一周热闻 | 英文新闻阅读
Nearly half of the tap water in the US is contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ 美国近一半自来水被“永久性化学物质”污染 Almost half of the tap water in the US is contaminated with chemicals known as “forever chemicals,” according to a new study from the US Geological Survey. The number of people drinking contaminated water may be even higher than what the study found, however, because the researchers weren’t able to test for all of these per- and polyfluorinated① alkyl② substances, or PFAS, chemicals that are considered dangerous to human health. There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, according to the National Institutes of Health, but this study looked at only 32 of the compounds③. The scientists collected water samples directly from taps at 716 locations—269 from private wells and 447 from public sources—between 2016 and 2021. Based on their findings, they estimate that at least one PFAS chemical would be detected in 45% of US drinking water samples. Most of the contamination came from water sources near urban areas and in areas that generated PFAS, like manufacturing that uses the chemicals in its products or sites where waste was collected. (CNN) 美国地质调查局开展的一项新研究显示，美国近一半自来水被“永久性化学物质”污染。由于研究者无法测定所有种类的全氟和多氟烷基物质（简称 PFAS）——此类化学物质对人体健康有害，饮用被污染自来水的人数可能会比研究发现的更多。美国国立卫生研究院称，PFAS 的种类超过1.2万种，但研究涉及的此类化合物仅有32种。2016年到2021年间，科学家对716个地点的水龙头进行了直接取样，其中有269处是私人水井，其他447处是公用水源。从研究结果来看，科学家估计全美大约45%的自来水样本中会检测出至少一种形式的 PFAS。大部分水源污染发生在城区附近和产生 PFAS 的区域，比如在生产过程中使用 PFAS 的工厂以及废料垃圾场。 【注释】 ① fluorinate: ['flʊərɪneɪt] v. to treat or combine with fluorine 氟化；per- and polyfluorinated: 全氟化和多氟化的。 ② alkyl: [ˈælkɪl] n. of, consisting of, or containing the monovalent group CH烷基；烃基。 ③ compound: [ˈkɒmpaʊnd] n. a substance formed by a chemical reaction of two or more elements in fixed amounts relative to each other 化合物。
China unveils plan on crewed moon mission
中国公布载人登月方案
China made public on Wednesday specific designs for its manned lunar mission, which is scheduled to be achieved before the end of this decade. Speaking at a space industry forum in Wuhan, Hubei province, Zhang Hailian, deputy chief planner at the China Manned Space Agency, said the plan is to launch two Long March 10 carrier rockets from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province to transport a lunar landing module and a manned spacecraft to lunar orbit①. After reaching their preset orbital positions, the landing module and the spacecraft carrying astronauts will rendezvous② and dock③ with each other. The crew will enter the landing module, which will then undock and descend toward the lunar surface for an engine-assisted soft landing. On the moon, the astronauts will drive a rover④ to carry out scientific tasks and collect samples. Upon the completion of their assignments, they will return to the landing module, which will fly them back to lunar orbit and dock with their spacecraft. In the final stage, the astronauts will carry the samples into their spacecraft, which will then undock and carry the crew back to Earth. (
China Daily
) 7月12日，中国公布了载人登月具体方案，计划2030年前实现。在湖北武汉举办的商业航天高峰论坛上，中国载人航天工程办公室副总设计师张海联透露了载人登月方案。计划在海南文昌航天发射场发射两枚长征十号运载火箭，分别将月面着陆器和载人飞船送至环月轨道。二者进入预定轨道位置后将进行交会对接；航天员从飞船进入月面着陆器。着陆器随后与飞船分离，单独下降，在反推发动机辅助下于月面软着陆。接着航天员踏上月表，驾驶月球车开展科学考察并采集样品。任务完成后，航天员返回着陆器，上升至环月轨道与飞船交会对接。最后，航天员携带样本回到飞船，飞船与着陆器分离并带着他们返回地球。 【注释】 ① orbit: [ˈɔ:bɪt] n. a curved path followed by a planet or an object as it moves around another planet, star, moon, etc. （天体等运行的）轨道。 ② rendezvous: [ˈrɒndeɪvu:] v. to meet at a time and place that have been arranged in advance （在约定的时间和地点）会面，相会，集合。 ③ dock: [dɒk] v. if two spacecraft dock, or are docked, they are joined together in space （使宇宙飞船在外层空间）对接。 ④ rover: [ˈrəʊvə(r)] n. 月球车。
