血管疾病。 

The study, which appeared in the journal Nature, also said the pollution caused about 14 million cases of childhood asthma every year.

这项研究发表在《自然》杂志，它还指出，污染每年导致约1400万儿童患哮喘。 

After 2020, experts think those numbers will fall to about 250,000 and 6.4 million, respectively.

专家们认为，2020年后，这两个数字将分别降至25万和640万左右。 

Some people, however, are still doubtful of the new rules.

然而，一些人仍然对新规定表示怀疑。 

One oil trader told the Reuters news agency that the “huge changes” might not be as helpful as some might think.

一名石油交易员告诉路透社，“巨大的变化”可能并不像一些人认为的那么有用。 

“In the end you can still buy a piece of kit that just dumps it [pollution] in the water,” he said.

他说：“最终，你仍然可以买到一套设备，只是把污染倒入海水中。”