首页
登录
职称英语
The day this small town told its residents to stop drinking the water, life
The day this small town told its residents to stop drinking the water, life
游客
2025-01-18
7
管理
问题
The day this small town told its residents to stop drinking the water, life on Glendale
Boulevard turned from quiet to alarming. One couple decided to immediately put their house up for sale. Another
fretted over
their young son and the baby who would soon arrive. And up the street, one mom felt a rising indignation that would turn her into an activist determined to restrict the chemicals contaminating her family’s drinking water—and that of millions of other Americans.
That late July day, this town along the banks of the Kalamazoo River became the latest community affected by a ubiquitous class of compounds known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. For years, calls for the federal government to regulate the chemicals have been unsuccessful, and last year the Trump administration tried to block publication of a study urging a much lower threshold of exposure.
The man-made chemicals have long been used in a wide range of consumer products, including nonstick cookware, water-repellent fabrics and grease-resistant paper products, as well as in firefighting foams. But exposures have been associated with an array of health problems, among them thyroid disease, weakened immunity, infertility risks and certain cancers. The compounds do not break down in the environment.
In Parchment, where they were once used by a long-shuttered paper mill, tests found PFAS levels in the water system in excess of 1,500 parts per trillion—more than 20 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended lifetime exposure limit of 70 parts per trillion. Local officials promptly alerted residents. Michigan officials declared a state of emergency. People started picking up free cases of bottled water at the high school. Within weeks, the town abandoned the municipal wells that had served 3,000 people and began getting water from nearby Kalamazoo. "This is not a problem you can run away from," said Parchment resident Tammy Cooper, who has become an outspoken advocate for better regulation. "
There are Parchments across the country
."
Harvard University researchers say public drinking-water supplies serving more than 6 million Americans have tested for the chemicals at or above the EPA’s threshold—which many experts argue should be far lower to safeguard public health. The level is only an agency guideline; the federal government does not regulate PFAS. The compounds’ presence has
rattled
communities from Hoosick Falls, N.Y., to Tucson. They have been particularly prevalent on or near military bases, which have long used PFAS-laden foams in training exercises.
Both houses of Congress held hearings on the problem last year, and lawmakers introduced bills to compel the government to test for PFAS chemicals nationwide and to respond wherever water and soil polluted by them are found. In late November, the head of the EPA vowed that the agency would soon unveil a "national strategy" to address the situation. Affected communities are still waiting. "There are some very real human impacts from this stuff," said Erik Olson, a drinking-water expert for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Most people have no idea they are being exposed."
Michigan is one of the few states where officials are trying to determine the extent of PFAS contamination. Health officials undertook statewide tests this year across 1,380 public water supplies and at more than 400 schools that operate their own wells. "When we look for it, we tend to find it," said Eden Wells, the state’s chief medical executive. Yet detection raises difficult questions, given the lack of regulation involving PFAS in water and the evolving research on its long-term health effects. "Many of our responses are outstripping the scientific knowledge we need," Wells said.
More is known about two particular types of the chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which companies phased out years ago amid growing evidence that both were ending up in the blood of nearly every American. But thousands of other PFAS chemicals remain in use—among the many threats, including arsenic and lead, to drinking water nationwide.
(选自《华盛顿邮报》2019年1月5日) [br] The phrase "fretted over" underlined in Paragraph 1 most probably means________.
选项
A、moved over
B、worried about
C、talked about
D、thought over
答案
B
解析
语义题。fretted over意为“担忧”,故正确答案为B。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3918330.html
相关试题推荐
Smokingkillsmuchfewerpeoplethandrinking.A、正确B、错误B原文说:Hesaidit(tobacco
Morethan2,000residentsleftSanJose,Californialastyear.A、正确B、错误A原文说:San
Watermakesupsome70percentagepointsofthebody,anddrinkingenoughwater—
Lincoln,whomanyregardasoneofourgreatpresidents,wasoften______despit
Watermakesupsome70percentagepointsofthebody,anddrinkingenoughwater—
Watermakesupsome70percentagepointsofthebody,anddrinkingenoughwater
Lincoln,whomanyregardasoneofourgreatpresidents,wasoften______despite
Bush’sMBATwenty-sixof42presidents,includingBillClinton,werelawyers.
Bush’sMBATwenty-sixof42presidents,includingBillClinton,werelawyers.
Bush’sMBATwenty-sixof42presidents,includingBillClinton,werelawyers.
随机试题
Doyouagreeordisagreewiththefollowingstatement?Allstudentsshouldb
Filmsofthissorthavelosttheir________formanySpanishyoungpeople.A、appe
甲公司向银行借款900万元,年利率为8%,期限为1年,到期还本付息,银行要求按借
有关声束的描述正确的是:A.声束各处宽窄均一 B.近场区的长度与超声波长成正比
Passage1 Alyricisasubjectivepoem
国际上知名的独立信用评级机构有( )。 Ⅰ穆迪投资者服务公司 Ⅱ中诚信国际
(2019年真题)下列灭火器中,不适合扑救A类火灾的是()A.碳酸氢钠干粉灭火
N公司将资产注入M公司,M公司可用( )作为购买该笔资产的方式。A.现金 B
下列关于加权平均资本成本的说法中,正确的有()。A.账面价值权重会歪曲资本成本
下列各项中,属于完整的财务报告流程应包括的要素有()。A.业务数据汇总计入
最新回复
(
0
)