英闻天下——568 No Fireworks for Spring Festival?
英语课
Heavy air pollution recently hit many places in north China. It inspired a heated debate over whether officials should ban the use of fireworks, which is a tradition of Lunar New Year celebrations.
Bloggers have responded with much divergence 1 on the issue.
For:
@ Jiang Nan Mi Mi: Fireworks should already have been banned. They are dangerous and can cause a lot of noise in addition to scattered 2 paper rubbish and air pollution. Do you know how much fireworks rubbish sanitation 3 workers have to clean up every year during the Spring Festival?
Against:
@ Chou Mi Zi Mao Miao: What's the fun of Spring Festival if setting off fireworks is banned? The government should put more emphasis on how to control coal combustion 4, the fuel quality and polluting factories. These are the major factors of air pollution instead of a few days of a fireworks spree.
@ bluedd: Fireworks should not be banned. It's a tradition that needs to be preserved. But we can set off fireworks and firecrackers in a temperate 5 manner. If the air quality is worsening, we can set off fewer.
1 divergence
n.分歧，岔开
- There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
- In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之，这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。
2 scattered
adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的
- Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。
3 sanitation
n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备
- The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
- Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。
4 combustion
n.燃烧；氧化；骚动
- We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
- The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。