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acid rain
酸雨
According to a study published in the British scientific journal Nature,efforts to reduce the sulfate emissions that cause acid rain have also reduced other industrial emissions that help protect lakes from acid rain.根据一篇在英国科学期刊《自然》上刊登的研究报告指出,排放出的硫酸盐是酸雨的污染源,在减少硫酸盐排放量,确保湖泊不至受到酸雨伤害,同时也要求其他工业排放物也随之减少。
AUV
自控水下艇
The cheapest way to explore the ocean floor,however,may be with the free-floating AUVs.
然而,海底探险最经济的方法可能是使用自由漂浮形式的自控水下艇。
biodegradable
生物可递降分解的
Using genetic-engineering techniques,researchers redirected the plant's starch-storing apparatus into making PHB,a plastic that is biodegradable.
利用基因工程的技术,研究人员将这种植物原本用来储存淀粉的器官转而生产PHB,这是一种生物可递降分解塑料。
Brent Spar
布兰特史帕尔储油平台
And what about the Brent Spar campaign?Didn't your blunders at the time undermine the credibility of the Greenpeace organization?
那布兰特史帕尔储油平台事件又如何?你们在当时所犯的错误是否损害了绿色和平组织的可信度?
Shell and the British government caved in.The tug reversed course and took the Brent Spar to a Norwegian fjord port to await a decision about its disposal.
壳牌公司和英国政府屈服了;拖船改变航向,将布兰特史帕尔储油平台拖往挪威一峡湾的海港,等待后续的处置决定。
carbon offset
调整碳偏差
Electric utilities in Australia,the European Union and the U.S.,where carbon taxes have been under consideration,are especially interested in carbon-offset projects.
在澳大利亚、欧盟、及美国等计划开征碳税的地方,其境内的电力事业机构对于调整碳偏差计划特别感兴趣。
cesium 137
铯137
The wreck is already leaking cesium-137,a carcinogenic isotope.So far the leakage is considered too small to affect marine life or human health.
沉没的潜艇正泄漏出铯137,这是一种致癌的同位素。目前泄漏量还很少,不致危及海洋生物及人类的健康。
chlorofluorocarbon
氟利昂制冷剂
The amount of ozone-eating chlorofluorocarbon in the atmosphere is dropping faster than anyone expected;the chemicals should peak around the year 2000,then decline.
在大气中会侵蚀臭氧层的氟利昂制冷剂的含量,其降低的速度超出所有人的预期;这种化学物质的量应该在公元2000年达到高峰,之后才下降。
desertification
沙漠化
Most good agricultural land is already under plow,and each year desertification,improper irrigation and overuse take millions of acres out of production.
大部分良田目前都已经被开垦,而每年的沙漠化、不当的灌溉以及土地的滥用,使得数百万英亩的土地长不出农作物。
dioxin
戴奥辛
In 1985 the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that this procedure produces traces of dioxin,a highly toxic chemical,in waste water at the plants.
在1985年,环保署发现到这个过程会在工厂的废水中产生微量的戴奥辛,这是一种毒性很强的化学物质。
El Nino
厄尔尼诺现象
The El Nino that began last year and is now breaking up has been linked to record flooding in Latin America,the unseasonably warm winter in North America and the droughts in Africa.
去年开始的圣婴现象,如今正渐渐衰退,有人认为,拉丁美洲的大洪水、北美洲不合时序的暖冬,以及非洲的干旱,皆和该现象有关。
greenhouse effect
温室效应
Whether or not the new iceberg is a harbinger of the greenhouse effect,it is clearly a hazard for ships plying the southern seas,and so satellites and planes will keep a careful watch on it.
不论这座新冰山是否是温室效应的先兆,但很明显,这座冰山对于往来于南方海域的船只是一大危险,因此卫星及飞机都密切观察它的行踪。
Greenpeace
绿色和平组织
Another reason for change is that Greenpeace has become a more complex organization. 

绿色和平组织必须要改变的另外一个原因是,该组织的架构已变得更庞杂。
ozone layer
臭氧层
Last week a team of researchers from Oregon State University offered a possible explanation:the thinning of the ozone layer.
