VOA常速英语2019--特朗普政府不顾加州的污染问题取消了其严格的排放标准

Trump¹ Administration Revokes³ California’s Strict Emission⁴ Standards Despite Its Pollution Problem

Communities in parts of eastern Texas looked like lakes on Thursday as rainwater submerged roads and vehicles and left some people stranded⁵.The National Weather Service issued the emergency warning for some counties.“We do have a flash flood emergency in effect right now, for east central Harris County, this is a life-threatening situation, we are asking people to shelter in place.”Greece on Thursday reported that thousands of dead fish washed ashore⁶ from Lake Carney near the northern city of Thessaloniki.Indonesia’s forest fires have created a toxic⁷ haze⁸ across Southeast Asia.“We need cooperation in the international level, in the regional level and believe that all the countries in the Asia would like to solve this problem.Scientists linked such developments to human activity and warned there is little time left to reverse the destructive trend.Young people are increasingly worried about the condition of the planets they will inherit.“It doesn’t matter how talented we are, it doesn’t matter how much work we put in, how many dreams we have, the reality is my generation has been committed to a planet that is collapsing⁹.”But while some countries work to curb¹⁰ toxic emissions¹¹, the Trump administration has relaxed environmental regulations in favour of coal and car industries.The president has openly admitted he does not believe in climate change.

周四，德克萨斯州东部的一些社区看起来像湖泊一样，雨水淹没了道路和车辆，导致一些人被困。国家气象局对一些县发出了紧急警报。“我们现在确实有暴洪紧急情况，对于中东部哈里斯县来说，这是一个危及生命的情况，我们要求人们在适当的地方避难。”希腊周四报道称，数千条死鱼从塞萨洛尼基北部城市附近的卡尼湖被冲上岸。印度尼西亚的森林大火在整个东南亚地区造成了有毒烟雾。“我们需要国际、地区合作，我们相信亚洲各国都愿意解决这个问题。科学家们将这种发展情况与人类活动联系起来，并警告说，现在几乎没有时间扭转这种破坏性趋势了。年轻人越来越担心他们将继承的行星的状况。“不管我们多有天赋，不管我们投入了多少工作，不管我们有多少梦想，现实情况是我们这一代人一直致力于一个正在崩溃的星球。”但当一些国家正努力控制有毒气体排放时，特朗普政府对环境法规更为宽松，支持煤炭和汽车工业。总统公开承认他不相信气候变化。

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao unveiled a national fuel economy standards’ rule that would revoke² California’s authority to set its own vehicle emission standards.No state has the authority to up out of the nation’s rules, and no state has a right to impose its policies on everybody else in our whole country,to do otherwise harms consumers and damages the American economy.”California governor Gavin Newsom called the announcement an aggressive move to assert dominance over the state a few days before UN climate week,to punctuate¹² a point, he vowed¹³ that California will fight and prevail.California is the most polluted US state due to the activities of its large population and the terrain¹⁴ that traps pollutants¹⁵ especially when the weather is hot.

周四，美国交通部长Elaine Chao公布了一项国家燃油经济性标准的规定，该规定将撤销加州自行制定其汽车排放标准的权力。“没有一个州有权违反国家规定，也没有一个州有权将其政策强加于我们国家的其他人，否则会损害消费者利益和美国经济。”加州州长Gavin Newsom称，这一宣布是在联合国气候周前几天宣布的一项激进举措，旨在明确对该州的主导地位，他强调他立誓加州将奋战并取得胜利。加利福尼亚州是美国污染最严重的州，因为它人口众多、活动密集，而且地形会截留污染物，特别是在天气炎热的时候。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 revoke   

v.废除，取消，撤回

参考例句：

• The university may revoke my diploma.大学可能吊销我的毕业证书。
• The government revoked her husband's license to operate migrant labor crews.政府撤销了她丈夫管理外来打工人群的许可证。

3 revokes   

v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• NTFS file system allocates and revokes the storage by cluster. It manages by MFT. NTFS文件系统以簇为单位分配和回收外存空间，通过主文件表来进行管理。 来自互联网

4 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

6 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

7 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。

8 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

9 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

10 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

11 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

12 punctuate   

vt.加标点于；不时打断

参考例句：

• The pupils have not yet learned to punctuate correctly.小学生尚未学会正确使用标点符号。
• Be sure to punctuate your sentences with the correct marks in the right places.一定要在你文章句子中的正确地方标上正确的标点符号。

13 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

14 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

15 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法