2014年職稱英語(理工類)教材補全短文文章及譯文6

　　Dung to Death

　　Fields across Europe are contaminated with dangerous levels of the antibiotics given to farm animals. The drugs, which are in manure sprayed onto fields as fertilizers, could be getting into our food and water, helping to create a new generation of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”.2

　　The warning comes from a researcher in Switzerland who looked at levels of the drugs in farm slurry. ____1____

　　Some 20,000 tons of antibiotics are used in the European Union and the US each year. More than half are given to farm-animals to prevent disease and promote growth. ____2____

　　Most researchers assumed that humans become infected with the resistant strains by eating contaminated meat3. But far more of the drugs end up in manure than in meat products, says Stephen Mueller of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology m Dubendorf. ____3____

　　With millions of tons of animals manure spread onto fields of crops such as wheat and barley each year, this pathway seems an equally likely route for spreading resistance,4 he said. The drugs contaminate the crops, which are then eaten. ____4____

　　Mueller is particularly concerned about a group of antibiotics called sulphonamides. ____5____ His analysis found that Swiss farm manure contains a high percentage of sulphonamides; each hectare of field could be contaminated with up to 1 kilogram of the drugs. This concentration is high enough to trigger the development of resistance among bacteria.5 But vets are not treating the issue seriously.

　　There is growing concern at the extent to which drugs, including antibiotics, are polluting the environment. Many drugs given to humans are also excreted unchanged and are not broken down by conventional sewage treatment.

　　詞匯：

　　antibiotic 抗生素 slurry 泥漿

　　barley 大麥 sulphonamide 磺胺

　　degrade 衰減 dissolve /溶解

　　vet 獸醫(yī) excrete排泄

　　注釋：

　　1.dung to death：施肥致死，dung這個詞原為名詞，意為“牲畜的糞便，糞肥”，這里作動詞用，意為“施以糞肥”。

　　2.…create a new generation of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs”：產生新一代對抗生素有抗藥性的“超級病菌”。

　　3.…h(huán)umans become infected with the resistant strains by eating contaminated meat：吃了受到污染的肉，人也會傳染上這種有抗藥性的菌株。strain ―詞在微生物學里指“菌株”。

　　4.... this pathway seems an equally likely route for spreading resistance ：這一途徑似乎同樣可能傳播抗藥性。

　　5.This concentration is high enough to trigger the development of resistance among bacteria：這一濃度篼得足以促使細菌形成抗藥性。這一濃度(This concentration)指前一句中說的在瑞士農場，每公頃農田受到高達1千克藥物的污染。

　　練習：

　　A　They do not easily degrade or dissolve in water.

　　B　And manure contains especially high levels of bugs that are resistar.t to antibiotics, he says.

　　C　Animal antibiotics is still an area to which insufficient attention has been paid.

　　D　But recent research has found a direct link between the increased use of these farmyard drugs and the appearance of antibiotic-resistant bugs that infect people.

　　E　His findings are particularly shocking because Switzerland is one of the few countries to have banned antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feed.

　　F　They could also be leaching into tap water pumped from rocks beneath fertilized fields.

　　答案與題解：

　　1.E　本句中包含he這個代詞，故上文中必定有它的先行詞，his findings又表明此人應該是從事科研工作的，句中又提到Switzerland，考慮這種種因素，填入E是正確的。

　　2.D　前兩句講的是抗生素在歐洲和美國的大量使用，D項講的是由此導致的不良后果，接上去是最合理不過的。But明確地表明了這一轉折。

　　3.B　選項B中有兩處提示，一是本句結尾處的he says，說明上文中必提到一個被引用的人;二是句首的And，這個詞表明，這句的內容可能是前一句的延續(xù)。前一句引的S. Mueller說的話，講到在肥料中滯留的藥物比肉類產品中的多得多。這句話則繼續(xù)引用Mueller的話，進一步說肥料中對抗生素有抗藥性的病菌含量特別篼。

　　4.F　選項F中的also一詞說明前面應講到過類似的內容。這句講的是這些藥物可能從施過肥料的農田下面的巖石瀝濾到自來水里去;前面一句講的是受到這些藥物污染的谷物被人食用，這兩句講的都是這些藥物如何對人類造成威脅。

　　5.A　選項A中的主語They提示我們應該尋找一個復數的先行詞，根據句子的意思：……既不衰減又不溶于水，這個they指的不是人而是物，我們在上一句里找到sulphonamides這個復數形式的名詞，從意思上看也合適。

　　譯文：施肥致死

　　歐洲田野被濃度危險的牲畜抗生素所污染。這些肥料中的藥物被噴灑到田野上當作肥料，它們可以進入我們的食物和水中，促進產生新一代對抗生素有抗藥性的“超級病菌”。

　　這個警告來自瑞士的一個研究者，他關注農場泥漿中藥物的濃度。他的發(fā)現非常令人震驚，因為瑞士是少數的幾個禁止把抗生素作為動物飼料催長劑的國家之一。

　　每年大約有2萬噸的抗生素被用于歐盟和美國。其中一半以上被用于牲畜防病和促進生長。但是最近的研究發(fā)現了這種農業(yè)藥物的增加使用和感染人類的對抗抗生素藥性的病毒之間的直接聯系。

　　大部分研究者假設人類吃了受到污染的肉也會傳染上這種有抗藥性的菌株。但是杜本多弗的瑞士聯邦環(huán)境科學技術學院的Stephen Mueller說，這種藥物最后留在肥料中的比在肉制品中的多得多。他說肥料中含有特別高濃高度的抗抗生素藥性的病菌。

　　他說，隨著每年上百萬噸的動物肥料被噴灑到小麥和大麥等谷物的田地里，這一途徑似乎同樣可能傳播抗藥性。這些藥物污染谷物，然后這些谷物被食用。它們還有可能滲透到從施肥后的田地下的巖石中抽上來的自來水里。

　　Mueller對叫做磺胺的抗生素群感到尤其擔心。它們不容易降解或溶解于水。他的分析發(fā)現瑞士的農業(yè)肥料含有高比例的磺胺，每公頃土地被1千克的這種藥劑所污染。這一濃度高得足以促使細菌形成抗藥性。但是獸醫(yī)們并沒有嚴肅地對待這一問題。

　　人們越來越關心包括抗生素的這些藥物在多大程度上污染環(huán)境。許多人類服用的藥物也未經改變地被排泄出來，而且沒有被傳統的污水處理系統分解。