英语视频畅谈欧美人文风情92：煤炭怎么了

It's hard to believe that nearly forty percent of our country's electricity still comes from coal, a dirty, outdated energy source. Coal not only causes health problems, but it's also the main contributor to climate disruption.

很难相信我们国家的电力将近百分之四十仍然来自于煤炭，一个肮脏、过时的能源。煤炭不只造成健康问题，它也是气候破坏的主要元凶。

Just how bad is coal: in mountaintop removal mining, coal companies clear-cut forest and literally blow the tops off mountains to get the coal. This process dumps millions of tons of waste into our streets and poisons our drinking water. But mining coal is only the beginning.

煤炭就是这么糟糕：在山巅移除开矿中，煤炭公司砍光森林树木然后一点也不夸张地把山的巅峰给炸掉去开矿。这个过程倾倒数百万吨的废弃物到我们的街道上，然后污染我们的饮用水。但开采煤矿只是开端而已。

Burning coal generates smog, which can cause asthma attack, chest pains and breathing problems. In fact, one out of ten children in the US suffers from asthma, and it's the number one reason kids miss school due to illness. The pollution from burning coal leads to twelve thousand emergency room visits and more than one hundred billion dollars in Health Cost every year.

燃烧煤炭产生烟雾，那会造成哮喘、胸痛以及呼吸问题。事实上，美国每十名孩童中有一位受哮喘之苦，而且它是孩子们因病缺课的首要原因。燃烧煤炭的污染导致每年一万两千次的急诊室就诊以及超过一千亿美金于健保花费。

Coal pollution also contains toxic mercury that damages the nerve system, and this is especially dangerous for babies and young children, because it can cause developmental problems. Mercury rains down into our oceans, rivers and lakes, contaminating our fish and seafood.

煤炭污染也包含了损害神经系统的有毒水银，这对宝宝跟幼儿特别危险，因为它会引起成长方面的问题。水银随着雨水降入我们的海洋、河流和湖泊，污染我们的渔获和海产。

And even after coal is burned, the waste that's left over is bad for our health. Each year, coal plants generate more than one hundred and forty million tons of toxic waste, called coal ash. That's stored in thousands of pits across the country, enough toxic waste to fill more than four hundred thousand Olympic-size swimming pools.

甚至在煤炭燃烧以后残留的废弃物对我们的健康有害。煤炭厂产生超过一亿四千万吨的有毒废弃物，叫做煤灰。那被储存在遍及全国的数千个坑洞中，足够填满超过四十万个奥林匹克标准尺寸游泳池的有毒废弃物。住在有毒煤灰坑洞附近对孩子们的健康来说，可是比一天抽一包烟还要糟糕。

Living near a toxic coal ash pit can be worse for kids' health than smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

好消息是，在减少碳污染方面美国已经变成国际先锋，主要是因为我们正在全国让煤炭工厂退休并用干净、可再生的能源取代它们。

The good news is that the United States has become an international leader in reducing carbon pollution, largely because we are retiring coal plants and replacing them with clean, renewable energy nationwide.

过去几年美国从风力以及太阳能得到的电量已经不只翻倍。爱荷华州和南达科达州已经在从风力获取超过他们百分之二十的能源。而在2012年，十个州从风力获得了超过他们百分之十的能源。

The amount of electricity America gets from wind and solar power has more than doubled in the past few years. Iowa and South Dakota are already getting more than twenty percent of their energy from wind power. And in 2012, ten states got more than ten percent of their energy from wind.

煤炭在让我们生病，该是时候让这有毒、过时的能源成为历史。让我们为国家和我们的孩子们创造一个干净能源的未来。让我们超越(舍弃)煤炭。

Coal is making us sick, and it's time to make this toxic, outdated energy source history. Let's create a clean energy future for our country and for our kids. Let's move beyond coal.