时差N小时 致命的氯

If you've ever seen movies about World War I, you know thatthe soldiers in the trenches¹ often wore bulbous gas masks that made them look like human insects.

如果你看过关于一战的电影的话，你肯定知道冲在一线的士兵们通常会配戴着球茎形状的防毒面罩，看起来很像人形昆虫。

The masks were necessary to protect them from chemical weapons such as chlorine gas, a noxious² substance that could almost instantly suffocate³ unprotected victims.

这种面具可以保护士兵不被化学武器攻击，如氯气-一种可以快速使人窒息的有毒气体。

If chlorine is so dangerous, why the do we dump it in swimming pools?

如果氯算危险物质的话，那么为什么我们要把它倒进游泳池里呢？

As you probably already know, chlorine is used to disinfect swimming pools.

你可能已经知道，氯可以用于消毒游泳池。

It also gives mostpools their distinctive⁴ odor.

同时，大多数加氯的游泳池也会有一种独特的味道。

Chlorine comes in pellet, liquid, and gas forms, and when it reacts withpool water it immediately breaks down into different chemicals, including hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ion.

氯可以以固、液、气三种形式存在。氯遇到水会立刻分解成不同的化学物质，如：次氯酸和次氯酸盐离子。

Both chemicals attack micro organisms in the water by breaking through their cellwalls and scrambling⁵ the inner workings of the cells, rendering⁶ them harmless.

这两种化学物质都可以通过破坏水中微生物的细胞壁、扰乱细胞内部正常运转而使微生物变的无害。

So why don't these killer⁷ chemicals destroy human cells as well?

那这些致命的化学物质不会破坏人体细胞呢？

They would, if not for the verysmall amounts of chlorine needed to cleanse⁸ the typical pool.

如果用于清理泳池的氯使用量过大的话是会对人体造成伤害的。

For example, the concentration of chlorine used to sanitize an Olympic-size pool is three parts per million, meaning that for everythree molecules⁹ of chlorine there are one million water molecules.

比如，用于奥运会的泳池消毒的氯浓度是3比100万，也就是说每一百万个水分子里有三个氯分子。

Such low concentrations may cause slight irritation¹⁰ to the eyes and skin, but there's not enough chlorine to cause any real harm to swimmers.

这样的低浓度可能只会对眼睛和皮肤产生轻微刺激，但对游泳的人来说不会产生真正的伤害。

Chlorine is not the only chemical used to keep pools clean—bromine and ozone¹¹ are becoming increasingly popular in pool maintenance facilities.

氯不是唯一能够保持泳池清洁的化学物质-溴和臭氧在泳池的日常维护中也越加频繁。

But chlorine is still the pool cleaner's mainstay.

但泳池清洁人员主要还是用氯来消毒。

1 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

2 noxious   

adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• Heavy industry pollutes our rivers with noxious chemicals.重工业产生的有毒化学品会污染我们的河流。
• Many household products give off noxious fumes.很多家用产品散发有害气体。

3 suffocate   

vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展

参考例句：

• If you shut all the windows,I will suffocate.如果你把窗户全部关起来，我就会闷死。
• The stale air made us suffocate.浑浊的空气使我们感到窒息。

4 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

5 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

8 cleanse   

vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗

参考例句：

• Health experts are trying to cleanse the air in cities. 卫生专家们正设法净化城市里的空气。
• Fresh fruit juices can also cleanse your body and reduce dark circles.新鲜果汁同样可以清洁你的身体,并对黑眼圈同样有抑制作用。

9 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

10 irritation   

n.激怒，恼怒，生气

参考例句：

• He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
• Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说，但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。

11 ozone   

n.臭氧，新鲜空气

参考例句：

• The ozone layer is a protective layer around the planet Earth.臭氧层是地球的保护层。
• The capacity of ozone can adjust according of requirement.臭氧的产量可根据需要或调节。