纽约时报 对煤炭欲罢不能 地球已经岌岌可危(6)

On a warm Tuesday in October, about a four-hour drive from Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana,

十月一个温暖的周二，距泰伦加纳邦首府海德拉巴约4小时车程的地方，

an army of men in indigo¹ shorts went underground to dig it out.

一群穿着靛蓝色短裤的人正要到地下挖煤。

A simple pulley drew them in, a bit like a ski lift, except here, it took them deeper and deeper down a shaft².

一个简单的滑轮车，有点像滑雪场的缆车，把他们载了进去，只不过这里的滑轮是将他们送往越下越深的竖井里。

The creak of the pulley was all you could hear, and water, drip-dripping inside the earth.

你只能听到辘轳的吱吱声，还有水在地底滴哒流动的声音。

Here and there, off to the side, stood miners, their forms barely visible in the darkness,

滑轮两边不时会看到站着的矿工，除了缠绕在他们身上的手电筒发出的光，

except for the belted flashlights that snaked across their bodies.

他们的身影在黑暗中几乎完全看不见。

At about 900 feet below the surface, where the air was black and cool and the coal under our feet was squishy,

在地下大约900英尺（270多米）的地方，环境又黑又凉，我们脚下的煤块很软，

a burst of explosives broke down a wall of coal.

用炸药一炸，就炸开了一堵煤墙。

Small, sooty chunks³ were piled into tubs and wheeled out,

又小又黑的煤块被装进桶里，用滑轮运出去，

then loaded onto coal trucks that hurtled down the country roads, sprinkling a layer of ash everywhere.

然后装上运煤的卡车，卡车奔驰在乡间的道路上，所到之处，无不给周围蒙上一层煤灰。

So deeply is India invested in coal, this, like other mines, is state owned.

印度十分器重对煤炭的投资，所以，这座矿厂，和其他矿厂一样，都是国营的。

So are most power plants.

大部分发电厂也不例外。

Coal subsidizes the country's vast rail network.

煤炭支撑着印度庞大的铁路网。

That person at the top of that system, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has sought to cast himself as a champion of clean energy.

位于这一网络顶端的是印度的总理纳伦德拉·莫迪，而他一直试图把自己塑造成清洁能源至上的形象。

But Mr. Modi has been inaugurating new coal mines, too.

但莫迪也一直在不断开辟新的煤矿。

His government has made it faster for industry, including mining, to get environmental clearances⁴, rankling⁵ environmentalists.

他的政府还加快了包括采矿业在内的工业获得环境许可的速度，惹得环保主义者们愤恨不已。

India's state-owned companies are building new coal-fired plants across the country,

印度的国有企业正在全国各地兴建新的燃煤电厂，

almost all of them financed by public sector⁶ banks.

几乎所有这些电厂都是由国营银行提供资金的。

In an interview in the capital, New Delhi,

在首都新德里举行的一次采访中，

India's energy secretary, Ajay Bhalla, said some 50 gigawatts of additional coal capacity were under construction.

印度能源部长阿贾伊·巴拉表示，有一个煤炭产能约为500亿瓦的项目已经在建设中了。

That's a fraction of what was under development even a decade ago, when India's energy demand was projected to soar.

就是跟十年前，印度的能源需求预计将大幅增长的时候相比也只是九牛一毛。

Many of those plants are meant to replace older, more polluting ones.

这些工厂有许多都是为了取代旧的、污染严重的工厂而建的。

But coal would not sunset anytime soon, he predicted,

但他预测，短时间内，煤炭并不会从印度消失，

not until there's a cheap and efficient way to store energy from solar and wind energy.

除非有廉价且有效的储存太阳能和风能的办法。

Analysts⁷ say India must retool⁸ its electricity grid⁹ for the post-coal era.

分析人士称，印度必须革新其现有电网，迎接后煤炭时代的到来。

Battery technology is fast advancing.

电池技术发展迅速。

Microgrids can replace traditional electricity systems.

微型电网可以取代传统的电力系统。

Many existing coal plants are now running below capacity, several are idle,

许多现有燃煤电厂目前都是在低负荷运转，还有几家已经闲置，

and new energy efficiency standards could slow down demand to the point where there may be a glut¹⁰ of costly¹¹ coal-fired plants.

新的能效标准可能会将需求放缓到成本高昂的燃煤电厂供过于求的地步。

Left holding this bundle of stranded¹² assets: The public sector banks that financed them.

这些搁浅的资产就会落到为它们提供融资的国营银行手里。

For now, though, coal accounts for 58 percent of India's energy mix.

不过，目前煤炭在印度的能源结构中还是占到了58%的比例。

It's not that I'm using the coal very willingly,” Mr. Bhalla said. But I have to."

“并不是我乐意使用煤炭的，”巴拉说。“我也是迫不得已啊。”

1 indigo   

n.靛青，靛蓝

参考例句：

• The sky was indigo blue,and a great many stars were shining.天空一片深蓝，闪烁着点点繁星。
• He slipped into an indigo tank.他滑落到蓝靛桶中。

2 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

3 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

4 clearances   

清除( clearance的名词复数 )； 许可； （录用或准许接触机密以前的）审查许可； 净空

参考例句：

• But I can't get to him without clearances. 但是没有证明我就没法见到他。
• The bridge and the top of the bus was only ten clearances. 桥与公共汽车车顶之间的间隙只有十厘米。

5 rankling   

v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Yet the knowledge imparted to him by the chambermaid was rankling in his mind. 可是女仆告诉他的消息刺痛着他的心。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

8 retool   

v.改组，重新装备

参考例句：

• Each time the product changes,the machines have to be retooled.每次更换产品，就得重新装备机器。
• In the computer industry,engineers have to retool frequently.在电脑业中，工程师必须经常以新知识充实装备自己。

9 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

10 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

11 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

12 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。