voa标准英语2008-US Communities Find Better Ways to Recycle Toxic

In the United States, the fastest growing type of trash is e-waste: computers, TVs and other electronics. Because many e-waste components¹ are toxic², many communities are striving to recycle them more responsibly. From Boulder³, Colorado, Shelley Schlender reports.
　

Boulder residents sort their e-waste into labeled bins5 at the Hard-to-Recycle Center

A young man hoists⁶ his old computer into a recycling bin⁴ at the Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials in Boulder, Colorado, and comments, "I like to know there is a center in our town that can do this."

He simply could have dumped his computer in the trash, he says, "but I know that's the wrong thing to do."

Dan Matsch, who manages this recycling center, agrees with a laugh.

"For a lot of people, it feels weird⁷ to throw a computer monitor in your trash can. It just doesn't feel right, and that's correct," Matsch says. "It shouldn't feel right because there's a lot of heavy metals in electronics."

Boulder's Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials welcomes not just computers but TVs, cell phones, fax machines and more. This diverts e-waste from landfills, where heavy metals like beryllium, cadmium and lead can leach⁸ out, contaminating drinking water.
　

Women pick through wires torn out of computers. The wires will be burned at night next to the families' homes, releasing cancer-causing fumes9. Guiyu, China. December 2001

Matsch also tries to keep e-waste away from companies that ship it overseas, where the parts are often recycled under dangerous conditions.

"Electric cords are piled up and set on fire to burn the plastic insulation¹⁰ off so that they can then take the copper¹¹ to a recycler," he explains. "So there's a lot of people are getting very sick because we're sending them our junk in the name of recycling."

Burning plastics creates dioxins, which have been identified as cancer-causing agents.

As for the leaded glass in TV and computer screens, Matsch says when these are thrown away, they increase the risk of brain damage in people who are exposed to them. More are getting tossed these days, as Americans switch to flat-screen monitors and trade in old TVs in advance of the mandatory¹² shift to digital TV in February.
　

A woman prepares to smash a cathode ray tube from a computer monitor in order to remove the copper-laden yoke13; monitor glass is later dumped in irrigation canals and along the river, where it leaches14 lead into the groundwater. Guiyu, China. December 2001

Many consumers try to recycle their old CRTs responsibly. But according to Jim Puckett, founder¹⁵ of the watchdog group the Basel Action Network, 60 percent of them end up in shipping¹⁶ containers in Hong Kong.

"And most of those in Hong Kong are immediately smuggled¹⁷ into mainland China and have gone to a village known as Guyui," he says.

In Guyui, unregulated e-waste recycling has made the water undrinkable, and it's laced the blood of local children with poisonous lead.

The practice is so common, even the city of Denver, Colorado, was fooled by a company that has been shipping e-waste to China instead of recycling it properly. After the company's illegal practice was disclosed in a national television documentary, Michelle Weingarten, Denver's sustainability director, said the city now only will work with e-waste recyclers who have signed a special promise.

"We are making sure that any company that we partner on will be a partner that has signed the pledge by the Basel Action Network to not ship CRTs to developing countries," says Weingarten.
　

John Miller18 holds a circuit board that was removed from a discarded computer. Gold, silver and palladium can be recovered from it

One company that has signed the Basel Action Pledge is Boulder's Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials. Each week, the drop-off center sends a huge truck loaded with computers, TVs, printers and other electronics to another signer, Denver's Guaranteed Recycling Xperts, where the material is sorted.

Company Vice¹⁹ President John Miller says wires and electric cords are sent to a metal company that salvages²⁰ the copper by either chopping the plastic into bits or burning it in incinerators that don't release dioxins. Circuit boards are shipped to a state-of-the-art facility in Belgium that recovers precious metals without releasing toxins²¹.

As for leaded glass screens, Miller says crews carefully remove them from monitor cases and send them to a company that melts the glass and salvages the lead for car batteries. While this isn't profitable, Miller says it is responsible.
　

Many American communities have recycling programs that accept computers and other hard-to-recycle materials

"The other solution for this glass is for me not to touch it, for me to leave it in a monitor state and for me to sell it to a broker²² for a dollar apiece and send it overseas, where it's going to be improperly²³ recycled and cause environmental disasters," Miller says.

E-waste recycling programs in Boulder and other communities across the country are local efforts to fight a global problem, but Sarah Westervelt, with the Basel Action Network, says the U.S. government should also intervene.

"Our government is essentially²⁴ asleep at the switch, and it's very, very challenging for consumers to try to figure out who is doing the right thing," she says.

To help these consumers, the Basel Action Network last month announced plans for an E-Steward Certification Program to audit²⁵ and accredit²⁶ electronic waste recyclers. It will take effect in 2010. In the meantime, the organization will keep pushing for a federal ban on exporting e-waste.

1 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

2 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

3 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

4 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

5 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

6 hoists   

把…吊起，升起( hoist的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Mine hoists are usually operated by the counterbalance of an ascending and a descending car. 矿井升降机通常用一个升车一个落车互相平衡的方法进行操作。
• Sam understands tacitly. He hoists his cup saying. 山姆心领神会，举起酒杯。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 leach   

v.分离，过滤掉；n.过滤；过滤器

参考例句：

• Liquid water can leach soluble materials from the interface.液态水能够从界面溶解出可溶性物质。
• They believe that the humic materials are leached from decaying plant materials.他们认为腐植物料是从腐烂的植物体浸沥而来。

9 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

10 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

11 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

12 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

13 yoke   

n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶

参考例句：

• An ass and an ox,fastened to the same yoke,were drawing a wagon.驴子和公牛一起套在轭上拉车。
• The defeated army passed under the yoke.败军在轭门下通过。

14 leaches   

n.（将化学品、矿物质等）过滤( leach的名词复数 )；（液体）过滤，滤去

参考例句：

• People consume it when it leaches from plastic into baby formula, water or food in container. 当它被从塑料中经沥滤而入婴儿配方奶粉、水或罐装食品当中的时候，人们将其摄入。 来自互联网
• After this article uses is also the microwave pretreatment, leaches the method with the solution. 本文采用的也是微波预处理后用溶液浸取的方法。 来自互联网

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

16 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

17 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

18 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

19 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

20 salvages   

海上营救( salvage的名词复数 )； 抢救出的财产； 救援费； 经加工后重新利用的废物

参考例句：

• A man salvages coal at a cinder dump site in Changzhi, Shanxi province China. 中国山西长治，一名男子在煤渣处理站捡拾煤炭。

21 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

23 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

24 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

25 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

26 accredit   

vt.归功于，认为

参考例句：

• The president will accredit you as his assistant.董事长将任命你做他的助理。
• We accredit the invention of the electric light to Adison.我们把电灯的发明归功于爱迪生。