研究生英语教程Unit 1.docx

1、研究生英语教程Unit 1Unit 1Creating a Low-Carbon Economy创建低碳生活Overview概述1.There is no longer any real question that global warming is occurring as the result of the rapid build-up of greenhouse gases primarily caused by human activities. We are on a trajectory for global warming to become much more intense

2、unless we begin a concerted, rapid shift toward a low-carbon economy. And the danger is increasingly clear and present. As Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, has said, “If theres no action before 2012, thats too l

3、ate. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.”对于主要由人类活动而迅速积累的温室气体引发了全球变暖这一事实，没有人再持有异议。除非我们协同一致，快速转向低碳经济，否则全球变暖的趋势将会愈演愈烈。这一危机日益彰显逼近。正如获得2007年诺贝尔和平奖的联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）主席拉金德拉帕乔里所声称的：“如果在2012年之前我们还没有采取行动，那就为时已晚了。我们在未来两到三年中的所作所为将决定我们的未来。这是决定性的时刻

4、。”2.The Earths average temperature has already increased by 0.8C（about 1.4F）over pre-industrial levels, increasing at a rate of 0.2C per decade since 1975, and without changing our course, we will lock several more degrees of change into the system. Such temperature shifts may sound small, but they

5、are not. During the last ice age, average global temperature was only about 5.4C（about 9.7F） colder than it is now.同工业化前的水平相比，地球平均温度已经上升了0.8摄氏度（1.4华氏度左右），速度为自1975年以来每十年增加0.2摄氏度；如果我们仍然一意孤行，那么温度还会继续发生永久性的变化。这种温度变化听起来似乎不大，但事实并非如此。最后一个冰河时代时的全球平均气温不过比现今低约5.4摄氏度（9.7华氏度）。3.Many of our leading climate scien

6、tists have warned that if we exceed 2.0C（about 3.6F） above pre-industrial times, we will enter a dangerous, uncharted territory. No one knows at what precise temperature the effects of global warming become intolerably large, whether as a result of gradual worsening of droughts, floods, hurricanes,

7、and heat waves or as a result of abrupt, catastrophic change, such as the collapse of the Greenland or West Antarctic ice sheets and the accompanying global swell in sea levels. But we are conducting a dangerous uncontrolled experiment with the only home we have. This is why young people in increasi

8、ng numbers are starting to see climate change as the challenge of their generation.很多权威的气候学家们都曾发出过这样的警告：如果我们现在的温度超过工业化前2摄氏度（3.6华氏度）的话，我们将会迈进一个危险的未知国度。没有人能知道到底全球变暖具体达到多少度会变得无法控制，并且造成像干旱、洪水、飓风以和热浪等自然灾害的逐渐恶化，造成诸如格陵兰岛或西南极洲大冰原坍塌以和伴随的全球海平面上升等意外的灾难性变化。但是我们还依然在我们唯一的家园上不断做着危险而又不受约束的尝试，这也是为什么越来越多的年轻人开始将气候变化视为

9、他们这一代人的一项挑战。4.The Washington Post reported in April that, “For many children and young adults, global warming is the atomic bomb of today. Fears of an environmental crisis are defining their generation in ways that the Depression, World War , Vietnam and the Cold Wars lingering War Games etched soul

10、s in the 20th century.”华盛顿邮报4月刊报导到：“对于许多儿童和青年而言，全球气候变暖无异于当今的原子弹。对于环境危机的担忧正影响着这一代人，正如经济大萧条、第二次世界大战、越南战争和冷战等等挥之不去的战争游戏影响了20世纪的灵魂一样。”5.Some of the dire projections may not occur, but in light of the warnings from our best scientists, it would beyond irresponsible to take that bet. Scientists are tellin

