3-14 全球污染趋势（在线收听）

Global Pollution Trends

According to a recent report by the UNEP¹, if car numbers keep increasing at the present rate, there will be more than a billion on the road by 2025. Today, motor vehicles put out 900 million tonnes² of carbon dioxide a year--about 15 per cent of our total output. More vehicles will mean more global warming.

Also by 2025, two-thirds of the world's people will live in cities, so traffic jams and pollution will loom³ large in most people's lives. Worst of all will be the megacities⁴ of Asia. Beijing, Shanghai and Calcutta⁵ will each be home to as many as 20 million people, Bombay⁶ to 25 million.

Life in the country may not be much better. Asia is heading for a downpour of acid rain that will destroy forests and wither⁷ crops. The worst hit look like being Thailand, southeast China, northeast India and Korea, where economic growth is powered by fossil fuels⁸ rich in sulphur⁹.

Industrialised nations have reduced SO2 emissions. They have also cut production of CFCs¹⁰ and halons¹¹, the chemicals that destroy stratospheric¹² ozone. But the ozone layer is not yet safe. Under the Montreal Protocol, developing nations have until 2010 to cut production. There is still a black market in CFCs, and halon production has increased in countries such as Brazil, India and Mexico.

注释：

1. UNEP abbr. United Nations Environment Programme 联合国环境规划署

2. tonne [tQn] n. 〈英〉公吨=1000公斤，或称metricton

3. loom [lu:m] vi.（威胁等）阴森地逼近

4. megacity [5me^E7siti] n.（人口超过100万的）大城市

5. Calcutta [kAl5kQtE] 加尔各答（印度东北部港市）

6. Bombay [bCm5bei] 孟买（印度西部港市）

7. wither [5wiTE(r)] vt. 使干枯，使枯萎

8. fossil fuel矿物燃料

9. sulphur [5sQlfE(r)] n. [化]硫，硫磺

10. CFC abbr. chlorofluorocarbon n. [化] 含氯氟烃

11. halon [5hAlEun] n. 用于灭火的碳、溴或卤的气体化合物

12. stratospheric [7strAtEu5sferik] adj. [气] 平流层的，同温层的

全球污染趋势

　　根据联合国环境规划署最近的一次报告，如果汽车数量保持现在的增长速度，到2025年，汽车总数将超过10亿辆。现在，机动车每年排放9亿公吨的二氧化碳，约占二氧化碳总排放量的15％。更多的车辆将意味着更严重的全球变暖。

　　同样到2025年，世界2/3的人口将在城市居住，因此交通拥挤和环境污染问题将日益突出，影响大多数人的生活。最严重的将是亚洲的大城市。北京、上海和加尔各答将各自接纳多达2000万的人口，而孟买将达到2500万人。

　　农村的生活环境也不尽如人意。亚洲将遭遇大量酸雨的袭击。酸雨将毁坏森林并使作物凋谢。泰国、中国东南部、印度东北部和朝鲜受害将最为严重，因为这些地区的经济增长是以含硫很多的矿物燃料为动力。

　　工业化国家已经减少了二氧化硫的排放，并减少了含氯氟烃和卤烃的生产。这两种化学物质均对同温层的臭氧起破坏作用。但是即使如此，臭氧层依然没有获得安全保障。根据《蒙特利尔议定书》，到2010年为止，发展中国家必须减少上述物质的生产。现在含氯氟烃还存在着黑市交易。在巴西、印度和墨西哥等国家，卤烃的生产依旧有增无减。