英国卫报：气候危机与文化战争的纠缠(3)

Public debate over the environment once pitted people who believed in the reality of anthropogenic climate change against those who questioned it.

关于环境的公共辩论曾经让相信人类活动造成了气候变化的人与质疑它的人对立起来。

At least two of the current cabinet, including Boris Johnson, used to count themselves among the sceptical camp.

现任内阁中至少有两人，包括鲍里斯-约翰逊，曾经把自己算作怀疑论阵营的一员。

Today, with a firm majority of every demographic group in the UK in agreement with the fact that humans are warming the planet, and that this poses a serious danger, the battle lines have been redrawn.

今天，英国每个人口群体中的绝大多数都同意人类正在使地球变暖这个事实，并且这构成了严重的危险，人们已经重新划分了战线。

The great underreported story is how normalised all this has become.

一个没有被充分报道的故事是，这一切已经变得非常正常。

Those who want to see action on climate change, in many ways, have won the argument, says James Murray, editor of the website BusinessGreen and a leading environmental commentator¹.

那些希望看到对气候变化采取行动的人，在许多方面已经赢得了争论，BusinessGreen网站的编辑和领先的环境评论家詹姆斯-默里说道。

That is now the consensus² view: it has the nominal³ support of every government and science academy on the planet, and crucially its where the money is.

这就是现在的共识：它得到了地球上每个政府和科学院的名义支持，而且关键在于它的资金来源。

With outright⁴ climate science denial relegated⁵ to the fringes, opponents of urgent action on climate emergency have been forced to switch tack⁶.

随着对气候科学的彻底否认被降到边缘，反对对气候紧急情况采取紧急行动的人已被迫改变策略。

Alongside pro⁷ forma acknowledgments that climate breakdown⁸ is happening and vague commitments to a greener future (Of course I want to leave this planet in a better place than I found it, we all want that, Mackinlay told the BBC recently),

除了形式上承认气候崩溃的存在，以及对一个更绿色的未来的模糊承诺（当然，我想让这个星球变得更好，我们都希望如此，麦金利最近告诉英国广播公司），

the inactivists a loose coalition¹⁰ of fossil-fuel interests, conservative ideologues and supportive politicians and journalists seek to redirect responsibility for the problem away from the fossil fuel industry and towards individual consumers, as well as developing nations in the global south.

不作为主义者是一个由化石燃料利益集团、保守的思想家和支持的政治家和记者组成的松散联盟，他们试图将问题的责任从化石燃料行业转移到个人消费者，以及全球南部的发展中国家。

When solutions to the climate crisis are proposed by inactivists, they tend to be timid and unambitious, with faith in future (as yet unrealised) green technologies held up as a reason to shy away from serious structural¹¹ changes now.

当不作为主义者提出气候危机的解决方案时，他们往往是胆怯的，没有雄心壮志的，对未来（尚未实现的）绿色技术的信心被认为是现在回避严重结构性变化的理由。

But there is now an even more powerful weapon in the inactivist armoury.

但是，现在不作为主义者又有了一个更强大的武器。

It comes in the form of an appeal to social justice: one that casts environmentalists as an aloof¹², out-of-touch establishment, and the inactivists as insurgents¹³, defending the values and livelihoods¹⁴ of ordinary people.

它是以社会正义的形式出现的：它将环保主义者描绘成一个冷漠的、与世隔绝的机构，而不作为主义者则是叛乱者，捍卫普通人的价值观和生计。

The biggest single threat to the net zero transition is a culture war-style backlash that heavily politicises this agenda and spooks governments into moving more slowly, says Murray. At present, its on the periphery¹⁵.

默里说，对净零排放转型的最大威胁是文化战争式的反击，它使这一议程严重政治化，并使政府的行动更加缓慢。目前，它处于边缘地位。

But as the past few years have taught us, ideas that were on the periphery can become very influential¹⁶, very quickly.

但正如过去几年告诉我们的那样，处于边缘的想法可以很快变得非常有影响力。

Attempts to mobilise anti-elite sentiments against climate activists⁹ are nothing new.

试图调动反精英情绪来反对气候活动家的做法并不新鲜。

Wealthy celebrities¹⁷ who lecture others on environmental sustainability have always been charged with inauthenticity.

向他人讲授环境可持续性的富有的名人总是被指控为不真实。

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

3 nominal   

adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的

参考例句：

• The king was only the nominal head of the state. 国王只是这个国家名义上的元首。
• The charge of the box lunch was nominal.午餐盒饭收费很少。

4 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

5 relegated   

v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类

参考例句：

• She was then relegated to the role of assistant. 随后她被降级做助手了。
• I think that should be relegated to the garbage can of history. 我认为应该把它扔进历史的垃圾箱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

7 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

8 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

12 aloof   

adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的

参考例句：

• Never stand aloof from the masses.千万不可脱离群众。
• On the evening the girl kept herself timidly aloof from the crowd.这小女孩在晚会上一直胆怯地远离人群。

13 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

14 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

15 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

16 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

17 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目