上周,一队来自俄勒冈州立大学的研究人员提供了一个可能的解释:臭氧层愈来愈稀薄。
Data radioed from craft exploring Venus and Mars,have helped make us aware of the consequences of such potential man-made disasters as the greenhouse  the destruction of the ozone layer,
从探测金星、火星的太空船传回的资料,已有助于我们了解温室效应和臭氧层的破坏等潜在的人祸会造成的后果。
PCBs
聚氯联苯
Normal operations of Army bases generate huge amounts of fuel spills,solvents and polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs).
在陆军基地所进行的正常运作会导致大量的油料溢出,并产生大量的溶剂与聚氯联苯。
We live,environmentalists warn,in a world laced with dangerous chemicals,from powerful pesticides to toxic industrial wastes like dioxin and PCBs.
环保人士警告说,我们居住的是个布有各种危险化学物质的世界,从强效杀虫剂到戴奥辛、聚氯联苯等有毒工业废物都有。
Hot Times All Around
全面加温
1.If good intentions and good ideas were all it took to save the deteriorating atmosphere,
如果光靠良好的用心与正确的观念就能挽救逐步恶化中的大气层,
the planet's fragile layer of air would be as good as fixed.
那么地球上这一层脆弱的空气就没问题了。
The two great dangers threatening the blanket of gases that nurtures and protects life on earth-
这一层气体,哺育着、庇护着地球上的生命,本身正面临两大威胁,现在已经找出来了,
global warming and the thinning ozone layer-have been identified.
全球温度上升,以及臭氧层损耗。
Better yet,scientists and policymarkers have come up with effective though expensive countermeasures.
不仅如此,科学家与决策人士还提出了尽管耕费昂贵但是十分有效的防范措施。
2.But that doesn't mean these problems are anywhere close to being solved.
但是大气层的问题要获得解决还早得很。
The stratospheric ozone layer,for example,is still getting thinner,
例如,在同温层高处的臭氧层还是日渐稀薄,
despite the 1987 international agreement known as the Montreal Protocol,which calls for a phaseout of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone depleting chemicals by the year 2006.
尽管在1987年国际间曾达成协定,呼吁逐步淘汰氟利昂制冷剂与其他破坏臭氧的化学物质,以公元2006年为底线。
3.CFCs-first fingered as dangerous in the 1970s by Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina,two of this year's Nobel-prizewinning chemists-
1970年代,罗兰德与莫理纳首度指出氟利昂制冷剂的危险。
have been widely used for refrigeration and other purposes.
这种物质普遍使用于冷冻以及其他用途。
If uncontrolled,the CFC assault on the ozone layer could increase the amount of hazardous solar ultraviolet light that reaches the earth's surface,
如果不加以控制,它会破坏臭氧层,造成阳光中危险的紫外线大量射到地球表面,
which would,among other things,damage crops and cause cancer in humans.
这会有许多害处,例如农作物受损,也会致癌。
Thanks to a sense of urgency triggered by the 1985 detection of what has turned out to be an annual "hole" in the especially vulnerable ozone over Antarctica,the Montreal accords have suprred industry to replace CFCs with safer substances.
1985年发现,在南极洲上空特别脆弱的臭氧层出现破洞,世人终于感觉到事态紧急,于是达成《蒙特利尔公约》,促使各业以较安全的物质代替氟利昂制冷剂。
4.Yet the CFCs already in the air are still doing their dirty work.
但是空气中现有的氟利昂制冷剂还在继续肆虐。
The Antarctic ozone hole is more severe this year than ever before,and ozone levels over temperate regions are dipping as well.
南极洲臭氧层破洞今年更趋严重,而且温带地区上空的臭氧含量也在下降。
If the CFC phaseout proceeds on schedule,the atmosphere should start repairing itself by the year 2000,say scientists. 

科学家表示,如果淘汰氟利昂制冷剂能按照进度达成,到2000年时大气层应能开始自我修复。
Nonetheless,observes British Antarctic Survey meteorologist Jonathan Shanklin:
然而英国南极观测会的气象学家尚克林表示:
"It will be the middle of the next century before things are back to where they were in the 1970s."
“要到下世纪中叶才能恢复到1970年的状况。”
Even that timetable could be thrown off by international smugglers who have been bringing. illegal CFCs into industrial countries to use in repairing or recharging old appliances.
这个进度恐怕也会出差错,因为国际走私客一直挟带非法的氟利昂制冷剂到工业国家,用以修补或添加在旧式用品中。
Last year alone 20000 tons of contraband CFCs entered the U.S.-mostly from India,where the compounds are less restricted.
