> Brazil swelters in heatwave as health warnings issued
巴西熱浪襲人 該國各地發出健康警告

It’s still spring in Brazil, but a dangerous heat wave is sweeping across large swaths of the country, forcing Rio de Janeiro’s vendors off the streets due to health alerts, and driving up energy demand amid reports of power outages.
雖然巴西仍然是春天的季節，但危險的熱浪正席卷該國的大片地區。里約熱內盧的小販因健康警報而被迫離開街道，并在停電的報道中推高了能源需求。

Most Brazilian states face “great danger” from the heat, according to the National Institute of Meteorology.
據巴西國家氣象研究所稱，巴西大多數州都面臨著來自高溫的“巨大危險”。

The institution issued a red alert for the central-west, southeast and parts of the north, warning of “a high probability of major damage and accidents, with risks to physical integrity or even human life.”
該機構對中西部、東南部和北部部分地區發布了紅色預警，警告“極有可能造成重大損失和事故，危及人身安全甚至生命”。

Cariocas — as residents of Rio are known — have always seen sun, heat and the beach as part of their identity, said Núbia Beray, coordinator of Rio de Janeiro Federal University’s GeoClima laboratory.
里約熱內盧聯邦大學GeoClima實驗室協調員努比亞?貝雷表示，里約熱內盧人一直把陽光、高溫和海灘視為他們生活的一部分。

But this is too much even for many of them, she said.
但她說，現在的情況對他們中的許多人來說也是過于極端。

“Cariocas come home from work in buses without air conditioning. Street vendors cannot work because they sometimes faint. The heat kills,” Beray said.
貝雷表示：“里約人下班后乘坐沒有空調的公交車回家。街頭小販無法工作，因為他們有時會暈倒。高溫是致命的?！?/p>

Extreme heat can affect breathing, kidneys, and the heart, with the very young and elderly particularly at risk.
極端高溫會影響呼吸、腎臟和心臟，尤其是年幼者和老年人。

> Polluted air can negatively impact children’s test scores
耶魯大學最新研究：空氣污染降低學生學習成績

A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health finds air pollution may negatively impact standardized test scores.
耶魯大學公共衛生學院的研究人員領導的一項新研究發現，空氣污染可能會對標準化考試成績產生負面影響。

The cross-sectional study, employing a two-way fixed-effects model, appears in the open access peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Network Open.
這項采用雙因素固定效應模型的橫斷面研究，發表在開放獲取的同行評審醫學期刊《JAMA Network Open》上。

Using data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, the researchers tracked 2.8 million public school students in North Carolina from 2001 to 2018 and measured their exposure to PM2.5, also known as fine particulate matter, found in polluted air.
研究人員利用北卡羅來納州教育研究數據中心的數據，追蹤調查了2001年至2018年間北卡羅來納州280萬名公立學校學生，并測量了他們暴露于污染空氣中的PM2.5的情況。

While previous research has shown an association with adverse outcomes on academic performance in children, it has relied on relatively small or less representative samples and faced other challenges.
雖然以前的研究表明，空氣污染對兒童學業表現有負面影響，但它依賴于相對較小或不太具有代表性的樣本和其他挑戰。

“The biggest strength of this study is that we [tracked] every student in North Carolina in those years, for the whole time period that they were in the public schools,” said Emma Zang, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology, biostatistics, and global affairs at Yale. “Air pollution has been shown to affect a lot of things, but the effect of air pollution on students' academic performance is still relatively new.”
該研究的合著者、耶魯大學社會學、生物統計學和全球事務助理教授艾瑪?臧（音譯)說:“這項研究最大的優勢在于，我們[追蹤]了北卡羅來納州當年的每一名學生，在他們就讀公立學校的整個期間?？諝馕廴疽呀洷蛔C明會影響諸多方面，但空氣污染對學生學習成績的影響仍然是相對較新的?！?/p>

The study also found that test scores of ethnic minorities and girls were disproportionately affected by PM2.5 levels. “
研究還發現，少數族裔和女孩的考試成績受PM2.5水平的影響更為嚴重。

Females and racial ethnic minorities face structural sexism and structural racism,” Zang said. “There are a lot of policies that are not friendly toward females and ethnic minorities. So, when they're exposed to the same level of air pollution, they don't have the resources to buffer the negative influences.”
“女性和少數族裔群體面臨著結構性性別歧視和種族歧視，” 艾瑪表示?！坝泻芏嗾邔ε院蜕贁底逡岵⒉挥押?。因此，當她們暴露在相同水平的空氣污染中時，她們沒有資源來緩沖負面影響?！?/p>

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