英语 英语 日语 日语 韩语 韩语 法语 法语 德语 德语 西班牙语 西班牙语 意大利语 意大利语 阿拉伯语 阿拉伯语 葡萄牙语 葡萄牙语 越南语 越南语 俄语 俄语 芬兰语 芬兰语 泰语 泰语 泰语 丹麦语 泰语 对外汉语

VOA慢速英语--美国乐队珍珠酱新专辑在气候变化问题上的立场坚如磐石

时间:2020-03-28 23:55来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
    (单词翻译:双击或拖选)

It has been almost six-and-a-half-years since the American music group Pearl Jam released an album. That changed Friday when the band dropped its eleventh collection, Gigaton.

Many dictionaries define the word as an explosive force equal to one billion tons of TNT, an industrial explosive. Critics have noted1 that this new album includes hard rock. Reviews are filled with words like fury, thunder, and hammering. Entertainment Weekly calls the music "a gathering2 storm of guitars."

In other words, there is some loud and wild music on Gigaton. But most reviews agree that Pearl Jam continued to experiment with less traditional rock and roll sounds on the album.

One of the new songs, Superblood Wolfmoon, has elements of danceable punk rock music of the early 1980s.

Climate change message

But – back to the name of the album – Gigaton can also mean the weight or mass equal to 1 billion tons. The word is most often used these days in stories related to climate science and environmental destruction. In fact, former U.S. President Barack Obama famously defined the word during a 2015 speech about climate change in Alaska and the Arctic.

He discussed the huge, yearly loss of ice from Alaska's glaciers3: "75 gigatons — that's 75 billion tons — of ice each year," he said. Obama compared the amount to the size of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. as if it were a solid block that stood almost 700 meters tall. "Now imagine 75 of those ice blocks. That's what Alaska's glaciers alone lose each year."

And climate change issues are at the heart of Pearl Jam's Gigaton. The album picture shows icefalls in Svalbard, Norway. Svalbard is one of the northern-most human settlements in the world. Some climate scientists say it is warming faster than any other place.

Environmental activism

Pearl Jam has been active in environmental causes for most of its 30-year existence. The band and its members have won honors for raising money, climate change educational efforts and more. They also invest money in environmental health projects to reduce the group's carbon footprint.

Pearl Jam was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Lead singer Eddie Vedder's opening comments were about the environment.

"So, climate change is real," he said. "And we... we cannot... cannot be the generation that history will look back upon and wonder, why didn't they do everything humanly possible to solve this biggest of crises in our time."

Gigaton makes a similar appeal to listeners in every song. As Vedder sings in the song, Quick Escape, "And we think about the old days, of green grass, sky and red wine. Should've known, so fragile. And avoided this one-way flight."

Words in This Story

review –n. a piece of writing that gives an opinion about a cultural work or art

fury –n. great anger

thunder –n. the very loud sound of lightening

hammering –n. the loud sound made when something is hit with a hammer

carbon footprint –n. the amount of gasses, linked to climate warming, that are released by an activity

fragile –adj. something that is easily damaged


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
2 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
3 glaciers e815ddf266946d55974cdc5579cbd89b     
冰河,冰川( glacier的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
  • It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川,又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分(高一)
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎点击提交分享给大家。
------分隔线----------------------------
TAG标签:   VOA英语  慢速英语  VOA听力
顶一下
(0)
0%
踩一下
(0)
0%
最新评论 查看所有评论
发表评论 查看所有评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:
听力搜索
推荐频道
论坛新贴