TED演讲:恐惧核能是怎样伤害环境的(1)

 Have you heard the news? We're in a clean energy revolution. And where I live in Berkeley, California,  你们看新闻了吗？我们正在进行清洁能源革命。我住在加利福尼亚州伯克利市，

it seems like every day I see a new roof with new solar panels¹ going up, electric car in the driveway.  几乎每天我都会看到新的太阳能板被装在屋顶上，电动汽车停在车道上。

Germany sometimes gets half its power from solar,  德国一半的电力来自于太阳能，

and India is now committed to building 10 times more solar than we have in California, by the year 2022. 印度计划在2022年完成的太阳能板数量，是加州的十倍。

Even nuclear seems to be making a comeback.  甚至连核电都重返舞台了。

Bill Gates is in China working with engineers,  比尔·盖茨正在中国和工程师们合作，

there's 40 different companies that are working together to try to race to build the first reactor² that runs on waste,  他们来自超过40家不同的公司，互相竞争，尝试建造第一个以废材为原料的反应堆，

that can't melt down and is cheaper than coal. And so you might start to ask:  永不融化，比烧煤还便宜。所以，你可能会问：

Is this whole global warming problem going to be a lot easier to solve than anybody imagined? “全球变暖问题是不是比大家想象中要更容易解决？”

That was the question we wanted to know, so my colleagues and I decided³ to take a deep dive into the data. 这也是我们想知道的，所以我和我的同事们开始调查数据。

We were a little skeptical⁴ of some parts of the clean energy revolution story, but what we found really surprised us. 之前我们对能源革命中的一部分故事有所怀疑，但是最终的发现却让我们大吃一惊。

The first thing is that clean energy has been increasing. 首先，清洁能源的使用率一直在升高。

This is electricity from clean energy sources over the last 20 years.  这是过去20年间清洁能源的总发电量。

But when you look at the percentage of global electricity from clean energy sources,  但是当你看到全球范围内清洁能源总发电量占比时，

it's actually been in decline⁵ from 36 percent to 31 percent. And if you care about climate change, 事实上，这个比例从36%下降到了31%。如果你在意气候变化，

you've got to go in the opposite direction to 100 percent of our electricity from clean energy sources, as quickly as possible. 你一定要尽快做出改变，使用纯清洁能源电力越快越好。

1 panels   

镶板( panel的名词复数 )； 面； （门、墙等上面的）嵌板； 控制板

参考例句：

• One of the glass panels in the front door was cracked. 前门的一块方玻璃破裂了。
• Make sure the panels are treated with a wood preservative. 确保镶板用木材防腐剂处理过。

2 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 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。

5 decline   

n.衰微，跌落，下降；vt.使降低，婉谢；vi.下降，衰落，偏斜

参考例句：

• I must decline to show favour to any of the candidates.我必须拒绝偏袒任何一位候选人。
• The birthrate is on the decline.出生率在下降。