布什总统将就全球变暖问题与欧盟领导进行会谈

10 布什总统将就全球变暖问题与欧盟领导进行会谈

Bush to Discuss Environmental Concerns
Jessica Berman
Washington
10 Jun 2001 02:11 UTC
 
The White House says President Bush takes global warming seriously and is looking forward to discussing possible solutions with European allies during his trip to Europe next week. The comments follow the release of a report 1)commissioned by the White House that says global warming 2)poses a real threat to the environment. It may 3)bolster the arguments of Europeans critical of the Bush administration's opposition¹ to the 1997 Kyoto treaty on climate change.
The White House requested the report on global warming because it said it wanted more information on the topic. But in issuing it's conclusions, an eleven-member 4)panel of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences may not have told the Bush administration what it wanted to hear. Among the report's findings continued climate warming, caused in large part by man-made pollution, is likely to have a serious, adverse² impact on the environment by the end the century. This includes rising sea level, increased 5)droughts, threats to world health and agriculture. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer says President Bush has never doubted that the temperature of the earth is rising by small amounts, but says questions remain as to the reason. "There is still some remaining question about what the cause is, how much of that rise is due to man-made factors, how much of that rise is due to naturally occurring events in the atmosphere," Mr. Fleischer said.
The Bush administration has been slow to blame industry for global warming, the result of so-called greenhouse gases 6)principally 7)carbon dioxide 8)accumulating in earth's upper atmosphere. The gases act as a 9)shield to trap heat on the ground. The question is how much of the problem is caused by human activity," said Mr. Fleischer. "And that's why the president is directing a working group at the Cabinet level to study the problem of global warming to come up with solutions for it. It's something he looks forward to discussing with our European allies when he goes to Europe next week, and hearing their thoughts about how to proceed."
Mr. Bush could get an 10)earful. The president in March rejected 11)mandatory³ pollution controls outlined in the 1997 Kyoto global warming treaty that the United States signed along with 167 other countries. European nations could use the National Academy of Sciences report to press the United States on mandatory controls.
Sherwood Roland is a member of the panel on climate change that wrote the report. Professor Roland is an atmospheric⁴ chemist at the University of California in Irvine. Global temperatures have risen about six-tenths of a degree centigrade over the past twenty years. And Mr. Roland and his colleagues on the scientific panel believe the chief reason for global warming is industrial 12)emissions⁵. "Carbon dioxide is the leading greenhouse gas, and that comes from the burning of coal, gas, oil and wood," he said. "In the progress of civilization over the last 200 years, we have gone from doing in the order of wood to coal to oil to gas - more and more such burning has been going on, and as a 13)consequence, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have been going up."
Professor Roland says other greenhouse gases include methane⁶ from farming, and 14)ozone from auto⁷ emissions. The group of scientists made no 15)predictions about what would happen in the future, if global warming is not addressed. Whether President Bush eventually comes around to that same conclusion is yet to be seen.

(1) commission[kE5mIF(E)n]n.委任, 委托, 代理(权)vt.委任, 任命
(2) pose[pEJz]n.姿势v.(使...)摆好姿势, 形成, 引起vi.摆姿势
(3) bolster[`bEJlstE(r) ]n.垫子v.支持
(4) panel[5pAn(E)l]n.面板, 座谈小组, 全体陪审员
(5) drought[draJt]n.干旱, 缺乏
(6) principally[5prInsIplI]adv.主要地
(7) carbon dioxide n.[化]二氧化碳
(8) accumulate[E5kju:mjJleIt]v.积聚, 堆积
(9) shield[Fi:ld]n.防护物, 护罩vt.(from) 保护, 防护v.遮蔽
(10) earful[5IEfJl]n.令人吃惊的回答, 听腻了的消息, 怨言
(11) mandatory[5mAndEtErI]adj.命令的, 强制的, 托管的
(12) emission[I5mIF(E)n]n.(光、热等的)散发, 发射, 喷射
(13) consequence[5kRnsIkwEns; (?@) 5kRnsIkwens]n.结果, 因果关系, 重要的地位
(14) ozone[5EJzEJn]n.臭氧
(15) prediction[prI5dIkF(E)n]n.预言, 预报

 

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

3 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

4 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

5 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。

6 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。

7 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。