时代周刊:国际社会刚准备好直面气候问题 2020就来了(10)

The story of climate change has unfolded over decades, but its trajectory¹ is much the same.

气候变化的故事已经上演了数十年，但其轨迹大致都是相同的。

For years, we've watched as the evidence has grown.

多年来，我们眼看着气候变化的证据越来越多。

We've gaped² as superstorms have battered³ the globe from Bangkok to Houston

我们目瞪口呆地看着超级风暴从曼谷一路袭击到休斯顿，

and unprecedented⁴ heat waves have popped up, killing⁵ a few thousand here and there.

看着史无前例的热浪突然出现在各地，夺走数千人的性命。

As I write this, it's 100°F in Siberia, and wildfires are raging in an area infamous⁶ for its yearlong ice.

写这篇文章的时候，西伯利亚这个著名的长年冰雪之地的温度都已经达到华氏100度（37.8℃）。

"These are the warning signs" of cataclysmic climate change,

这些都是灾难级别的气候变化的“危险信号”，

says Gail Whiteman, a professor at Lancaster University who runs an Arctic research program.

兰开斯特大学教授，负责某北极研究项目的盖尔·怀特曼说。

If Wuhan and Milan offered a preview of what the U.S. is now experiencing with COVID-19,

如果说武汉和米兰为美国提前展示了美国正在经历的疫情会是什么样，

where should the country look for a glimpse of a climate-changed world?

这个国家要想看气候变化后的世界是什么样的话，还需要往别处看吗？

Last year, I traveled to Fiji and found that for many of those living on the small Pacific Islands,

去年，我去了一次斐济，发现对于很多生活在这个太平洋小岛上，

on the front lines of brutal⁷ storms and sea-level rise, climate change is already the defining issue.

受无情的暴风雨和海平面上升影响最直接的人而言，气候变化已经成了最重要的问题。

If a storm destroys a school, students can't learn.

如果暴风雨摧毁了一所学校，学生们就无法继续学习。

If the sugarcane crops are flooded, farmers lose their jobs.

如果甘蔗地被淹，农民就会失去工作。

If sea levels rise too much, entire communities disappear.

如果海平面上升太多，整个社区会都会消失。

Climate concerns are at the center of their economies and the center of their development plans.

气候问题已经成为当地经济以及当地发展计划的核心问题。

"This can't be the purview⁸ of even 25,000 or 40,000 or even 100,000 people,"

“气候行动不能局限在25000人，40000人甚至10万人之内，”

says Christiana Figueres, who led the U.N. climate-change body during the Paris climate talks.

巴黎气候谈判期间联合国气候变化分会负责人克里斯蒂安娜·菲格雷斯说。

"This has got to permeate⁹ through every single corner, every single channel,

“气候行动必须渗透到每一个角落，每一个渠道，

every single flow of economic development and modernization¹⁰.

以及经济发展和现代化的每一个环节。

It's got to become the new norm."

必须把气候行动变成我们的新常态。”

That will come one way or another.

这一天迟早会来。

Every country will be combatting climate change for the foreseeable future;

在可预见的未来，每个国家都会加入对抗气候变化的行动当中；

the change in climate we're experiencing today is in large part the result of emissions¹¹ that happened more than a decade ago.

我们今天所经历的气候变化很大程度上都是十多年前排放的结果。

However, we do have a choice of how bad it will get.

不过，要走到那一步是我们自己说了算。

If we invest in preserving nature and transitioning our energy system today,

如果我们现在开始投资保护自然，开始能源系统转型，

we will stave off the worst, giving us the ability to manage the hurricanes and floods as they come.

我们就还有机会躲过最糟糕的情形，让我们在飓风和洪水来袭之际还有招架之力。

If we wait, we'll be stuck flat-footed when the worst arrives,

如果我们继续等下去，我们就只能眼睁睁地看着最糟糕的结局到来，

watching in dismay as the temperature curve ticks up and up.

眼睁睁地看着温度曲线不断上升无能为力。

The choice is ours.

我们不是没有选择。

We just don't have much time to decide.

只是留给我们做选择的时间已经不多了。

1 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

2 gaped   

v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• A huge chasm gaped before them. 他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The front door was missing. A hole gaped in the roof. 前门不翼而飞，屋顶豁开了一个洞。 来自辞典例句

3 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

4 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。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

7 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

8 purview   

n.范围；眼界

参考例句：

• These are questions that lie outside the purview of our inquiry.这些都不是属于我们调查范围的问题。
• That,however,was beyond the purview of the court;it was a diplomatic matter.但是，那已不在法庭权限之内；那是个外交问题。

9 permeate   

v.弥漫，遍布，散布；渗入，渗透

参考例句：

• Water will easily permeate a cotton dress.水很容易渗透棉布衣服。
• After a while it begins to permeate through your skin.过了一会，它会开始渗入你的皮肤。

10 modernization   

n.现代化，现代化的事物

参考例句：

• This will help us achieve modernization.这有助于我们实现现代化。
• The Chinese people are sure to realize the modernization of their country.中国人民必将实现国家现代化。

11 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。