在线英语听力室

科学美国人60秒 SSS A Green Solution to Improve Indoor Air Quality

时间:2017-03-03 08:43:25

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

 

Air pollution outside is easy to spot, hanging over the city, or sputtering1 from a tailpipe. But there's lot of indoor air pollution, too, even if it's not as obvious. It's caused by volatile2 organic compounds, or VOCs. 

"They can come from building materials like paints, carpet, adhesives3, vinyl floors, varnishes4, solvents5, etc." Vadoud Niri, an analytical6 chemist at the State University of New York, Oswego. "And also they can come from home and personal care products, cleaning chemicals, air freshener, cosmetics7." 

And that cosmetics part… is what caught Niri's attention. "One day when I went to a nail salon8 with my wife, I noticed the smell of, specifically, acetone in there. And since I was doing air analysis at that time, I thought maybe we can do something about this." Acetone can irritate your eyes, skin, nose and throat and at high concentrations can cause nausea9, headaches and other nervous system problems.

Niri figured one way to get rid of acetone might be with houseplants. So he reviewed decades of literature in the field of plants as environmental cleanup agents—which is called biofiltration or phytoremediation. He then ran his own experiment, using an airtight chamber10, eight VOCs, in concentrations similar to those found in nail salons11, and five common houseplants: a jade12 plant, a spider plant, a bromeliad, a Caribbean tree cactus13, and what’s known as a Dracaena plant. 

Turns out, after a twelve-hour test, it was the bromeliad that scrubbed the most chemicals from the air. But as for his original quest, removing acetone from nail salons? The Dracaena beat out the others, sucking up 94 percent of the offensive compound. He presented the results at a meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Philadelphia. [Vadoud Niri et al., Monitoring volatile organic compound removal by common indoor plants using solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry]

Niri hasn't worked out all the details on the nail salon solution yet—that's next. But for a house or apartment, he says, "use a variety of plants to make sure you take all types of VOCs from your indoor air." Plus, they're an energy-free alternative to other air cleaning devices. In other words, a truly green solution.

—Christopher Intagliata


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 sputtering 60baa9a92850944a75456c0cb7ae5c34     
n.反应溅射法;飞溅;阴极真空喷镀;喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 );发劈啪声;喷出;飞溅出
参考例句:
  • A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花,使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
  • Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前,唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句
2 volatile tLQzQ     
adj.反复无常的,挥发性的,稍纵即逝的,脾气火爆的;n.挥发性物质
参考例句:
  • With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定,投资冒着很大的风险。
  • His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱,喜怒无常。
3 adhesives 13e253cdc27800dd9a236fa730288de4     
黏合剂( adhesive的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • These include dyes, adhesives, solvents, detergents, metals, and other foreign materials. 其中包括染料,粘合剂,溶剂,洗涤剂、金属等外界物质。
  • Preparation, properties and kinds of polyurethane adhesives were described. 综述了聚氨酯胶粘剂的合成、特性和种类。
4 varnishes fe2e780404c4ae2223d2cfb579863f48     
清漆的面(尤指木器或金属制品上的)( varnish的名词复数 ); 光泽面; 罩光漆
参考例句:
  • Current uses by subbase layer and color pigments, varnishes tier. 漆布一般由底基层,色料层和光漆层组成。
  • UV varnish: Varnishes which dried immediately by exposure ultra-violet light. 紫外线光油:在紫外光照射下,即时乾燥的光油。
5 solvents 034b168fe60271d2a244d289076119b4     
溶解的,溶剂
参考例句:
  • It is resistant to borohydride reduction in alcoholic solvents. 在醇溶剂中,它不能被硼氢化物还原。
  • Strains require special treatments for removal such as spotting with organic solvents. 要清除这些着色物质,需要特殊处理,例如:滴加有机溶剂。
6 analytical lLMyS     
adj.分析的;用分析法的
参考例句:
  • I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
  • As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。
7 cosmetics 5v8zdX     
n.化妆品
参考例句:
  • We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
  • Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。
8 salon VjTz2Z     
n.[法]沙龙;客厅;营业性的高级服务室
参考例句:
  • Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗?
  • You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。
9 nausea C5Dzz     
n.作呕,恶心;极端的憎恶(或厌恶)
参考例句:
  • Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
  • He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
10 chamber wnky9     
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
参考例句:
  • For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
  • The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
11 salons 71f5df506205527f72f05e3721322d5e     
n.(营业性质的)店( salon的名词复数 );厅;沙龙(旧时在上流社会女主人家的例行聚会或聚会场所);(大宅中的)客厅
参考例句:
  • He used to attend to his literary salons. 他过去常常去参加他的文学沙龙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Conspiracy theories about Jewish financiers were the talk of Paris salons. 犹太金融家阴谋论成为巴黎沙龙的话题。 来自互联网
12 jade i3Pxo     
n.玉石;碧玉;翡翠
参考例句:
  • The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
  • He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。
13 cactus Cs1zF     
n.仙人掌
参考例句:
  • It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
  • The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。