时间:2018-12-28 作者:英语课 分类:轻松英文阅读


英语课

 You may have never heard of him, but Thomas Midgley was considered one of the great chemists and inventors of his time. But perhaps no single person in history has done more harm to our earth.


 
While working at a subsidiary of General Motors in 1921 he developed tetra-ethyl lead, or TEL. This was an additive 1 for gasoline to reduce the problem of ‘knocking’ in car engines.
 
In a few years, nearly every automobile 2 on earth was pumping lead into the air. This lead, a known neurotoxin, ended up in our blood. After TEL’s introduction, nearly 90% of children in America had twice the level of lead in their blood that is considered safe. Even light exposure can cause a decrease in intelligence and an increase in antisocial behavior. Before lead was phased out in the last decades of the last century it caused perhaps millions of illnesses and deaths around the world.
 
But our story does not end here. In the late twenties, Midgley synthesized the first fluorocarbon, commonly known as CFCs. These are the same CFCs that left a big hole in our protective ozone 3 layer. CFCs are now banned but the damage is unlikely to heal until well past our lifetimes.
 
Midgley’s inventions seemed brilliant at the time but we will be living with their consequences for a long time. Let’s hope we can learn a lesson from Midgley’s story.

1 additive
adj.附加的;n.添加剂
  • Colour is often an additive in foods.颜料经常是各种食物中的添加物。
  • Strict safety tests are carried out on food additives.对食品添加剂进行了严格的安全检测。
2 automobile
n.汽车,机动车
  • He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
  • The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。
3 ozone
n.臭氧,新鲜空气
  • The ozone layer is a protective layer around the planet Earth.臭氧层是地球的保护层。
  • The capacity of ozone can adjust according of requirement.臭氧的产量可根据需要或调节。
学英语单词
abrupt deceleration vehicle
achromachia
apacked
Auricularia auricula
australian pitcher plants
Avast hauling!
bepuff
beslabbered
buffered filter paper
Bulgarevo
buoyancy curve
cadmium sulphide
Catalpa L.
chrysandiol
Congo floor maggot
DC electric propulsion plant
defilippis
ecomil
eelworms
egg-white protein
engineering geological classification of rock mass
engraftment
eusebia
Evangelista Torricelli
evasion error
exponential expansion
fallopiuss
field-sequential system
fight up to the last ditch
final-year
fotp
geard
get a cold reception
guide block
hangava
hansler
harbo(u)r operational zone
Hemitrichia
heteragraft
high velocity liquid jet machining
high-voltage glow tube
hormone culture-medium
hydnocarpus wightiana bl.
hytners
I fear
illtempered
Indosasa patens
information given in a questionnaire
information retrieval system evaluation
initial steam admission
insoluble solides
irrigated soil
Kinnitty
Kolomonyi
lactic-acid
Lithocarpus
LVTR
magnetohydrodynamic propulsion plant
manganese(iv) silicide
marmalade trees
mattings
mesengium
microvoltmeter
monetizability
nanocavity
Newry Canal
non-zero restriction
oil lubricating system
onishi
optic integrated circuit
pellet mouldings
PGS (program generation system)
plesiotrochus acutangulus
prepacked with grease
prevailing price
prunus mume sieb.et zucc.var.tonsa rehd.
prunus mume var.bungo mak.
purplestreak alstroemeria
rag out
residentiaries
reverse pinocytosis
rizzle
ruscombe
sample grid reference
Sandnessjφen
sandy mushrooms
secondary process
sent out
sound intensity decay
sprawlings
statistical weights
strapped multiresonator circuit
subfraction
Suttsu
the top of
tightness of stitches
top-fired boiler
triangulation balloon
unconquering
unfamiliarity
uredo cryptogrammes
Voidable Civil Act