英语访谈对话 298 Global Warming

 　　Todd: Christine you're from Papua New Guinea?

　　Christine: Yes, we're a small island in the South Pacific.

　　Todd: And that is near Australia?

　　Christine: Just above Australia.

　　Todd: Like how far is it from Australia?

　　Christine: To Brisbane it's 3 hours by plane. To the tip of Australia it's about an hour and a half by boat.

　　Todd: We were talking earlier about global warming and how this can be a problem for your island.

　　Christine: Oh, absolutely, because we're surrounded by water, obviously¹ it creates a problem when the tides rise.

　　Todd: Because the tides rise, and the water...

　　Christine: The tides rise, and a lot of people build their homes and villages around the water....cause the ocean is where we get our food from, most of our costal villages are based there, so, yeah!

　　Todd: The people put their houses close to the water.

　　Christine: Close to the water or on the waterTodd: So what do you think about global warming? I mean, what do you think should be done?

　　Christine: Like we were talking about it earlier, I am very much for the Kyoto Protocol² I think that industrial countries, industrialized³ countries need to act now before there's too much, how do you say?, before even more damage is done. Obviously being from a small country where people aren't educated about these things we don't realize what is really happening, but we are really starting to realize now and we and other small nations have spoken out about it and it's good to know that bigger countries are doing something about it, and I think thing needs to be done now, rather than waiting, which is happening with governments which are under economical⁴ stress right now...they haven't done enough..they know the situation, they know they're responsible for it. We're the ones who are suffering because of it even though we don't add to it. Yeah, so I think they should do something.

1 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

2 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

3 industrialized   

adj.工业的，工业化的

参考例句：

• Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over industrialized planet. 污染就是我们为这个人口过密，过度工业化的星球所付出的代价。 来自新概念英语第三册
• Industrialized countries must reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 工业化国家必须减少二氧化碳的排放。

4 economical   

adj.节约的，节俭的；经济学的；经济上的

参考例句：

• The state has paced the whole nation in the economical reform.这个州在经济改革中走在了全国的前列。
• Coke is an economical fuel but it leaves a lot of ash.焦炭是一种很经济的燃料,可是燃烧后剩下很多灰。