VOA标准英语2011-Watch's Deadly Glow Recalls Worker Traged

Today the U.S. government keeps an eye on health and safety in the workplace. But that wasn't always the case. Americans workers can thank a little-known factory worker for sparking the sweeping¹ changes that now protect them on the job.

Worker tragedy

During the early 1900s, an estimated 4,000 workers - most of them women - were hired by corporations in the U.S. and Canada to paint watch faces with radium. They used camel hair brushes to apply the glowing paint onto dial numbers.

One of those workers was Grace Fryer. The newspapers called her "Pretty" Grace Fryer. She died young of a terrible cancer caused by that glow-in-the-dark paint, which contained radioactive radium which was known by scientists and plant managers to be a human health hazard. However, Fryer's employers never warned her or her co-workers of that danger.

"There was tremendous denial," says Ross Mullner, author of "Deadly Glow: The Radium Dial Worker Tragedy." "In fact, the head of the U.S. Radium Corporation would never admit that the radium actually was toxic² or could kill people."

Chicago's Daily Times story from July 7, 1937 reports former Radium Dial worker Charlotte Purcell, who joined Catherine Wolfe Donahue in her lawsuit³, 'lives in daily fear of end that is inevitable⁴.'
Workers rights

Radium was hailed as a miracle cure after Marie Curie discovered it in 1898. Doctors applied⁵ ointments⁶ laced with radium to heal wounds. People swallowed spoonfuls of radium tonic⁷, seeking to cure everything from baldness to stomach ailments⁸. But by the 1920s, radium's health risks - including anemia⁹ and bone cancer - were better known.

Mullner says the last people to acknowledge its dangers were often the owners of radium dial factories. "At some point, they knew it was killing¹⁰ the women and they didn't want to ever admit it. It was just too profitable, is what it really amounted to."

In 1927, after contracting cancer, a small band of radium dial workers led by Grace Fryer, sued factory owner U.S. Radium Company. They won, establishing a legal precedent¹¹ for other U.S. workers with occupation-related diseases to sue their employers. Media coverage¹² of the so-called Radium Girls inspired the government to establish stronger safety regulations.

That culminated¹³ in 1970, with the passage of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, or OSHA. Today, OSHA regulates everything from underground mines to workplace chemicals.

Hot spots

The New Jersey¹⁴ factory where Grace Fryer worked was not the only radium plant in the country, nor was she the only worker to file a lawsuit. In 1938, Catherine Wolfe Donahue took the company she worked for in Ottawa, Illinois, to court. She was so ill by then, she had to be carried into the courtroom. Like the Radium Girls, she won her case, but died shortly after the company agreed to pay her a few thousand dollars. The Ottawa factory has been torn down, but it left a legacy¹⁵ of radioactivity.

In the 1980s, Ottawa resident Ken¹⁶ Ricci used a Geiger counter to prove that debris¹⁷ from the factory, used as fill throughout the town, was still highly radioactive, as was factory debris buried at a local landfill.

"We didn't know nothing about hot spots in Ottawa," says Ricci. "All we knew was the building was dangerous because the girls who worked in there got sick and a lot of them died."

Point Of Contention¹⁸ Theatre
Chicago's Point Of Contention Theatre Company presented Radium Girls by D.W. Gregory in 2008.
The area is now a superfund cleanup site, which qualifies for federal money. It's estimated the total clean-up will cost $100 million.

Radium paint continued to be used until the 1960's, but workers were given protective gear and taught safety precautions. Today, the U.S. requires glow-in-the-dark products to be made with non-toxic materials. Worker's health and environmental safety have higher priorities. But all that came too late for those first radium dial workers.

"They were just girls," says Eleanor Swanson, a poet who teaches at Regis University in Denver. "They made a penny and a half a dial. Painting all day long."

Swanson's research into the life of Madame Curie, and the radium dial tragedy, inspired the poem "Radium Girls."

We sat at long tables side by side in a big
dusty room where we laughed and carried
on until they told us to pipe down and paint.
The running joke was how we glowed,
the handkerchiefs we sneezed into lighting¹⁹
up our purses when we opened them at night,
our lips and nails, painted for our boyfriends
as a lark²⁰, simmering white as ash in a dark room.
"Would you die for science?" the reporter asked us,
Edna and me, the main ones in the papers.
Science? We mixed up glue, water and radium
powder into a glowing greenish white paint
and painted watch dials with a little
brush, one number after another, taking
one dial after another, all day long,
from the racks sitting next to our chairs.
After a few strokes, the brush lost its shape,
and our bosses told us to point it with
our lips. Was that science?
I quit the watch factory to work in a bank
and thought I'd gotten class, more money,
a better life, until I lost a tooth in back
and two in front and my jaw²¹ filled up with sores.
We sued: Edna, Katherine, Quinta, Larice and me,
but when we got to court, not one of us
could raise our arms to take the oath.
My teeth were gone by then. "Pretty Grace
Fryer," they called me in the papers.
All of us were dying.
We heard the scientist in France, Marie
Curie, could not believe "the manner
in which we worked" and how we tasted
that pretty paint a hundred times a day.
Now, even our crumbling²² bones
will glow forever in the black earth.

The story of the radium dial tragedy has also been told in a novel and short story, and on stage, TV and film.

And on National Workers Memorial Day in April, the town of Ottawa plans to unveil a bronze statue on the site of the former Radium Dial and Luminous Processes plant, to honor the suffering and sacrifice of the factory's workers

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

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 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 ointments   

n.软膏( ointment的名词复数 )；扫兴的人；煞风景的事物；药膏

参考例句：

• The firm has been dispensing ointments. 本公司配制药膏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Antibiotic ointments are useful for concurrent bacterial infections. 抗菌素软膏对伴发的细菌感染是有用的。 来自辞典例句

7 tonic   

n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的

参考例句：

• It will be marketed as a tonic for the elderly.这将作为老年人滋补品在市场上销售。
• Sea air is Nature's best tonic for mind and body.海上的空气是大自然赋予的对人们身心的最佳补品。

8 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。

9 anemia   

n.贫血，贫血症

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。
• I was put on iron tablets for my anemia.我曾因贫血吃补铁药片。

10 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。

11 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

12 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

13 culminated   

v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• a gun battle which culminated in the death of two police officers 一场造成两名警察死亡的枪战
• The gala culminated in a firework display. 晚会以大放烟火告终。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

15 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

16 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

17 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

18 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

19 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

20 lark   

n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏

参考例句：

• He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
• She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。

21 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

22 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。