2006年VOA标准英语- An Inconvenient Truth: a Controversial Film

By Rosanne Skirble
Washington, DC
31 May 2006
 
watch Film Review report

Al Gore¹, a longtime advocate for the environment and former vice² president of the United States, developed a slide show about the threat posed by global warming. Over the last six years, he has presented the show more than 1,000 times around the world. In hopes of reaching a wider audience, Gore joined filmmakers and turned the lecture into a documentary film. The movie, called  "An Inconvenient³ Truth” opens June 2nd in movie theaters around America.

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Al Gore
  

"If you look at the 10 hottest years ever measured," says Mr. Gore, "they've all have occurred in the last 14 years. And the hottest of all was 2005. I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America…."

In the documentary called "An Inconvenient Truth," the former vice president takes center stag and he comes right to his point: he believes the environment is in grave danger

Patagonia, 75 years ago   
  
"This is Patagonia 75 years ago and the same glacier⁴ today. 

 
Patagonia, current 
  
This is Mt. Kilimanjaro 30 years ago and last year. Within the decade there will be no more snows of Kilimanjaro. The scientific consensus⁵ is that we are causing global warming."

And many scientists say this means not just higher temperatures, but stronger storms, deadlier floods, and higher sea levels.

"This is what would happen in Florida. [This is what would happen] around Shanghai, home to 40 million people …the area around Calcutta - 60 million," he illustrates⁶. "Here's Manhattan.  The World Trade Center Memorial would be under water.  Think of the impact of a couple hundred thousand refugees and then imagine 100 million."

 
Davis Guggenheim
  
Al Gore knows his stuff. Using computer simulations, graphics⁷, charts, facts and predictions, he and filmmaker Davis Guggenheim tell what some would consider a most inconvenient truth. "It's like where we were with civil rights. You know, a lot of decent people didn't pay attention to the fact that this was a country that was segregated⁸ and had unfair laws and suddenly the point of consciousness shifted and people said, 'Wow, we have to deal with it and we have to get involved."

The movie makes a case for reducing heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions⁹ that have been linked to severe storms, melting ice caps, rising sea levels and the spread of infectious disease. 

"We have quadrupled the population of the planet in less than a century, " says Mr. Gore. "Our technologies are a thousand times more powerful.  And, now all of a sudden, we are capable of doing damage to our only home, that we never could do in the past, and we have to quickly grasp the danger that this creates."  

 
Fred Smith
  
But not everyone buys that message.  Fred Smith heads the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a policy forum¹⁰ that opposes mandatory¹¹ curbs¹² on CO2 emissions, and favors a free market approach to environmental issues.  Smith says Gore's views -- and the movie that represents them -- are alarmist. "It's a sales attempt.  It is not an attempt to be an objective science, [explaining] on the one hand [this] and on the other hand [that]. [Gore is saying] that everything is going to hell in a handbasket. Listen to me or else the world you live in will cease to exist.  Is it effective? I know this issue very well,  to me it wasn't effective.  Is it a fear-mongering lecture?  It is."

So, in response, the Competitive Enterprise Institute broadcast a TV advertisement, timed to coincide with the release of "An Inconvenient Truth."

"You've seen those headlines about global warming: 'The glaciers¹³ are melting.  We're doomed¹⁴.'  That's what several studies supposedly found.  But other scientific studies found exactly the opposite: Greenland's glaciers are growing, not melting.  The Antarctic ice sheet is getting thicker, not thinner.  Did you see any big headlines about that?  Why are they trying to scare us?"

But Gore says his campaign, and the film, are not about fear-mongering, or political agendas. “This is the most crucial challenge that any of us have ever faced, and it's happening in our lifetimes."

Getting that message out is why Davis Guggenheim signed on to direct the film, which  he hopes will become a catalyst¹⁵ for change.  In "An Inconvenient Truth," he says, Al Gore is not asking for a vote for political office, he is asking for a vote for the planet. 

1 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

4 glacier   

n.冰川，冰河

参考例句：

• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。
• The upper surface of glacier is riven by crevasses.冰川的上表面已裂成冰隙。

5 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？

6 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

7 graphics   

n.制图法，制图学；图形显示

参考例句：

• You've leveraged your graphics experience into the video area.你们把图形设计业务的经验运用到录像业务中去。
• Improved graphics took computer games into a new era.经改进的制图技术将电脑游戏带进了一个新时代。

8 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

9 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

10 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

11 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

12 curbs   

v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In executing his functions he is not bound by any legal curbs on his power. 在他履行职务时，他的权力是不受任何法律约束的。 来自辞典例句
• Curbs on air travel were being worked out and would shortly be announced. 限制航空旅行的有关规定正在拟定中，不久即将公布。 来自辞典例句

13 glaciers   

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）

14 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

15 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。