VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-07-12 2000 to 2010: A Period of ＂Unprecedented＂ Weather Extremes, Scientists Say

 

AS IT IS 2013-07-12 2000 to 2010: A Period of ＂Unprecedented¹＂ Weather Extremes, Scientists Say

From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is.

Welcome to the show. I’m Caty Weaver². Today, two reports about the environment.

One explores climate conditions during the first ten years of the 21st century. The other investigates whole ecosystems³ on tiny pieces of plastic in the North Atlantic’s Sargasso Sea.

A new report says the world experienced "unprecedented" climate extremes between 2000 to 2010. Now, international organizations are preparing to help nations deal with expected effects of a changing climate. Kelly Jean Kelly reports.

The World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, produced the report. It examined world and local temperatures, rainfall and other precipitation during the first ten years of this century. It found that all of the years of the decade, except 2008, were among the ten warmest since records began more than 150 years ago.

The report also looked at extreme events including heat waves in Europe and Russia and Hurricane Katrina in the United States. The investigators⁴ also reviewed droughts in the Amazon Basin, East Africa and Australia as well as floods in Pakistan.

Omar Baddour from the World Meteorological Organization says the report shows the extent of recent climate change.

“There is some dramatic change in the state of the climate and it is being observed in the present years as well.”

Mr. Baddour says some extreme weather events can be explained by natural changes. But, he says, rising amounts of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere are also changing the climate.

Bob Ward⁵ is with the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. He says the problems created by weather extremes are made worse by the way the world is changing. He says the growth of cities is increasing the danger.

“If you look around the world in Asia and in parts of Africa, which are developing quickly, we're seeing large areas of population gathering⁶ in cities that are located on coastlines and they are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather.”

The WMO report says 370,000 people died as a result of extreme weather events during the ten-year period. That was up 20 percent from the 1990s.

The increase was mostly the result of severe heat waves in Europe in 2003 and Russia in 2010. The report says deaths from drought and storms fell from 2000 to 2010. It says people were better prepared for these events than in the past.

Bob Ward says such preparation for climate change will be increasingly important in the years to come.

“No matter how well we reduce emissions⁷ over the next three or four decades, we're committed to a degree of climate change in any case over that period. And to help people adapt and make themselves as resilient as possible, they need information about how the climate may change.”

He says making sure climate change information is communicated quickly can help prevent human disasters.

The WMO says 70 nations have little or no climate services to spread climate and weather information. The 70 countries include most of the least developed nations.

WMO official Wayne Elliot is working to start such services in Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Niger. He says in Niger, seasonal⁸ predictions are helping⁹ farmers to plan.

“There is a lot of information if tailored correctly for farmers that they can use to plan, for example, what types of seed, when they seed, when they water, when they need to think about harvesting crops, etc., around dry spells and around the rainfalls arriving as well.”

World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Michel Jarraud says the new report disproves the belief among some scientists that global warming is slowing.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

The world's oceans contain large amounts of plastic waste. Plastic bags, bottles and other trash float with the currents and can harm fish and other marine¹¹ life. Some get trapped in it. Others eat it and get sick. However, for a few ocean organisms, the plastic trash becomes home. Scientists have discovered a wide mix of microbes that make colonies of life on plastic. Jim Tedder¹² has our story.

It takes about six weeks for a plastic bottle or bag to ride the surface currents from the coastal¹³ United States to the Sargasso Sea, in the center of the North Atlantic. The area is a gyre, an area of water that circles around and around, trapping the plastic trash in the currents. Unlike other waste found in the ocean, the plastic does not break down.

Microbiologist Tracey Mincer¹⁴ with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts is interested in this long term trash. He, and scientists from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, joined students on a boat trip to the Sargasso Sea. They collected plastic from the water to check it for microbes.

“We hypothesized that the microbes on plastic were specifically interacting with it for a reason.”

The team used electron scanning tools and gene¹⁰ sequencing techniques to closely examine the plastic. Tracey Mincer says they found rich colonies of bacteria.

The microbiologist says the organisms in this so-called plastisphere were different from those in the surrounding water, which is lacking in nutrients¹⁵. He says this suggests that the plastic acts as a microbial reef. He says it could shelter disease-causing organisms and other harmful algal species.

“A lot of times certain toxins¹⁶ are oily in nature and they will absorb onto the plastic, but when the microbes interact with it and could be releasing those toxins off of the plastic.”

Some of those additives¹⁷ to plastic are known to have hormonal¹⁸ effects in humans.

More than 90 percent of the trash floating on the ocean surface is plastic. Tracy Mincer says it is important to learn how the plastic affects marine species because there is a lot of it in the water.

“Fish are eating the plastic. And are they picking up certain toxins from the plastic or not?”

The scientist says this first investigation¹⁹ identified about 1,000 microbes that live on and interact with plastic. The research is published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

I’m Jim Tedder.

And that’s As It Is for today. I’m Caty Weaver. Thanks for joining us

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

3 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

4 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

6 gathering   

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。

7 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。

8 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

13 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

14 mincer   

n.粉碎机

参考例句：

• With a household food mincer, one can cook many kinds of food for immediate consumption. 有了家用食品粉碎机，很多食品都可以现做现吃了。

15 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 toxins   

n.毒素( toxin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The seas have been used as a receptacle for a range of industrial toxins. 海洋成了各种有毒工业废料的大容器。
• Most toxins are naturally excreted from the body. 大部分毒素被自然排出体外。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 additives   

n.添加剂( additive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• chemical additives in petrol 汽油中的化学添加剂
• It'says on the packet that these crisps contain no additives. 包装上说这些炸薯片不含添加剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 hormonal   

adj.激素的

参考例句：

• Some viral diseases are more severe during pregnancy, probably tecause of hormonal changes. 有些病毒病在妊娠期间比较严重，可能是由于激素变化引起的。
• She underwent surgical intervention and a subsequent short period of hormonal therapy. 他接受外科手术及随后短暂荷尔蒙治疗。

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。