外国人最想和你聊的文化话题：即将消失的美景

     Australia's Great Barrier Reef will lose most of its coral cover by 2050 and, at worst, the world's largest coral system could collapse by 2100 because of global warming, a study released recently said.
     最近发表的一项研究结果表明：到2050年，澳大利亚大堡礁的大部分珊瑚将不复存在。在最坏的情况下，到2100年，这个世界上最大的珊瑚体系将由于全球变暖而彻底崩溃。
     The destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef was inevitable due to global warming, regardless of what actions were taken now.
     研究结果表明全球变暖对大堡礁珊瑚的破坏是"不可避免"的，无论现在再采取什么措施都为时已晚。
     Under the worst-case scenario, coral populations will collapse by 2100 and the re-establishment of coral reefs will be highly unlikely over the following 200-500 years.
     按最坏情况预计，到2100年，大堡礁的珊瑚将彻底崩溃，而且要想在最近200到500年间重新恢复这样的珊瑚礁几乎是不可能的。
     The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living reef formation stretching 2,000 km north to south along Australia's northeast coast.
     大堡礁是世界上最大的活珊瑚礁，分布在澳大利亚东北海岸，由北向南绵延2000公里。
     Only if global average temperature change is kept to below two degrees Celsius can the Reef have any chance of recovering from the predicted damage.
     除非全球平均温度变化保持在两摄氏度以下，大堡礁才有机会从预期的破坏中复原。
     Coral has a narrow comfort zone and is highly stressed by a temperature rise of less than one degree Celsius.
     适合珊瑚生长的地域范围很小，即使气温上升不到1摄氏度都会对它们造成严重的影响。
     With bleaching, the warmer water forces out the algae that give coral its color and, if all are lost, the coral dies and the reef will crumble.
     温度偏高的海水赶走了赋予珊瑚颜色的海藻。如果海藻全部消失，珊瑚就会死去，珊瑚礁就会崩溃。
     Over-fishing and pollution from coastal farms were also contributing to the destruction of coral on the Great Barrier Reef.
     过度捕捞和沿海农场造成的环境污染也是导致大堡礁逐渐衰亡的原因。
     The Great Barrier Reef supports huge fishing and tourism industries. Even under favorable conditions tourists would only be able to experience real corals in reef "theme parks".
     大堡礁支撑着巨大的捕鱼业和旅游业。即使是在良好的情况下，游客也只能在"珊瑚礁主题公园"中领略珊瑚美景了。
     Over the past three years the Dead Sea has decreased by three meters and the whole area is currently one third less than it used to be in the 1960s due to the diversion of the Jordan River water for irrigation, experts said.
     专家称，在过去三年中，死海的水位已经下降了3米。由于约旦河的水源被改道为灌溉所用，无法注入死海，因此同60年代相比，目前整个死海水域的水量已经不足原先的三分之一。
     A goldmine for potash extractors and a magnet for tourists who come to bathe in its salty waters, the Dead Sea could disappear in 50 years.
     死海海水中蕴含大量碳酸钾，同时还是旅游胜地，吸引众多游客来此泡盐水浴。但是照此发展下去，未来50年内死海将会永远消失。
     "The Dead Sea basin is facing an environmental decline and if it continues like this it will hit a catastrophe." Jordanian Water Minister Hazem Nasser cautioned.
     约旦水利部长那瑟警告说："死海正面临环境恶化。如果继续照此发展下去的话，灾难就会降临，死海将会消失。"
     To contain the damage, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian officials will submit a project to channel water through a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, at the weekend meeting here of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
     为了化解危机，环绕死海的三个国家：约旦、以色列和巴勒斯坦的官员们将会在本周末的世界经济论坛上提交一份计划，启动从红海通过运河往死海注水的工程。
     The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, famed in literature and beloved by tourists, first formed some 11,000 years ago, but will be gone in two decades, according to researchers who say the ice fields on Africa's highest mountain shrank by 80 percent in the past century.
     乞力马扎罗山上的雪形成于大约11000多年前，不论在文坛上还是在旅游观光业中，它都始终保持着一种独特的魅力。然而，科学家却告诉我们，在过去的一个世纪中，这座非洲最高山峰的"雪帽"已经"缩水"了80%，再过二十年，乞力马扎罗山上的雪景就要消失了。
     Modern navigation satellites show that the oldest ice layers on the famed mountain were deposited during an extremely wet period starting about 11,700 years ago.
     研究人员发现这座名山上最古老的冰层是在约11700年前一段特别潮湿的时期形成的。
     The mountain is enshrined in literature, most notably Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro and some ancient beliefs in Africa hold the mountain to be a sacred place.
     在文学史上，大名鼎鼎的海明威曾著有《乞力马扎罗的雪》一书，从而让人们对这片土地心存一份特殊的情结，再加上一些古老的非洲传说，更是令这座山显得神秘而令人向往。
     But a temperature rise in recent years is eroding the 150-foot-high blocks of ice that gave Kilimanjaro its distinctive white cap.
     但是近几年来，由于气温的不断上升，乞力马扎罗山顶上厚达150英尺的积雪正在一点一点融化。
     Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign currency earner for the government of Tanzania. It has its own international airport and some 20,000 tourists every year. The question is how many will come if there are no ice fields on the mountain.
     乞力马扎罗的旅游资源是坦桑尼亚政府最主要的外汇来源。当地建有国际机场，每年约有2万游客慕名而至。如今的问题是，如果没有了山顶积雪，恐怕就没人会去了。

     Daisy：Have you ever heard of the Great Barrier Reef?
     黛西：你听说过大堡礁吗？
     Sara：Of course. It is in Australia. And the Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living reef formation
     萨拉：当然听说过，它在澳大利亚。是世界上最大的活珊瑚礁。
     Daisy：But in forty years' time, it will disappear.
     黛西：但是再过40年，它就要消失了。
     Sara：Why?
     萨拉：为什么？
     Daisy：Because of the warmer sea, the coral dies and the reef will crumble.
     黛西：因为不断增加温度的海水，珊瑚会死亡，整个珊瑚礁系统会崩溃。
     Sara：Cann't we do something to rescure it?
     萨拉：我们就不能采取一些措施吗？
     Daisy：All will be useless.
     黛西：采取任何措施都是无济于事的。
     Sara：But I have never been there, and it will disappear.
     萨拉：可是我都没去大堡礁看过呢，它就要消失了。
     Daisy：Yes. It is a pity.
     黛西：是啊，真的可惜。
     Sara：There must many views which are threatened by the damaging environment.
     萨拉：肯定还有好多有名的风景区都会受到威胁的。
     Daisy：The snow on Mount Kilimanjaro will also be gone in two decades
     黛西：再过二十年，乞力马扎罗山上的雪也会消失。
     Sara：It is the time that we should protect our environment.
     萨拉：我们应该开始好好保护环境了。
     Daisy：You are right.
     黛西：是啊。