By Matt McGrath, BBC science reporter

媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Backgound: 中国西安交通大学的一位博士生和合作研究人员称他们已经找到了让丢弃的香烟头变废为宝的新奇途径。 他们发现从烟头过滤嘴中提取的化学物能够保护钢管不被腐蚀。这项研究已经发表在美国的某化学学会期刊上，它有望让回收香烟头成为一件具有经济前景的事情。

On pavements, nature trails and especially on beaches, wherever you find people on this planet you inevitably find cigarette butts: around 4.5 trillion of these ugly remnants find their way into the environment every year. Capable of surviving up to fifteen years in the sea, butts containchemicals that are fatally toxic to many forms of fish.

Now researchers in China say they have found a novel use for these chemicals that could make the recycling of cigarette butts financially worthwhile.

The scientists found that by immersing the butts in water they were able to extract nine different chemicalcompounds including nicotine. When these extracts were applied to a type of steel widely used in the oil industry they were found to be very effective in preventing corrosion even under harsh conditions. The replacement of rusting steel pipes is a major ongoing cost for oil producers around the world.

China itself has no shortage of cigarette butts for scientists to experiment with: one third of the world's cigarettes are consumed there.

• wherever [weər´evə]   conj.无论在哪里   (初中英语单词)
• planet [´plænit]   n.行星   (初中英语单词)
• capable [´keipəbəl]   a.有能力；能干的   (初中英语单词)
• contain [kən´tein]   v.包含；容纳；抑制   (初中英语单词)
• chemical [´kemikəl]   a.化学的 n.化学制品   (初中英语单词)
• effective [i´fektiv]   a.有效的；有力的   (初中英语单词)
• environment [in´vaiərənmənt]   n.郊区；周围；条件   (高中英语单词)
• extract [ik´strækt, ´ekstrækt]   vt.取出；摘录 n.精华   (高中英语单词)
• inevitably [in´evitəbli]   ad.不可避免地；必然地   (英语四级单词)
• shortage [´ʃɔ:tidʒ]   n.不足(量)；缺少   (英语四级单词)
• financially [fi´nænʃəli]   ad.在金融方面   (英语六级单词)
• applied [ə´plaid]   a.实用的，应用的   (英语六级单词)