11、g us if we do not take action soon, it will be late to avoid the most serious consequences of global warming.有些可怕的预测可能并不会发生，但考虑到那些最优秀的科学家们发出的警告，如果我们再冒险尝试将是极不负责任的做法。科学家告诉我们，如果我们不尽快采取行动，想要避免全球变暖引发的最严重恶果则为时晚矣。Environment Costs环境损失6.The projected environment consequences of climate change are well known

12、. The only thing that keeps changing, with the steady drumbeat of new and better scientific data and analysis, is that the picture gets more and more serious. In the words of Harvards John Holdren, one of our leading science policy thinkers, global climate change is the most dangerous of all environ

13、ment problems because climate represents the envelope within which our natural systems operate. By badly disrupting that envelope, we “adversely affect every dimension of human well-being that is tied to the environment.”气候变化对环境所造成的后果预测众所周知。依据稳健可靠的优新科学数据分析，唯一保持不断变化的景象就是越来越糟的环境。作为首席科学政策专家之一，哈佛大学的约翰霍尔

14、德伦指出，在所有环境问题中全球气候变化是最危险的，因为气候就像一个信封，保障其中所有自然生态系统正常运作。如果这一包裹层遭到严重破坏，我们就会“对环境影响下人类福祉的每一个层面产生不利影响。”7.The Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change Impacts released in April 2007 by the IPCC, the official body of over 2,000 scientists acting under the auspices of the United Nations, presents a stark pi

15、cture. The IPCC report says that “human induced climate change is already affecting physical and biological processes on all continents and some oceans.” Among other impacts, the report warns of:在联合国的主持下，IPCC2000多名科学家组成的官方机构于2007年4月发布了关于气候变化影响的第四次评估报告，为人们展示了一幅鲜明的预警图。IPCC的报告声称“人类活动引起的气候变化已经影响到所有大陆和一些

16、海洋的物理和生物进程”。在诸多影响中，该报告尤其警告：Extreme weather events such as drought, floods, and severe storms, including hurricanes, becoming more intense and inflicting greater damage to life and property.极端天气事件，如干旱、洪水和严重的风暴，包括飓风，将变得更加严重，对生命和财产造成更大损害。Increasing hurricane intensity.（other recent scientific findings

17、suggest that not just the intensity but also the frequency of hurricanes is increasing with rising sea-surface temperatures.）飓风强度增加。（其他最新科学研究结果表明，不只是强度，飓风的频率也会增加，同时伴随海表面温度升高）。Rising sea levels threatening the mega-delta regions of Asia, coastal cities in Europe, low-lying areas in North and Latin Am

18、erica, and small islands. The melting of the Greenland ice sheet alone could lead to a sea-level rise of seven meters.海平面上升，威胁亚洲的大型三角洲地区、欧洲沿海城市、北美和拉丁美洲的低洼地区，和小岛屿。单是格陵兰冰原融化就可能导致海平面上升7米。Increased water scarcity facing 1 billion to 2 billion people.水资源匮乏问题恶化，10亿至20亿人口面临缺水。Increased risk of heat- and fl

19、ood-related mortality and of water and food-borne diseases.发生高温和洪水造成死亡、水和食物传染疾病的风险增加。Declining crop yields and increased hunger in some regions, including parts of Africa and Asia.作物产量下降，一些地区饥荒严重，包括非洲和亚洲的部分地区。Degrading fisheries.渔业不景气。Declining coral reef systems.珊瑚礁系统退化。Extinction facing 20 percent

20、 to 30 percent of global plant and animal life.全球20至30的植物和动物面临灭绝。Economic Costs经济损失8.There is substantial uncertainty about the precise economic costs of climate change, but if we continue to our current path there is little doubt that overall they would be very large. A look at trend lines from the

21、 insurance industry gives a hint of the kind of rising magnitude of damage we might see from just one projected effect of global warming extreme weather events.关于气候变化的具体经济成本很难确定，但如果我们不改变做法，这笔数字无疑会非常庞大。参考保险业的趋势，我们可以得到这样一个暗示，当损害程度上升到一定量时就会造成严重的后果，那么在全球变暖带来的诸多影响里，其中之一就是极端天气现象的产生。9.At the meeting of the

