China Daily reports that more than 5,000 tons of highly toxic industrial waste were dumped illegally in rural areas in Yunnan province, causing livestock deaths and soil and water pollution.

据《中国日报》报道，5000多吨剧毒化工废料在云南省的农村地区被非法倾倒，造成家畜死亡、土壤水源污染。

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Dump is a word that has lots of meaning in English. Dumping toxic wastes into a river means emptying material into something else. It usually has a negative connotation. A place where it’s legal to dump non-toxic wastes is often called a dump.

But dump also means a big mess. So you could tell your messy girlfriend: “Your place is a dump.”

Dump also means breaking up with someone. So if you tell your girlfriend her place is a dump, she just might dump you.

In politics, dumping means selling something at a lower price abroad than at home. Countries sometimes accuse each other of dumping.

And when you transfer computer data to an external storage device, guess what? That’s also called dumping.

Dump一词在英文里有很多意思，比如dump（倾倒）有毒废物到河里，这种用法常带有贬义。可以合法倾倒无毒废物的地方就是dump（垃圾场）。

Dump还可以表示“一团糟”。如果你的女友很邋遢，你可以对她说：“Your place is a dump.”。但她听过之后可能就会dump you（甩了你）。这里的dump表示“和某人分手”。

Dump还可以表示“倾销”，也就是以低于国内的价格将某物卖到国外。各国有时为此互相指责。

而当你将电脑数据转移到一个外部的储存设备，你猜怎么着？那也叫dump（内存信息转储）。

（中国日报网英语点津 实习生沈清 编辑：Julie）

About the broadcaster:

Renee Haines is an editor and broadcaster at China Daily. Renee has more than 15 years of experience as a newspaper editor, radio station anchor and news director, news-wire service reporter and bureau chief, magazine writer, book editor and website consultant. She came to China from the United States.