美国有线新闻 CNN 美国新泽西州纽瓦克市自来水铅含量严重超标

 

We're starting off the week in the largest city of New Jersey¹, a place where 14,000 households are now being offered bottled water because what's coming out of their taps might have been contaminated² with lead. This is a heavy metal. Exposure over time has been linked to heart and kidney³ problems, high blood pressure, and irreversible brain damage to children, which makes it particularly dangerous for them and pregnant⁴ mothers.

Doctors say lead is unsafe in drinking water at any level, though the U.S. government allows small amounts of it before requiring action to be taken.

Earlier this year in the tap water of part of Newark, New Jersey, lead levels were found to be m?ore than five times the government's limit. An environmental advocacy group said the lead levels here are among the highest in the United States. City and state officials say they're taking steps to address the problem, but residents of Newark say for years, their leaders have denied there was one. The city has two water treatment plants. It says the water that leaves those plants is lead free and that the pipes that transport it are too.

But Newark says lead can get into the water when it goes through the service pipes that connect water mains to homes. The city says those are owned by individual property owners and the long term solution is to replace the service pipes. That would come at a cost of about $1,000 or less per homeowner. In the short term, the city's been giving tens of thousands of lead safe water filters to those who are affected⁵ but some tests have shown that the water still has higher lead levels than the government allows.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 contaminated   

把…弄脏，污染( contaminate的过去式 )； 玷污，毒害，腐蚀（人的思想或品德）

参考例句：

• The drinking water has become contaminated with lead. 饮用水被铅污染了。
• The site was found to be contaminated by radioactivity. 发现此地受放射线污染。

3 kidney   

n.肾，腰子，类型

参考例句：

• Several of the patients had received kidney transplant.病人中有几位已接受了肾移植手术。
• The operation to transplant a kidney is now fairly routine.肾脏移植手术如今已相当常见。

4 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。