VOA标准英语2012--SAF New Fire-Building Method Reduces Air Pollution

SAF New Fire-Building Method Reduces Air Pollution

With their megaphones and orange uniforms, these fieldworkers do not go unnoticed. This is Fine Town, a township south of Johannesburg. Every day, the fieldworkers walk around the townships to show the locals an innovative¹ way to make smokeless coal fires.

"This method is a new way of making coal fire, such as to reduce the pollution, it heats quicker, it gets ready quicker, and then we also reduce the environmental impact, and also reduce climate change," said Matshepiso Makhabane, the director of this outreach program. 

In some parts of Johannesburg, open air coal fires in informal dwellings² are responsible for up to 70 percent of the air pollution - most of it coming from smoke. So what is this revolutionary smokeless method?

Well, it's all about order.

Most people here make a fire by igniting paper first, then wood, and then coal.

In the new method, it's coal first, then paper, and then wood. You light it, and finally, you place a small amount of coal over the wood. The difference is dramatic - no smoke.

Benefits - environment, health, saves money

And it benefits more than just the environment - says township resident Elisabeth Phiri. "Today, I've learn how to make coal fire much less smoke. My child will no longer be sick with the smoke. I also learn I should not sleep with it in the house because the children get sick due to the gas emissions³," she said.

The credit for coming up with the new technique is generally ascribed to Nobelungu Mashinini, a South African grandmother. Her method has now been dubbed⁴: Basa Ngengo Magogo - which in Zulu means: "make your fire like the old lady".

Mashinini’s face appears on posters and leaflets and the government has launched a wide campaign to teach people how to make a clean-burning fire.

The new method also saves money. Nora Mahlalela sells corn and meat by the main road of the township. She has been using it for 3 months.

"It changed my life because the method I was using before finished quickly. But this new method last longer," she said.

The says the new method saves her about $13 per week.

"I'm thinking to use the money to by corrugated⁵ iron to make shacks⁶. So I can bring it to my hometown and have a place to stay there," Mahlalela said.

Of course, this method does not solve all problems. It reduces coal fire pollution by 80 percent, but the carbon dioxide emissions are still there.

And South Africa remains⁷ the number one polluter in Africa, in term of greenhouse gases, and the 11th in the world. 

1 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

2 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 shacks   

n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They live in shacks which they made out of wood. 他们住在用木头搭成的简陋的小屋里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most people in Port au-Prince live in tin shacks. 太子港的大多数居民居住在铁皮棚里。 来自互联网

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。