Actors strike: ‘Gladiator 2,’ ‘Mortal Kombat 2’ and others major international shoots prepare to stop filming 演员罢工：《角斗士2》《真人快打2》等大片面临停拍 Talks between the U.S. actors union and Hollywood’s collective bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, broke down Wednesday. Both sides concluded talks without reaching an agreement, thus triggering a strike vote by the SAG-AFTRA① National Board for Thursday morning. A strike is expected to be called, and the union will direct its 160,000 members to immediately stop all scripted film and TV work around the world. Major international shoots set to pause production due to the actors strike include the Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal-starring “Gladiator 2” movie, which was filming in Morocco, and martial arts sequel “Mortal Kombat 2,” which was filming in Australia. “We’re all in limbo with this strike,” says Laurent Gregoire, a leading talent agent from France. “It would be better if shoots were canceled rather than delayed because we can’t wait any longer in this fog. We need to know where we’re going.” (The Global News) 7月12日，美国演员工会与好莱坞集体谈判代理——美国电影和电视制片人联盟——之间的谈判破裂。双方没有达成协议就结束了谈判，从而引发美国演员工会和广播电视艺人联合工会的全国委员会发起7月13日上午的罢工投票。工会预计将举行罢工，并将指示16万名会员立即停止全球所有已写好剧本的影视作品的制作进程。由于演员罢工，大型国际拍摄也将暂停，包括在摩洛哥拍摄的《角斗士2》（保罗·梅斯卡尔和佩德罗·帕斯卡主演），以及在澳大利亚拍摄的武打片续作《真人快打2》。来自法国的一流经纪人——洛朗·格雷瓜尔说：“我们都因此次罢工处于悬而未决的困境。最好是取消拍摄，而不是延迟，因为我们不能再云里雾里地等下去了。我们得清楚我们将何去何从。” 【注释】 ① SAG-AFTRA: [sæɡ-ˈæftrə] n. Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists 美国演员工会和美国电视与广播艺人联合会的合并体，目前全美最大的娱乐产业联盟。
Milan Kundera dies at 94 米兰·昆德拉去世，享年94岁 Kundera has died iParis at the age of 94, the Milan Kundera Library said Wednesday. The Czech writer Milan Kundera was interested in big topics: sex, surveillance①, death, totalitarianism②. But his books always approached them with a sense of humor, a certain lightness. Kundera’s most popular book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, follows a tangle of lovers before and after the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968. It starts off ruminating③ on philosophy, but it has a conversational tone. The book coupled with his status as a writer-in-exile made Kundera popular across the globe, but Michelle Woods, who teaches literature at SUNY New Paltz, said he bristled at the fame. “He really hated the idea that people were obsessed by the celebrity author,” she says. (npr) 7月12日，米兰·昆德拉图书馆宣布，米兰·昆德拉在巴黎去世，享年94岁。这位捷克作家对一些重大话题很感兴趣，比如关于性、监视、死亡和极权主义，但他总是在作品中以幽默、轻松的方式触碰这些话题。昆德拉最受欢迎的作品——《不能承受的生命之轻》，讲述了1968年苏联占领捷克斯洛伐克前后一对恋人黏吝缴绕的故事。小说开篇以一种轻松自如的对话方式对哲学展开沉思。这本书加上他作为流亡作家的身份，使昆德拉在全球都很受欢迎，但纽约州立大学新帕尔茨分校教授文学的米歇尔·伍兹说，昆德拉对这种名声感到愤怒。她说：“昆德拉真的很讨厌人们迷恋名人作家。” 【注释】 ① surveillance: [sɜ:ˈveɪləns] n. the act of carefully watching a person suspected of a crime or a place where a crime may be committed （对犯罪嫌疑人或可能发生犯罪的地方的）监视。 ② totalitarianism: [təʊˌtæləˈteəriənɪzəm] n. a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.) 极权主义。 ③ ruminating: [ˈruːmɪneɪtɪŋ] v. reflect deeply on a subject 反刍；沉思，深思：仔细思考或反复思考某个问题或想法。
