2019年经济学人 气候问题(1)

 

Leaders

来源于《社论》版块

The climate issue

气候问题

Climate change touches everything this newspaper reports on. It must be tackled urgently and clear-headedly

气候变化关系到本刊所报道的一切。这一问题必须迫切而清醒地加以解决

From one year to the next, you cannot feel the difference. As the decades stack up, though, the story becomes clear. The stripes on our cover represent the world’s average temperature in every year since the mid-19th century. Dark blue years are cooler and red ones warmer than the average in 1971-2000. The cumulative¹ change jumps out. The world is about 1℃ hotter than when this newspaper was young. To represent this span of human history as a set of simple stripes may seem reductive. These are years which saw world wars, technological² innovation, trade on an unprecedented³ scale and a staggering creation of wealth. But those complex histories and the simplifying stripes share a common cause. The changing climate of the planet and the remarkable⁴ growth in human numbers and riches both stem from the combustion⁵ of billions of tonnes of fossil fuel to produce industrial power, electricity, transport, heating and, more recently, computation.

从一年到下一年，你感觉不到差别。然而，随着时间的推移，事情变得越来越清楚。封面上的条纹代表了自19世纪中叶以来每年的全球平均气温。深蓝色年份比1971-2000年的平均年份更冷，红色年份更热。累积变化会跳出来。现在的世界比本刊刚创立的时候温度要高1摄氏度。用一组简单的条纹来代表人类历史的这段时间似乎有些简化。这几年见证了世界大战、技术创新、空前规模的贸易和惊人的财富创造。但是这些复杂的历史和简化的条纹有一个共同的原因。地球气候的变化，以及人类数量和财富的显著增长，都源于数十亿吨化石燃料的燃烧，这些燃料用于生产工业动力、电力、交通、供暖，以及最近的计算。

All around us

我们身边的一切

That the changing climate touches everything and everyone should be obvious—as it should be that the poor and marginalised have most to lose when the weather turns against them. What is less obvious, but just as important, is that, because the processes that force climate change are built into the foundations of the world economy and of geopolitics, measures to check climate change have to be similarly wide-ranging and all-encompassing. To decarbonise an economy is not a simple subtraction⁶; it requires a near-complete overhaul⁷.

气候变化影响着一切，影响着每一个人，这一点应该是显而易见的——当天气对穷人和边缘人群不利时，他们的损失应该是最大的。不那么明显但同样重要的是，由于推动气候变化的过程已成为世界经济和地缘政治的基础，遏制气候变化的措施必须同样广泛和全面。经济脱碳不是简单的减法;这需要近乎彻底的改革。

To some—including many of the millions of young idealists who, as The Economist⁸ went to press, were preparing for a global climate strike, and many of those who will throng⁹ the streets of New York during next week’s un General Assembly—this overhaul requires nothing less than the gelding or uprooting¹⁰ of capitalism¹¹. After all, the system grew up through the use of fossil fuels in ever-greater quantities. And the market economy has so far done very little to help. Almost half the atmosphere’s extra, human- made carbon dioxide was put there after the turn of the 1990s, when scientists sounded the alarm and governments said they would act.

对一些人来说——包括《经济学人》付印时正在为全球气候罢工做准备的数百万年轻理想主义者中的许多人，以及下周联合国大会期间将涌上纽约街头的许多人——这种改革只需要把资本主义赶出或铲除。毕竟，这个系统是通过使用越来越多的化石燃料发展起来的。到目前为止，市场经济也没有提供多少帮助。20世纪90年代初，科学家拉响了警报，各国政府表示将采取行动，之后，大气中几乎一半的、人为制造的、额外的二氧化碳被排放到大气中。

1 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

2 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

3 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。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 combustion   

n.燃烧；氧化；骚动

参考例句：

• We might be tempted to think of combustion.我们也许会联想到氧化。
• The smoke formed by their combustion is negligible.由它燃烧所生成的烟是可忽略的。

6 subtraction   

n.减法，减去

参考例句：

• We do addition and subtraction in arithmetic.在算术里,我们作加减运算。
• They made a subtraction of 50 dollars from my salary.他们从我的薪水里扣除了五十美元。

7 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

8 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

9 throng   

n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集

参考例句：

• A patient throng was waiting in silence.一大群耐心的人在静静地等着。
• The crowds thronged into the mall.人群涌进大厅。

10 uprooting   

n.倒根，挖除伐根v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• He is hard at work uprooting wild grass in the field. 他正在田里辛苦地芟夷呢。 来自互联网
• A storm raged through the village, uprooting trees and flattening crops. 暴风雨袭击了村庄，拔起了树木，吹倒了庄稼。 来自互联网

11 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。