22、 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Morocco in 2001, large reinsurance companies（which offer insurance to other insurers）such as Swiss Re and Munich Re warned of the increase in extreme weather events. According to Munich Re, “The number of really big weather disasters has increased four

23、-fold if we compare the last decade to the 1960s. The economic losses have leaped seven-fold and the insured losses are 11 times greater.” In 2004, Swiss Re warned in a report that the costs of natural disasters, aggravated by climate change, threatened to double to $150 billion a year in 10 years.2

24、001年在摩洛哥举行的联合国气候变化框架公约会议上，如瑞士和慕尼黑等大型再保险公司（为其他保险公司提供保险）发出警告表示极端天气事件一再增加。据慕尼黑再保险公司声称：“如果我们把过去十年和20世纪60年代相比较，真正大灾害性天气的数量增加了4倍。经济损失已经扩大了7倍，保险损失也提高了11倍。” 2004年瑞士再保险公司在一份报告中警告说，气候变化加剧导致的自然灾害损失在未来10年内可能每年都会翻倍至1500亿美元。10.More systematically, the much discussed Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change

25、, commissioned by the British government and authored by Sir Nicholas Stern, former Chief Economist for the World Bank, concludes that economic damages from climate change could be seismic:由英国政府委托、前世界银行首席经济学家尼古拉斯斯特恩爵士撰写的斯特恩评论气候变化下的经济引起了广泛讨论，他在其中更系统地总结到气候变化带来的经济损失可能影响巨大：Our actions over the coming fe

26、w decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and economic depression of the first half of the twentieth century. And it will be difficult or impossible to reverse th

27、ese changes.在未来的几十年里，我们的行为可能会对经济和社会活动造成很大破坏，在本世纪末和下世纪，其规模类似二十世纪前半叶大战和经济衰退带来的相关影响。想要逆转这些变化很难，甚至是不可能的。11.Stern sees the threat of this major disruption coming from a number of factors, including the increased costs of damage from extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, heat waves,

28、 and major storms; the risk that such events affect global financial markets through higher or more volatile in insurance costs; and the risk of abrupt and large-scale climate change. Stern also points to the consequences of climate change on environment and on human health as economic growth and pr

29、oductivity suffer under the weight of degrading environmental conditions.斯特恩认为造成这一重大破坏的成因很多，包括：如洪水、干旱、飓风、热浪、大暴雨等极端天气现象所造成的损失越来越大；由于保险费用更高或更不稳定，此类现象可能影响全球金融市场；同时存在突发大规模气候变化的风险。斯特恩还指出，迫于环境条件恶化，经济增长缓慢，生产力下降，气候变化对环境和人类健康可能带来哪些后果。Building a Low-Carbon Economy创建低碳经济12.To design policies aimed at creating

30、a low-carbon economy, we need to understand first the extent to which global average temperatures can rise without triggering the dangerous consequences of global warming and, second, how low we need to keep the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases in order to stay within that temperature l

31、imit. both of these questions（the temperature limit and the concentration limit）must be answered based on scientific analysis of historic climate data and projections of future conditions, and state-of-the-art computer models paint a stark picture of what is to come.想要设计旨在创建低碳经济的政策，我们首先需要了解在哪一范围内全球平

32、均气温上升却不会触发全球变暖的危险后果。第二，在温度极限内要保持多低的大气温室气体浓度。回答这两个问题（温度极限和浓度极限）必须运用以历史气候数据为基础做出的科学分析和对未来状况的预测，以和通过最先进的计算机模型所描绘出鲜明的未来预测图。13.As noted, global mean temperature is about 0.8C（1.4F）above pre-industrial levels, and another 0.6C（1.1F）of further warming is probably built into the system already. Even if we cut off emissions tomorrow, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would continue rising since these gases persist in the atmosphere for a very long time from decades to thousands of years after they are first emitted depending o