纽约时报 特朗普对联合国气候警告视而不见(3)(在线收听

On Saturday, an American delegation in South Korea joined more than 180 countries in accepting the report’s summary for policymakers,

星期六,一个驻韩国的美国代表团与180多个国家的嘉宾一道聆听了联合国为各国政策制定者们准备的报告纪要,

but a statement from the State Department added that it “does not imply endorsement by the United States of the specific findings or underlying contents of the report.”

然而,国务院的一份声明补充到,这“并不意味着美国就认可该报告具体的研究结论或隐含内容。”

The report “is quite a shock, and quite concerning,”said Bill Hare,

该报告“令人十分震惊,也令人十分忧心,”比尔·哈勒说到,

an author of previous Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports and a physicist with Climate Analytics, a nonprofit organization.

此前他曾多次撰写政府间气候变化专门委员会报告,同时他也是非营利组织“气候分析”的物理学家。

“We were not aware of this just a few years ago.”

“就在几年前我们都还没意识到这一点。”

The authors found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate,

报告的作者们发现,如果温室气体的排放继续维持当前的速度,

the atmosphere will warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.5 degrees Celsius, above preindustrial levels by 2040.

那么到2040年,全球平均气温就会达到比工业化前的水平高出2.7华氏度,也即1.5摄氏度的水平。

The Paris accord set a goal of preventing warming of more than 3.6 degrees above preindustrial levels —

而《巴黎协定》设立的目标是将全球气温上升控制在前工业化时期水平之上3.6华氏度(2摄氏度)之内——

long considered a threshold for the most severe social and economic damage from climate change.

这一温度一直被认为是气候变化造成最严重的社会和经济损失的门槛。

But the heads of small island nations, fearful of rising sea levels, had also asked scientists to examine the effects of 2.7 degrees of warming.

然而,担心海平面上升的小岛国家的元首要求科学家对2.7华氏度这一涨幅可能造成的影响也进行考察。

Without aggressive action, many effects that scientists once expected to happen further in the future will arrive by 2040, and at the lower temperature, the report shows.

报告显示,如果不大力采取措施,科学家们预计很久以后人类才会面临的那些问题将会提前到2040年,发生的温度条件也会变低。

“It’s telling us we need to reverse emissions trends and turn the world economy on a dime,” said Myles Allen, an Oxford University climate scientist and an author of the report.

“这个报告告诉我们,我们需要扭转排放趋势,同时迅速转变世界经济,”该报告作者之一,牛津大学气候科学家迈尔斯·艾伦说到。

To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, the report said,

报告显示,为了防止气温突破2.7度这一门槛,

greenhouse emissions must be reduced by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, and by 100 percent by 2050.

到2030年温室气体的排放量必须减少到2010年的55%,到2050年减少到零排放量。

It also found that use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40 percent today to 1 to 7 percent by 2050.

报告还发现,到2050年,发电用煤的使用量必须从目前的近40%下降到1%~7%。

“This report makes it clear: There is no way to mitigate climate change without getting rid of coal,”

“这份报告清楚地表明:不摆脱煤炭就没有办法减缓气候的变化,”

said Drew Shindell, a climate scientist at Duke University and an author of the report.

杜克大学的气候科学家,该报告的作者德鲁·辛德尔说。

Mr. Trump has vowed to increase the burning of coal.

然而,特朗普已经立誓还要增加煤炭的使用量了。

“It makes me feel angry when I think about the U.S. government,” Mr. Shindell said. “My kids feel like it’s their future being destroyed.”

“一想到美国政府我就好气,”辛德尔先生说。 “我的孩子觉得被毁的是他们的未来。”

He watched as the grounds of his son’s high school in Durham, N.C., and the roads around it flooded last month after Hurricane Florence.

上个月,他曾亲眼目睹了儿子所上的北卡罗来纳州达勒姆高中的操场和学校周围的道路被佛罗伦萨飓风带来的洪水淹没。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/nysb/513146.html