VOA标准英语2011--Human Waste Killing Caribbean Coral

Human Waste Killing¹ Caribbean Coral

In the first documented case of a human pathogen infecting a marine² species, U.S. scientists say a bacterium³ in untreated human sewage is killing coral along the Florida coast and in the Caribbean Sea.
The finding was reported this week in the Journal PloS One.
Over the past decade, the once-abundant elkhorn coral in Floridian and Caribbean waters has declined by nearly 90 percent. Rollins College coral reef ecologist and report co-author Kathryn Sutherlandand says in 2003 her group identified the culprit, a bacterium in White Pox disease, known as Serratia marcescens.
"We knew when we discovered the pathogen that it was common in terrestrial environments, in human guts⁴, in human sewage and that it is a pathogen that causes disease in humans.”
But researchers could only speculate that human waste was the source of the pathogen because the same microbes are found in the solid waste of other animals.
Finding the source
In order to determine the source of the pathogen, scientists collected and analyzed⁵ human samples from a waste water treatment facility in Key West and from other animals such as key deer and seagulls.
And, while they found the pathogen Serratia marcescens in these other animals, the genetic⁶ analysis showed that only the strain from human sewage matched the strain found in white pox diseased corals on the reef.
In a laboratory experiment, Sutherland and colleagues took small fragments of Elkhorn reef coral and inoculated⁷ them with the pathogen found in human sewage.
“We watched them for a month’s time to see if disease signs would develop. The strain that came from diseased corals and human waste water, we saw disease signs in four to five days.”
Sutherland says the study reveals a new disease pathway, from humans to wildlife rather than the reverse model seen in outbreaks such as bird flu or HIV/AIDS. “This is the first time that a human disease has been shown to cause population declines of Marine invertebrates⁸.”
Waste water treatment
One obvious solution, says Sutherland, is better wastewater treatment. “A decade ago the people of Key West upgraded their sewage treatment from septic systems to advanced waste water treatment and today the entire Florida Keys is in the process of upgrading their waste water treatment.”
Sutherland says the new systems keep deadly microbes from the coast where water-related revenues contribute more than $3 billion a year to Florida and the local region. She says the study is a call for action all across the Caribbean - where many island nations still lack sewage treatment systems.
Healthy elkhorn can provide habitat for reef fish and protect the coast from severe storms. Yet despite efforts to protect it, elkhorn populations have not grown. Sutherland says that while her team studies the White Pox menace, numerous other threats - including warming sea temperatures and other marine diseases - continue to put the coral community at risk.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

3 bacterium   

n.(pl.)bacteria 细菌

参考例句：

• The bacterium possibly goes in the human body by the mouth.细菌可能通过口进入人体。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

4 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

7 inoculated   

v.给…做预防注射( inoculate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A pedigree pup should have been inoculated against serious diseases before it's sold. 纯种狗应该在出售前注射预防严重疾病的针。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Disease can be spread by dirty tools, insects, inoculated soil. 疾病也能由不干净的工具，昆虫，接种的土壤传播。 来自辞典例句

8 invertebrates   

n.无脊椎动物( invertebrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Insects and worms are all invertebrates. 昆虫和蠕虫都是无脊椎动物。 来自辞典例句
• In the earthworm and many other invertebrates, these excretory structures are called nephridia. 在蚯蚓和许多其它无脊椎动物中，这些排泄结构称为肾管。 来自辞典例句