World News for Students of English

04-11-2025 15:00

In the Amazon rainforest, illegal gold mining is harming people. Miners use mercury to get gold, but it pollutes rivers. The mercury gets into fish, which local people eat every day.

Pregnant women can pass mercury to their babies through the placenta or breast milk. Some children have serious health problems, like weak muscles or trouble moving. Scientists from Brazil’s health institute are studying 176 mothers and their babies. They found mercury levels five times higher than safe limits in mothers and three times higher in babies.

Researchers are trying to prove that mercury from gold mining causes these problems. Even if mining stops, mercury will stay in the rivers and the ground for tens of years. Families have a difficult choice: follow health rules and be hungry, or eat fish with mercury. The situation shows how gold mining can damage the natural world and people’s health.

Difficult words: mercury (a toxic metal), pollute (to make air, water, or land dirty or harmful), placenta (an organ in pregnant women that gives food and oxygen from mother to baby), prove (to show that something is true or correct).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.