BBC 6分钟英语学习 对抗污染的植物

English from the BBC. Hello. This is six minute

English from BBC. Learning English. I'm Neil, and I'm Beth.

Now, imagine a field polluted by spilled oil.

Toxic waste has mixed into the water, and chemical fumes have overtaken the air, leaving animals dead and the land unsafe for humans.

Unfortunately, situations like this are common all over the world.

Cleaning up chemical pollution is dangerous and expensive and mostly involves highly technological equipments.

But what if there was a more natural solution?

Recently, scientists have been developing a new technique for cleaning pollution, letting plants do the work Instead.

Yes, plants like water hyacinths, have been used to clean rivers by sucking up oil spilled into the water, and researchers have successfully used fungy to break down plastic waste.

In this program, will be hearing about plants that fight pollution, and of course, will be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But 1st, I have a question for you, neil.

One word will be hearing a lot in this program is phyto remediation, the technique that certain plants use to remove harmful chemicals from polluted environments.

But how do they do this?

Is it by using a their leaves, b their roots, or see their seeds?

I think some plants clean up pollution using their roots.

OK, neil will find out the correct answer later.

Fighter remediating plants are certainly needed in one of the most oiled, polluted places on Earth, the delta of the River Niger in Nigeria.

Ever since oil, known by the nickname black Gold, was discovered there in the 1950s, it's become central to nigeria's economy.

But oil spills have devastated the region's landscape, and there is mistrust between local communities and the multinational oil companies working there.

Now, one woman and her plants are trying to fix the problem.

Eukaria Noaichi, is a biochemist from the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria.

She uses phyto remediation to clean and protect the regions, land and rivers.

Discussing eukaria's work, r Georgina Renard from the BBC Climate news team, and Myra, a newbi presenter of BBC World Service Program.

People Fixing the World. You carry as a specialist in fighter remediation, that word again.

It basically means plants being used to clean up contaminated environments.

Right? Right? And when I met her recently in London, she had just won the Maddics Prize.

This is a prestigious award for scientists showing courage in the face of hostility.

Now, the Niger Delta is a really dangerous and challenging place to work in, and despite personal risk to her safety, you Carry has spent 20 years teaching communities there how these plants can sock up, tock the coil from the ground and bring their land back to life.

You Carry as work, Won a Prestigious scientific award.

Prestigious means admired and well respected.

The award recognized the personal risks Eukariia takes in her efforts to bring the land back to life.

If you bring something back to life, you make it come alive again, or reanimate it after it has died.

A big problem for climate scientists is being accepted and trusted by the people living in polluted places.

But Eukaria has found a way to work with local communities.

Listen to Georgina Renard of BBC World Services People Fixing the World, who was followed by eukaryan Whitechi herself.

Her success often comes from getting communities who have deep mistrust of outsiders.

After broken promises from companies to clean up the oil spills, she gets them to trust her, and then they take ownership for the restoration of their land.

And I think you carry as magic formula really relies on diplomacy, trust, and actually charisma, which is a very important quality.

We have a leadership structure, so you have the chief, like traditional ruler, you have the women leader, you have the youth leader.

So you find out who those are and inform them of what you want to do.

Local people's mistrust of big oil companies comes from their broken promises, times when they said they would definitely do something, but then fail to.

Eukaria, on the other hand, is trusted because she consults the community by speaking with local chiefs, the rulers, or highest ranking leaders of a tribe.

What's more, eukaria has lots of charisma.

This personal characteristic is the natural ability to attract, influence and inspire people.

Taken together, these make Eukarias approach a magic formula, a combination of actions that is likely to result in success.

It's good to hear a positive environmental new story for once, isn't it?

Neil, but what's the science behind what EUKAIA

is doing? How do plants clean up polluted environments?

To find that out, I need to reveal the answer to my question.

Right? You ask me how plants clean up pollution through phyto remediation?

I said it was using their roots, and that was the correct answer.

OK, it's time to recap vocabulary we've learned from the program, starting with the adjective, prestigious meaning, admired and well respected.

If you bring something back to life, you make it come alive again after being dead.

A broken promise is when you promise definitely to do something, but then fail to do what you said you would.

A chief is the ruler of a tribe, or the most important, highest ranking leader of an organization.

Charisma is a special natural ability to attract, influence and inspire people.

And finally, the phrase a magic formula describes a combination of actions that is likely to result in success.

Once again, our 6 min are up.

Bye for now. Goodbye. 6 min English from the BBC.

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