美国国家公共电台 NPR 'An Inconvenient Sequel' Is An Effective, Cautiously Optimistic, 'I Told You So'

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Ten years ago, Al Gore¹'s documentary, "An Inconvenient² Truth," argued forcefully that climate change should be a mainstream³ concern. The world seemed to hear that argument, though the current U.S. administration appears to have some doubts. Now Gore has an update - "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power." Our critic Bob Mondello says the new movie brings filmmaking savvy⁴ and striking visuals to a familiar story.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE⁵: A close-up of ice melting in brilliant sunshine is the first thing you see in "An Inconvenient Sequel." It's gorgeous - snow crystals glistening⁶, moisture dripping from them into a pool of water so pure and clear it makes you thirsty. But in subsequent shots, as the drips become streams and the streams plunge⁷ over ice cliffs, you realize what you're seeing. A glacier⁸ is melting. And that's not so beautiful.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: So you see the line?

AL GORE: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: On the - on the ridge⁹ here?

GORE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That green line is where the ice surface was back in the '80s. Not so long ago.

MONDELLO: Al Gore almost seems most at home when he's visiting scientists and statistic¹⁰ gatherers. The man is wonky, no question. But that's what has made his climate change crusade persuasive¹¹ for so many. He gets the figures, says things that initially¹² sound outrageous¹³ and handles the pushback.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER")

GORE: Ten years ago, when the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" came out, the single most criticized scene in that movie was an animated¹⁴ scene showing that the combination of sea level rise and storm surge would put the ocean water into the 9/11 Memorial site, which was then under construction. And people said, that's ridiculous. What a terrible exaggeration.

MONDELLO: Then you see news footage from October 2012.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER")

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York City last night, flooding the World Trade Center site.

MONDELLO: Then a somber¹⁵ New York governor reacting to billions of dollars in damage.

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ANDREW CUOMO: There is a wake-up call here, and that is climate change and our vulnerability to it. It was true 10 years ago. It was true five years ago. It is undeniable today.

MONDELLO: Lessons learned. Steps taken. Still, much of this film manages to be upbeat and affirmative. The single most exhilarating moment may come from a bar graph. Seriously, I want to cheer. But there is no shortage of human stories on screen. The woman whose shoe gets stuck in pavement that's melted from the heat. The conservative Republican mayor of what's said to be the reddest city in the reddest county in oil-producing Texas bragging¹⁶ that his town is saving money by getting 100 percent of its energy from wind and solar.

And the whole middle section of the film dives deep into the negotiations¹⁷ at the global conference on climate change in Paris. At one point, there's a logjam. India has been complaining that industrialized countries built their economies on cheap fossil fuels for 150 years before investing in solar power. Give India till 2167, a diplomat¹⁸ says, and it'll join the switch, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER")

GORE: I've met with their energy and power minister, Piyush Goyal, in Delhi. I asked, what would it take to shift another hundred gigawatts from coal to renewables? His answer was incredibly specific.

MONDELLO: Gore, ever the politician - and in this crowd, also quite the celebrity¹⁹ - starts dickering on the phone and in meetings. And...

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GORE: Virtually every nation in the entire world agreed to get to zero greenhouse emissions²⁰. It is unprecedented²¹.

MONDELLO: Gore's march to a triumphant²² finish, though, gets halted in its tracks.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER")

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP²³: It's time to put America first. That includes a promise to cancel billions in climate change spending. Our plan will end the EPA.

MONDELLO: Eco-evangelist meets denier-in-chief. Directors Jon Shenk and Bonni Cohen take every opportunity to picture the president, who was inaugurated the day after this film premiered at Sundance, as an antagonist²⁴ for their protagonist²⁵. And they've been updating the film since Sundance, which is an effective way to add dramatic tension and make sure that their story about climate is always a story about people. I had a geology prof in college who, whenever he drew a volcano on the blackboard, also drew a village nearby that was going to be buried in lava²⁶ when it erupted. Always got a laugh, but also made a point. Al Gore is like that prof, and "An Inconvenient Sequel" is a hugely effective lecture. I'm Bob Mondello.

1 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

2 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

3 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

4 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 glistening   

adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
• Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》

7 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

8 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

9 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

10 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

11 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

12 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

13 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

14 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

15 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

16 bragging   

v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话

参考例句：

• He's always bragging about his prowess as a cricketer. 他总是吹嘘自己板球水平高超。 来自辞典例句
• Now you're bragging, darling. You know you don't need to brag. 这就是夸口，亲爱的。你明知道你不必吹。 来自辞典例句

17 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

18 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

19 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

20 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。

21 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

22 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

23 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

24 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

25 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

26 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。