考博英语2011年10passagethree.docVIP

Passage three Next week, the European parliament will debate stringent regulation of a number of effective pesticides. If the regulation is passed, the consequences will be devastating. Parliament 议会, 国会Stringent 紧缩的;短缺的Pesticide 杀虫剂Devastate 彻底破坏；摧毁；毁灭In the 1960s, widespread use of the potent and safe insecticide DDT led to eradication of many insect-borne diseases in Europe and North America. But based on no scientific evidence of human health effects, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT, and its European counterparts followed suit. Subsequently, more than 1 million people died each year from malaria-but not in America or Europe, most of the victims were children and women in Africa and Asia. Potent 效力大的; 威力大的Insecticide 杀虫剂Eradication 连根拔除,根除Insect 昆虫Borne bear的过去分词Counterpart 与对方地位相当的人, 与另一方作用相当的物Suit 诉讼案件; 法律程序一套衣服Subsequently 随后的, 继…之后的Malaria 疟疾Today, even while acknowledging that indoor spraying of small amounts of DDT would help prevent many deaths and million of illnesses, nongovernmental organization continue- with great success-to pressure African governments not to allow its use. In order to stave off such pressure, African public health officials cave, and their children die needlessly. Yet rather than learning the tragic lesson of the DDT ban, the European Union wants to extend this unscientific ban to other effective insecticides, including pyrethroids and organophosphates-further understanding anti-malarial efforts. Spray 喷; 喷洒；向…喷洒Stave off 避开,挡开,延迟Cave 让步；屈服；屈从Rather than 而不是Insecticides 杀虫剂Effort 努力, 尽力The currently debated regulation would engender a paradigm shift in the regulation of chemicals, from a risk-based approach-based on real would exposures from agricultural applications-to a hazard-based standard ,derived from laboratory tests and having little or no basis in reality as far as human health is concerned. Of course, this is fine with anti-chemical zealots. Their concern is bringing down chemical companies in the n