When You Flush?
美音、自然拼读、分级阅读与词汇复习
Table of Contents Introduction.
导言表。
4 Where Does Waste Come From?
4 废物从哪里来?
Where Does It Go?
它会去哪儿?
5 Inside the Treatment Plant.
5 治疗厂内部。
7 The Septic System—Another Way to Deal with Waste.
7 化粪池系统—— 另一种处理废物的方法。
10 Sewage Through the Ages.
10个世纪的污水。
12 Glossary.
12 词汇表。
16 Introduction SWOOSH!
16 介绍 SWOOSH!
You hear this sound every time you flush a toilet.
你每次冲厕所都听到这个声音
But did you ever stop to wonder where everything that you flush down winds up?
但是,你有没有停下来 想知道你冲下来的东西在哪里?
Getting rid of waste takes more than just pushing the handle on a toilet.
清除废物需要的不仅仅是把把手推到厕所上。
In fact, it is often a complex process.
事实上,这常常是一个复杂的过程。
That process can stretch over (or under) many miles in your city or town.
这个过程可以延伸到(或低于)你们所在城市或城镇的许多英里。
First, the Flush 3 Once the tank is empty, the valve closes and the tank and bowl begin to refill.
首先,Flush 3号 一旦油箱被空出,阀门就关闭了,油箱和碗也开始重新填充.
their maximum levels.
他们的最高水平。
passes down the trap.
穿过陷阱。
maximum levels.
最高水平。
Where Does Waste Come From?
废物从哪里来?
Where Does It Go?
它会去哪儿?
Human waste is called sewage.
人类废物称为下水道.
In most homes, it is created by using the toilet, taking showers, doing the dishes, washing clothes, or doing anything that makes water dirty.
在大多数家庭中,它是通过使用厕所,淋浴,做盘子,洗衣服,或者做任何使水脏的东西来创造的.
The average American turns about 100 gallons (380 L) of water into sewage each day.
美国平均每天将约100加仑(380升)的水变成下水道.
Factories and restaurants create sewage, too.
工厂和餐馆也制造下水道
In time, all this sewage could reach our drinking water, making it unsafe.
随着时间的推移,所有这些污水可以到达我们的饮用水,使之不安全。
What Makes Up My Sewage?
什么让我的污水?
This information comes from a 2016 survey that sampled 23,749 homes spread throughout the United States.
这些信息出自2016年的一项调查,该调查抽样调查了23,749所分散在美国各地的住宅.
Toilet 24%Shower 20% Faucet 19% Clothes washer 17% Leaks 12% Other 4% Bath 3% Dishwasher 1% More than two billion people around the globe have no flush toilets or sewerage systems.
厕所 24% Shower 20% Faucet 19% 衣服 17% 泄漏 12% 其他 4% 浴室 3% 迪斯瓦舍 全球有20多亿人没有冲水厕所或下水道系统。
Most of their waste either piles up on the land or runs into lakes and rivers.
大部分的废物或者堆积在地上,或者流入湖泊和河流.
Millions of people die each year from diseases that come from sewage.
每年有数百万人死于污水造成的疾病。
Sewage treatment experts are working hard to solve this problem, but it is a huge task.
污水处理专家正在努力解决这个问题,但这是一项艰巨的任务。
Fortunately, the sewer pipes in our homes don’t just empty into our drinking water.
我们家的下水道水管不只是空入饮用水,
Instead, in many cities and towns, all of this dirty water ends up in the local sewerage system.
相反,在许多城市和城镇,所有这些肮脏的水最终都流入了当地的下水道系统。
Small sewer pipes join up to form bigger and bigger pipes.
小型下水道管会联合起来形成更大和更大的管.
Some are so big that humans can walk through them!
有些大到人类可以走过它们!
A boy drinks from a water pipe crossing an uncovered sewage canal.
一个男孩从水管上喝水,穿过一条被揭开的下水道。
Inside the Treatment Plant The sewage moves through this large group of pipes to a sewage treatment plant.
治疗厂内部 污水通过这组大管子移动到污水处理厂.
Here, the water is cleaned.
在这里,水是清洁的。
Organisms that can cause disease and other pollutants are removed.
能够引起疾病和其他污染物的有机物被去除.
Not all sewage treatment systems are alike.
并非所有污水处理系统都是相同的。
One common type cleans sewage in the following way: STEP 1 A big screen (think of a giant kitchen strainer) removes large items such as rocks, sticks, and garbage.
