In the 1820s, London was a city with a rapidly growing population. Both factories and homes used coal to stay in operation. As a result, air pollution posed a serious threat to both people and plants. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a young doctor who loved studying plants and insects, often felt upset about the city’s poor air quality. One day in 1829, he noticed that a grass plant had grown from the wet soil inside a sealed glass container he had made for an insect.
1820 年代的倫敦是一座人口快速成長的城市。當時無論是工廠還是家庭，都依靠燃燒煤炭來維持運作。結果，空氣污染對人類與植物都構成了嚴重威脅。納撒尼爾．巴格肖．沃德是一位熱愛研究植物與昆蟲的年輕醫生，他經常因城市惡劣的空氣品質而感到沮喪。1829 年某一天，他注意到一株草從他為昆蟲準備的密封玻璃容器裡的濕土中長出來。
生活必備字詞：
in operation 在運作
operation n. 運作
pose a threat to... 對……構成威脅
threat n. 威脅
sealed a. 密封的
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本文節錄自《常春藤生活英語》雜誌，完整內容請見十月號。
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