日用化学品与健康

较难

高中一年级

说明文

健康与饮食

每天人们都在同众多的化学用品接触，这些化学用品据说是无害的，但事实上真的无害吗？

Every day, people come into contact with thousands of chemicals(化学品). These chemicals are said to be harmless to human health. In fact, the chemicals are considered so safe that we wash with them. We put them on our bodies and even our faces. Other chemical products are used throughout our homes.

每天，人们要接触几千种化学品。这些化学品据说是对人体健康无害的。实际上，这些化学品被认为很安全，所以我们用它们洗脸。我们把它们抹在身上，擦在脸上。我们的家里也在用其他的化学品。

On its own, each chemical seems harmless. But in combination with other chemicals, they may become deadly. That is the finding of a two-year study by a group of scientists. The group was told to investigate the cancer-causing possibility of chemical mixtures.

每种化学品单独起来似乎是无害的。但是，和其他的化学品混合，它们可能就会致命。那就是一组科学家两年的研究得出的结果。这组科学家在调查化学品混合物的致癌可能性。

Linda Gulliver was one of 174 scientists on the group. Their job was to study the cancer-causing possibility of 85 chemicals. All 85 are said to be common in the environment.

该组科学家有174人，Linda Gulliver是其中之一。他们的工作就是研究85种化学品的致癌可能性。所有的85种化学品据说都是环境中常见的。

Ms. Gulliver explains that chemicals have the ability, to form dangerous mixtures. Even simple minerals can become dangerous when mixed with chemicals found in plastics or beauty products.

Gulliver女士解释说，化学品有能力形成危险的混合物。当和塑料制品或者化妆品里的化学物混合时，即使是简单的矿物质都能变成危险品。

Working in groups, the scientists explored how different chemical mixtures could lead to cancer. Ms. Gulliver's team looked at the ability of different combinations to support the increase of malignant(恶性) human cells. She says the current way to identify whether chemicals cause cancer is to test them one at a time. This method leads to a long list of supposedly "safe" chemicals. She and her team say that approach needs to change.

这些科学家分组工作探索化学品混合物在致癌方面的不同点。Gulliver女士那个组探寻不同的混合物支持人体恶性细胞增加的能力。她说，目前确定化学品是否导致癌症的办法是每次测试其中一种。该方法导致一长串的可能“安全”化学品。她和她的队友说那种方式需要改变。

"We definitely need certain research ... to find out what mixtures of chemicals would be more harmful than others; what groups of chemicals, when together, would produce more harmful effects. And at the moment, that is not known."

“我们明显需要某种研究……来发现化学品的哪种混合物会比其他的更有害；哪一组的化学物放在一起的时候会产生更多的有害影响。在目前，这个还是未知的。”