一种常见类型以如下方式清理污水: STEP 1 一个大屏幕(想出一个巨大的厨房教练器)去除岩石,棒子等大型物品和垃圾.
That way, they don’t jam the treatment plant’s machines.
如此一来,它们不会干扰治疗厂的机器。
Two Underground Systems catch basin sewer pipe household sewage (toilets, sinks, and so on) storm sewer pipe Sewer pipes carry waste to the sewage treatment plant.
两个地下系统捕获了流域下水道管家用污水(厕所,下水道等),风暴下水道管下水道管下水道管将废物运入污水处理厂.
Some storm sewer pipes carry rainwater to the plant as well.
一些下水道管道也向工厂运送了雨水。
Others carry rain directly to creeks, ponds, and other waterways.
另一些则直接将雨水带到小溪,池塘等水道.
STEP 2 What is left over after this process is called sludge, which is thick, dirty water.
步骤 2 此过程后所剩之物被叫作淤泥,是厚而脏的水.
The treatment plant pumps air into the sludge, which helps bacteria grow.
处理厂将空气泵入污泥中,这有助于细菌生长.
These helpful bacteria eat the sludge to break it down.
这些有帮助的细菌会吃下污泥来分解.
STEP 3 Next, the broken-down sludge is sent to another machine.
步骤 3 接下去,破损的淤泥被送到另一台机器.
Here, all of the solid waste settles to the bottom.
在这里,所有的固体废物都沉入了底部.
The water at the top is sent to a filter that cleans it further.
顶部的水被送入过滤器,以进一步清洁.
The tanks many city plants require are huge.
许多城市植物需要的坦克是巨大的
San Francisco, California, has a water treatment plant that handles 60 million gallons (227 million L) a day and 250 million gallons (946 million L) on rainy days.
加利福尼亚州旧金山有一家水处理厂,每天处理6000万加仑(2.27亿升)和2.5亿加仑(9.46亿升)的雨季.
The four basic steps in this diagram match the four steps on pages 7–9.
本图中的四个基本步骤与第7-9页中的四个步骤相匹配.
Once it’s safe, this water can be sent to a local waterway—a stream, lake, or the sea.
水一旦安全, 就可以送到当地水道上,
STEP 4 Meanwhile, the solids are sent to a giant tank called a digester.
步骤 4 同时,固体被送往一个叫"消化器"的巨型坦克.
Here, a second kind of helpful bacteria eats—and digests— much of the sludge.
这里,第二种有益的细菌 吃-并消化-大部分污泥。
The digester breaks down the solid sludge even further and pulls more water from it.
消化器将固体淤泥进一步分解,从中取出更多的水.
About half of the sludge turns into gas, some of which the treatment plant uses to help power its machines.
约一半的污泥会变成气体,其中一部分被处理厂用来帮助其机器发电.
The other half of the sludge is dried.
另一半的淤泥已经干燥了.
It’s often used on farm fields because it adds organic matter and fertilizer to poor soils.
它常被用在农田上,
Reclaimed water irrigates a golf course in the desert southwest.
重取出水灌溉了西南沙漠高尔夫球场.
Reusing sewer water saves precious fresh water.
下水道水的再利用节省了宝贵的淡水。
A desert golf course can use the same amount of water in one day that a family of four does in five years.
沙漠高尔夫球场在一天内可以使用与4个家庭在5年内使用相同的水量.
The Septic System—Another Way to Deal with Waste Many homes in the country are far apart from each other.
化粪池系统 国内许多房屋相去甚远。
Building a sewerage system large enough to serve homes so far away from one another wouldn’t make much sense.
建造一个大到足以为远离彼此的房屋服务的下水道系统,
Instead, these homes send human waste into a septic system.
相反,这些家庭将人类的废物送入化粪池系统。
This is a small sewage treatment system that serves only one home.
这是一个小型污水处理系统,仅服务于一户人家.
It consists of a septic tank and a drainage field.
它由一个化粪池和一个排水场组成.
Septic systems send liquid to the soil, which filters it.
化粪系统会把液体送入土壤,由土壤过滤出.
Solids stay in the tank.
固体留在坦克里。
Both the septic tank and drainage field are located in the yard near the home.
化粪池和排水场都位于住宅附近的院子里.
The septic tank is buried underground.
化粪池被埋入地下.
Any waste from the home runs straight into the tank.
家里的废物都直接冲入了坦克
Inside the tank, the solids separate from the liquid and drop to the bottom.
