2020年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--关于气候的表达(1)

Books & arts

来源于《图书和艺术》版块

Johnson

约翰逊语言专栏

Climate-speak

关于气候的表达

Of train-boasts, plane-shame and electric automobiles¹

火车、飞机和电动汽车

Identifying shifts in the Earth’s climate requires decades of data, not just the observations of 2019 or any other single year. Climate change moves slowly, which is part of its calamitous² power. Huge fires in California and Australia are probably worsened by the phenomenon—but no blaze can unequivocally be pinned on it, a fact seized on by those who would rather avoid the subject. Yet in the growing strength and coherence³ of climate protests, something did change discernibly in 2019.

确定地球气候的变化需要几十年的数据，而不仅仅是2019年或任何其他年份的观测数据。气候变化进展缓慢，这是其灾难性力量的一部分。加州和澳大利亚的大火很可能因为这种现象而更加严重——但不是说所有火灾都是由这个原因引起的，这是那些宁愿回避这个话题的人抓住的一个事实。然而，随着气候抗议活动的强度和连贯性不断增强，在2019年确实发生了一些明显的变化。

Climate-speak.jpg

Extinction⁴ Rebellion, a new movement, disrupted major cities. Greta Thunberg, a teenage activist⁵, was Time’s Person of the Year; she travelled by boat to a climate summit in New York to avoid flying (and the associated carbon emissions). Another summit, in Madrid, ended in acrimony. Policy may not have evolved much, but wider attitudes did— and with them, the language in which the issue is discussed.

各大城市都因新运动“反抗灭绝”气候活动陷入混乱。青年活动人士格蕾塔·桑伯格是《时代》杂志的年度人物；为了避免坐飞机(以及相关的碳排放)，她乘船前往纽约参加气候峰会。在马德里的另一场峰会以激烈的争辩结束。政策可能没有太大的变化，但更多人的态度却在变化——以及讨论这个问题的用语。

Some climate-related vocabulary was already in circulation. After a boiling summer in Germany in 2018, the Society for the German Language chose Heisszeit, “Heat Age”, as its word of that year. (It rhymes nicely with Eiszeit, “ice age”.) In the Netherlands, meanwhile, the Society for Our Language plumped for laadpaalklever, or “charging-post sticker”: someone who uses the electric-car charging space for too long, treating it like a free parking place.

一些与气候相关的词汇已经在使用。2018年，德国经历了一个炎热的夏天后，德语协会选择了“Heat Age（热时代）”作为当年的年度词汇。（它和Eiszeit(冰川时代)很押韵。）与此同时，在荷兰，我们的语言协会选择了laadpaalklever这个词，英语为“charging-post sticker（充电贴纸）”，意为有人使用电动汽车充电位太长时间，把它当作一个免费的停车位。

Van Dale, a dictionary publisher, lets the Dutch-speaking public vote on its word of the year (in separate contests in Belgium and the Netherlands). For 2019 Belgians chose winkelhieren, or “buying local”. The Dutch went with an imported word that has a good case for being the winner in English, too: “boomer”. As Chloe Swarbrick, a 25-year-old member of New Zealand’s parliament, was giving an impassioned speech on the impact of climate change on her generation, she coolly dismissed a heckling older mpwith a curt⁶ “ok, boomer”. The phrase was already an internet meme; Ms Swarbrick made it the talk of the offline world as well.

词典出版商范德尔组织荷兰语的公众投票选出年度词汇（分别在比利时和荷兰举行）。2019年，比利时人选择了winkelhieren这个词，英语为“buying local（购买本地产品）。荷兰人还创造了一个舶来词“boomer（婴儿潮世代）”，这个词很有可能成为英语词汇的赢家。当25岁的新西兰国会议员克洛伊?斯瓦布里克就气候变化对她这一代人的影响发表慷慨激昂的演讲时，她冷淡地用一句简短的“ok, boomer（意为婴儿潮世代已经跟不上时代，该让孩子们上场了）”打发了一位起哄的年长议员。这句话已经成为网络流行语；斯瓦布里克也让它成为了现实世界的话题。

1 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 calamitous   

adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重

参考例句：

• We are exposed to the most calamitous accidents. 我们遭受着极大的灾难。 来自辞典例句
• Light reveals the subtle alteration of things, the sly or calamitous impermanence or mortal life. 事物的细微变动，人生的狡猾，倏忽无常，一一都在光中显露出来。 来自辞典例句

3 coherence   

n.紧凑；连贯；一致性

参考例句：

• There was no coherence between the first and the second half of the film.这部电影的前半部和后半部没有连贯性。
• Environmental education is intended to give these topics more coherence.环境教育的目的是使这些课题更加息息相关。

4 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。