外刊阅读
本文选自《纽约时报》，大家慢慢“食用”~可以尝试自己做精读，当然也可以直接泛读了解一下相关资讯就可以。
A New Source of Fuel in an Aging Japan:
The restorative waters that flow into the public baths in this town near the coast of western Japan originate from hot springs more than two-thirds of a mile below ground. At the surface, before the water bubbles out of the spouts, it is further heated to 107 degrees Fahrenheit — an ideal temperature for cleansing and soaking weary muscles.
在这个靠近日本西部海岸的小镇，令人疲劳顿消的温泉水从约1000米深的地下涌出，流入公共浴池。在涌出之前，水还会被进一步加热到41摄氏度——用于洁净和浸泡疲劳肌肉的理想温度。
But unbeknown to most bathers, the boiler heating the water runs on a fuel with the uncleanliest of origins: pellets recycled from soiled adult diapers.
然而大多来洗浴的客人不知道的是，烧水的锅炉所使用的燃料源自极其污秽的东西：回收用过的成人尿布再制而成的小球。
restorative /rɪ’stɒrətɪv/ 恢复健康（体力）的:making you feel healthier or stronger，比如说：•the restorative power of sleep睡眠的恢复功效。
hot spring 温泉 a place where hot water comes up naturally from the ground
weary /’wɪərɪ/ 〔尤指因长期做某事而〕筋疲力尽的，非常疲劳的，厌倦的:very tired or bored, especially because you have been doing something for a long time，举个例子：•She found Rachel in the kitchen, looking old and weary.她发现雷切尔在厨房里，看上去苍老而疲惫。
【近义词拓展】tired, drained, exhausted, fatigued, flagging, jaded, worn out
diaper /’daɪəpə/ 尿布，尿片a piece of soft cloth or soft paper that is put between a baby’s legs and fastened around its waist to hold liquid and solid waste
In rapidly aging Japan, more diapers are used by older, incontinent people than by babies. As the country groans under the weight of ever-rising mountains of this waste, the town of Houki has become a pioneer in trying to reduce it. By recycling the diapers, which represent about a tenth of the town’s trash, it has diverted garbage that would otherwise be dumped in incinerators and add emissions to the atmosphere.
在迅速老龄化的日本，大小便失禁的老年人使用的尿布数量要多过婴儿。由此产生的废物堆积如山，令这个国家十分头疼，于是小镇伯耆率先开始寻找消化这些废物的办法。尿布占了全镇垃圾的十分之一，通过对其进行再利用，他们就不用再把这些垃圾扔进焚化炉，增加大气排放了。
With many other nations facing a similar demographic implosion, adult diaper waste is a stealthy challenge that looms alongside labor shortages in nursing homes and insufficiently funded pension systems.
随着许多国家面临类似的人口急剧下降问题，成人尿布垃圾已经成为一项不易察觉的挑战，与养老院劳动力短缺和退休金系统资金不足等问题一同隐现。
incinerator /ɪn’sɪnəreɪtə/ 焚化装置;焚化炉；An incinerator is a special large container for burning rubbish at a very high temperature.
stealthy /’stelθɪ/ 悄悄的，鬼鬼祟祟的，偷偷的:moving or doing something quietly and secretly，比如说：•the stealthy approach of the soldiers士兵悄悄的靠近
【近义词拓展】furtive, secretive, sneaking, surreptitious
loom v.〔问题或困难〕逼近，临近:if a problem or difficulty looms, it is likely to happen very soon，比如说：•An economic crisis is looming on the horizon .经济危机正在逼近。
“When you think about it, it is a difficult and big problem,” said Kosuke Kawai, a senior researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies. “Japan and other developed countries will face similar problems in the future.”
“仔细想想这可是个很困难的大问题，”日本国立环境研究所高级研究员河井纮辅说。“日本和其他发达国家在未来都将面临类似的问题。”
In Houki, a town of just over 10,500 people in Tottori Prefecture, officials were worried about the fast-growing diaper waste and looking at the costs to upgrade an outdated incinerator. They decided to convert one of the town’s two incinerators into the diaper recycling plant and produce fuel that would help reduce natural gas heating costs at the public bathhouse as well.
在伯耆这个人口只有1.05万人的鸟取县小镇，迅速增加的尿布垃圾以及升级老旧的焚化炉所需的成本让官员们忧心忡忡。他们决定将镇上的两座垃圾焚烧站之一改成尿布回收厂，用于生产燃料，顺便还有助于降低公共浴室的天然气加热成本。
At the baths, there is nothing advertising the provenance of the boiler fuel. Satomi Shirahase, 45, who was visiting with her husband from Kyoto, was unperturbed when she learned of the source of the heat.
浴室不会宣传锅炉的燃料从哪里来。45岁的京都人白波濑里美（音）和丈夫来这里玩，得知燃料来源后仍泰然自若。
The recycling effort “sounds pretty good to me,” she said in the dressing room after hiking on nearby Mount Daisen, which strongly resembles the more renowned Mount Fuji. “I am not creeped out. It was good water.”
这样的再利用“听上去挺好的”，刚爬完大山（大山是附近一座跟著名的富士山外形相似的山）的她在更衣室里说。“我没有被吓到。水挺好的。”
The diaper challenge is especially great in Japan, where more than 80 percent of the country’s waste goes to incinerators — higher than in any other wealthy nation — despite a near obsession with sorting trash. While most other sources of waste are declining in volume as the Japanese population shrinks, incontinence products for seniors are growing by the ton.
尿布带来的挑战在日本格外严峻，虽然对垃圾分类执着到了近乎着迷的地步，但该国80%以上的垃圾是焚烧处理的——这个比例是富裕国家中最高的。随着人口的减少，其他来源的垃圾数量都在下降，但老年人的失禁类产品却在数以吨为单位增加。
Because diapers contain so much cotton pulp and plastic, and swell to four times their original weight after soiling, they require much more fuel to burn than other sources of waste. That leads to costly waste management bills for local municipalities and high volumes of damaging carbon emissions.
尿布中含有大量棉浆和塑料，沾污后体积会膨胀至原来的四倍，因此在焚烧时需要消耗比其他废物源多许多的燃料。这就导致地方市镇要承担巨额的垃圾管理开支，并且会有大量有害的碳排放。
via 英语书架
