新西兰英语 192 Climate Change Bill

　　Today, the Minister for Climate Change, Nick Smith, introduced an ETS – Emissions¹ Trading Scheme – bill into Parliament. This will change the ETS that the Labour government passed. Dr Smith said that it was important not to be too tough on industry because we do not want industries to move to another country.
The plan now is to reduce carbon emissions 10% to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 50% by 2050. Other emissions include methane² from animals.
This new ETS will give us until July 1st 2010 before we have to pay for the carbon pollution that comes from transport, energy and industry. We will pay an extra 5% on electricity and 3.5cents a litre on petrol. Industry will pay $25 a tonne for the carbon it makes, but will only pay half of this for the first three years. All these extra costs will mean about $165 more a year for each household.
Although the Maori Party was against this bill at first because of the costs to the tax payer, finally they agreed to support it. One reason is that many Maori tribes³ are using their Treaty Settlement money for industry. However, the government has promised the Maori Party some help for low income families, like free home insulation⁴, in return for supporting the ETS bill.
Some Maori tribes own forests. Trees use carbon dioxide and can earn carbon credits, but if the trees are cut down for timber⁵, more trees must be planted and this is very expensive.
Agriculture is the biggest industry in New Zealand. This ETS bill gives farmers five years before they have to pay for the greenhouse gases from their animals. The Prime Minister, John Key, is in New York at the moment, attending a United Nations meeting. Before the conference began, leaders met to talk about climate change. The US has agreed to John Key’s plan to help pay for research into ways of reducing agricultural emissions.

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

3 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

5 timber   

n.木材，原木，大木料，栋木

参考例句：

• These trees need more time to grow into useful timber.这些树不够年头，还没成材呢。
• The timber is graded according to its thickness.木材按厚度分级。