英语PK台 第290期:小李子联合国《巴黎气候协定》精彩演讲(1)(在线收听

   Section 1

  Thank you, Mr. Secretary General, for the honor to address this body once more. And thanks to the distinguished climate leaders assembled here today who are ready to take action.
  谢谢秘书长先生再次给我机会让我站在这里发言,谢谢各位卓越的气候领导人今天在联合国大会汇聚一堂准备开始采取行动。
  President Abraham Lincoln was also thinking of bold action 150 years ago when he said: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present…As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country." Remarkably, his words ring as true today when applied to the defining crisis of our time – climate change.
  150年前,亚伯拉罕·林肯总统也曾考虑过采取大胆的行动,他说:平静过往的教条已不再适用于风雨交加的当下。我们正面临着全新的问题,因此我们必须重新思考,采取新的行动。 我们必须挣脱自身的束缚,如此才能拯救我们的国家。 "
  (当时林肯总统在美国国会发表了这席演讲,正视他的时代所面临的关键问题——奴隶制。所有人都知道奴隶制要终结,但是没有人有政治意愿去解决这个问题。)今天他的话听来仍然振聋发聩。我们可以用他的话来描述当今时代的关键挑战——气候变化。
  As a UN Messenger of Peace, I have traveled all over the world for the last two years, documenting how this crisis is changing the natural balance of our planet. I've seen cities like Beijing choked by industrial pollution, ancient Boreal forests in Canada that have been clear-cut, and rainforests in Indonesia that have been incinerated. In Greenland and in the Arctic, I was astonished to see that ancient glaciers are rapidly disappearing well ahead of scientific predictions.
  "作为联合国的和平使者,在过去两年当中,我一直在世界各地访问,记录着这场危机如何在改变我们星球的自然平衡。我看到了遭受工业污染困扰的城市,如北京;已被砍伐精光的加拿大古代寒带森林;被焚烧殆尽的印尼热带雨林;在印度,我遇到了庄稼被前所未有的洪水彻底冲走的农民;在美国,我目睹了加州史无前例的干旱以及迈阿密海平面上升淹没街道的情景;在格陵兰和北极,我惊恐地发现古代冰川正在以比科学预言更快的速度在迅速消失。"
  (另一版参考翻译:作为联合国的和平使者,我在过去两年中走访了世界各地,记录气候变化给地球的自然平衡带来了怎样的改变。我曾经目睹过像北京那样因工业污染而窒息的城市,加拿大古老的寒温带森林被夷为平地,印度尼西亚的热带雨林被焚烧殆尽。在印度,我遇到一些农民,他们的庄稼被百年一遇的洪水冲走;在美国,我经历了加州空前的干旱,并目睹了迈阿密海平面上升淹没了街道;在格林兰和北极,我惊讶地看到古老的冰川迅速消失,其速度远超过科学家的预测。)
  All that I have seen and learned on my journey has absolutely terrified me. There is no doubt in the world's scientific community that this is a direct result of human activity and the effects of climate change will become astronomically worse in the future.
  旅途中所见所闻,已让我深感恐惧。我想科学界已经明确证明这是人类行为所带来的直接后果。今后,气候变化的影响还将更具灾难性。
  词汇
  dogma
  教条,教理
  if you refer to a belief or a system of beliefs as a dogma, you disapprove of it because people are expected to accept that it is true, without questioning it.
  e.g Newspaper should be independent of political dogma.
  disenthrall
  释放;解放
  enthrall: to hold the complete attention and interest of sb as if by magic
  迷惑,吸引住
  incinerate
  焚烧
  become reduced to ashes;
  e.g. The cars caught fire on impact and some of the victims were incinerated.
  astronomically
  天文数字地;巨大地
  If you describe an amount, especially the cost of something as astronomical, you are emphasizing that it is very large indeed.
  e.g. Houses in Beijing are selling for astronomical prices.
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/yypkt/446437.html