在罐内,固体从液体中分离出并倒入下.
The liquid runs out through underground pipes into the drainage field and spreads into the soil.
液体从地下管道流出进入排水地并扩散入土壤.
The liquid is filtered as it moves through the soil, which pulls out harmful pollutants before they reach drinking water.
液体在穿过土壤时被过滤出,而土壤在到达饮用水之前会抽出有害污染物.
The septic tank collects all of the solid sludge, which builds up over time.
化粪池收集了所有的固体污泥,这些污泥随着时间的推移不断积累.
When there is too much sludge in the tank, a septic business must pump it out.
当油罐有太多污泥时 化粪行业必须把它抽出
Gurgling toilets and slow drains are two signs that it’s time to pump out your septic tank.
垃圾桶和排水慢慢,
Sewage Through the Ages Think the modern sewerage systems are gross?
跨世纪下水道 现代的排污系统很恶心吗?
Think again.
复想诸相.
The first sewerage systems were built thousands of years ago in places such as ancient Greece and Rome.
最早的下水道系统是数千年前在古希腊和罗马等地所建.
These early systems sent human waste and storm water away from cities— and directly into nearby waterways.
这些早期系统将人类废物和暴风雨从城市流出,并直接进入附近的水道.
This was far better than flinging buckets of waste out of windows and onto the streets (and sometimes people).
这比把垃圾桶扔出窗户和上街(有时是人)好得多。
However, it polluted the nearby water with harmful bacteria that carried deadly diseases.
然而,它污染了附近的水,造成致命疾病的有害细菌。
The water made people sick.
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An ancient sewer canal still remains in modern Greece.
现代希腊仍有一条古老的下水道运河。
Over the centuries, little by little, humans got better at handling their sewage.
几个世纪以来 人类越来越能处理污水
Large cities such as New York still had a hard time with their waste, though.
但是,像纽约这样的大城市 仍然很难处理他们的浪费。
New York City was growing fast in the 1800s, and there were no sewage treatment plants.
纽约市在1800年代增长快,没有污水处理厂.
Instead, each home had an outhouse, which was sometimes just a hole in the ground.
相反,每个家都有一个外出所,这有时只是地上的一个洞.
Since there was no way to flush, human waste would pile up in the hole.
由于没有办法冲出,人类的废物会堆积在洞中.
When the hole was full, a night-soil man came to remove the backed- up waste.
洞满后,有个夜行者来取出后置的废品
He came at night so people would not have to see him taking buckets to the street and dumping them in his cart.
他晚上来,这样人们就不会看到他拿起桶到街上倒入他的车了.
When the night-soil man’s cart was full, he would usually dump it in the nearest river.
当夜行人的推车满了时,他通常会把它丢入最近的河流。
Before modern plumbing, many people used outhouses like this one.
在现代水管之前,很多人都使用这种出院.
Some outhouses had two seats.
一些外出处有两个座位.
Others had two stories!
其他人有两个故事!
Some night-soil men got lazy and just dumped their carts into the streets.
一些夜行人懒惰了,把车扔到街上。
Some people allowed their outhouses to spill over and wash into the streets.
有些人允许他们的外出房屋溢出并冲入街道.
There were no storm sewers back then for the waste to wash down, so it would pile up where people walked and children played.
当时没有下水道来清理垃圾, 所以它会堆积人们走路的地方和孩子们玩的地方。
The smell was awful.
闻起来糟透了
A night-soil crew in England moves waste around 1870.
1870年左右,英国的一班夜用油机组将废物转移.
In the mid-1800s, experts began to understand that streets flowing with waste were also flowing with deadly diseases.
18世纪中后期,专家们开始认识到,流出垃圾的街道也伴随着致命的疾病.
New York began building sewer systems so the waste would have somewhere to go.
纽约开始建造下水道系统 这样废物就会有地方去。
By 1914, New York City had nearly 850 miles (1,368 km) of sewers.
到1914年,纽约市有近850英里(1,368公里)的下水道.
Today in the United States, waste disappears down toilets and sinks as if by magic.
今天,在美国,废物消失在厕所和水池中,就像魔法一样。
Now you know how it really works, though.
现在你知道它的真正作用了。
So, the next time you flush, take a moment to thank your modern sewerage system!
下次你冲水的时候 花点时间感谢你的现代排污系统
Men work in the New York City sewer around 1911.
1911年前后,男性在纽约市下水道工作.