Consume, consume, consume! Our society is consumer oriented-dangerously so. To keep the wheels of industry turning, we manufacture consumer goods in endless quantities, and, in the process, are rapidly water pollutionexhausting (v. use up 耗尽) our natural resources. But this is only half the problem. What do we do with manufactured products when they are worn out? They must be disposed of, but how and where? Unsightly junkyards (n. a place where old useless things are discarded 垃圾场) full of rusting automobiles already surround every city in the nation. Americans throw away 80 billion bottles and cans each year, enough to build more than ten stacks (n. a pile of something, like lumber 堆，垃圾堆) to the moon. There isn’t room for much more waste, and yet the factories grind on(无情地向前移动). They cannot stop because everyone wants a job. Our standard of living, one of the highest in the world, requires the consumption of manufactured products in ever-increasing amounts. Man, about to be buried in his own waste, is caught in a vicious (a. dangerous, cruel 邪恶的) cycle恶性循环. “Stop the world, I want to get off,” is the way a popular song put man’s dilemma (n. a situation for which there is no desirable solution 困境).消费、消费、消费！我们的社会以消费者为中心－这是很危险的。为了让工业的车轮保持转动，我们大量地生产消
费品，并在此过程中迅速地消耗我们的自然资源。但这只是问题的一半。当这些工业产品被用过之后我们拿它们怎么办呢？它们　必须被处理掉，但是如何或在哪里处理呢？堆满生锈汽车的垃圾场已经包围了这个国家的每一座城市。美国人每年扔掉８００亿个瓶罐，这些东西中够从地球向月球上10多次。再也没有空间放更多的废物了，但是工厂还在继续生产着。工厂不能停下来，因为每个人都需要工作。我们的生活水平是世界上最高的之一，这就要求我们大量地消费已生产的产品。马上就要被自己制造的垃圾淹没的人类处于一种恶性循环之中。“让世界停下来，我要走开。”一首流行歌曲就是这样描述人类的困境的。
It wasn’t always like this. Only 100 years ago man lived in harmony with nature. There weren’t so many people then and their wants were fewer. Whatever wastes were produced could be absorbed by nature and were soon covered over. Today this harmonious relationship is threatened by man’s lack of foresight (n. ability to see into the future预见力) and planning, and by his carelessness and greed. For man is slowly poisoning his environment.事情并非一直如此。仅在100年前，人与自然仍在和谐相处。那时没有这么多的人口，人们的需求也比现在少得多。制造出的任何一种垃圾都能被自然界
吸收，并很快被掩盖起来。现在这种和谐关系正在面临威胁，这是由于人们缺乏远见和计划以及冷漠贪婪造成的。人类正在慢慢慢地毒害他周围的环境。
Pollution is a “dirty” word. To pollute means to contaminate (v. make dirty, impure or diseased 弄脏，污染)---to spoil something by introducing impurities (n. foreign material which make something unfit for use 杂质), which make it unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many forms. We see it, smell it, taste it, drink it, and stumble through it. We literally live in and breathe pollution, and, not surprisingly, it is beginning to threaten our health, our happiness, and our very civilization.污染是个脏词，污染意味着玷污－即用不洁之物弄污某物，使之不净或不宜使用。污染表现为很多种形式。我们可以看见它闻到它，尝到它，喝到它，甚至踩到它。毫不夸张地说，我们就生活在污染中，呼吸着它。并不奇怪，它已在危害我们的健康、幸福甚至文明。
Once we thought of pollution as meaning simply smog---the choking, stinging, dirty air that hovers (v. remain in the air at one place 盘旋，翱翔) over cities. But air pollution, while it is still the most dangerous, is only one type of contamination among several which
attack the most basic life functions.我们曾经认为污染仅指烟雾－即盘旋在城市上空那令人窒息、气味刺鼻的肮脏空气。然而空气污染，虽然仍是最危险的一种污染，但它只是危害人类最基本生活活动的几种污染之一。
Through the uncontrolled use of insecticides, man has polluted the land, killing the wildlife. By dumping sewage and chemicals into rivers lakes, we have contaminated our drinking water. We are polluting the oceans, too, killing the fish and thereby depriving ourselves of an invaluable (a. too valuable for the worth to be measured 无价的) food supply.由于不加限制地使用杀虫剂，人类污染了大地，杀死了野生动物；由于向河里和湖里倾倒污水和化学制品，我们已经污染了饮用水。我们正在污染海洋，杀害鱼类，从而也使我们自己失去了一项宝贵的食物来源。
Part of the problem is our exploding population. More and more people produce more wastes. But this problem is intensified (v. make stronger or more serious 使强化，加剧)by our “throw-away” technology. Each year Americans dispose of (to get rid of as useless 扔掉，丢弃)7 million autos, 20 million tons of waste paper plates. It is easier and cheaper to
buy a new one and discard(v. to get rid of as useless丢弃，扔掉) the old, even though 95 percent of its parts may still be functioning. Baby’s diapers(a piece of clothing made of thick soft paper or cloth which is fastened around a baby’s bottom and between its legs to absorb its urine and excrement 尿片，尿布), which used to be made of reusable( a. that can be used again 再利用的) cloth, are now paper throwaways. Soon we will wear clothing made of paper: “Wear it once and throw it away,” will be the slogan of the fashion conscious. 迅速膨胀的人口也是问题的一部分。越来越多的人口制造出越来越多的垃圾。这一问题由于我们采用“用过就扔”的办法而变得俞加严重。美国人每年扔掉700万辆汽车，2000万吨废纸，2500吨牙膏皮和4800万个罐头皮。我们扔掉口香糖包装包装纸，报纸和纸碗盘。把它们扔掉换新既容易又便宜，尽管其中95％仍可使用。孩子的尿布以前是用可以重复使用的布做的，而现在是纸制一次性用品。不久我们就能穿上纸做的衣服。“穿一次就扔”将成为时尚意识的标准。
Where is this all to end? Are we turning the world into a gigantic dump, or is there hope that we can solve the pollution problem? Fortunately, solutions are in sight. A few of them are positively ingenious.这一切何时能结束？难道我们正在把世界变成一个大垃圾场吗？亦
或我们有希望治理污染问题？幸运的是，眼前已有了些解决办法，其中有一些还非常巧妙。
Take the problem of discarded automobiles, for instance. Each year over 40,000 of them are abandoned in New York City alone. Eventually the discards end up in a junkyard. But cars are too bulky to ship as scrap to a steel mill. They must first be flattened. This is done in a giant compressor which can reduce a Cadillac to the size of a television set in a matter of minutes. Any leftover scrap metal is mixed with concrete and made into exceptionally strong bricks that are used in buildings and bridges. Man’s ingenuity has come to his rescue.就拿废弃汽车为例。在纽约一市每年就要扔掉4万多辆。最终这些废物就要烂在垃圾场。但是汽车太大，不可能象碎铁片那样被运到钢铁厂。它们首先得被压扁。这项工作可由一辆巨大的压缩机完成。它在几分钟内就可以把一辆卡迪拉克压缩成电视机大小。余下的金属碎片可与水泥混合真情为制成特别坚硬的砖，用于楼房与桥梁，人的创造力拯救了人类。