去年一年就有2万吨违禁的氟利昂制冷剂进入美国——大多来自管制较松的印度。
5.Developing countries were given more time to comply with the Montreal Protocol
发展中国家有较长的期限来达到《蒙特利尔公约》的要求,
and were promised that they would receive $250 million from richer nations to pay for the CFC phaseout.
而且获得承诺,可以得到富有国家提供的2.5亿美元经费以逐步淘汰氟利昂制冷剂。
At the moment,though,only 60% of those funds has been forth coming.
可是目前这笔经费只有60%正在支付中。
Says Nelson Sabogal of the U.N.Environment Program:
联合国环境规划署的萨布果表示:
"If developed countries don't come up with the money,the ozone layer will not recuperate.This is a critical time."
“如果先进国家的支票不能兑现,臭氧层就不能恢复。这是关键时刻。”
6.It is also a critical time for warding off potentially catastrophic climate change.
要想阻挡气候形态转变可能带来的灾难,现在也是关键时刻。
Waste gases such as carbon dioxide,methane and the same CFCs that wreck the ozone layer all tend to trap sunlight and warm the earth.
各种废气,像二氧化碳、甲烷以及破坏臭氧层的氟利昂制冷剂,都可能捕捉阳光,提高地球上的温度。
The predicted results:an eventual melting of polar ice caps,rises in sealevels and shifts in climate petterns.
预期的结果:南北极冰帽终将溶化,海平面上升、气候形态转变。
7.Delegates to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio passed a resolution urging industrial countries to reduce emissions of "greenhouse gases" to 1990 levels,
1992年里约热内卢地球高级会议的与会代表通过决议,呼吁工业发达国家将“温室气体”的排放量降低到1990年的水平,
mostly by increasing energy efficiency,but the agreement was purely voluntary-and exempted developing nations.
主要靠提高能源效率来达成,可是这项决议纯属自愿性质——而且发展中国家也不包括在内。
The industrial countries were also asked to help developing nations switch to less polluting technology in a program known as "joint implementation."
同时还敦促工业国家参与“联合施行”计划,帮助发展中国家转移到低污染的技术状态。
Unfortunately,that would take money,and industrial nations are not in a spending mood these days.
可是这样做要花钱,而工业发达国家目前并没有兴致要花钱。
A few pilot projects have gone forward.
有几项先导计划是已经展开了。
Three U.S. utilities are building a gas-fired power plant in the Czech Republic to replace a coalburning plant,
美国有3家公用事业公司正在捷克共和国兴建天然气发电厂以取代燃煤发电厂,
and Japan is exploring similar ventures in China.
日本也在贵国研究作类似的投资。
For the most part,though,getting developed countries to sponsor such programs has proved difficult.
但是一般说来,要叫先进国家出资来做这种计划并不容易。
Inside the industrial world,emission-reduction efforts have been most successful in ecology-minded Germany and Japan.
在工业发达国家之林,有生态意识的德国与日本对于减低废气排放做得最有成效。
But in the U.S.,the world's biggest greenhouse polluter,legislators want to cut taxes rather than boost spending. 

可是,在美国这个世界第一的温室气体污染国,议员一心想减税,不想增加支出。
8.Until recently,laggard government could point to scientific uncertainty about whether global warming has started.
不久以前,没有积极配合的国家还有一个借口:科学界还不确定全球温度上升是否已经开始了。
but that excuse is wearing thin.
这个借口现在快站不住脚了。
A draft report circulating on the Internet has proclaimed for the first time that warming has indeed begun.
国际互联网上流传的一份报告草案首度宣称温度确已上升。
Global average temperatures have risen about 1℃ in the past century,
全球平均温度100年来上升了1℃左右,
and human activity is almost certainly part of the cause.
几乎可以肯定部分原因是人类活动造成的。
"It's as clear a record as we can possibly get of a warming trend,"says Tom Wigley,
汤姆•维格莱说:“温度上升的趋向,这是最明确的纪录。”
a senior scientist with the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research
他是美国国家大气研究中心的资深科学家,
and a contributor to the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC),which produced the report.
也是联合国主办的气象变化跨国会议的成员。这份报告就是IPCC提出的。
9.The draft report says temperatures will probably continue to rise,jumping as much as 5℃ over the next century.
报告草案中表明气温可能会持续上升,到下一世纪末可以大幅升高5℃。
That will be the biggest increase since the warming that ended the last Ice Age-
自从上一次冰河时代结束以来,这算是最大规模的温度上升,
but this one will be taking place over decades,not centuries.
