(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.
The way we cook is important. In many countries, the two choices are natural gas or electric-powered stoves.
The World Health Organization warns that millions of people are dying every year from indoor air pollution.
Indoor air pollution results from the use of dangerous fuels and cook-stoves in the home. To help fight the problem, the WHO announced new guidelines aimed at reducing household pollutants.
WHO officials say nearly three billion people are unable to use clean fuels and technologies for cooking, heating and lighting. And they say more than seven million people die from exposure to indoor or outdoor air pollution each year. Of that number, the WHO says about 4.3 million people die from household air pollution given off by simple biomass and coal cook-stoves.
Most of the deaths are in developing countries.
The WHO's plan of action for reducing indoor pollutants is based on new findings. These findings show that the use of toxic fuels in inefficient stoves, space heaters or lights is to blame for many of these deaths.
Carlos Dora is Coordinator in the WHO's Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. He says people should not use unprocessed coal and kerosene fuel indoors. He says opening a window or door to let out the harmful air will not correct the situation. It will only pollute the outdoors.
"You cannot expect that a bit of ventilation is going to get rid of this. It is really about very clean technologies and clean fuels. And, the fuel story has not been stressed enough so far in the global debate. So, that is the new thing. We should be going for clean fuels. We should be avoiding coal. We should be avoiding kerosene and we should be going for the solar, the LPG (liquified petroleum gas), the ethanol ... the solutions that we know exist that can address a big proportion of this issue."
WHO officials say indoor pollution leads to early deaths from stroke, heart and lung disease, childhood pneumonia and lung cancer. Women and girls are the main victims.
The WHO says these diseases can often result from high levels of fine particulate matter and carbon monoxide released by the burning of solid fuels. These fuels include wood, coal, animal waste, crop waste and charcoal.
The United Nations found that more than 95 percent of households in sub-Saharan Africa depend on solid fuels for cooking. It says huge populations in India, China and Latin American countries, such as Guatemala and Peru, also are at risk.
Nigel Bruce is a professor of Public Health at the University of Liverpool. He says researchers are developing good cook-stoves and other equipment to burn fuels in a more efficient way.
"There are already multiple technologies available for use in clean fuels. There is really quite an effective and reasonably low-cost ethanol stove that is made by Dometic (a Sweden-based company) that is now being tested out .. it has been tested out in a number of African countries and we do report results from that in the guidelines. LPG cook is obviously widely available and efforts are under way to make those efficient. Another interesting development is electric induction stoves."
WHO experts note some new, safe and low-cost technologies that could help are already available. In India, you can buy an induction stove for about $8.00. And in Africa you can buy a solar lamp for less than $1.00.
But, this, the agency says, is just a start. It is urging developing countries to use cleaner fuels and increase access to cleaner and more modern cooking and heating appliances.
I'm Anna Matteo.
词汇解释
1.biomass n. （单位面积或体积内的）[生态] 生物量；(作为潜在能源物质的)有机物；生物堆，生物燃料
Removing too much biomass would eventually cause declines in forest productivity.
带走更多的生物质最终将使森林的生产率下降。
2.Determinant adj. 决定性的 n. 决定因素；[数] 行列式
The windows and the views beyond them are major determinants of a room's character.
窗户和窗外的景色是决定一个房间特色的主要因素。
3.kerosene n. 煤油，火油
The fire burned up when she added some kerosene.
她添了些煤油，火旺起来了。
4.ventilation n. 通风设备；空气流通
The only ventilation comes from tiny sliding windows.
只能通过小推拉窗来通风。
5.charcoal n. 木炭；炭笔
Charcoal filters many gases.
炭被用作许多气体的滤器。
6.induction n. [电磁] 感应；归纳法；感应现象；入门培训，入职仪式
Every induction is a speculation.
所有归纳推理都是一种猜测。
内容解析
1.These findings show that the use of toxic fuels in inefficient stoves, space heaters or lights is to blame for many of these deaths.
be to blame for 应该为某事负责任 ; 应负责
The government is not wholly to blame for the recession.
这次衰退不能完全怨政府。
He's not to blame for this.
这事怪不得他。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
我们做饭的方式很重要，在很多国家，做饭的两大选择是天然气或电炉灶。
世卫组织警告称每年有数百万人因室内空气污染而死亡。
室内空气污染来自家中使用危险燃料和炉灶，为帮助解决这一问题，世卫组织宣布了意在减少家庭污染的新规定。
世卫组织官方称近30亿人无法使用清洁和技术来做饭、加热和照明，他们称每年有700多万死于室内或室外空气污染，世卫组织称其中有430万人死于生物燃料和煤气灶导致的室内空气污染。
很多死亡发生在发展中国家。
世卫组织减少室内污染的计划是基于新的发现，这些发现表明，低能效炉灶、取暖器和照明设备使用的有毒燃料导致了很多死亡事件。
卡洛斯·多拉是世卫组织卫生及健康问题环境和社会决定因素司协调员，他说人们不应该在室内使用未经处理的煤和煤油燃料，他说打开窗户或房门让有害气体排出并不能改变现状，那样会导致室外污染。
“我们不能指望排风就能解决问题，只能靠清洁技术和清洁燃料，到目前为止，全球辩论中尚未对燃料强调得足够的多，所以这是个新问题。我们应该采取清洁燃料，避免使用煤，应该避免使用煤油，应该使用太阳能、液化石油气和乙醇，我们目前知道的现存解决办法可以解决很大一部分问题。”
世卫组织称室内污染能引发中风、心脏病和肺病导致的早死、儿童肺炎和肺癌，妇女和女孩是主要的受害者。
世卫组织称这些疾病通常是由固体燃料燃烧时释放的微小颗粒和二氧化碳导致的，这些燃料包括木材、煤、动物粪便、作物秸秆和木炭。
联合国发现撒哈拉南部非洲有95%以上的家庭依靠固体燃料来做饭，称印度、中国和危地马拉及秘鲁等拉美国家也在危险中。
奈杰尔·布鲁斯是利物浦大学公共卫生教授，他说研究者在开发高质量的炉灶等设备来提高燃料的能效。
“目前已有多种可用的清洁燃料技术，瑞典多美达公司生产的非常有效、成本合理的乙醇炉也正在接受测试，且已经在很多非洲国家做了测试，我们对结果做了报告，液化石油气做饭显然已经得到普遍使用，并采取了措施使其高效，另一个有趣的进步是电磁炉。”
世卫组织专家指出一些安全、低成本的有用新技术已经面世，在印度，你可以花8美元购买电磁炉，在非洲，用不到一美元就可买到太阳能灯。
但是世卫组织称这只是开始，目前该组织正敦促发展中国家使用更清洁燃料，提供更多途径来使其获得更清洁、更现代化的烹调和加热设备。
我是安娜·马特奥。