Sotheby’s auction to feature prehistoric remains of flying 'Horus' and swimming ‘Nessie’ 苏富比将拍卖史前翼龙“荷鲁斯”和海生蛇颈龙“尼斯”恐龙化石 The fossilized prehistoric skeletons of a flying Pteranodon① and marine reptile② Plesiosaur③, which date as far back as 190 million years ago, will go up for auction later this month at Sotheby’s in New York. A public exhibition of the mounted④ skeletons will open July 20 ahead of the live auction on July 26. The auction house is advertising “Horus” the Pteranodon as “one of the largest, and most fearsome flying species ever to roam Earth” with an estimated value of $4 million to $6 million. The aerial predator with a 20-foot wingspan from the late Cretaceous⑤ period was discovered in 2002, buried in a seabed in what was once the Western Interior Seaway⑥ that divided the continent of North America. “Nessie”, the Plesiosaur from the lower Jurassic⑦ period, is being called the “best-preserved ever offered on the market” with a value of between $600,000 and $800,000 and measuring 11 feet in length. It is believed to have inspired the Loch Ness monster legend with its long neck, small head and affinity for water. (UPI) 7月下旬，纽约苏富比拍卖行将拍卖两具史前恐龙化石骨架，一具是翱翔天空的翼龙“荷鲁斯”，另一具是海生爬行动物蛇颈龙“尼斯”，两者均可追溯至1.9亿年前。苏富比将于7月20日公开展览这两具装好的恐龙化石骨架，随后于7月26日进行现场拍卖。苏富比宣称翼龙“荷鲁斯”是“地球上体型最大、最可怖的飞行生物之一”，其化石估值400万到600万美元。这只天空掠食者生活在白垩纪晚期，翼展可达20英尺。2002年，人们在西部内陆海道的一处海床中发现了其化石，该海道曾分割北美大陆。蛇颈龙“尼斯”则来自侏罗纪早期，测量体长达11英尺，被称为“目前市场上保存最完好的蛇颈龙化石”，估值在60万到80万美元之间。据信，正是其长颈、小头、亲水的特点引发了尼斯湖水怪的传说。 【注释】 ① Pteranodon: [teˈrænəˌdɒn] n. 翼龙；无齿翼龙。 ② reptile: [ˈreptaɪl] n. any animal that has cold blood and skin covered in scales, and that lays eggs. Snakes, crocodiles and tortoises are all reptiles. 爬行动物。 ③ Plesiosaur: [ˈpliːsɪəˌsɔː] n. 蛇颈龙。 ④ mounted: [ˈmaʊn.t̬ɪd] adj. placed on sth or attached to sth for display or support 装裱好的；安装好的。 ⑤ Cretaceous: [krɪˈteɪʃəs] adj. 白垩纪的。 ⑥ Western Interior Seaway: The Western Interior Seaway was a huge inland sea. It split North America into two halves for most of the mid- and late-Cretaceous Period. 西部内陆海道是一个大型内海，在白垩纪中晚期绝大部分时间将北美大陆分割成两半。 ⑦ Jurassic: [dʒʊˈræsɪk] adj. 侏罗纪的。
Aspartame hazard and risk assessment results released 阿斯巴甜危害及风险评估报告发布 Aspartame is an artificial (chemical) sweetener widely used in various food and beverage products since the 1980s, including diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products such as yogurt, breakfast cereal, toothpaste and medications such as cough drops and chewable vitamins. The sugar substitute aspartame was classified as “possibly carcinogenic① to humans” in a report released on Thursday by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The IARC has two more serious categories: “probably carcinogenic to humans” and “carcinogenic to humans”. But the Food and Agricultural Organization’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, which carried out a complementary② study, retained its advice that it is safe for a person to consume 0-40mg for every kg of body weight each day. The WHO said a person weighing 70kg would need to drink more than between nine and 14 cans of diet soft drink a day to exceed the daily guideline. (Reuters ＆ WHO) 阿斯巴甜是一种人造（化学）甜味剂，自20世纪80年代以来广泛用于各种食品和饮料制品，包括减肥饮料、口香糖、明胶、冰淇淋、酸奶等乳制品、早餐麦片、牙膏，以及止咳药水、维生素咀嚼片等药物。7月14日，世界卫生组织下属国际癌症研究机构发布的报告将代糖阿斯巴甜列为“可能对人类致癌”的物质。国际癌症研究机构有两个比较严重的类别：“很可能对人类致癌”和“确认对人类致癌”。而联合国粮食及农业组织食品添加剂联合专家委员会开展了一项补充研究，保留了以往建议，即每人每日每公斤体重摄入0-40毫克是安全的。世界卫生组织表示，一个体重70公斤的人每天需要喝9到14罐以上的减肥软饮料才能超过每日指南。 【注释】 ① carcinogenic: [ˌkɑːsɪnəˈdʒenɪk] adj. likely to cause cancer 致癌的。 ② complementary: [ˌkɒmplɪˈmentri] adj. two people or things that are complementary are different but together form a useful or attractive combination of skills, qualities or physical features 互补的；补充的；相互补足的。
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