VOA标准英语2013--科学家确定气候变化95%是人为的原因

 

Scientists 95% Certain Climate Change Is Man-made 科学家确定气候变化95%是人为的原因

Scientists are more certain than ever that the planet is warming and that humans are to blame.

科学家们比以往任何时候都更加肯定我们的地球正在变暖,人类是罪魁祸首。

That’s the finding of a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The assessment¹ will help inform policy makers² and the public as they consider what action to take on climate change.

One hundred and ten governments adopted the scientific consensus³ that, “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant⁴ cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century.”

Wake-up call

At a news conference in Stockholm Friday, World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Michael Jarraud underscored the importance of the finding.

“It should serve as another wake-up call that our activities today will have a profound impact on society, not only for us, but for many generations to come,” Jarraud said.  

Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing mass and glaciers⁵ continue to shrink, the report says, calling the decrease in Arctic sea ice, “unprecedented.” The report notes the mean rate of sea level rise since the mid-19th century is higher than at any time in the previous 2,000 years.

The international panel also probed the connection between extreme weather events and climate, says Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, who has worked with the panel's authors.  

“This is a lot of cutting edge research, and the most we can say is that extreme events dealing⁶ with coastal⁷ flooding and extreme heat, [we have] very high confidence with these events being linked to climate change,” Ekwurzel said.

Climate change deniers have tried to dismiss the science, citing a 15-year slowdown in atmospheric⁸ warming. That was downplayed in the report, which called it a natural phenomenon that masks on-going warming. The report reiterates⁹ the 2007 assessment that the warming trend is “unequivocal,” according to Ekwurzel.  

“The 5th Assessment report has really notched¹⁰ up the confidence level, that greater than 95 percent confidence of the likelihood that the warming that happened on this planet between 1951 and 2010, more than half of it is due to human activities,” she said.

Those human activities include the burning of fossil fuels in factories, buildings and cars, which emit heat-trapping gasses.

Moving forward

Past IPCC reports have set the stage for world agreements like the Kyoto Protocol¹¹, the 1997 climate treaty signed and ratified¹² by 192 nations that expired in 2012. The United Nation’s top climate official says the new IPCC report will help move climate talks forward.    

“That policy response will have to end up in a global agreement that is going to be legally based and applicable to all countries and will be adopted in 2015. And for that, governments are already working,” Christiana Figueres said.  

While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is sometimes criticized as appearing to be too conservative in its predictions, Figueres says this report is right on the mark.

“Everything that we thought about climate change has been underestimated, that we will have much faster and much more intense effects from the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," she said. "So it’s a very sobering message that calls for a more invigorated and accelerated policy response to address that.”

Government leaders and climate experts will get an opportunity to do that at the next round of climate negotiations¹³ in Warsaw, Poland in November.

Friday’s IPCC report will be followed next year by reports on the impact of climate change and what can be done about it.

1 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

2 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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？

4 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

5 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）

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 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。

8 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

9 reiterates   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The Chinese government reiterates that the question of Taiwan is China's internal affair. 中国政府重申，台湾问题是中国的内政。 来自汉英非文学 - 汉英文件
• Wang Jianzhou reiterates a fact and a viewpoint in Davos. 王建宙在达沃斯重申一个事实和一个观点。

10 notched   

a.有凹口的，有缺口的

参考例句：

• Torino notched up a 2-1 win at Lazio. 都灵队以2 比1 赢了拉齐奧队。
• He notched up ten points in the first five minutes of the game. 他在比赛开始后的五分钟里得了十分。

11 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

12 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

13 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。