时间:2018-12-24 作者:英语课 分类:Scientific American(一)月


英语课

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute.


 


There's a huge, gunky brown cloud that lingers over south Asia and the Indian Ocean each winter. It’s been known to cause respiratory diseases and even cancers in India and China. But scientists didn't really know what was in it. Now they do. Researchers from Stockholm University and colleagues published the results in the January 23rd issue of the journal Science.


The cloud contains black particles called carbonaceous aerosols—basically carbon soot 1. The team used radiocarbon analysis to figure out what parts of the soot come from biomass and what comes from fossil fuels. Biomass typically comes from burning forests for agriculture or burning wood in stoves. And fossil fuel particulates 2 come from sources such as diesel 3 engines or burning coal.


The investigators 4 were surprised to discover that a large percentage of the soot, from almost half to two-thirds, comes from burning biomass like wood and dung for cooking and heat, rather than from coal power plants. Scientists say the good news is that these particles only remain in the atmosphere for a few days or weeks at a time. So once societies can figure out how to reduce biomass burning, that brown sooty haze—and the illnesses it causes—might disappear.


 


Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber.


 



1 soot
n.煤烟,烟尘;vt.熏以煤烟
  • Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
  • The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。
2 particulates
n.微粒,粒子( particulate的名词复数 )
  • Techniques for controlling particulates include filtering, washing, centrifugal separation, and electrostatic precipitation. 控制颗粒污染物的技术包括过滤、洗涤、离心分离、静电沉降。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
  • Only micronic particulates penetrate to the depth of the lung. 只有微细粒子穿透到肺深部。 来自辞典例句
3 diesel
n.柴油发动机,内燃机
  • We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
  • My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。
4 investigators
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 )
  • This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
  • The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
标签: SSS biomass
学英语单词
AC relay
accursing
action introducing legal proceedings
alignment coupling
Amsonia tabernaemontana
asphyxia
back fire(back firing)
Bambusa textilis
basic filter value
be the shadow of one's former self
belted up
beryllium bluoride
bienen
biersteker
Bine-el-Ouidane, Barrage
borrow money on security
Bouhy
British Somaliland
cash in till
centered difference (scheme)
charge send
chlorimetry
clair l.
continuous stirred tank reactor(CSTR)
culmigenous
cyclonic spray scrubber
destrayt
displacement compressor
E6-AP
external search
extraviscera
flashguns
fosthietan
foundation cylinder
genus pinicolas
Geologicheskiy
gerbilled
gully control planting
half-loads
hamaul
harbo(u)r storage system
hard-sphere model
heterocytoxin
hornfish
hub end
Huckleberry Finn
Huggins, Charles Brenton
hypophysial-gonadal axis
iconmeter
Iitaka
incarnant
incendiary shell
incoherent point source
incoterms
infraclavicular triangle
inspire in
job description card
jokaeroes
kiona
living apart
methyltin triiodide
mining in severe cold district
mobile cecum
Mowbray
multipleness
nonmovant
norm function
off-licenses
optimization model
outstabling
paraoxonases
pasturers
petrologist
photoresponse nonuniformity
pickling equipment
pinnatanine
pohlia scabridnes jacg.
pound mass
power-sharing
pressure headphone
radix calami aromatic
raft pass
ranch wag
rash extinction phenomenon
real work
rotation test
rush-fire cauterization
salamandras salamandras
sillago maculata
sludge pond
smooth fox terriers
suspect patient
symbrachydctylism
t-chromosome(kattermann 1939)
the top drawer
throw in someone's teeth
too-cool
Tri-ervonum
trimmer
visus brevior
waveguide delay line
Yushania mitis