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Killing two birds with one stone is a desirable objective, but rarely an achievable one.
一石二鳥是一個令人向往的目標，但很難實現。
However, Dinesh Mohan of Nehru University, in Delhi,
然而，德里尼赫魯大學的Dinesh Mohan認為
thinks he may have worked out how to do it in the case of a pair of local environmental problems.
他可能已經想出了解決當地兩個環境問題的方法。
One is the risk of fire in the pine forests cloaking the foothills of the Himalaya.
一個是隱藏在喜馬拉雅山山麓的松林火災風險。
The other is pollution by heavy metals, particularly lead, of some of the country's water supply.
另一個是該國水源中的重金屬污染問題，尤其是鉛。
The fire risk comes from pines' needle-like leaves. These decay only slowly once shed,
火災風險來自于松樹針狀的葉子。一旦脫落，這些葉子腐化進度緩慢，
and thus build up on the ground into thick, inflammable layers. Nor are they just a fire hazard.
因此在地面上形成了厚且易燃的樹葉層。它們不僅僅是火災隱患。
They also slow down the replenishment of groundwater and make the soil more acidic than it otherwise would be,
它們還放慢了地下水補給的速度，使土壤酸性比正常情況下更強，
discouraging the growth of grass and other non-arboreal plants.
阻礙了草地和其他非樹生植物的生長。
The pollution risk comes from lead derived from fuels, old water pipes and paint.
污染風險來自于燃料、舊水管和油氣中的鉛。
Heavy-metal pollution is by no means the only water-quality problem facing India, but it is one of the most pernicious.
重金屬污染絕不是印度面臨的唯一水質量問題，但卻是最致命的問題之一。
Like many other countries, India has adopted the maximum level in drinking water for lead set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
和很多其他國家一樣，印度采用的是世界衛生組織（WHO）設定的飲用水鉛含量上限。
This is ten micrograms per litre. In 2014 (the most recent year for which data are available)
即每升10微克。在2014年（這幾年唯一公開的數據）
the country's Central Water Commission reported concentrations above this threshold at 47 of its 387 river-water-quality monitoring stations.
該國的中央水務委員會報告稱，在其387個河流水質監測站中，有47個的濃度超過了這一閾值。
The simultaneous solution of the two problems, proposed by Dr Mohan in a paper in ACS Omega, is simple and elegant.
Mohan博士在《ACS Omega》的一篇論文中提到，同時解決這兩個問題的方法，既簡單又精妙。
It is to use the needles to clean up the water.
即利用針葉凈化水源。
One way to extract heavy metals like lead from polluted water is to pass that water through charcoal filters.
從被污染的水中提取鉛等重金屬的一種方法是通過木炭過濾器。
Charcoal, or "biochar" as it is now fashionably known in environmental circles, is a porous, amorphous material,
木炭，或現在環保圈中流行的稱呼“生物炭”，是一種多孔無定形材料，
which thereby folds a large surface area into a small volume. It is composed partly of elemental carbon,
因此這種材料可以將大的比表面積折成小體積。它一部分是由元素碳組成，
but this is accompanied by lots of organic molecules such as fatty acids, phenols and quinones,
另一部分由很多有機分子，比如脂酸、酚類化合物和醌類
and also by salts of potassium, magnesium and calcium, all left behind from its previous existence as plant matter.
還有鉀、鎂和鈣的鹽類組成，這些都是之前作為植物時所保留下來的。
Many heavy-metal ions react enthusiastically with certain oxygen-containing groups of atoms that form parts of the organic molecules, and thus stick to them.
很多重金屬和某些含氧原子群發生劇烈反應，這些原子形成了有機分子一部分，并粘附在有機分子上。
They also, through a process called ion exchange, swap places with potassium, magnesium and calcium ions.
它們還通過離子交換，與鉀離子、鎂離子和鈣離子交換位置。
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