美国国家公共电台 NPR 拜登召开全球气候峰会 承诺美国将减排50%减排

 

Today on Earth Day, President Biden announced a big new goal — cutting the country's greenhouse gas emissions¹ in half by the end of the decade.

今天是地球日，拜登总统宣布了一个新的大目标——在这个十年结束前将美国的温室气体排放量减少一半。

This is a moral imperative², an economic imperative, a moment of peril³, but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities.

这既是道义上的迫切需要，也是经济上的迫切需要，这是一个危机时刻，但也是一个机遇的时刻。

Biden made the pledge at the start of a two-day virtual summit focused on climate change.

拜登在为期两天的虚拟峰会开幕式上做出这一承诺，这次峰会主要聚焦气候变化。

He and other world leaders met on video conference to set new goals for staving off the worst effects of a warming planet.

拜登和其他世界领导人通过视频会议的形式举行会谈，为避免地球变暖带来的最坏影响制定新的目标。

NPR's Scott Detrow is at the White House and joins us. Hi, Scott.

NPR新闻的斯科特·德特罗将和我们连线。你好，斯科特。

Hey. Good afternoon.

你好。下午好。

There's already a major U.N. climate summit set for later this year, so why did Biden want to host his own summit?

今年晚些时候计划召开一个重要的联合国气候峰会，那拜登为何要主办自己的峰会？

You can kind of think about this as a big dramatic gesture, in a way.

在某种程度上，你可以把这看作重要且明确的表态。

Biden knows that after President Trump⁴, other countries are skeptical⁵ the U.S. will do what it takes to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

拜登清楚，经历过特朗普总统的政策之后，其他国家都怀疑美国是否会尽其所能减少温室气体排放。

Trump, as a reminder⁶, withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.

我提醒一下大家，特朗普退出了巴黎气候协议。

He tried to undo⁷ scores of environmental regulations, and he regularly questioned the basic premise⁸ of climate change.

他试图撤销多项环境法规，并经常质疑气候变化的基本前提。

So Biden wanted to gather world leaders and say, the U.S. really cares about this.

因此 拜登想召集世界各国领导人，告诉他们美国真的很关心这个问题。

The science is undeniable, and the cost of inaction keeps mounting. The United States isn't waiting. We are resolving to take action.

科学是不可否认的，不作为的代价持续增加。美国不会坐等。我们必须采取行动。

And the administration also kept saying they had a second important goal here as well,

美国政府还不断强调称，他们在这方面还有第二个重要目标，

and that was to remind other countries that they need to do more as well.

即提醒其他国家，他们也需要采取更多措施。

It is worth repeating again — those initial promises set during the Paris agreement

值得再次重申的是，在巴黎协定中做出的最初承诺，

are not enough to lower emissions to where scientists say the world could avoid those worst-case scenarios⁹ of warming.

不足以将排放量降低到科学家认为世界可以避免最糟糕气候变暖情景的水平。

This is such an ambitious goal — to reduce emissions by 50% by the end of this decade. What would it take to get there?

在这个十年结束前减排50%，这是一个雄心勃勃的目标。达到这一目标需要做什么？

So one important technical point — it's a 50% reduction from where emissions were in 2005.

一个重要的技术问题是，目标是排放量比2005年的水平减少50%。

The U.S. had agreed to about half of that during the initial Paris agreement, and it has fallen behind that pace.

在最初的巴黎协定中，美国同意将排放量减少25%，但现在美国已经落后于这个速度。

So what Biden is promising¹⁰ would be just an enormous change to the entire U.S. economy and a rapid one —

因此，拜登所承诺的是整个美国经济的巨大变化和迅速变化，

you know, changes in the way electricity is produced and transmitted and how people travel and what homes look like.

比如电力生产和传输方式以及人们出行方式和家庭情况的变化。

Biden and top White House officials keep insisting this is doable, but it's notable they have not yet laid out a clear path to get there.

