全球变暖Global warming

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是爱丽丝。
And I’m Neil.I’m feeling a bit chilly today, Alice.
我是尼尔。我感觉今天有点冷，爱丽丝。
Yes, it is unseasonably cold today – which means not normal for the time of year.But the weather is very uNPRedictable these days.
今天不合时宜的冷，这样的天出现在这时候不正常。但这些天天气变化莫测。
I know what you mean.
我懂你的意思。
Well, global warming is the subject of today’s show.
今天节目的主题是全球变暖。
Is global warming really something to worry about? Some people say that the Earth has warmed up in the past and nothing terrible has happened.
全球变暖真的这么值得担心吗？有人说过去地球也有变暖的时候，也没有发生什么可怕的事。
The Earth has warmed up before, but this was the result of things like wobbles in the Earth’s orbit, not because of an increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
之前变暖是因为地球轨道不稳，而不是因为大气层温室气体增多。
Can we reverse the changes?
我们可以扭转这些改变吗？
No, it’s too late, and now we have to find ways to adapt to extreme weather, rising sea levels, and melting polar ice caps.However, we can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions – or make them less harmful. But before we talk more about this, I have a question for you.How much has the average temperature of the Earth’s surface increased in the last hundred years?Is it…a) 0.85°C?b) 1.85°C?Or c) 8.5°C?
太迟了，我们只能想办法去适应极端天气，升高的海平面，逐渐融化的两极冰盖。然而，我们可以减少温室气体排放，减少危害。在我们继续谈论前，我有个问题问你。在一百年间，地球表面的平均温度升高了多少？a) 0.85°C？b) 1.85°C?还是 c) 8.5°C?
I’m gonna go for the big one c) 8.5°C.
我想选数字最大的那个， c) 8.5°C。
Well, we’ll find out if you got the answer right later on, Neil.But first, do you know any ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions?
之后我们再看你回答得是否正确。首先，你知道有哪些方法可以减少温室气体排放吗？
I do, actually.An Argentinian company has started collecting cow… emissions and converting them into usable energy.
我知道。阿根廷一个公司开始收集牛的排泄物，将它们转换为可用的能源。
Well, as the world eats more meat, methane emissions from livestock are actually becoming a bigger climate concern.
人们吃肉越来越多，牲畜的沼气排放愈发成为大的环境问题。
And one day’s worth of cow emissions provides energy to run a car for 24 hours.
牛一天的排泄物转换的能量可以供一辆汽车行驶24小时。
OK, moving on now, so the world is going to have to adapt to global warming since we can’t turn back the clock on climate change.And rich countries have the resources to do this, whilst poorer countries don’t.Let’s hear from Saleemul Huq, Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Bangladesh,talking about how this problem is being addressed.
继续说，因为我们不能扭转气候变化，所以不得不去适应全球变暖。发达国家有资源去应对变化，然而贫困国家并不能。我们听听孟加拉国气候变化与发展中心主任Saleemul Huq的看法，她会讲述这个问题如何得到解决。
The rich countries have already pledged and promised a hundred billion dollars a year, starting from 2020, to cover all kinds of climate change activities which in climate change are either going to be called mitigation or adaptation.
发达国家已经允诺自2020年起，每年提供1000亿美元，支持各类改善气候变化的活动，即各类减排活动。
A year? But that’s an enormous sum of money!
一年？这可是一笔不小的费用！
Not that enormous compared to what they gave to the banking system when it collapsed.Climate change is a much bigger problem than the banking crisis.
和银行系统崩溃他们投入的钱相比，就不算什么了。气候变化比银行危机更加严重。
Saleemul Huq interviewed on the BBC World Service programme Newshour Extra.Well, he says rich countries have pledged – or promised – to deliver a hundred billion dollars a yearto help poorer countries adapt to climate change.However, he suggests that this sum could have been larger – since more money than this was donated to resolve the banking crisis.
上述是Saleemul Huq接受BBC世界服务节目 Newshour Extra采访时发表的观点。他说发达国家允诺每年会提供1000亿美元，帮助贫困国家适应气候变化问题。然而他暗示这笔钱应该更多，因为银行危机时，他们投入的钱远远多于此。
For example, after the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy,New York City invested ten billion dollars on storm defences to protect Manhattan – and Wall Street.