而且仅历时几十年,不是几百年。
That means sea levels will rise,
如此一来,海平面会升高,
inundating coastal areas and river deltas and endangering more than 100 million people.
沿岸地区与河口三角洲会淹没,危及1亿以上的居民。
Beyond that,rainfall patterns will undoubtedly change,disrupting agriculture.
此外降雨形态势必会起变化,因而妨碍农业活动。
And weather extremes of all kinds will get more extreme.
各式各样恶劣的气候也会变本加厉。
Hurricanes and typhoons are predicted to become more powerful and destructive;
预期飓风、台风的威力会更强、破坏力更大。
wet areas are likely to get wetter,triggering floors,while hot,dry parts of the world could get even more arid.
潮湿地带会更加潮湿,引起洪水,而干旱地带会更加干旱。
10.Because the changes will be rapid,natural ecosystems-wetlands,rain forests,savannas-may be unable to adapt.
因为变化来得太快,各式天然生态系统——沼泽、雨林和草原——可能会来不及适应。
Animals and plants that have evolved to live under a certain set of climate conditions will suddenly face different circumstances.
动植物经长期演化,可以在某种气候状态下生存,突然之间要面对不同的气候状态,
Many will go extinct.
所以有许多会灭绝。
And the potential for deadly disease outbreaks will rise:
致命疾病大流行的机率也会增加。
warming waters will be more hospitable to germs like those that cause cholera;
水温升高,有利于像霍乱菌等病菌的繁殖。
disease carriers such as the Aedes aegypti mosquito may find they can survive nicely in places like northern Europe and the U.S.,making illnesses such as malaria more widespread.
像埃及斑蚊这种病媒可能在北欧、美国这种地方存活良好,所以像虐疾之类的疾病会更普遍。
11.The good news is that this gloomy scenario may galvanize the world's government into taking serious action.
好消息是:这幅阴郁的景象也许能刺激各国政府认真采取行动。
The first line of attack,says Florentin Krause,an IPCC contributor and director of the California-based International Project for Sustainable Energy Paths,should be "no regrets" actions-
IPCC成员,也是加州的国际永续能源计划负责人克劳斯表示,首要的行动应该着重“不必后悔”的行动—— 

changes that will be beneficial no matter how much of a threat global warming turns out to be.
亦即,不论全球温度上升的威胁实际上是大是小,做起来都有好处的一些改变,
Among them:promoting the use of energyefficient appliances and cars.
例如提倡使用能源效益高的器具与车辆。
But the IPCC report,says Krause,makes it clear that nations must do more.
但克劳斯也说,从IPCC的报告看来,各国该做的显然不只这些。
For example,though it's now more costly to generate electricity from solar cells than from gas or coal,
比方说,用太阳能电池发电的成本目前虽然高于燃油或煤炭,
using the sun's clean energy could save money that would otherwise have to be spent in the future combatting the effects of global warming.
可是利用干净的太阳能,以后就不必再花钱去对抗温度上升的恶果。
12.The encouraging precedent is the Montreal Protocol for ozone protection,
有一个令人振奋的先例就是保护臭氧层的《蒙特利尔公约》,
which showed how quickly nations can act when they finally recognize a disaster.
它证明世界各国在终于认清了灾难的时候,能够快速动员起来。
A related lesson is that if CFCs do disappear,
连带还有一个启示:如果氟利昂制冷剂真的销声匿迹了,
it will be partly because chemical manufacturers discover they can make a profit by selling safer replacements.
部分原因是化学厂商发现贩售安全的替代用品也可以赚钱。
The same process may ultimately be what mitigates global warming.
这一共同作用将来可能是减缓温度上升的法子。
After long years of effort,
经过多年的努力,
manufacturers of solarpower cells are at last close to matching the low costs of more conventional power technologies.
太阳能电池厂商终于快要把成本降到和传统发电方式相同了。
And a few big orders from utilities could drive the price down to competitive levels.
公用事业公司下几张大订单,就可能把价格压低到具有竞争力的水平。
If that happens,then all nations,from the rich to the poor,
果真如此,那么世界各国,不论贫富,
may end up working to save the atmosphere for the same reason they've polluted it:pure economic self-interest.
最后可能会朝向挽救大气层而努力,原因和当初污染空气的原因相同:纯粹为了本身的经济利益。 

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