拜登和白宫高级官员一直坚称这是可行的，但值得注意的是，他们尚未制定出实现这一目标的明确道路。

Sorry. That's the late announcement that you're familiar with from your time at the White House. Oh, you're in the White House. Yep.

抱歉。这是你在白宫时熟悉的最新声明。哦，你现在在白宫。好。

And, you know, it's going to take a lot of changes in policy and a lot of new laws for this to likely happen.

另外，要实现这一目标，还需要政策上的诸多变化和多项新法律的支持。

So global climate change is a global issue that requires global solutions. So what did other world leaders say today?

全球气候变化是一个全球性问题，需要全球性解决方案。那今天其他国家的领导人有何表态？

Biden had hoped other countries would roll out big, new goals as well.

拜登曾希望其他国家也能推出新的大目标。

We heard a lot from developing countries today who really emphasized that this is an important, immediate¹¹ existential crisis for them.

我们今天听到了许多发展中国家的声音，他们强调，这对他们来说是重要且紧迫的生存危机。

There were a few announcements. Both Japan and Canada announced similar goals to the U.S.

有几个国家发表了声明。日本和加拿大都宣布了与美国类似的目标。

The United Kingdom, earlier in the week, had announced an aggressive goal — nearly an 80% reduction.

而英国在本周早些时候宣布了一个激进的目标，将排放量削减近80%。

And on the politics of this, I noticed Prime Minister Boris Johnson echoed Biden's framing of climate action during his remarks,

就这方面的政治问题而言，我注意到英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊在讲话中附和了拜登对气候行动的构想，

saying it does not mean slowing down the economy.

称这并不意味着经济放缓。

This is not all about some expensive, politically correct green act of bunny hugging; this is about growth and jobs.

这并不完全关乎昂贵的、政治上正确的绿色行为；还关乎增长和就业。

Johnson also said — and I will give you the exact quote here — "cake; have, eat is my message to you."

约翰逊还表示，我在这里给大家一个确切的说法，“鱼与熊掌两者兼得”是我给大家的信息。”

Cake; have, eat. Well, that's also, I guess, in so many words, the message that Biden is trying to give Congress.

“鱼与熊掌两者兼得”。我想，直截了当来说，这就是拜登试图向国会传达的信息。

How much does this goal that he has set depend on his $2 trillion infrastructure¹² plan getting passed?

他设定的这个目标在多大程度上取决于他2万亿美元基础设施计划的通过？

So this is interesting. Biden's proposal would be an unprecedented¹³ investment in clean energy with a clear goal of speeding up the shift to renewables,

这值得注意。拜登的提议将是一项史无前例的清洁能源投资，其明确目标是加快向可再生能源的转变，

but White House officials are really shying away from saying that this 50% reduction they announced depends on that measure passing.

但白宫官员不敢说他们这50%的减排目标取决于这一措施的通过。

They kept saying in a briefing last night to reporters there are multiple pathways to reach this reduction goal.

他们在昨晚的记者会上多次表示，实现这一减排目标有多种途径。

It seems like they're clearly cautious about trying to tie this promise directly to one bill,

似乎他们在试图将这一承诺与一项法案直接联系起来时非常谨慎，

and that really gets to the main skepticism that other countries have about U.S. commitments to tackling climate change.

而这确实引起了其他国家对美国应对气候变化承诺的主要怀疑。

They take Biden seriously; they're just skeptical major climate legislation can pass Congress.

他们认真对待拜登的发言；他们只是怀疑重要气候立法能否在国会获得通过。

They also worry another future administration could do what President Trump did and just walk away from all of these agreements.

他们还担心，未来的另一届政府可能会像特朗普总统那样，放弃所有这些协议。

That's NPR White House correspondent Scott Detrow. Thank you.

以上是是NPR新闻驻白宫记者斯科特·德特罗带来的报道。非常感谢。

1 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。

2 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

3 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

4 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。

5 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

6 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

7 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

8 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

9 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

13 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。