VOA慢速英语2018 比尔·盖茨谈论厕所的未来

Bill Gates Talks about the Future of Toilets

Microsoft founder¹ Bill Gates has presented a container of feces to visitors to a trade show in China.

微软创始人比尔·盖茨在中国的一个贸易展上向参观者展示了一个粪便容器。 

No, not the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.Gates is at the “Reinvented Toilet” Expo in Beijing to discuss developing a safe process to remove human wastes.

不是在上海的中国国际进口博览会上。盖茨是在北京的“新时代厕所”博览会上谈到要开发一种安全清除人类排泄物的方法。

“You might guess what’s in this beaker — and you’d be right. Human feces,” the Microsoft founder told the gathering².

“你可能猜到了这个烧杯里装了什么——对的，是人类排泄物，”微软创始人在会上说道。 

He said, “This small amount of feces could contain as many as 200 trillion rotavirus cells, 20 billion Shigella bacteria, and 100,000 parasitic³ worm eggs.”

他说，“这点粪便里可能包含200万亿个轮状病毒细胞、200亿个志贺氏菌和10万个寄生虫卵。” 

Gates noted⁴ that these microbes cause diseases that kill almost 500,000 children under the age of 5 every year.

盖茨指出，这些微生物导致的疾病每年导致将近50万5岁以下儿童死亡。 

More than 20 companies and research organizations are showing new toilet technologies at the three-day expo.These include self-contained toilets, a small self-powered waste treatment system called the Omni Processor and other inventions.

20多家公司和研究机构在为期三天的博览会上展示了各种新型厕所技术。有独立型厕所，有带有小型自供电垃圾处理系统的全能处理器厕所以及其他各种发明。

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation presented its own idea for a future toilet that does not require water.Instead, it uses chemical to turn human waste into fertilizer.There are several designs of the toilet but all work by separating liquid and solid waste.

比尔与梅林达·盖茨基金会提出了一个自己的想法，未来的厕所可以不用水。反而可以使用化学物质将人类排泄物转化为肥料。有几种不同的厕所设计，但都是通过分离液体和固体废物来工作。

“The current toilet simply sends the waste away in the water, whereas these toilets don’t have the sewer⁵.They take both the liquids and solids and do chemical work on it, including burning it in most cases,” Gates told Reuters.He compared the development of waterless toilets to that of personal computing⁶ in the mid-1970s.

盖茨告诉路透社：“目前的厕所只是把排泄物排入水中，这些厕所没有下水道。他们只能同时提取液体和固体，对其进行化学处理，其中大多数情况下是焚烧。”他将无水马桶的发展比作上世纪70年代中期的个人电脑。

The researchers are planning to show the waterless toilets to manufacturers.Gates said he expects that a more than $6 billion market for the toilets will develop by 2030.

研究人员计划向制造商展示无水马桶。盖茨说，他预计到2030年，这种厕所的市场规模将超过60亿美元。

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spent more than $200 million since 2011 to support research and development of safe sanitation⁷ technology.

自2011年以来，比尔及梅林达·盖茨基金会已投入2亿多美元来支持安全卫生技术的研发。 

Across the world, UNICEF estimates that 4.5 billion people suffer a lack of safely operated sanitation systems.The organization says over 480,000 children under 5 die every year from diarrhea.Most of the deaths are in South Asia and African countries south of the Sahara desert.

联合国儿童基金会估计，全世界有45亿人没有安全运行的卫生系统。该组织称，每年有超过48万5岁以下的儿童死于腹泻。大部分死亡发生在南亚和撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲国家。

The Gates Foundation says poor sanitation also cost the world over $200 billion a year in healthcare and lost earnings⁸.

盖茨基金会表示，恶劣的卫生条件每年还造成全世界2000多亿美元的医疗费用和收入损失。

Words in This Story

feces - n. solid waste that is released from the body

parasitic - adj. living in or on another animal or plant

toilet - n. a large bowl attached to a pipe that is used for getting rid of body waste

sewer - n. an underground pipe that is used to carry off water and sewage

sanitation - n. the process of keeping pl

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

6 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

7 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

8 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%。