例如，飓风桑迪造成灾难性影响后，纽约市投入了100亿美元为了保护曼哈顿和华尔街免收飓风损害。
And where lack of water is a problem, countries like Australia, China, and Spain, have built desalination plants,which remove the salt from seawater to produce drinking water.But it’s too expensive for developing countries to do this, even though they need them.
对于澳大利亚、中国、西班牙这些国家，缺水也是一个问题，他们建造了脱盐工厂。通过将海水脱盐来获得饮用水。但是对于发展中国家来说，即便急需这种项目，但花费巨大。
So in relative terms, one billion dollars a year to help poor countries is a small sum of money when compared to their need.Countries like Bangladesh have developed homegrown technologies – which means produced locally – such as harvesting rainwater from their rooftops.
所以相对来说，如果与贫困国家的需要相比，每年支出1000亿美元帮助他们，不算很多。像孟加拉国已经开发了本土技术，也就是在当地开发，如从屋顶收集雨水。
OK, Alice, and thinking about certain radical proposals for adaptation– did you know there’s a Dutch company that wants to build floating cities for us to live in?
好了，我们来看看关于适应环境的一些激进的做法。你知道吗，荷兰一家公司想要建造漂移的城市供人类居住。
No, I didn’t.
我不知道这件事。
Yeah. Plans include 15-storey high-rise buildings and floating food production.
他们计划建造15层的高层建筑，以及漂移的食物生产方法。
It sounds like it would be incredibly expensive. Has anyone actually built one?
听起来造价不菲啊。真的有人建了这么一栋建筑吗？
No, not so far. Let’s hear from Mark Maslin, Professor of Climatology at University College London, talking about why this might be.
至今还没有。我们听听伦敦大学气象学教授Mark Maslin对这个可能性的看法。
Remember, we’re going to have 9.5 billion people by the middle of this century. Now, if you think about it, think about the logistics of building a city, floating, for say, ten million people.And then multiply that up to 60 per cent of 9.5 billion people.OK? So don’t think it’s really cost-efficient.
要知道，本世纪中期，世界人口将达到95亿。如果你想这么做，比如建造一座漂移的城市，容纳一千万人。那么乘以95亿人的60%。不要觉得这很合算。
So in practical terms, the logistics of building a large floating city probably couldn’t work.It wouldn’t be cost-efficient – or good value for the money you paid.
所以实际的说，建造一座大型的漂移城市并不管用。一点都不合算，不值你投那么多钱。
And logistics means the organization of a complex activity.
logistics是指一套复杂活动的组织形式。
On the other hand, the logistics of teaching farmers in Bangladesh to breed ducks instead of chickens,for example, would be relatively simple and cost-efficient – and since ducks float and chickens don’t, it’s a sensible adaptation to climate change!
另一方面，教授孟加拉国的农民喂养鸭子，而不是养鸡，会更加简单，更加合算。因为鸭子会游泳，而鸡不会。这就是适应气候变化！
That’s a great example, Neil!Now, I think it’s time for the answer to today’s quiz question.I asked: How much has the average temperature of the Earth’s surface increased in the last hundred years? Is it… a) 0.85°C, b) 1.85°C or c) 8.5°C?
这个例子不错！我觉得是时候公布今天问题的答案了。我问：近一百年间地球表面平均温度升高了多少？a) 0.85°C, b) 1.85°C 还是 c) 8.5°C？
And I said c) 8.5°C and I know I’m wrong.
我选的是c) 8.5°C，我觉得我错了。
Yes, I’m afraid you are Neil. The right answer is actually 0.85°C. And did you know that 13 of the 14 warmest years were recorded in the 21st Century?
恐怕你真的错了。正确答案是 0.85°C。你知道吗，史上最热的14年，其中13年都是在21世纪。
I did not know that, Alice.
我不知道这个。
But I do know which words we learned today.
但我知道今天学到了哪些单词。
They are:
分别是：
unseasonably
不合时宜的
mitigate
减轻
pledged
保证
desalination
脱盐作用
homegrown
本土的
cost-efficient
合算的
logistics
后勤
And that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. Don’t forget to join us again soon!
今天的六分钟英语就到这里。不要忘了下期再见！
Bye!
再见！