英語視頻暢談歐美人文風(fēng)情92：煤炭怎么了

It's hard to believe that nearly forty percent of our country's electricity still comes from coal, a dirty, outdated energy source. Coal not only causes health problems, but it's also the main contributor to climate disruption.

很難相信我們國家的電力將近百分之四十仍然來自于煤炭，一個骯臟、過時的能源。煤炭不只造成健康問題，它也是氣候破壞的主要元兇。

Just how bad is coal: in mountaintop removal mining, coal companies clear-cut forest and literally blow the tops off mountains to get the coal. This process dumps millions of tons of waste into our streets and poisons our drinking water. But mining coal is only the beginning.

煤炭就是這么糟糕：在山巔移除開礦中，煤炭公司砍光森林樹木然后一點也不夸張地把山的巔峰給炸掉去開礦。這個過程傾倒數(shù)百萬噸的廢棄物到我們的街道上，然后污染我們的飲用水。但開采煤礦只是開端而已。

Burning coal generates smog, which can cause asthma attack, chest pains and breathing problems. In fact, one out of ten children in the US suffers from asthma, and it's the number one reason kids miss school due to illness. The pollution from burning coal leads to twelve thousand emergency room visits and more than one hundred billion dollars in Health Cost every year.

燃燒煤炭產(chǎn)生煙霧，那會造成哮喘、胸痛以及呼吸問題。事實上，美國每十名孩童中有一位受哮喘之苦，而且它是孩子們因病缺課的首要原因。燃燒煤炭的污染導(dǎo)致每年一萬兩千次的急診室就診以及超過一千億美金于健?；ㄙM(fèi)。

Coal pollution also contains toxic mercury that damages the nerve system, and this is especially dangerous for babies and young children, because it can cause developmental problems. Mercury rains down into our oceans, rivers and lakes, contaminating our fish and seafood.

煤炭污染也包含了損害神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的有毒水銀，這對寶寶跟幼兒特別危險，因為它會引起成長方面的問題。水銀隨著雨水降入我們的海洋、河流和湖泊，污染我們的漁獲和海產(chǎn)。

And even after coal is burned, the waste that's left over is bad for our health. Each year, coal plants generate more than one hundred and forty million tons of toxic waste, called coal ash. That's stored in thousands of pits across the country, enough toxic waste to fill more than four hundred thousand Olympic-size swimming pools.

甚至在煤炭燃燒以后殘留的廢棄物對我們的健康有害。煤炭廠產(chǎn)生超過一億四千萬噸的有毒廢棄物，叫做煤灰。那被儲存在遍及全國的數(shù)千個坑洞中，足夠填滿超過四十萬個奧林匹克標(biāo)準(zhǔn)尺寸游泳池的有毒廢棄物。住在有毒煤灰坑洞附近對孩子們的健康來說，可是比一天抽一包煙還要糟糕。

Living near a toxic coal ash pit can be worse for kids' health than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

好消息是，在減少碳污染方面美國已經(jīng)變成國際先鋒，主要是因為我們正在全國讓煤炭工廠退休并用干凈、可再生的能源取代它們。

The good news is that the United States has become an international leader in reducing carbon pollution, largely because we are retiring coal plants and replacing them with clean, renewable energy nationwide.

過去幾年美國從風(fēng)力以及太陽能得到的電量已經(jīng)不只翻倍。愛荷華州和南達(dá)科達(dá)州已經(jīng)在從風(fēng)力獲取超過他們百分之二十的能源。而在2012年，十個州從風(fēng)力獲得了超過他們百分之十的能源。

The amount of electricity America gets from wind and solar power has more than doubled in the past few years. Iowa and South Dakota are already getting more than twenty percent of their energy from wind power. And in 2012, ten states got more than ten percent of their energy from wind.

煤炭在讓我們生病，該是時候讓這有毒、過時的能源成為歷史。讓我們?yōu)閲液臀覀兊暮⒆觽儎?chuàng)造一個干凈能源的未來。讓我們超越(舍棄)煤炭。

Coal is making us sick, and it's time to make this toxic, outdated energy source history. Let's create a clean energy future for our country and for our kids. Let's move beyond coal.