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Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental engineering class.
听一段环境工程学课程。
Professor: At the end of yesterday's class, we were discussing landfills and the hundreds of millions of tons of everyday garbage which are deposited into them each year in the United States.
教授：在昨天那节课的最后，我们讲了垃圾填埋区和美国每年填放的上百吨日常生活垃圾。
It's a growing problem!
这个问题越来越突出了。
Quite simply, we are running out of space to put our garbage.
简单来说，我们用以堆放垃圾的空间快用光了。
And this is especially true for solid organic waste: food scraps from home or food processing plants, waste from farms, that sort of thing.
这对有机固体废物而言尤其如此：来自家庭或食品加工厂的食物残渣，来自农场的废弃物，诸如此类。
Did you know that two thirds of the waste sitting in our landfills is organic material?
你们知道吗？在垃圾填埋区里三分之二的垃圾是有机材料。
We have government recycling programs for materials like plastics, glass and metal, yet widespread solutions for organic waste materials haven't really been addressed in the United States.
我们有政府开展的回收计划，回收像塑料、玻璃和金属的材料，但在美国还没有处理有机废物材料的广泛应用的解决方案
I think this is just asking for trouble in the future.
我认为，对于将来而言，这是在自找麻烦。
So today I want to talk about a technology that offers a potential solution to the problem—Anaerobic Phased Solids digestion, or APS digestion.
所以今天我想谈一谈一项科技，能为此问题提供一个可能的解决方法——厌氧分步分解固体法，或称为APS分解法。
First of all, what does anaerobic mean? Anyone?
首先，厌氧是什么意思？有人知道吗？
Student: Without oxygen?
学生：没有氧气？
Professor: Correct! APS digestion uses anaerobic bacteria, ones that thrive in the absence of oxygen, to consume, to break down organic material.
教授：对！APS分解法运用厌氧细菌（在缺氧环境下大量繁殖）来消化、分解有机材料。
Student: Excuse me. Professor.
学生：教授，不好意思。
Um... those anaerobic bacteria you are talking about... well, aren't anaerobic bacteria also used in waste water treatment plants?
你说的这些厌氧细菌……污水处理厂不也在用这些细菌吗？
Professor: Yes. In fact they are.
教授：对，事实上他们确实在用。
Would you like to explain this to the class?
你能给班上同学解释一下吗？
Student: Sure! So when waste water is treated, one of the byproducts is a thick liquid called sludge.
学生：当然！处理污水的时候，其中（产生的）一种副产品是一种粘稠的液体，叫污泥。
And aren't anaerobic bacteria used to break down the sludge?
这些厌氧细菌不是用来分解污泥的吗？
Professor: That's right.
教授：对。
Anaerobic bacteria have been used in waste water treatment for decades.
将厌氧细菌运用在污水处理中已有几十年历史。
Student: So how is this technology different?
学生：那这项技术有什么不同？
Professor: Good question.
教授：问得好。
The anaerobic digestion systems used in waste water plants are designed to treat sludge, not solids.
污水处理厂的厌氧分解系统是为处理污泥设计的，而非固体。
Now, in the past, researchers have attempted to treat solid organic waste with that same equipment.
过去，研究人员尝试用相同的设备处理有机固体废物。
But there was always a problem.
但总是有问题出现。
In order to process the solid waste, the kind we find in landfills, you had to pretreat the solids to turn them into sludge.
为了处理固体废物（即我们在垃圾填埋区找到的那种），要先对固体作预处理，将其转变成污泥。
First, by breaking the material apart mechanically into small particles and then adding a lot of water until you got a kind of thick, soupy mix that the equipment could handle.
首先，用机器把原材料打碎成小颗粒，然后加入大量的水，直到得到一种浓稠的、液状的、能被设备处理的混合物。
But that extra step took time and required a lot of energy.
但那一步额外的步骤花费不少时间，而且需要大量能源。
Student: That sounds like it would cost a lot.
学生：这听起来成本不低。
Professor: That's right.
教授：对。
But APS digestion is designed specifically to handle solid waste.
但APS分解法是为处理固体废物而设计的。
So it is much more cost-effective.
所以性价比高得多。
