 词数：378 words 难度：★★★☆☆ 小贴士： 点击文末左下角蓝色的“阅读原文”即可获取本文PDF版文件。 ——大橙子留 ✦ + + 上期划线句答案 Once an inside joke among A.I. nerds on online message boards, p(doom) has gone mainstream in recent months, as the A.I. boom sparked by ChatGPT last year has spawned widespread fears about how quickly A.I. is improving. P(末日)曾经只是网络论坛上一帮AI技术宅之间心领神会的笑话，但随着去年ChatGPT点燃的AI热让人对AI的进步之快产生恐惧，近几个月这个词成为了主流。  ✦ + + 本期内容 ◆ 双语阅读 Para.1 Plastic pollution is a burgeoning environmental catastrophe. The hardy synthetic polymers that make up plastic allow it to linger for a while with devastating consequences. The photos are heartbreaking: ghost nets strangling entangled marine wildlife; post-mortems of animal stomachs stuffed with plastic trash. But even more disastrous than the big stuff may be the invisible debris: microplastics and nanoplastics. Those pulverized bits are so tiny that they can infiltrate small spaces, including into our bodies and cells. 塑料污染是一场日益严重的环境灾难。构成塑料的耐受性强的合成聚合物可以让塑料停留一段时间，造成毁灭性后果。这些照片令人心碎：纠缠在一起的幽灵网勒死了海洋野生动物；胃中塞满塑料垃圾的动物接受着尸检。但比大物件更具灾难性的可能是看不见的碎片：微塑料和纳米塑料。这些细碎的碎片非常小，可以渗透入狭小的空间，包括我们的身体和细胞。 1.burgeon /ˈbɜːdʒən/ vi. 萌芽, 发芽；迅速增长 n. 芽, 嫩枝 2. strangle /ˈstræŋɡəl/ v. 扼死，勒死，绞死; 扼杀; 压制(冲动，行动，声音) 3. entangled /ɪnˈtæŋɡəld/ adj. 卷入的；被缠住的 v. 卷入；使……混乱；使……纠缠 4.post-mortem /pəʊstˈmɔːtəm/ n. 验尸，尸体解剖；事后反思(或剖析) adj. (与)验尸(有关)的；死后的 5.pulverize /ˈpʌlvəˌraɪz/ vt. 粉碎；使成粉末；研磨 6.infiltrate /ˈɪnfɪlˌtreɪt/ v. (尤指为获取秘密情报而)渗透，渗入(组织、场所等); (肿瘤、细胞等)浸润(组织，器官); (液体)渗入; (某种特性缓慢地)透入，渗透 n. (医学)浸润物 Para.2 As much as experts are convinced that puny plastics are all around us, few methods to date have been able to directly detect them. Scientists suspect that the hardest to see are the most damaging of the lot: plastic fragments 100 nanometers in size or less, less than 1/100th the width of human hair. 尽管专家们非常确信我们周围到处都是微小的塑料，但迄今为止，很少有方法能够直接检测它们。科学家怀疑，最难看到的那类塑料也是破坏性最大的：尺寸为 100 纳米甚至更小的塑料碎片，不到人类头发粗细的 1/100。 1.puny /ˈpjuːnɪ/ adj. 弱小的；微不足道的；微小的 Para.3 Now, a new study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reports a plastics detection technique that can quickly identify the size and composition of miniscule particulates. The authors found that an average of 240,000 particles populate a liter of bottled water, a number greater than previously reported. The find illuminates the true presence of micro- and nanoplastics littering our homes and lives. 翻译划线句，长按文末小程序码打卡，答案下期公布~作者发现，一升瓶装水中平均含有240,000 个颗粒，这个数字比之前报道的要多。这一发现揭示了我们的家庭和生活中确实存在微型和纳米塑料垃圾。 1.miniscule particulate 微小颗粒 Para.4 Every time we step on a synthetic carpet, rip open a plastic container, spin our tires when we drive on the road or do laundry, there’s a good chance we’re spewing out thousands of micro- and nanoplastic shavings unseen. “Plastic is much more like skin than we realize,” says Mason. “Like skin, it’s constantly flaking off.” All that debris can slip into waterways, enter our lungs, and end up in our stomachs through our food and drinks. 每次我们踩在人造合成纤维地毯上、撕开塑料包装、在路上开车转动轮胎或洗衣服时，我们都很有可能会发射出数千个看不见的微米和纳米塑料颗粒。“塑料在很大程度上更像皮肤，程度可能超乎我们想象，”梅森说。“就像皮肤一样，它会不断剥落。”所有这些碎片都会滑入水道，进入我们的肺部，并最终通过我们的食物和饮料进入我们的胃。 1.carpet /ˈkɑːpɪt/ n. 地毯; 覆盖地面的一层厚东西 v. 给……铺地毯; 厚厚地铺上; 训斥，斥责 2.tire /ˈtaɪə/ v. (使)感到累，(使)感到疲劳; 厌倦，厌烦 n. 轮胎(同 tyre); 头饰 3. spew out 喷出：以大量、迅速或强烈的方式喷射或排出物质。 4.flake off 剥落 Para.5 The little that scientists know so far about the health hazards of micro- and nanoplastics is already enough to cause alarm. Lab-made nanoplastics can aggravate the immune system, tamper with the body’s metabolism and goad cells into self-destructing. In mice, nanoplastics raise the risk of Parkinson’s disease, disrupt fetal development and seep into the brain to wreak havoc there. But these early studies so far involve pristine polymers that are uniform in size and composition. The kinds of plastics that the real world is awash in are much more diverse, and their impact may be more complex. 迄今为止，科学家们对微塑料和纳米塑料对健康的危害知之甚少，这已经足以引起警惕。实验室制造的纳米塑料会使免疫系统恶化，干扰人体的新陈代谢，刺激细胞自我毁灭。纳米塑料增加了小鼠患帕金森病的风险，干扰胚胎发育并渗入大脑造成严重破坏。但迄今为止，这些早期研究涉及的原始聚合物的大小和成分均保持统一。而现实世界中的塑料种类则更加多样化，它们的影响也可能更加复杂。 1.goad /ɡəʊd/ n. 刺激；(赶牲口用的)刺棒；激励 vt. 刺激；激励；用刺棒驱赶；煽动 2.wreak havoc 造成极大破坏 本文节选自：Smithsonian 发布时间：2024.1.08 作者：Shi En Kim |
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